USS Missouri Memorial - Pearl Harbor
add photos8 Reviews for USS Missouri Memorial - Pearl Harbor
65
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'11, '12
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"Submarine tour NOT for the claustrophobic"
I took the submarine tour and I felt like I was going to die and I'm only slightly claustrophobic. The space is small, the air is hot and it's a long run to the exit. You cannot bring a stroller with you. I would not recommend the sub tour for anyone under 8. I'll never do it again. I had to run for the exit and it took me minutes to get to it.
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"Make sure you go here!!!"
This memorial is truly amazing. When you arrive, you get a ticket, and then you wait. The area for waiting is nice and open. You go through a video presentation and then take a boat out to the memorial. It's quite moving. We had our baby with us at the time and it was no problem. You need a good 3 hours here at least.
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"A must for historical buffs!"
This is a must for anyone with kids who appreciate US history. It is a poignant, moving reminder of December 7, 1941.
Please do keep in mind that when you are here, you are actually visiting the final resting place of 1,102 sailors who wend down with the USS Arizona.
This is a place of reflection & rememberance. You can very clearly see the ship's hull in the ocean below you. It is quite eerie.
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"walk-through history experience"
What a fantastic place to visit!
I love historic/military sites, and the USS Missouri did not dissapoint.
You can't help but be in awe of how massive, how powerful a vessel the ship is; and you can't help but respect the generations of sailors who lived, worked and fought aboard, as well.
Visitors can climb up and down ladders, manuever through narrow hallways through offices, control rooms, bunk rooms and community rooms. There are displays of WW2-era ephemera (Japanese and Nazi propaganda, US patriotic pamphlets, photos, etc.), uniforms, frozen-in-time rooms, etc.
And, if there is anything more impressive than standing that the very nose of the ship, looking up at the MASSIVE guns, then I can't name it.
This was a pre-baby trip, and I cannot imagine doing it again with out toddler, but I think that children would appreciate the history lesson that you can sneak into the fun of clambering around on the ship.
2 families found this helpful
"Great family experience"
The historical value of visiting the USS Missouri is fantastic, especially if coupled with the USS Arizona Memorial, but even little kids that aren't yet able to grasp the history, will love getting to go aboard a real Navy Warship and climb the ladders and walk the decks. Most of the railings are solid so falling off is not a real concern, this can be a little challenging with toddler or infants trying to go up and down the ladders. But even if you choose not to take them up and down the ladders and only do the stairs, this is still a fun day on a really big boat. I have done both the self guided tour and the guided tour with the kids (1 and 3) and definitely recommend the self guided for families. The things the kids find interesting are not the items being discussed on the tour and the tough moves to quickly for the kids to keep up. They have more fun just experiencing the ship then hearing all of the history. I do recommend a bit of reading in advance if you are not a history buff and choose to do the self-guided tour. If you are lucky you might even get to see a Navy ship or sub coming in or our of Pearl Harbor!
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"historic for parents, captivating for kids"
The USS Missouri "Mighty Mo" is a piece of history. For history buffs and the mildly curious, it is well worth exploring for a couple of hours. For kids (especially boys), it is a captivating and educational experience. I took our boys (6 and 3 years old) on the hour long battleship guided tour ($23 for adults and $15 for kids under 12). You can also opt to not take a tour and just roam around on the ship, or take a self-guided audio tour. The USS Missouri is run and maintained by the USS Missouri Memorial Association, which is a non-profit organization.
I'd recommend sturdy shoes (no flip-flops) as you'll be doing quite a bit of climbing up and down very steep steps. Make sure your kids have full bellies before going, as there is no food on board. Backpacks, camera bags, and even diaper bags are not allowed on board. Water is available on the ship, but you may want to bring your own bottle as well. If you have a little one, a front backpack is recommended, as there are plenty of narrow spaces and things to duck under. I actually used an ergo carrier on my back to carry my 3 year old most of the way and he was quiet happy. I found that in the first five minutes we were slowing down the group, so I started carrying him. Do not bring a frame backpack carrier, as they are too bulky to carry through the small spaces of the ship.
The tour itself was fascinating and our guide talked about the crew and the living conditions on board the ship, the ship technology, and the history of the Missouri. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable.
The Missouri is an engineering marvel. It combines state of the art mechanical devices from the '40's as well as some more modern mid-80's technology. I found that mix interesting. My kids asked a ton of questions, "what's that, what's this?", "guns are bad, right?". It made for an interesting lesson for them involving history, valor, technology, and yes, the horrors of war. A mix of patriotism with a dose of realism about the nature of man.
Launched in 1944, it was an integral part of World War II in the battles of Iwo Jima, Okinama, and in bombing raids over Tokyo. It is most famous as the site where Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on September 2, 1945 to end World War II. The Missouri also saw action in Korea and was decommissioned in 1955. In 1986 it was recommissioned and modernized. It was deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991.
*This review is based on a complimentary tour of the USS Missouri. I received no other compensation and the owner did not express any requirements that I express a particular point of view.
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"Loved the Explorer Tour"
Whether you are a history buff or not, visiting Pearl Harbor is a definite must do when you are in Hawaii. The USS Missouri is a ship of huge historical significance. It is on the decks of this ship that the Japanese signed the surrender documents in the Bay of Japan that marked the end of WWII.
You can visit the USS Missouri and tour it yourself without a guide ($16), or you can do an audio tour (on an ipod or headset - $23), take the Battleship Guided Tour (also $23), or the Explorer's Tour ($45). I did the Explorer's Tour and highly recommend it. The Explorer's Tour takes you into many areas of the ship that regular guest do not get to see. We looked inside a gun turret and we went all the way down into the engine room. Our tour guide was so well read and informative. Only kids who are 10 and up are able to join the Explorer's Tour because there are many steep steps to climb. It is also 2 hours long, so a young child would probably have difficulty paying attention for that long. I highly recommend the Explorer's Tour. There were so many things about the ship that we would never have seen if we were walking around ourselves. Our guide shared so many details about the engineering of different equipment on the ship, the type of targets the weaponry hit, and the role the ship played in major historical events. He was incredibly well read and informative. The anecdotal stories he shared really brought history alive. The content of the tour was not gruesome in the least. It focused a lot on the engineering marvels contained in this ship as it was state of the art when first commissioned in the 40's.
I was struck by how well the ship is preserved. All the tools were exactly in the places they should be. It was living history cum military history. I also found it pretty mind boggling how many hundreds of people have to communicate with one another to fire a single gun. For a ship that was built in 40's, the engineering really is remarkable. On the Explorer's Tour, we had the opportunity to enter the control room for some of the guns and see the mechanical computers used to fire them. After all these years, these mechanical marvels of the day still work to this day and were used as recently as during Operation Desert Storm. This tour is perfect for the engineer in any child or parent.
The last section of the tour focuses on the surrender ceremony. It is a total feel good patriotic moment. As our guide painted the picture of where the various parties were standing on the deck, I had chills just thinking that I was standing on the exact same spot that this world changing event took place.
Before visiting the USS Missouri with a young child, definitely spend some time thinking through some of the questions your child might have about war and the implements of war. You should have some idea about what you want your child to take away from the experience. For older kids, reading up on WWII history ahead of time would make a visit to USS Missouri so much more educational.
It was sweltering on the ship, so bring a bottle of water. However, you can't bring any bags with you. So before you head across the parking lot, do yourself a favor and leave everything else in the car. On the dock right outside the Missouri, you can get some lunch at the grille. There are also water vending machines throughout the ship. Have your kids and yourself drinking a lot. Dehydration happens quickly on board a big steel ship.
*This review is based on a complimentary tour of the USS Missouri. I received no other compensation and the owner did not express any requirements that I express a particular point of view.
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"Fun with the Family"
The USS Missouri Memorial features guided or self guided tours of the battleship, which was restored by volunteers and is docked at the 450-acre Ford Island. You can climb between the decks of the “Mighty Mo” and peer into officers’ cabins, where shoes are placed neatly beside bunks as if in a time warp.
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