Seafair Weekend: Thursday at the Museum of Flight
I have 3 boys. My life is air planes, cars, air planes, cars, boats, air planes, cars… So Seafair weekend in Seattle is a big deal in our family.
If you’re not familiar, Seafair is a summer air and water festival that has been a tradition in Seattle for 70 years. Blue Angels flying overhead the first weekend of August is quintessential “Seattle” to me. You’re just going about your day, and then all the sudden they blast overhead, leaving a trail of sound that makes you wonder from which way they came, and which way they’re going.
For a number of years now we’ve made it a tradition to kick off the weekend by watching the Blue Angels take off from Boing Field at The Museum of Flight (MOF) on the Thursday of Seafair weekend. It’s thrilling to watch the Blue Angels buzz overhead, but it’s really something else to see them take off. They roll out onto the runway super slow, line up in a formation of 4-5 planes, then suddenly a huge cloud of steam shoots out behind them and they blast off. From the parking lot in front of the Museum you feel like you’re standing right on the runway. It’s loud, you can feel the force of them through your entire body. It’s thrilling!!! And my kids love it.
Thursday is a practice day, and since it’s basically mid-week, it’s usually not too crazy. Friday through Sunday is ‘Jet Bash’ at the MOF, which is very fun and has lots of extra elements (beyond just the Blue Angels). The timing of the take-offs are different from what happens on Thursday and since these are special events they require specific tickets. We try and do Hydroplanes and Pit Passes on Fridays and/or an I-90 Air Show viewing on Saturday so it’s fun to kick-off the weekend on Thursday by watching them take off. There’s not a ton of information on how to make this day work, it’s a bit of our own homemade tradition. So hopefully this guide will be extra useful.
General Itinerary:
Note: This is how this day normally goes for us, but each year they seem to change things a bit and one year the weather disrupted this schedule pretty dramatically. Bring your “patience-pants” on this outing and be prepared for the day to be a bit different than outlined below.
10:00 – Arrive at Museum of Flight – try to park in the main museum lot, and back into a spot right along the Boeing Field runway fence
10:00-11:00 – Pop open your tailgate and keep everyone busy while waiting for the Blue Angels to make their apperance
11:00-12:30 – Planes take-off at 11 - hang out in the parking lot of the Museum, eat lunch, watch for flyovers (best flyover happens exactly 1 hour after take-off), watch 2nd round of take-offs and the first planes land
12:30-2:00 – Go inside and enjoy the Museum (be sure to cross the bridge to the Aviation Pavilion if you’ve never been)
2:20 – Blue Angels take-off for 2nd Practice
Bring:
Air Show Survival items:
Snacks
Binoculars
Disposable Cameras
Toy Airplanes
Picnic Blanket
On super-hot Seafair Weekend days
Lots of Water
Hats/Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Lunches
Noise cancelling Headphones for babies or sound sensitive kids (it’s loud!)
Pre-purchased MOF tickets – you’ll still have to check-in at ticketing, but you can go through the Member line and it’s significantly quicker
Don’t bring:
Stroller – the MOF is so much easier to navigate without a stroller. If you can manage without one, do. I sometimes bring mine just to have something to put the baby in while picnicking
Weather:
There’s very little shade in front of the Museum so you’re going to be in direct sunlight most of the time you’re outside. If it was a really hot day, I might just spend a bit more time inside the Museum, and just pop outside to see take offs, landings, and the great fly-over that happens exactly one hour after the first planes take off.
Details:
The trick to navigating the Blue Angels practice times used to be the I-90 closure schedule. In the past, you had to use the bridge closure time to figure out when the planes would take off: they could only practice when the bridge was closed. But starting in 2019 they changed the flight pattern for the air show and closing I-90 wasn’t necessary anymore. That year, the MOF published a specific practice flight time for the Thursday schedule. The MOF also changed where the Blue Angels parked – moving them right to their main parking lot between the Museum itself and the runway. They also started requiring ticket purchases to the Museum in order to see the take offs from the parking lot. We’ve been doing this outing for quite a number of years now, and every few years they try something new like this… we’ll see if it sticks (usually doesn’t).
The first practice on Thursday is scheduled from 11:00-1:00. Be sure to arrive at the MOF by 10:00 so you have time to park in a spot right along the runway fence in the main MOF lot.
We like to set-up a tailgate and keep busy with snacks, drinks, games, and anything else you can think of! The take off is the most important part of this whole experience – you don’t want to miss it! Try and find a place with a good view of the runway – they’ll take off just to the south of the Museum.
Usually 4-5 planes practice for just an hour (11:00-12:00) then 2 more planes take off and practice for the 2nd hour. We normally just focus on that 1st hour and head inside the museum when the kids start to get restless.
Cutting into that 2nd hour helps, but you’re still looking at about 2 hours of time you’ll need to keep your kids occupied. The planes provide a bit of entertainment. But it’s not seamless… Some things that help us get through the lulls are: Binoculars (as many as you have, to avoid sharing meltdowns), disposable cameras, toys (my kids like to bring their airplanes), and your picnic lunch. You can purchase food at the MOF restaurant, but the lines can be really long.
One year it was in the low 70s and we were more worried about being cold (forgot socks for the baby!). But usually it’s blazing hot that weekend. There’s very little shade in the parking lot and on the grass – prepare for this with water, hats, light clothes, maybe even a cooler full of otter pops!
But if you can be patient and stay in the lot until the end of the hour it’ll be worth it. Over the 60 minutes you’ll spot them in the distance a number of times, they’ll do good formation fly overs 3-4 times, usually 2 more planes take off towards the end of the hour, and right before they land at 12:00 they usually do an awesome fly over right above the MOF. This last fly over is definitely the highlight of the hour – they come from the north and do a crazy interweaving loop move right above the Museum.
Then we head into the museum for about an hour and a half to explore. The MOF can be navigated with a stroller, but it’s much easier without. We have gotten into the practice of only going here on their busiest days of the year… not sure why exactly! It just always seems to be that way: Seafair, Veteran’s Day… We were literally there for the Vietnam Memorial Park unveiling when Jim Mattis was there! But even during that busy time I was totally comfortable having my 3 kids (including a toddler) just wandering around, loose. The museum galleries are actually great open places for kids to be mobile and explore.
When you enter the lobby head to the left for the Great Gallery where planes are impressively hanging from the ceiling, the Spacecraft Gallery for great space exhibits, and the Kid’s Flight Zone. After, if you have at least 30-45 minutes head over to the Aviation Pavilion to walk amongst the retired planes, some of which you can explore inside (including a Concorde & Nixon’s Air Force One).
Around 2:00 we head back outside to watch the 2nd practice take off at 2:20. Then we make our way home! If I’m trying to keep anyone awake in the car for an at home afternoon nap, I’ll throw Planes on the iPad for the ride. Hope this gives you a new adventure idea for Seafair Weekend!
Links:
MOF: http://www.museumofflight.org/
Jet Bash: https://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits-and-events/jet-blast-bash
Blue Angels Week Schedule: https://www.museumofflight.org/Plan-Your-Visit/Calendar-of-Events/6054/blue-angels-week
Seafair: https://www.seafair.com/
Destination Address:
