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Pearl Harbor is a great place to visit when you are touring around Oahu. There are many things to do there besides the USS Arizona Memorial. You can visit the Aviation Museum, see the USS Missouri memorial, go inside the USS Bowfin submarine, and much more. This essay reviews the Arizona Memorial and the Aviation Museum.
Getting There
Entering Pearl Harbor is simple but can be difficult. Parking is paid for, and the main lot is always full. However, there is a parking area down the street that is much less crowded. Before leaving your car, keep all your bags in there; they aren’t allowed on the military base. Once you enter, you just need to pay for tickets or buy them ahead of time online.
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The USS Arizona Memorial
The “main” attraction is the USS Arizona Memorial. If you have a reservation set, wait until your reservation time arrives. If not, you can enter a standby queue, which, from my experience, took about an hour. In that hour, there are a few things to do to avoid getting bored. You can enter the two buildings that show and teach about the attack. These take about 15-45 minutes, depending on how much you read. If you still have extra time, you can walk around the lobby of Pearl Harbor, and there is an area by the water that makes for great photos. You can see the USS Arizona Memorial from there, too. Once you get called either reservation time or for standby, you enter the line and then into the theater. Before, the theater would play a short film about the attack, but they recently stopped doing that, and it is optional. If you want to see the film, it plays at a different theater after the memorial. Now, in the theater, you enter before the memorial, and they just state some rules and things to keep in mind when at the memorial.
Some of these include:
- Stay quiet
- No photos or videos on the ramp that leads to the memorial
- Most importantly, be just respectful, the memorial is an active military graveyard, not a fun tourist attraction. It is something to be serious about.
After the rules, you head out to the boat that leads to the USS Arizona Memorial. The boat ride is relatively short. Keep in mind, though, sitting by the front of the boat can lead to some water splashing on you. Once at the memorial, you head onto the ramp, the one you can't take any photos or videos. The ramp goes up to the memorial above the battleship. There is an American flag pole, crew names, areas to see the battleship right below you, and even oil still spilling out of the ship. You can take photos inside the memorial. After about 20 minutes, your group gets called back to the entrance, you go down the ramp, onto the boat back to the lobby.
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The Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
The Pearl Harbor aviation museum is located on Ford Island. This attraction does not need any reservations. To go there, you just need your tickets. On the opposite side of the memorial area in the lobby, is the shuttle bus. The shuttle bus leads to USS Battleship Missouri and the aviation museum. If you want to go to both, it is recommended that you go to Battleship Missouri first, then the aviation museum, as the shuttle goes from the lobby to Missouri, the aviation museum, and then back to the lobby.
After waiting for the shuttle and heading to the aviation museum, you enter through its doors. You scan your tickets, then enter. There are many plaques and planes on stands and hanging from the ceiling, showing the planes involved in the battles of both the US and Japan. If you want, there is a fighter pilot flight simulator, and you can see what it is like to be in a fighter plane. It is full motion, so the part you sit in goes up and down, and spins all 360 degrees. Walking more, there was also a cafe. The food I got from that cafe was chicken bites (basically just chicken nuggets) and fries. The service was extremely fast, I didn't even sit down yet when the food arrived. The fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The chicken bites were crispy and juicy, too.
That is only the main building, though. You can head over to the air traffic control tower (ATC) and take a tour for about $30 in the tower. You can also head over to
Hangar 79. It consists of even more planes, and some, even the ones that were actually in battle, so you can see how damaged they were. On the outside of Hangar 79 are many modern fighter jets, including the Blue Angels F/A 18 Super Hornet. Some helicopters that were used in the army are outside the hangar, too. And, of course, like any other museum, there is a gift shop. Besides the water bottles, clothing, and other simple items, there are also plane models that were used in war. Some are airliners too, like the Pan Am Boeing 747, which the airline and the plane are being built anymore. It is suggested to have 90 minutes to look around the museum. After leaving, you take the shuttle back to the lobby, and you can go to the next thing or go back to your car and go home.
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Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Pearl Harbor is a great place to visit, especially if you are interested in topics of battle and history. The USS Arizona Memorial has lots to see and information about Pearl Harbor. The aviation museum provides many details about the warplanes, current fighters, and some food if you want.
