For all the history buffs out there, the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Missouri, is the place for you! The Titanic Museum is the home of over 400 authentic artifacts from the ship itself, as well as photos, an interactive exhibit gallery, a replica of the grand staircase, and so much more. It’s the perfect attraction to include in your next vacation.
Upon checking in with the Titanic Museum’s friendly staff, you’ll receive a boarding pass bearing information about one of the Titanic’s 2,208 crew members or passengers. Read your boarding pass carefully-you may see things about your person throughout the museum and, at the end of the tour, you’ll be able to discover his or her fate. Another way for you to immerse yourself in the experience is the Titanic Museum Attraction’s audio tour. While it’s not necessary to listen to the audio tour to enjoy your time at the museum, is chock full of facts about the great ship and its passengers and crew. There’s even a special audio tour designed for the kids in your group!
The first thing you’ll notice when embarking on your exploration of the museum is the real iceberg in the front lobby. Make sure to touch it as you go by! Just past the check in desk is an intricate model of the ship made to scale by an artist who specialized in miniatures. You’ll also notice the first in a series of interactive trivia questions conveniently located right at your kids’ eye level. The answers to these questions can be found somewhere in the room in which they are located. Some of the questions will even stump the grown-ups in your group!
Proceeding farther into the museum, you’ll see a huge map detailing Titanic’s maiden voyage, view stunning and evocative photographs by noted photographer Father Francis Browne, and study an exhibit on the massive amount of supplies brought on the ship. Make sure to stop and check out what it was like to shovel coal into one of Titanic’s enormous coal furnaces!
As you walk through an approximation of the third-class corridor, you’ll see a replica of a tiny, four-person third class cabin, barely bigger than a closet. You will also be able to discover the stories of many third-class passengers and inspect the articles that accompany their tales. One of the great things about the museum is that you can tailor your experience to your own needs. You could take the time to read every word of every exhibit or you could simply look at the beautiful and interesting artifacts. Since the tour is self-guided, there’s no rush!
The centerpiece of the Titanic Museum is most definitely the magnificent Grand Staircase. The folks at the Titanic Museum spared no expense replicating the staircase from the Titanic’s original plans, complete with reproductions of the intricate oak carvings and elegant cherub statue. The sparking glass dome reflects light on the rich oak paneling and wide steps and landings. As you walk the Grand Staircase, you can imagine how exciting it must have been for the upper-class passengers of the Titanic to make their entrances there each night of the voyage!
After you ascend the Grand Staircase, you’ll enter the magical world of first class. As you walk this corridor, you’ll pass a beautifully-appointed first class cabin and read more stories of the ship’s passengers. By this point in your tour, you’ll be able to hear beautiful piano music filtering down the hall. The first-class corridor emerges into a room dedicated to the musicians of the Titanic, and one of the Museum’s many talented crew members entertains tour guests with a variety of live music. Here you will hear the stories of several of the musicians who never stopped playing as the ship went down.
Some of the museum’s highest-valued artifacts are located in the latter part of the museum. There’s even a butter pat dish that’s valued at 50,000 dollars! Also featured is a priceless and extremely rare piece of cork from one of the Titanic’s actual life vests. Many of these items are on loan from the families of survivors and have never been viewed before their display at the Titanic Museum.
A highlight of the museum for families is the fascinating interactive gallery. Here, kids and adults alike will be able to experience the dramatic slope of the ship as it sank, sit in a replica of one of the lifeboats, and see how long you can keep your hand in water the same temperature as the North Atlantic Ocean on that fateful night. Your kids will be talking about this part of the tour all the way home!
The last stop on your tour of is the Memorial Hall, dedicated to the 1,500 passengers and crew members who lost their lives. Here, you’ll discover the fate of the passenger on the boarding pass you received at the beginning of your journey. You can also read the stories of some of the disaster’s survivors. Many of them went on to live full and fascinating lives after the Titanic disaster.
As you leave the Titanic Museum Attraction, you’ll find yourself thinking about the incredible things you’ve seen and the tales of the real people from the Ship of Dreams. Your trip to the Titanic Museum is sure to make memories that will last a lifetime!
