After nearly three
months of precautionary closure, the National World War II Museum will reopen
to the public in a reduced capacity, just in time to commemorate Memorial Day.
Museum officials and
operations staff spent the past eight weeks assessing new protocols with healthcare
experts and peer institutions as to how they could meet health standards while
maintaining the award-winning experience that attracted over 780,000 visitors
from around the world in 2019. The museum, located in the CBD, will unveil an
arsenal of new safety and social distancing procedures when they open at 9 a.m.
on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25.
The museum, which
TripAdvisor ranks as the number one thing to do in New Orleans and the number
eight museum in the world, will adhere to Mayor Cantrell's safe reopening plan
and Governor Edwards's Phase One proclamation by reducing visitor capacity to
25 percent.
The
museum is ramping up cleaning and tightening guest protocol. Contactless
sanitation stations are dotted throughout the museum's six-acre campus. All
volunteers, employees, and visitors are required to wear face coverings during
the opening phase. Those arriving without face coverings will be provided with
complimentary masks, and all visitors will be provided with their own single-use
stylus for the many interactive exhibits. In accordance with city and state
recommendations, the museum suggests that seniors, those who are ill, and those
with serious medical conditions hold off visiting until it's safer. They also
suggest guests who are able to use the stairs do so instead of using the
elevators.
The museum is
implementing additional social distancing and capacity control: designated
exhibit and gallery entrances, social distancing markers once visitors are
inside, and a request to continue onward to the designated exhibit exit without
doubling back. Maybe learning about the sacrifices made during "The War That
Changed The World" will put the sacrifices of our own time into context and
perspective.
To best manage
maximum enjoyment with minimal crowds, the museum will only sell tickets via
their website in staggered 15-minute windows, starting as the museum opens at 9
a.m. and continuing until the last availability at 3:45 p.m., before the daily
5:00 p.m. museum closing. Visits can often exceed three hours, so it's
suggested to pre-purchase tickets for an early time slot online HERE.
The museum will
continue to honor its Blue Star Museum program, offering free admission for
active-duty military, National Guard, and National Reserve personnel and their
families. As an added bonus, the museum is offering free admission to
healthcare workers and first responders every day, plus half-off admission for
Louisiana locals on Mondays. All three offers run until Labor Day, Monday,
September 7, 2020.
There are five
exhibits that you'll have to miss, as they're closed during this first phase:
The John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion, L.W. "Pete" Kent Train Car
Experience, BB's Stage Door Canteen, Final
Mission: USS Tang Submarine Experience, and The Jeri Nims Soda Shop.
The five exhibits you
shouldn't miss:
Bayou to
Battlefield: Higgins Industries During World War II
What better way to
learn about our local World War II heritage than through the story of a swamp
boat? The Louisiana Memorial Pavilion permanent exhibit pays homage to New
Orleans's iconic contribution, from its beginning as a shallow-draft swamp boat
to the amphibious transport essential to winning D-Day on the Normandy beaches.
See how 20,000 of them were made by the people of New Orleans and examine a
replica Higgins boat.
Beyond
All Boundaries
The 25 percent capacity extends to the museum's Solomon Victory Theater in
Building 2. Between hourly complete deep cleans, visitors can enjoy the 4D
theatrical experience, including first-person war stories portrayed by New
Orleans locals Wendell Pierce and Patricia Clarkson. Coronavirus survivor and
acclaimed actor Tom Hanks narrates.
Road to
Tokyo
The air conditioning may not avail this immersive Pacific Theater gallery
experience of stories and artifacts from Pearl Harbor, Southeast Asia, and
Japan. The exhibit is located in the Campaigns of Courage.
Ghost
Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II
The Hall of Democracy's Senator John Alario Jr. Special Exhibition Hall
highlights obscure parts of the American Experience and is now running Ghost Army, the story of the 23rd
Headquarters Special Troops, a 1,000-strong unit made up mostly of artists and
ad-men conscripted to serve in areas best suited to their unique skills. They
came up with such zany ideas to beat the Nazis as inflatable tanks, false radio
broadcasts with sound effects, and other imaginative, resourceful methods to
save lives. It's an inspiration to use what's at hand and our own special
skills to win the day.
Remembered
Light: Glass Fragments from World War II, the McDonald Windows
Shards of stained glass that once decorated European
churches are repurposed into 25 art pieces on view in The Joe W. and Dorothy D.
Brown Foundation Special Exhibit Gallery. Thirteen artists worked to give
shards collected by a U.S. Army chaplain a new life as examples of the
continual striving to put peace back together.
945 Magazine St., 504-528-1944, nationalww@museum.org.
