Museum Exhibits and Museum Store
Open daily, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Closed Mardi Gras Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.

Beyond All Boundaries
Daily showings, 48-minute experience, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Shows start at the top of the hour.

The Priddy Family Freedom Theater
Daily showings, 30-minute experience, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Shows run twice an hour.

Final Mission: USS Tang Submarine Experience
Daily showings, 15-minute experience, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Included in General Admission.

Expressions of America
Available on select nights, 60-minute experience, outdoor sound and light show.
 

Click here for more Information about Museum access for visitors with accessibility needs.

The Museum is located in New Orleans’s Historic Warehouse District on Andrew Higgins Drive between Magazine and Camp Streets.

The Museum's parking garage is located at 1024 Magazine Street. This portion of Magazine Street is a one-way, and the garage is located on the left side.

Parking Rates

The parking garage cannot accommodate motorcycles or any vehicle over 6'8" tall. There are several paid surface lots in the neighborhood, some not owned by the Museum, which can accommodate oversized vehicles and motorcycles:

• Premium Parking Lot
  -Located on the corner of Camp and Andrew Higgins Street
• Premium Parking Lot
  -Located on the corner of St. Joseph and Magazine Street
• SP + Parking Lot
  -Located on the corner of St. Joseph and Magazine Street

RV Parking Accommodations
At this time we do not offer on-campus parking for RV’s, motor homes, or vehicles pulling trailers. Please see below for information regarding off-campus RV parking options.

Basin St. Station  
French Quarter RV Resort  

For questions or further information, contact us at parking@nationalww2museum.org.

General admission prices range from $25.00 - $35.00 and include access to all exhibit buildings including any current special exhibits and the USS Tang Submarine Experience. It does not include access to Beyond All Boundaries, Freedom Theater, or Expressions of America. These experiences can be added on at point of sale for an additional cost.

Yes. If you checked-in at Ticketing and received your Admission Pass, you are free to leave the Museum and return on the same day until 5pm.

We recommend that you purchase your tickets in advance to receive faster service, but you are welcome to purchase tickets onsite as well.

Our main add-on experiences- Beyond All Boundaries and Freedom Theater are $11.00.

Yes. You can purchase a Second Day Pass within 7 days of your first purchase for $11.00. Our Best Value Package includes a Second Day Pass as well as our add-on experiences Beyond All Boundaries and Freedom Theater and will save you $8.00!

If you are considering touring the Museum for 3 or more days, you may want to purchase a Membership.

We can usually accommodate requests for changes that are made in advance. Please call (504) 528-1944 x 0 or email info@nationalww2museum.org.

No. You can show the QR code on your mobile device to receive entry.

Yes. Gift certificates for general admission are available here.

Daytime admission tickets to The National WWII Museum are non-refundable once purchased.

No. The National WWII Museum is not part of the National Park System and park passes are not valid for admission. The Museum is a private non-profit institution.

Members of AAM and/or employees of other museums receive $5 off General Admission with valid credentials. The Museum is not affiliated with ICOM (International Council of Museums.)

We do offer $2 off General Admission for AAA card holders. We do not have AARP discounts, but we do offer a Senior discount for those 65 years and older.

Yes. Active or former military and their spouse receive $10 off general admission with proof of service. WWII veterans and one companion receive free admission.

No, but we do offer discounts to active and former military.

Discounts for educators are available when visiting as part of a school group.

Reciprocal membership is available with the Pritzker Military Museum & Library in Chicago.

We are open 9am – 5pm, Monday – Sunday. We are only closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Mardi Gras Day.

There is so much to see and do at the Museum. We recommend spending three or more hours. You can always break up your visit into multiple days as needed.

We experience high visitation during the Fall and Spring months. We are also very busy the week between Christmas and New Years Day.

The Museum can be reached by car, bus or streetcar, taxi, rideshare, or bike. Please see our Directions section above for more details.

The official parking garage for the Museum and The Higgins Hotel is located at 1024 Magazine Street. Please see our parking section above for more details.

We recommend staying at our on-campus hotel: The Higgins Hotel & Conference Center.

The exhibits are kept cool for the safety of our artifacts and technical equipment. Many visitors do need a sweater while touring.

We only provide manual wheelchairs on a first-come, first-served basis. Motorized scooter rentals are not available, but they are allowed on campus. Visit our accessibility page to learn more.

Only service animals defined by the ADA are allowed on the Museum’s campus.

Yes. Compact strollers are allowed in the galleries.

Yes. In the Museum enjoy breakfast, lunch, and snacks at the Jeri Nims Soda Shop, or enjoy lunch at The American Sector Restaurant & Bar. We also have several dining options at The Higgins Hotel for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late-night drinks. More details available here.

Only bottled water with a secure lid is allowed in the galleries. Food is only allowed in the restaurants or ground level lobbies.

All persons and bags must first pass through a security checkpoint before entering the Museum. Rolling luggage can be stored at the Guest Services Desk based on available space, which is limited. Lockers are available for storing backpacks and other small items, but capacity is limited. You are allowed to tour the exhibits with small backpacks and purses.

Photography without flash is allowed in the galleries. Recording is not allowed in the galleries or movies.

Limited bench seating is available throughout the galleries, but our campus is very large. Visitors who require frequent sitting may need one of our complimentary wheelchairs, or they may need to bring their own portable stool.

Mothers can breastfeed anywhere on campus, but a private Lactation Room & Quiet Space is available in the Kushner Restoration Pavilion.

Email info@nationalww2museum.org with a detailed description of the lost item which will be sent to the Security Department.

No. The Museum does not have an audio guided tour.

Yes. We have several docent tours, which happen daily, and special behind-the-scenes experiences for an additional fee. Please see our Museum Tours page for more information.

After checking in at Ticketing, you can meet your tour guide at the “Customize Your Museum Experience” kiosk in the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion.

Please visit our Accessibility page for more information.

We do not currently provide tours in other languages, but you can email accessibility@nationalww2museum.org to see if an accommodation can be made.

Yes. Please visit our Group Visit page for more details.

The answer, like many answers in the field of history, is not so simple. Disagreements between military historians and etymologists about the meaning of D-Day abound. Here are just two explanations:

In Stephen Ambrose's D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, he writes, "Time magazine reported on June 12 [1944] that "as far as the U.S. Army can determine, the first use of D for Day, H for Hour was in Field Order No. 8, of the First Army, A.E.F., issued on Sept. 20, 1918, which read, 'The First Army will attack at H-Hour on D-Day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient.'" (p. 491)

In other words, the D in D-Day merely stands for Day. This coded designation was used for the day of any important invasion or military operation. For military planners (and later historians), the days before and after a D-Day were indicated using plus and minus signs: D-4 meant four days before a D-Day, while D+7 meant seven days after a D-Day.

Learn more about D-Day here.

New Orleans is home to the LCVP, or Higgins boat, the landing craft that brought US soldiers to shore in every major amphibious assault of World War II. Andrew Jackson Higgins and the 30,000 Louisiana workers of Higgins Industries designed, built and tested 20,000 Higgins boats in southeastern Louisiana during the war. Dwight Eisenhower once claimed that Higgins was "the man who won the war for us."

Learn more about Higgins Industries and Andrew Jackson Higgins here.

The late Dr. Stephen Ambrose was the founder of The National WWII Museum. He spent decades researching and writing about the war, Eisenhower, and D-Day. As he collected more than 2,000 oral histories from D-Day veterans, he realized that the United States had no museum to honor these men and women and the people on the Home Front who made our victory in World War II possible. Ambrose was also the founder of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at The University of New Orleans.

Find out more about Stephen Ambrose and Nick Mueller, the founders of The National WWII Museum, here.

No, but we do have some helpful tips on finding information about veterans.

Every day, memories of World War II—its sights and sounds, its terrors and triumphs—disappear. Yielding to the inalterable process of aging, the men and women who fought and won the great conflict are now in their late 80s and 90s. They are dying quickly—according to US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, we are losing 348 veterans per day and only 496,777 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2018.

This urgency guides the Museum in everything we do. Collecting the oral history of a veteran, donating an artifact, or contributing to the Museum are only a few of the ways you can help us to preserve the legacy of the Greatest Generation.

View more statistics and download full report.

Find out more about artifact donation.

Less than 10 original LCVPs or “Higgins Boats” are known to exist today. The Museum’s LCVP was built by volunteers, many of whom were Higgins employees, from the original plans and contains some original parts like the ramp and the engine.

Our LCP(L) is an original Higgins built craft. It was restored to original condition by our volunteers, many of whom also helped build the LCVP.

PT-305 is also an original Higgins built PT boat. It is the world's only fully restored, operational, combat veteran PT boat.

No, The National WWII Museum is a private non-profit institution. We have received federal, state, and private funds for initial construction and the ongoing Road to Victory Expansion.

Please look into our D-Day Tours or find out more about other World War II travel packages.

With three hundred seventy-five miles of beaches, cliffs, farming villages and ports, Normandy is a contrasting landscape of ancient fortresses and castles, ruined monasteries, and rolling farmland replete with memories of World War II and scarred with evidence of the Allied D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. While there are many faces of Normandy, here are some basic suggestions for those travelers wishing to visit D-Day-related sites

Top Sites (from east to west):

Pegasus Bridge. Located on the Caen Canal, this key bridge was captured by British airborne troops in the early morning hours of D-Day, helping to secure the eastern flank of the invasion. Although the original bridge was taken down in 1994, a museum marks the site of this crucial coup de main operation.

“The Memorial and Museum of Peace.” Caen’s Battle of Normandy Museum offers guided tours of the landing beaches (British and American) along with a pass to the memorial. Caen is the site of the British breakout through German lines.

WWII Museum at Bayeux. While this town’s chief attraction is its 11th century tapestry honoring William the Conqueror’s victory at Hastings in 1066, the Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie 1944 paints a vivid picture of the Allied invasion and campaign in Normandy.

Arromanches. See the remnants of Mulberry B, one of two huge artificial harbors the Allies towed to Normandy from England. The Museum here has a great model, showing how the structure worked.

Omaha Beach. One of two beaches attacked by American forces on D-Day (the other is Utah Beach). Located near the town of St. Laurent, Omaha Beach was the bloodiest of the D-Day beaches. You can still see remnants of one of the Mulberries, or artificial harbors, the Allies built to support the invasion.

American Military Cemetery at St. Laurent. Stretching across the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, the rows of white marble crosses and stars commemorate the men who died fighting for the Allied victory in Normandy. A must see.

Pointe-du-Hoc. The elite US Rangers scaled this 40-meter high cliff between Omaha and Utah beaches to neutralize a dangerous German gun battery. Check out the cliffs, the ruins of German bunkers, the bomb craters, and see if they were successful.

St.-Lô. In the town where the Americans finally broke through the German lines, the Holy Cross Church is home to a memorial to Maj. Thomas Howie, who had vowed to be the first American in St.-Lô. He was killed shortly before his troops took the city.

Utah Beach. The area around Utah Beach contains monuments, abandoned tanks, and pillboxes— reminders of D-Day. The Musée du Débarquement, near La Madeleine, is located in a German bunker, and offers striking accounts of the battle for Normandy.

Ste-Mère-Eglise. In this town taken by the US Airborne on D-Day, the Musée des Troupes Aéroportées includes photos, a glider, and parachutes commemorating the morning of June 6, 1944 when American paratroopers dropped over the town to secure the western flank of the invasion.

Recommended Travel Books: 
The Visitor's Guide to Normandy Landing Beaches by Holt, Tonie and Valmai
AAA Essential Normandy: All You Need to Know by Nia Williams
Insight Compact Guide: Normandy by Manfred Braunger 
A Traveler's Guide to D-Day and the Battle for Normandy by Carl Shilleto and Mike Tolhurst