Adventures in Public Transport:The Return - Day Six - USS Midway

[Disney Wishing]

After getting up and ready this morning we were heading out for breakfast just before 9am. We walked over the footbridge that linked to the hotel and headed into the Gaslamp District. We had a great breakfast at The Broken Yolk but I only seemed to take a picture of the receipt?

From here we made the short walk to the the Gaslamp Trolley Stop and purchased a three day compass past that we would need over the next few days ($14 dollars each inc the cards themselves). We had a few problems with the machine not liking my card but it turned out I was pushing it in to slowly. Luckily member of staff noticed us struggling and came to help. We them waited for the next trolley to take us up towards Embarcado Area. We rode from Gaslamp up to Santa Fe depot. It’s not that far and we could have walked in it 25 minutes or so but we were trying to save our legs as a bit for the days ahead. We had a bit of a problem when we went to get off the trolley as a man in a wheelchair was waiting to board and we accidentally press the wrong button not realising you had to press something different. He starting yelling at us before we even knew what we had done wrong and it took as a moment to process what had happened. Luckily the driver must have reset the ramp and he did manage to board ok. So if you ride the trolley for goodness sake use the door thats not for wheelchair users. We didn’t make the same mistake again!

From the station we walked out to the waterfront and along to the USS Midway. Although we could see the Midway from our hotel room I we couldn’t get over how big it was close up.

We had pre-brought tickets for the Midway online through Go Pass which no only gave us a discount but also let skip the line and head straight to boarding. You get audio tours included with your entry so we picked these up and then got approached by one of the lovely volunteers onboard who offered DS a chance to earn his Navy wings by completing a quiz as we went around. The audio tour didn’t need to be completed in any particular order, you could just press the corresponding number as you went for information. We started on the middle deck where some planes and history of the ship is before heading to the lower deck. This was a complete maze of endless rooms and stairways; how the people working on the ship ever remembered their way around is beyond me.

There were plenty of volunteers around to help if you needed them. We spoke to a few who were all really interesting and keen to make your visit a good one. After stopping for a drink of water at the cafe we headed up onto the top deck. On this level were loads of planes and a few talks going on. One of the planes was the one used in the film Top Gun. You also got the most wonderful views out over the harbour and city and across to the Naval Base on Coronado.

We debated doing the bridge tour but decided against it as it said the parts were quiet steep and narrow and I didn’t fancy it. I did offer to sit wait for DH and DS but they said they didn’t mind missing it. We then went back down on the middle level to finish off some more bits there and saw the film about the battle of the midway that the ship is named after (Be pre-warned its a sad story if you go to see it). All in all we spent four hours on the ship and still missed bits. DS went back to claim his wings before leaving. One of the Volunteer did this lovely little ceremony to present them. When he realised we were English we showed us the different salutes for US and UK servicemen.

We left the ship around 3.30pm and we were ready for some lunch. We had already picked out the Carnitas Snack Shack which is located near the ship so we headed there. DH and I shared the triple threat pork burger and DS had some pulled pork tacos. It was all great and lovely to sit out in the sunshine while eating it.

From here we headed back to the hotel for a bit of pool time. Unfortunately it was at this point DS found out he must have left his googles back at the pool in Santa Monica and he hates swimming without them so it ended up being a fairly quick visit.

We decided that we weren’t too bothered about going to far for anything to eat that evening so popped to the sports bars connected to the hotel. They had the baseball on again so the men did some more brushing up on the rules ready for tomorrows game. After food we headed back up to the room and got ready for bed as we had a full day planned tomorrow.

[Melbatb]

What a lovely day again! The Midway is on my list but I do wonder if it is similar to the Intrepid in NYC.

[Disney Wishing]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a lovely day again! The Midway is on my list but I do wonder if it is similar to the Intrepid in NYC.

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I remember going past the Intrepid in NY but we didn't go on so i'm not sure. They were both built during WW11 so i imagine they properly are similar.

[rebeccarobbins]

We went on the Midway back in April, when visiting friend who live in San Diego. It's great isn't it? We arrived fairly late in the day and didn't get anywhere near all of it done. I think it's a whole day place isn't it!

[Disney Wishing]

Originally Posted by rebeccarobbins

We went on the Midway back in April, when visiting friend who live in San Diego. It's great isn't it? We arrived fairly late in the day and didn't get anywhere near all of it done. I think it's a whole day place isn't it!

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It was something my hubby had picked out to do as I wasn't sure what I would think of it but it was really interesting. We had really under estimated how much time we would need. We knew the audio tour was roughly 3 hours long but there's so many others things too you could definitely spend all day.

[tocpe321]

Great day. We enjoyed the Midway and the San Diego views.

[mrsdjh]

The Midway sounds really interesting.

[grant_w]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a lovely day again! The Midway is on my list but I do wonder if it is similar to the Intrepid in NYC.

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It is pretty similar, although Midway is a much newer ship. The Midway guides didn't recognise Intrepid as a 'real' aircraft carrier

[summersun]

great day x

[disneypars]

Great day must do the Midway tour one day.