Pearl Harbor

[chimommy]

Hello-

Trying to figure out "timing" for touring Pearl Harbor? Im going to try and get reserved tickets for USS Arizona. Just curious how we should work in touring the USS Missouri. If I'm fortunate to get the USS Arizona tickets for 11am, how early should we arrive at Pearl Harbor? if we get afternoon tickets, Id like to tour USS Missouri before we go to USS Arizona. IS parking a mess there? What do you do with your belongings? Thanks!

 

[BigDaddyLaBouff]

Had no issue with parking. arrived 30 minutes before. There are also walk up tickets alloted if you don't get any pre booked. Lockers for belongings that cost money.

 

[ksromack]

We are in the same boat, so to speak. Now I am wondering if it's better to just get there early and line up before 7am to get earlier walk up tickets for the USS Arizona and do the Missouri afterwards? I would like to have completedly this before noon. Any thoughts?

 

[kyton]

You can be as quick or take as long as you want. My then 11yo son and I took 3hrs to do the Missouri - all up we were then for over 7hrs. You also have to factor in waiting for the shuttle to get you on and off Ford Island.

 

[plygph]

Reserve your tickets for Arizona. Do the Missouri first it does not take that long. For us SKIP the air museum Shuttle run regularly. or schedule Arizona for 1 pm like I am doing for this trip.

My 2 cents

 

[Mathmagicland]

We are in the same boat, so to speak. Now I am wondering if it's better to just get there early and line up before 7am to get earlier walk up tickets for the USS Arizona and do the Missouri afterwards? I would like to have completedly this before noon. Any thoughts?

I’d go with this plan, to get there early, as there are fewer people on the Arizona Memorial first thing. As noted, there are tickets held aside for walk ups for each timeslot, and several often go unclaimed. The unclaimed walk-in tickets means fewer people on the Memorial or a shorter wait to get to the Memorial, You can then get one of the earlier shuttles to the Missouri, again possibly fewer people there. The NPS museum and exhibits at the Arizona can be done after you return from the Missouri.

 

[MinnieInVA]

I got reserved tickets for a 1 pm USS ARIZONA tour, and sprung for the all access passport option. We arrived at the visitor center around 7:30, and were the first ones on the bus to go to Ford Island for the USS MISSOURI tour. I think we spent about 2 hours on that tour. We then took the bus over to the aviation museum. I'm a retired Navy pilot, and it pains me to say this, but that part was definitely missable. Spent less than an hour wandering around, but we did have a leisurely lunch at the aviation museum cafe. We left Ford Island around noon, then did the self-guided narrated tour around the visitor center until it was time for our ARIZONA tour. We got back from the memorial around 1:45, finished the self-guided tour, then we went to the BOWFIN submarine tour. That was about an hour, and it also had a self-guided narrated tour. We were done with all 4 activities between 3-3:30. Obviously you can pick and choose activities based on your family's interests.

 

[Paflyers]

I have the same exact questions. I did get an 11:00 am USS Arizona ticket as well, I also opted to get the passport package. If we were to arrive first thing in the morning, would we have enough time to do anything prior to the USS Arizona? Will we be visiting on Thursday Feb 13th.

 

[nkereina]

The gates open at 7am. You can tour the free portion of the site prior to your Arizona tour - it took us about an hour, but it can be as long or as short as you want, depending on your level of interest. Its basically museum-like exhibits you tour at your leisure, no cost and no ticket/tour time required. We had to line up for our tour about 10 minutes prior to the start time.

I have heard that parking can be challenging the later in the day you arrive. People who have not secured tour tickets in advance tend to arrive well before 7am so that they can queue outside the gates and obtain day-of tickets. On the day of, its first come first served in order of tour times, so if you are further back in the line, chances are you will get a tour time for later in the day. When this happens, people find themselves between a rock and a hard place because they do not want to leave and lose their parking spot.

As far as your belongings, bags are not permitted inside but you can store them securely outside the gates at the building to the right of the entrance. Its $5 per bag and they give you a claim ticket like a coat check. Its not recommended you leave anything in your car because theft and car break-ins are rampant on Oahu, particularly in tourist areas and in unattended lots, like the Pearl Harbor one.

 

[kiford]

How long it takes partly depends on what you want to see and if you get tickets for everything. We showed up about 7:40 am and got tickets for 8:00 am (or 8:15 - can't precisely recall). We basically got shoved out of the gates at 5 pm when they closed. We toured the Missouri, the Bowfin, the 3-4 separate museum buildings, and both air hangars. Plus had lunch (out at the air museum). By the end we were walking relatively quickly through the museums partly because we knew they closed at 5 and partly because we were exhausted. It can take about as much time as you like depending on how long you spend looking at the various exhibits. We managed to board the Missouri right as there was a tour guide so we did that first and then did the walkthrough. We looked at, and read, pretty much everything so we were on it for quite a while.

Parking was fine. There were people just coming in so it was relatively empty. We left everything in the car and just put wallets and small cameras in our pockets.

Be warned that, if you are coming from Aulani, the traffic is horrendous at that time of the morning. We left a little after 6 am figuring we'd be there about 7 or just a little after but it took much much longer. It's rush hour and everyone is on the road between about 6 am and 9 am. It totally clears up then and then builds back up from about 4:30-6:30 pm going back. If you stay until it closes, my advice is to find somewhere to eat in Honolulu and head back when rush hour is over.