1,600 Museums Offer Military Families Free Tickets - More than 1,600 museums across the country will offer free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families this summer in a program that has more than doubled in size since 2010.

• The expanded Blue Star Museums initiative will be announced Tuesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City where more than 40 museums are participating.
• The offer of free admission runs from Memorial Day until Labor Day at sites nationwide.
• The program began in 2010 as a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Defense Department. It's adding 300 new museums this year.
• The participating sites include art museums, science centers, history museums, nature centers and about 70 children's museums.
  New participants include the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar in Richmond, Va., the New Mexico Museum of Space History, San Francisco's Children's Creativity Museum and the World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.
• It comes at an important time for military families and can be a way to welcome military families to new communities as they often relocate, said Navy Capt. Brad Cooper, executive director of Joining Forces.
• "A large percentage of moves happen over the course of the summer," often from one end of the country to the other, Cooper said. Opening access to museums "really just opens up the aperture of what families are able to do in their travels and their vacation time," he said.
• Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, said it's good for museums, too.
• "This is both an opportunity to thank military families for their service and sacrifice, as well as a chance to create connections between museums and these families that will continue throughout the year," he said in a statement
  Last week, the Interior Department announced it would give military families free access to every national park in the country with annual passes. The passes normally cost $80 and provide access to more than 2,000 national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands.

Additional Tickets
Tickets listed below are available to active duty, retired and military spouses and dependents as well as DoD civilian employees.
Six Flags Fiesta Texas San Antonio-$33.00 day pass
Galveston Island Moody Gardens-$37.00 day pass
San Antonio Sea World-$45.00 day pass
Orlando Sea World-$75 adult day pass, $65 child day pass
San Diego Sea World-$68 day pass
Some passes must be ordered, so please call ahead to confirm availability.

Leisure Travel Services (LTS) offers hundreds of discounted tickets for national attractions. Tickets are based on contracts that are negotiated by the U.S. Army DFMWR on behalf of the military communities. Special rates are available to all members of the military communities: active duty, retirees, active reserve and National Guard, DoD civilians and Family members. Although certain attractions offer a "military discount" at the gate, only tickets purchased through your LTS office are tax free and guaranteed to go to the Soldier through the DFMWR program.