It’s hot, it’s dark and it’s crowded, but people just can’t wait to visit.

The Statue of Liberty’s crown is opening on July Fourth for the first time in eight years. It closed shortly after terrorists leveled the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

The National Park Service denies the closing had anything to do with terrorism and says the statue’s interior was in need of repair anyway.

But some wonder why it took so long for the crown to reopen.

New York Congressman Anthony Weiner calls the eight-year closure “a partial victory for terrorists” and an “embarrassment for the federal government.”

Tickets for the July Fourth weekend sold out within hours.

The statue was built on October 28, 1886.

(Source: WCBSTV)