Starting the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, the USS Midway Museum will put on a new holiday light show, called Jingle Jets.
The aircraft carrier will be decorated with hundreds of thousands of lights from its bow to its stern to create what is billed to be a unique San Diego holiday tradition.
The enormous ship, weighing 40,000 tons will be “transformed from a mighty warship into a winter wonderland with an aviation twist” to bring the holiday spirit to the Bayfront.
Colorful icicle lights draped from decorative truss towers will be on the carrier’s flight deck and nearly a dozen of the Midway’s aircraft will be wrapped in holiday lights.
Visitors can meet Santa in his red flight suit and walk through lit up tunnels and see life-size holiday ornaments along with reindeer.
Overhead truss lighting will fill the hangar with red, green and blue colors, and lighting from above will simulate snowflakes.
Highlights include holiday carolers, dancing to holiday tunes with a DJ, illuminated Christmas trees, photo opportunities, and holiday-themed treats, food and merchandise.
An F-4 Phantom decked out for the Jingle Jets holiday show at the USS Midway Museum.
(David Koontz)
Holiday cards will be at the mess-deck tables for visitors to write letters to service members.
The USS Midway was named after the Battle of Midway, a decisive naval battle during World War II that took place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in June 1942, six months after the Pearl Harbor attack.
The USS Midway was commissioned on Sept. 10, 1945, just missing service in World War II, but went on to be the longest-serving aircraft carrier in the 20th century, playing important roles in the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.
The carrier was decommissioned on April 11, 1992, in San Diego and remained in storage in Bremerton, Wash., until 2003 when it was donated to the nonprofit San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum organization. It opened as the USS Midway Museum in June 2004.
The Jingle Jets holiday light show and festivities are from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on select nights from Nov. 24 to Dec. 23 at the USS Midway Museum, 910 N. Harbor Drive.
Admission to Jingle Jets is $18-$25; free for children ages 5 and younger. This is separate from the regular daytime museum admission fee.
The museum offers free admission to U.S. military veterans during daytime operating hours through Nov. 30. Tickets are at the museum’s ticket booth on Navy Pier, and service members and veterans must show ID or proof of service at the Midway’s ticket booth.
For more information, visit midway.org.
