Since I had a Spider-Man costume, I decided to bring it and wear it – much to the dismay of my childhood friend Kevin. I can hear my friend Kevin’s words to this day: “When you wear this: you don’t know me, I don’t know you. You will be over there (pointing) and I will be over here (pointing the opposite direction). Got it?”
We went to Times Square and the only bathroom we could find for me to change was in the ground floor of the 2-story McDonald’s – and they only have 1 restroom for the whole place! Now, it took about 10 minutes to change into that costume – with help – and by that time there were people banging outside the door! And keep in mind – the only thing the patrons saw was two guys (me and my brother, Adam) go into the bathroom together and lock the door for 10 minutes – HA! Spider-Man (me) finally emerged to a LINE of about 15 people, saying “was that worth the wait?”
When I emerged in Times Square, I was MOBBED. After taking dozens of pictures with passers-by, I finally told Adam and my buddies that we could be there all day if I didn’t get out of costume. My friend Kevin, the “mister-I-don’t-know-you, you-don’t-know-me guy” was actually kind of impressed; he had just figured it was just some cheap $20 Party City type costume.
From there we went to the Empire State Building. Since my brother had already been multiple times, he went off to see something else in the city, while I went up to the top of the building with my friends. Now, the first time you go to the top of the Empire State building, it’s sort of magical, so I didn’t pressure my friends for help getting into the suit right away. After about 30 minutes, Kevin came up to me, saying “You ready? You ready?” He was excited. I, of course, gave him a hard time: “What happened to “I don’t know you and you don’t know me? I’ll be over here and you’ll be over there?” He grudgingly admitted that it was, in fact, pretty cool.
So, just like the McDonald’s, there’s only 1 restroom for the entire observation deck. And again, all the patrons saw was 2 guys (me and Kevin) go into the bathroom together and lock the door – again! This time however we were not greeted by a line of patrons upon exiting – we were greeted by five armed security officers! Seeing me in Spider-Man, they were… alarmed. I had to do some quick talking to convince them that I just wanted pictures and that I wasn’t going to JUMP or climb anything.
I then spent the next 45 minutes on the Observation Deck, and if I didn’t take pictures with everyone up there… then boy I sure did come close. (I don’t think their paid King Kong mascot appreciated all the attention I was getting – he tried to put me in a head-lock!) The 5 security guards, who ostensibly were supposed to be patrolling the deck, were all lined up against the wall watching me the entire time, really enjoying the show and the crowd’s reactions to me.
When I was done, security cleared a path for us and escorted us back to the bathroom so I could change. Seriously, the guard was yelling “Spider-Man, coming through!” Usually, there’s about a 45 minute line to go back down to the street – but again, we were escorted by security to the front of the line and got a private elevator ride down! (We evidently had come a long way from an hour before when I was convincing them I wasn’t going to jump!)