New Year's Eve Times Square 2011 Revelers Settle In For Ball To Drop
New Year's revelers started staking out prime spots 15 hours before the ball dropped Friday, banking on bundled-up bodies, folding chairs and strong bladders to make it to midnight.
Melissa Castrogiovanni, 17, and Charlotte Cooper, 25, parked themselves against a stage cordoned off by police barricades at 46th St. and Broadway at 9 a.m.
The Clinton, N.J., residents vowed not to budge from the coveted spots until 2011.
"We are not leaving," Castrogiovanni said.
They were prepared to endure near-freezing temperatures in the evening and no access to bathrooms or food after 6 p.m. just to say they spent a New Year's in Times Square.
"We wanted to cross it off our bucket list," Cooper said.
Castrogiovanni had a 12-ounce Gatorade bottle to last her the day. But at noon, Cooper went on a fast-food run.
"We did cave in and each got a cheeseburger from McDonald's," Castrogiovanni said. "I stayed and Charlotte went and got the cheeseburgers."
She and Cooper ruled out bathroom breaks - even if nature calls.
"We went to the bathroom at 8:30 a.m.," Castrogiovanni said. "We said good-bye to the toilets. We are not going anywhere."
But at 3:30 p.m., as the crowd swelled and police lined up, they lost their choice location. Cops booted everyone inside the cordoned section in order to perform security checks.
Castrogiovanni and Cooper ended up a block south - still close to the ball drop, but farther from the entertainment.
"A lot of people were in there all day, and they kind of shoved everybody out," Castrogiovanni said. "They had to set up new barricades. I understand that, but they should have done that from the beginning."
By then, the New Year's Eve revelry was in full swing. Cheering and noisemakers echoed through the Crossroads of the World.
Yoshi Watanabe, 30, bravely bared his body to the elements while dancing for dollars. The Tokyo native wore a vest, a belly-dancer's mini skirt and pharaoh's hat, while his friend, DJ Dr. Namakato, blasted music from a boom box.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event that I wanted to do," Watanabe said. He planned on heading to his East Village apartment and coming back in the afternoon dressed as a New Year's baby.
Canadians Alicia Flood-Phillips, Rebecca Kruger and Tanya Coutts were also spending New Year's Eve in Times Square for the first time.
"This is the biggest party of the year. Why wouldn't you want to come?" Flood-Phillips, 23, asked. "They don't have anything like this in Canada."
She and her friends hunkered down on 46th Street and Broadway.
They layered themselves in tights, sweaters and jeans. They also added a little sartorial touch from their homeland - lumberjack hats and mittens from the Vancouver Olympics.
Bathroom breaks weren't a concern.
"I think the adrenaline is going to be rushing so much, we won't even notice," Coutts, 23, said.
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Sources: Fox News, NY Daily News, Youtube, Google Maps
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