When wandering around New York City you never know when you may run into a celebrity or walk by a movie set.  My dad used to work on Madison avenue and said there were numerous mornings he would be walking into the office building and there would be clean up crews getting Madison Ave back to working order from a night of shooting a movie.  However if you are only in town for one day or even just an afternoon there is a guaranteed way to have your picture taken with some celebs, although they are technically made of wax but you’re family and friends don’t need to know.

Madame Tussauds is a famous wax museum chain that has locations all over the world. Last year when my family took a quick trip to Washington DC I wrote about visiting it and you can read about it here.  This location right off Times Square is huge.  As you enter the museum Alicia Keys, Al Roker and Matt Lauer are there to greet you as you wait in line for tickets.

However before getting in line I headed over by the elevators and used the first penny machine that is located in the lobby.

No admission is needed to use this machine, however the second machine is found further inside and you do need a ticket to access that machine.

This first machine was also used to be located at the Empire State Building which I had visited years ago and picked up coins.  Recently it had been relocated but the designs available are still the same: Skyride, NYC Checkered Cab, Central Park NY, and an NYC Sightseeing Bus.  After using the machine I jumped in line to get my ticket and was then off to meet some celebrities.  First up Angelina Jolie.

Unfortunately I’m not very good at selfies so the pictures I took me with arms around her didn’t come out very well which is probably for the best and will keep me out of trouble.  The museum is set up in different sections to try to organize the figures.

   

In the golden age of cinema I met James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.  Each section has up to 10 or 12 people and you are able to stand right up next to them for your celebrity photo-op.

   

For sports fans these mostly consisted of New York team players like Eli Manning of the New York Giants, but they just couldn’t leave out the great Joe Montana from the San Francisco 49ers.

   

There was even a Marvel Superheroes section that had all The Avengers available to match up with.  This area was packed with kids so I just snapped a couple of pictures and headed towards the next area which consisted of historic figures and U.S. Presidents past and present.  At the end of the tour you are sent into the gift shop and eventually to a set of elevators that take you back to street level.  While I waited for the elevator I noticed off to the side was the second penny machine.

Fortunately I was the first at the elevators so the area was empty while I used the machine.  But only after few minutes the place started to fill up with people anxious to leave.

The machine rolled the designs nicely and worked without any issue.  The penny designs all said “Madame Tussauds New York” and included images of the New Year’s Ball Drop, the New York Yankees, 9/11 We Will Never Forget, and Times Square Station.  I put the pennies away and stepped back over to hope on the elevator that arrived shortly after.

I was in need of something to each which was going to work our perfectly since my next stop was going to offer just that.  It was only a short walk away but being so close to Times Square the crowds make getting anywhere more difficult than it should be.