The National WWII Museum — Attraction in New Orleans

There is no doubt this is the best museum in the world. If you are a history lover, particularly WWII, you need to visit this Bastion to Heroism. Give yourself at LEAST two days, possibly a third. With 7+ distinct areas to immerse yourself in, you will need the time.

There are entire multi floor buildings dedicated to a single Theatre of War (Europe and Pacific) in addition to Home front, an IMAX/4D theater, aircraft hanger, and more.

The addition of a new section has several distinct areas:

Cost of War The first part of the new addition details the horrific cost of War. Lives lost, money spent, desperation of people.

The Holocaust Following the Cost of War is a section on the Holocaust and Concentration Camps. Including a large theater playing interviews with camp survivors, liberators,and civilians who all experienced the camps.

Faith in Tragedy A small area dedicated to the power of faith and religion in times of war. Many artifacts including Bibles and prayer letters from soldiers. Torahs captured by Germany. As well as others. Showing the comfort and strength that faith in God can bring to those in need.

The Monuments Men (Pictured in Review) A fascinating and cleverly built section details the exploits of The Monuments Men. A multinational unit of artists, historians, and art lovers who tracked down caches of stolen art. A video details the units formation and journey throughout the war. It also includes one of the original uniforms. A room outside the tunnel displays art that was stolen and allows you, through touch screens, to see many famous pieces and their story of recovery.

Tokyo and Nuremberg Trials Up a stair dedicated to Roosevelts Basic Freedoms, is an area detailing the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials. How they were conducted, when, and who was tried and convicted.

Beyond the War & Cold War The sprawling final section is focused on what happened after the war ended. Covering racial and social issues faced by returning soldiers and women, tensions with the Soviet Union, proxy wars such as Korea, and rebuilding of Europe.

All of the above is just one of 7+ major and extensive...

New Orleans Day 3 （Go City Pass Day 2）

The National WWII Museum 🏛️

🎟 Regular ticket: $36

💡 With the Go City Pass, no reservation needed, just line up, scan, and walk right in.

Originally called the D-Day Museum when it opened in 2000, it was first dedicated to commemorating the Normandy landings (D-Day). Over the years, it’s grown into a full-scale national museum covering all of WWII — from the European and Pacific fronts to stories of civilians supporting the war effort, wartime technology, and more.

And wow… this place is HUGE. Six major galleries in total! My husband, who’s a bit of a history + military buff, came here in 2005 and said it was impossible to see everything. This time, we went all in, from opening at 9:00 AM to closing at 5:00 PM and still didn’t manage to see it all 😆.

Each section isn’t just text and photos; there are short films recreating scenes, plus real artifacts like tanks, planes, weapons, and soldier gear. It’s great even for those who don’t have a whole day, you can still get the key highlights in each area.

When we left, a staff member mentioned that the museum offers a $15 “second-day” add-on because so many people say one day isn’t enough. (We didn’t ask if it applied to Pass holders since we had dinner plans right after, but it’s worth checking if you’re going!)

If you’re into military or WWII history, set aside plenty of time, seriously you’ll need it.

This visit wrapped up our 2-day Go City Pass adventure. We used it for 5 things total (4 activities + 1 dinner), racking up a value of $161.95. We got our Pass on Costco for $108.99 per person (cheaper than the $129 on their official site), saving $52.96 each! If we didn’t have evening plans, we could’ve easily squeezed in 1–2 more activities.

The Pass includes 29 New Orleans attractions in total, and honestly, it’s super convenient and totally worth it....

The National WWII Museum has done a great job creating their exhibits. Each one transports you to a specific place and time. They did a great job capturing the essence of time through the use of furniture, art, music, effects, videos and displays. It truly is a remarkable setup. At times it felt like we were entering a different world. The dog tag experience was appreciated because it allowed us to follow a veteran's war experience as we moved from exhibit to exhibit. We followed a Native American soldier and an African American soldier. It gave a life significance. It is a large museum with multiple buildings but with accessible pathways. My wife and I navigated all areas without a problem. We missed the 4D experience and were refunded for it, but do try it as it was directed by Tom Hanks. It's only $11 with admission. The museum volunteers and employees were super helpful. They are essential to making your navigation of the museum successful. The best part of our experience was the private 2-hour curator tour. It is offered once a month to a limited group of 10 people. It is $250 pp but it is worth the price, especially because you get close and personal with the collection. We bought all our tickets in advance. The curator's knowledge is extensive. He's mindful of his audience in adapting the tour. Chase is an exceptional curator. He balanced technical facts about the private collections with sociopolitical and psychological information to help his audience make sense of the culture, climate, pressures and requirements of the time. His view was multifaceted and not ethnocentric to the American experience. We appreciated this museum's effort to shed light...