The USS Intrepid will reopen to the public on Saturday, just in time for Veterans Day. The World War II-era aircraft carrier has served as a floating museum on Manhattan’s West Side waterfront since 1982 and it desperately needed a makeover, one that lasted two years. After the repairs, visitors will enter the 900-foot Essex-class carrier through a large atrium on the ship’s main hangar deck. In there, they will find a diagram of the aircraft, one that shows them where they are and what there is to see. In the refurbished 245-seat theater, visitors can see a 16-minute movie about the history of the Intrepid. The flight deck has been redone as well, and fifteen of the ship’s 30 aircrafts have been repainted in historically accurate colors and reorganized by service.

The engineers and workers also thought that the visitors who come with their children will want to leave them somewhere, and that’s where the interactive section below the decks comes in. The kids can learn hands-on about ballast, how ships signal each other, and how sailors lived aboard a ship. An interesting task requires the kids to unscrew bolts, tie shoelaces or close zippers with a pair of astronaut gloves. The main exhibit area was where the vast majority of the museum’s reorganization took place. It is filled with panels and artifacts that take visitors from the Intrepid’s keel-laying in December 1941 to its final decommissioning from active service in March 1974.

Interactive displays across the ship capture viewers’ attention and an interactive timeline explains all that the ship’s been through. Another interesting thing to watch while you’re visiting the ship is the interactive cruise book, where the ship’s officers, various departments and ports of call can be seen. Visiting the ship will certainly be a great experience for both veteran visitors and young visitors.