I Took My 7-Year-Old to See the Rockettes. Here’s Our Honest Review

I’m a mom who does my best to prioritize Christmas magic. I live in New York City! There are holiday experiences galore! As soon as the clock strikes November, I make a point to map out a bucket list of merriment-infused Christmas moments that—I hope—will become core memories for my kids. A trip to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and the world-famous Rockettes has been on that list for a while, and this year, I set out to finally make it happen.

TBH, my dad (who is 73, btw) still gets nostalgic about his trip to Manhattan with his family at the age of 10 and the memory of seeing the Rockettes’ perfect precision and high kicks. Would my 7-year-old feel the same way? I couldn’t resist finding out.

I scooped my kid up after school and we hopped on the subway to get to Radio City, arriving a hair early and on the day before the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting, too. (Phew, my internal mom brain uttered knowing how lucky we were to dodge the insane crowds that trek to midtown for that iconic holiday moment.) But that’s also kind of what makes a trip to see the Rockettes such a thrill: You’re in the heart of New York City, where holiday magic—be it glowing candy cane displays or Nutcracker dolls as tall as a single story—have been rolled out on every corner. (My son, who doesn’t really like taking that many pics, was in awe and suddenly staging photo ops and asking me to snap his pic, which was already a win.)

We arrived early and got our seats, but had to use the bathroom, too. (I’ll add that it’s something I typically strategize about ahead of time as a mom in the city—when or where can we find an easy and welcoming place for a potty break.) Radio City itself was our best bet, and we had 25 minutes until the curtain went up. Plenty of time, right? Inside a venue with a capacity of nearly 6,000 people, my son put it best: “Mom, this feels like a line for a ride at Disney World!” (That said, massive credit to the staffers keeping things moving. They were better than air traffic control, and much to my kid’s delight, verbally yelled out a countdown to curtain—“9 minutes ‘til showtime!”—while he peed.)

We took our seats and paused as my son took in the scope of the theater. Forget the capacity, Radio City is a venue I count as one of the most majestic in town. It’s also massive, which means for a show with so many visuals and over the top pageantry, there isn’t a bad seat in the house. There weren’t booster seats on offer, but my son (who is on the shorter side) was able to comfortably see over the heads of the people in front of him, occasionally adjusting to sit on his knees as needed.

Keep in mind, the Christmas Spectacular is exactly that—Christmas is the hard-core theme, whether that’s via a showstopping Nativity scene (complete with actual camels, my son excitedly pointed out) to Santa Claus as emcee (“Here Comes Santa Claus,” which has Santa multiply by the hundreds, is so showstopping, both me and my son watched wide-eyed).

But that’s the funny part: Kids will be kids. While he was uber-enthralled by the Rockettes and their high kicks (“I want to try doing that at home!” he ambitiously whispered), the razzle dazzle moments were his favorite parts. That includes what is perhaps one of the show’s most time-honored moments, “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” which debuted in the very first Christmas Spectacular in 1933. This number is not only intricately choreographed to help the dancers maintain their perfectly straight lines, it features a stunt known as the wooden soldier fall, where they link arms and slowly tumble, like dominoes. (This was the moment that hooked my kid.)

That’s not all: A more recently added number, called “Dance of the Frost Fairies,” features delicate and fairy-like drones that fly all around Radio City in an effort to add an immersive and interactive element. There was also a disclaimer at the start of the performance: Should any of these fairies fall, don’t sweat it—someone will quickly come to collect them and on with the show. (My 7-year-old was transfixed hoping one would crash beside us. When one came close, that was the highlight—and the part he couldn’t stop talking about when we left.)

Also, mom POV—as the show neared its conclusion, I watched with curiosity: Would my son’s love of the show’s theatrics correlate with my own parental intention of infusing the Christmas season with memorable holiday magic? When faux snowflakes started to fall, I knew at once the answer was yes.

“Mom, the flakes are in your hair!” my son shrieked as he tried to catch them, then collect them, too. He was mesmerized by the moment and so was I. “It’s like we’re in a snow globe!” I said, hoping—and feeling—like we’d maybe just unlocked core memory potential. Time will tell.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is a kid- and parent-friendly experience that holds up. (Did I mention this year marks their 100th anniversary?) And if the chance to join a “Deck the Halls” sing-along with nearly 6,000 theater-goers doesn’t put you in the holiday spirit, nothing will.