5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California

5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California Controls aircraft carrier

5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California

In this throwback blog, we get to revisit our experience from 2012 at the aircraft carrier USS Midway Museum located in San Diego, California.

1st Tip – Purchasing Tickets

If you purchase your tickets online in advance as of (June 208) you can receive a $2 discount per ticket. You can do same-day re-entry. Budget 3-4 hours to explore the aircraft carrier. We were lucky that the ship was not very busy and we got to take our time exploring below the ship and the deck.

5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California

2nd Tip – Entry Policies and Suggested Attire

Usually, I carry food such as granola bars and water bottles with me throughout the day. Do not bring in outside food or beverages here. Also, there are no glass containers allowed. Check out their website for updated list of items not to bring. The USS Midway Museum suggests wearing comfortable clothes and closed-toe shoes. We wore comfortable clothes and glad we did because there was a lot of climbing up and down ladders.

3rd Tip – Tours

They have self-guided audio and you can bring your own headphones. There are also guided tours. We choose to do a self-guided with no audio. The USS Midway Museum has over 60 restored exhibit areas. Examples include the engine room to the flight deck. It also has greater than 30 restored aircraft and nearly 10 acres of exhibits and displays. You can climb aboard real cockpits. We got to visit the bridge and captains cabins. Down below we visited where the crew lived and worked. Other areas we saw when we were below the deck included mess halls, galleys, chapel, laundry services, and the engineering area.

5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California Controls

4th Tip – Calendar of Events

Check out the Calendar of Events because they have added experiences throughout the year. Some examples of additional activities include a “Behind the scenes tour” and special days like Flag Day in June or Fourth of July.

5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California Helicopter

5th Tip – Gift Shop & Cafe

Do you collect souvenirs from every place you visit? Well do not worry; they have a gift shop for you to purchase your souvenirs. If you get hungry after a 4-hour tour, they do have a Cafe and you can purchase food and drink.

Visiting USS Midway Museum

Have you visited the USS Midway Museum? If yes, what was your favorite aircraft?

26 thoughts on “5 Tips for Visiting USS Midway Museum San Diego, California
  1. Looks like a fun place to check out. Goes to show history doesn’t have to be dull to learn. Would love t ok see more of it.

    1. Sitting in the aircraft was a lot of fun. It is amazing to see all the buttons and switches.

  2. We have visited the ship in Wilmington, NC before and I found it fascinating. This one looks just as interesting – I’ll have to add it to my list when I head back out that way.

    1. Thank you for the suggestion of the ship in Wilmington, NC. We will add it to our sites to see when we are in NC.

  3. Thank you for sharing these tips! We definitely plan to visit San Diego in the future and this would be a fun stop!

  4. that is so important about the discount on tickets online. Sometimes there is a service charge, but here not the case. Fun day for you it sounds like. My husband loves military anything museums

  5. Looks like fun. Would you say that children around the age of 8-10 would enjoy this? And did you guys visit in the morning or afternoon? Was it busy? Sorry for all of the questions, as homeschoolers, I like to take my kids to things like this, but we like to go during less busy times.

  6. We’re headed to San Diego in two weeks and the Midway is on our list. Thanks for the tips! It’s always more enjoyable when you’re prepared.

  7. My kids would love this! And the fact that you get to really touch and explore only makes it that much better. Thanks for the share!

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