Have a Trolltastic Time at Trolls the Experience in NYC

Put your hair up in the air and head to Trolls the Experience in NYC while you still can! If you (I mean, your kids, of course) loved the Trolls movie and/or are digging Netflix's new series Trolls: The Beat Goes On and you CANNOT wait for Trolls 2, Trolls the Experience is for YOU (your kids, obviously).  

The Details

Location: 218 West 57th Street, New York, NY

Hours:
Mon., Tues., Thurs.: 10am - 3pm
Fri.: 10am - 7pm
Sat., Sun.: 9am - 7pm
Wed.: CLOSED

Types of Tickets

There are two types of tickets available for Trolls the Experience; General Admission and the VIP Hair We Go upgrade. All people ages 2 and up need to purchase a ticket.

Tickets are timed to allow for a great flow of people through the experience and it cuts down on the crowd while you walk through.

NOTE: If you are interested in the VIP experience it is an add-on you purchase in addition to your General Admission ticket so you need to make sure you purchase your add on for the same time as your general admission ticket.

What is the VIP Hair We Go upgrade?

From my experience it appears the VIPs were let in first at our time slot (though this is not listed as a perk on the official website). The upgrade gets you a full face of face paint and premium Troll wig to get you looking like your favorite Troll.

Not sure if your child will sit long enough for the full paint? Or even still, not touch their face after it's on? The general admission allows for all to get their nose painted, a Troll tattoo and a paper headband that gives the appearance of Troll hair. I wasn't entirely sure my toddler would leave her nose alone, so to save me the mess we opted just for the tattoo (on her hand) and to my SHOCK AND AWE she kept on her paper Troll headband for a good portion of the experience. Talk about a WIN!

The Experience

You can tell you've reached your destination when you see Poppy and Branch in the window and the big rainbow marquee over the door.

Once inside you can check your coat and park your stroller (they are not allowed inside the experience). Bringing an infant? The entire walk through took about 1 hour and I wore my baby girl in my Baby Bjorn carrier while I kept my toddler at arm's length. Our time slot of 1PM on a Saturday in spring was pretty quiet, I'm not sure how many tickets they will sell per time slot but I would say our group that we traveled through the experience with was no more than 20 people. 

Once your tickets are scanned, get ready to follow the rainbow road because Poppy is throwing her Best Day Ever! Party and we're all invited. Because she loves to scrapbook, Poppy put special trinkets at each stop along the way to her for you to collect and create a scrapbook of your own. 

The day we went, the staff was amazing! They were upbeat, happy and had no problem listening to "Put Your Hair Up in the Air" on repeat, I asked.

Hair We Go!

The first stop once you go up the escalator is the Hair We Go experience. General admission get their tattoos and pick their paper hair and VIPs get the face painted here. Once you are officially Trolltastic be sure to take pictures with the Branch and Satin & Chenille statues and collect your first token for your scrapbook. Getting the full face of makeup obviously takes longer than those who get the general admission treatment and I think that's why they are let in early so they can get their faces done and still be on track to travel through the experience with everyone else.

Taking a Ride on the Catterbus

Collect all the glitter (paper confetti) you can! It felt like I was on a game show in the one of those boxes where you have to grab as much money as you can while the wind blows it all around. I was afraid my girl might be afraid (she's under 2) but she was laughing and jumping up and down. Not catching any paper though but I'll let that slide.

Inviting Everyone to the Party

After we got off the Catterbus it was time to invite everyone to Poppy's party. In order to do so we had to tap the screen in the time allotted. This area got kind of crazy for my toddler as the bigger kids dominated the screen and she really didn't understand what to touch or when to touch it.

Dance Party!

This was my personal favorite room of the experience. Before entering we all got 3D glasses and then it was time to dance with all our favorite Trolls. 3D, cartoon Trolls popped up on the screen in front of us including Poppy, Branch, Satin & Chenille, and Cooper and we all danced to Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling" and I was in heaven!!

Scrapbooking

We collected all 4 trinkets and took a stop at a photo booth and then we were ready to scrap book! The staff sticks your printed out picture to a scrapbook page and then you and your child stick your trinkets in the correct places on the scrap book pages.

Poppy Meet and Greet

I considered this the main event. All of the other rooms and activities lead up to you meeting the one and only Poppy! I have been trying to introduce my toddler to characters so she isn't afraid of them; Santa was a big hit this year but while at a house that was decorated for Christmas they had The Grinch doing meet & greets and she was terrified. I took her to a local restaurant that had a "Kid's Night" where Sky and Marshall from Paw Patrol were there and at first she was iffy but by the second time they came around she was happy to see them. So I went into this meet and greet hopefully cautious.

She loved her!! She walked over to her and couldn't stop starring at her. She gave Poppy a high five and a hug. SCORE! We are going to Sesame Place this summer and I'm hoping our meet and greets go just as smoothly as this one. Our pictures are funny though as my toddler never once looked at the camera, she only had eyes for Poppy.

Cupcakes and Rainbows Retail Cafe

The experience is over after you meet Poppy and then you exit through a gift shop/cafe. This is where things got a bit crazy. My toddler who walked through the experience on her best behavior went wild in the gift shop causing me to not fully take in all of the offerings or even purchase all of the souvenirs I would have liked. Remember the scrap book pages we made? They sell a scrap book at the gift shop that you can slip your pages into and I went in there thinking that was for sure something I was going to buy and I DIDN'T BUY IT!

It wasn't until our drive home that I realized what happened, I was super bummed out and went searching online for it. Sadly, Experience the Trolls does not have an online shop and no one was selling their unused scrap book on eBay. 

We had such a great day and everything really went as smooth as I could have asked for and yet there I was at 1AM searching online for a scrap book. I had to remind myself that we got to keep our branded dance party glasses, my daughter's paper hair, and the scrap book pages complete with an awesome photo booth photo. Things don't make or break the experience and I saw how much fun my toddler had and that really was all that mattered.

The Verdict

Go! Go! Go!

Children under 2 are free and if you can snag tickets during a buy 1, get 1 promo then I say it is totally worth it! I was apprehensive to pay full price since my daughter was so young and I knew it wasn't really created with her in mind but she explored all of the rooms and absolutely had a blast. Personally I think the Hair We Go experience is a bit steep; it is an extra $40 or $50 dollars depending on the type of wig you want your child to have.

My advice? If you have a toddler, get General Admission, then don't be like me, and actually buy souvenirs at the gift shop. If your child really wants the hair they sell it! If you have an older kid, aged 6-10 and they are into wigs and faceprint then the Hair We Go VIP is perfect for them!