‘Bubbles were bursted’: Tourists left in fits of laughter after realizing how small the Statue of Liberty really is

When visiting a new country for the first time we’re often caught up in the expectations and pre-conceived notions we have of that place. While there are plenty of great sights to see in the world, sometimes our expectations can be a little too high, making reality a little bit disappointing.

In this case, a group of tourists visiting New York City documented one of their friend’s first time seeing the Statue of Liberty on TikTok, and let’s just say they were less than impressed by the size of it.

A viral video posted by Ava Nicole has garnered almost 28 million views after filming her friend’s reaction to seeing the iconic statue and she simply cannot contain her laughter. “POV: you realize how small the Statue of Liberty is,” the caption reads. Well let’s not be mean, it’s not all about size you know.

A staple of NYC, Lady Liberty is probably one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of New York. So much so that it seems those who haven’t actually seen it in person are expecting something monolithic, or at the very least, too big to clean easily.

So how tall is the Statue of Liberty?

But that’s not to say that the bluish-green figure is small, as a matter of fact she’s about 305 feet tall (roughly 93 meters), according to the National Park Service. But the thing is, the rest of New York has grown around it. While she may have been one of the tallest parts of the city’s skyline in 1886, massive skyscrapers now dwarf her making her look much smaller by comparison.

The people of TikTok were also taken aback by Ava’s video with one person writing, “pardon I thought she was towering over the city,” a second added, “Movies make it seem HUGE!!!” Think about how many iconic scenes and showdowns we’ve seen atop this statue, Spider-Man: No Way Home and the first live-action X-Men movie spring to mind.

Some chimed in with other national monuments across the U.S. which were disappointing in person, “Wait til you see Mount Rushmore!!” wrote one, while another brought up the Hollywood sign which is apparently a lot smaller in person too. Some mentioned monuments and items from other countries too, including the Eiffel Tower and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

It’s almost a form of culture shock in many ways. The Statue of Liberty is something almost everyone has seen depicted across various forms of media. However, few may have seen it in person, and to see it in such a real setting could definitely feel bizarre when you have such high expectations.