re: WWII Museum visit....all suggestions and real advice welcomed.

My dad and I are huge WW2 buffs. I bought him an "into the vault" tour a couple years ago for Christmas. We got to hold several guns and see some cool maps from the war. That was an awesome time.

All I can say is to pick one route and work your way through it. There was too much to do in one trip when I went with my dad.

The only unfortunate thing about the museum is that when people are asked what their favorite parts of visiting New Orleans are, it will hardly ever be listed in the top 3. No offense to New Orleans but it deserves to be. This museum would easily stand out as the best attraction in most cities and the city should showcase it as much as the other attractions. I was curious as to how competitive it was for New Orleans to get the museum and apparently there was no competition at all.

Museum website
“Visitors often ask, “Why is the Museum in New Orleans?” The answer to this simple question requires an understanding of the city’s involvement in World War II, politics, and American memory.
In 1964, a young historian named Stephen Ambrose met with former President Dwight Eisenhower to discuss editing the former Supreme Allied Commander’s papers. During their conversation, Eisenhower asked Ambrose about his time as a professor at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and if he had the opportunity to meet Andrew Higgins, whom Eisenhower called “the man who won the war for us.” Higgins’s company, New Orleans-based Higgins Industries, produced over 20,000 assault landing craft over the course of World War II that were instrumental in the success of Allied amphibious operations, most notably D-Day.”

I've been twice. The best advice I can give you is go alone. It's a great museum and being able to walk at your own pace without the pressure of feeling like you have to leave is priceless.

It’s incredible. I grew up listening to my grandpa with PTSD (that we did not realize at the time) giving us the third degree on the war. We regarded him as a senile old man similar to Grandpa Simpson. Then the museum opens and I visit and was blown away and finally saw an in depth pov of what he was talking about in a format that is interesting to see, watch, feel, etc.

I visit often but hav not been to the final phase of it.

I would start by watching the movie, especially if you have kids. That sets the tone for the exhibits.

My favorite building is the road to Berlin/tokyo. You will leave that building in tears.

I would start at the original building and go from there.

You won’t see it all in a day.

Eat lunch at the on campus restaurant.

They have an event at night with a show. Never been but I treated a family to it and they loved it.

Stay at the Higgins hotel if you can.

If you can swing the guide I would do it . I never did it but recently I have done stuff like this with other venues and it’s worth every penny

This is going to be a very unpopular opinion, but I was actually slightly disappointed with the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans. Loved some of the displays and the aircraft but overall was kind of blah. When I went in 2018, they didn't have one tank in the building. How do you have a National WW2 Museum and not feature one Sherman tank?

I was more impressed with the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. What a collection. Other great war museums I'd recommend.....

Imperial War Museum in London.
War Remnants Museum in Saigon (been numerous times to this one)
Yushukan War Museum in Tokyo - outstanding

I'm finally visiting the Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg this month. Looks fantastic. Most of you have probably been.

Also, if you find yourself around Cleveland in August, I STRONGLY recommend the D-Day reenactment in Conneaut. Amazing to see so many pieces of history actually operational. Planes, landing craft, Panzer tanks, you name it. Good stuff.

It's been a while but it was interesting. Donated in dad's name to put his name somewhere, I forget. But used AI recently to track his whole trip in WW2. From Normandy beach thru France and Germany. Shows all his honors/medals and tough battles his group participated in. Oak Leaf Clusters etc. I have the original letter from HQ. Cool stuff. AI basically had pictures and videos of his group on mail call, dug in the fox holes, advancing the communication wires during artillery fire destroying the communication lines. I thought it was cool stuff.

Take your time. You can spend a whole day there and walk away still feeling like you didn’t see it all.

Go on week day weekends are very crowded. I go once every couple of months. It’s one of the best museums I’ve been to.