NEW ORLEANS (March 13, 2013) — On an otherwise typical Monday at The National WWII Museum, an all-time record attendance level was set by visitors. The Museum counted 3,556 visitors on Monday, March 11, topping the previous daily attendance record of 3,261 visitors set on Friday, March 27, 2009.
“This milestone demonstrates the Museum’s increasing position as a national cultural attraction,” said Stephen Watson, vice president and chief operating officer of The National WWII Museum. “Our ongoing expansion offers visitors even more ways to experience the war that changed the world.”
As TripAdvisor’s number one attraction in New Orleans and the number one attraction in the South according to readers of AAA’s Southern Traveler magazine, The National WWII Museum continues to attract visitors from around the globe.
This milestone arrives on the heels of the recent unveiling of the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, which opened its doors on January 13. The Museum attributes this boost in ticket sales to compelling new exhibits that are now open to the public.
The US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center showcases the people, weapons and industrial might that became the Arsenal of Democracy — a force forged by the American Spirit that preserved our liberty, and also the world's, in the defining struggle of the 20th Century. Exhibited artifacts include a restored B-17E Flying Fortress, B-25J Mitchell, SBD-3 Dauntless, TBM Avenger, P-51D Mustang and Corsair F4U-4 among many others.
The pavilion’s signature exhibit, Final Mission: The USS Tang Submarine Experience, is an interactive experience incorporating sound, motion and digital graphics that give visitors a taste of the conditions and realities of submarine warfare in WWII’s Pacific Theater. Visitors man authentic positions and perform the battle actions of actual crewmembers as the Tang engages the Japanese forces in a recreation of the doomed sub’s final war patrol battle. Upon exiting visitors encounter a memorial wall of photos of the Tang’s crew.
The busy pace of construction on the Museum’s six-acre campus, located in the historic Warehouse District, showcases the ongoing fulfillment of the Museum’s plan for expansion. Work has begun on another new pavilion, Campaigns of Courage: European and Pacific Theaters, which is slated to open in the spring of 2014.
The final phase of the Museum’s expansion plan calls for the construction of The Liberation Pavilion (scheduled to open in 2016) and an expansive special exhibits gallery. A proposed hotel, conference center and a parking structure, if built, will finish out the expansion.
The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American Experience in the war that changed the world — why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today. Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and designated by Congress as America’s National WWII Museum, it celebrates the American Spirit, the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women who served on the battlefront and the Home Front. For more information, call 877-813-3329 or 504-527-6012 or visit www.nationalww2museum.org. Follow us on Twitter at WWIImuseum or visit our Facebook fan page.