While on a recent family vacation to Southern California, my family spent a few hours at the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego. The USS Midway Museum is a historical naval aircraft carrier museum that consists of the aircraft carrier Midway and an extensive collection of aircraft. Admission costs $22 for adults, $18 for seniors age 62 and older, $9 for retired military children between the ages of 6 and 17, and $16 for students, and free for active military and children age 5 and younger. Tickets to the museum are also available in a variety of attraction packages. Parking was just $10 for the entire day in the pier lot located directly adjacent to Midway. My two oldest loved exploring The Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum in New York City, so I was super excited to check out the Midway.
The USS Midway Museum opened as a museum on June 7, 2004. By 2015, the museum was the most popular naval warship museum in the United States with more than one million visitors annually. The Midway itself was the longest-serving American aircraft carrier of the twentieth century, serving for 47 years from 1945 to 1992. The aircraft carrier was commissioned a week after the end of World War II and was the largest ship in the world until 1955. The Midway was also the only carrier to serve the entire length of the Cold War. Approximately 200,000 sailors served aboard the ship.
The USS Midway Museum features nearly 10 acres of exhibits and displays with four main exhibit areas: Hangar Deck Exhibits, Flight Deck Exhibits, Below Deck Exhibits, and Aircraft Gallery. My family began exploring the Below Deck Exhibits, which took us deep into the interior of the ship through mess halls, galleys, bathrooms, laundry services, and many other areas in which the crew lived, worked, and played aboard ship. All three of my kids especially enjoyed the control room, which offered plenty of buttons to push. I found the tiny bathrooms most interesting. My two oldest also liked looking at the restored aircraft throughout the aircraft carrier and loved climbing into some of the cockpits and helicopters.
If you are ever in the downtown San Diego area with a few free hours, I highly recommend visiting the USS Midway Museum at Navy Pier. The aircraft carrier and many aircraft are amazing to view and explore. Admission to the museum is reasonable for the area, and the cost is well worth the experience. The USS Midway Museum is an amazing experience for the entire family!
For more information, visit the USS Midway Museum website.
Image Credits
Family Fun in California: USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Outside the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Aircraft in the USS Midway Museum 1 © 2019 Heather Johnson
Aircraft in the USS Midway Museum 2 © 2019 Heather Johnson
Commissary in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Sleeping Bunks in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Anchors in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Plaques in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Control Room in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Shower in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Notebook in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Weather Manuals in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Room in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Aircraft in the USS Midway Museum 3 © 2019 Heather Johnson
Life Raft in the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Aircraft in the USS Midway Museum 4 © 2019 Heather Johnson
Aircraft in the USS Midway Museum 5 © 2019 Heather Johnson
Top of the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
Looking Down the USS Midway Museum © 2019 Heather Johnson
