Museum of Ice Cream – The Sold Out Newcomer to San Francisco

The Museum of Ice Cream is THE THING at the moment. When it came to San Francisco, the tickets sold out in eighteen minutes. Last week I was able to tour around the museum with my friend, and this is what it was like:

We arrived to the Museum of Ice Cream at 5 pm when our tour was suppose to start. There was a line to get in at the front of the building where everyone’s tickets were scanned. The line moved pretty fast though, since the tours were done in groups. We started in a group, but you didn’t have to stick with the same people if you didn’t want to. Before entering the museum, we were asked to come up with an ice cream name for our group, and choose a group captain. We were asked to forget everything else and be like a 12 year old while in the museum. And in we went.

The very first museum of ice cream started as a pop up in New York and was planned to be open for 45 days. Behind the idea was 25 year old Maryellis Bunn who thought that New York needs something new. The museum was a huge success, so she also opened one in Los Angeles. This fall, San Francisco got one, and at the moment they are selling tickets to a brand new one in Miami. There is no certainty in how long these museums will be open, but the one in San Francisco has sold tickets through February 2018. 

The Museum of Ice Cream is more like an exhibition than an actual museum. In the beginning of the tour, they tell you a little bit about the history of ice cream, but the rest of the museum is just bizarre rooms and corridors. The idea soon becomes very clear; The rooms are built so that people can take cool, “instagrammable” pictures in them. Even though the ice cream museum sounds fun for the kids, this one is obviously meant for young adults. In a couple of the rooms, they give you small scoops of ice cream and we also got some cotton candy.  

After the visit, we were trying to figure out what we really thought about the museum. For some reason, it was difficult to wrap our heads around it. We had so much fun, but at the same time we felt like maybe it was not worth $40. We definitely didn’t learn anything new there. I read some reviews before our visit and many people said they felt very rushed. To a certain extent, I have to agree with that. Obviously everyone wants to take photos in the exact same spots and a couple of times the group behind us even caught us. Also, you are only allowed to be in the sprinkle pool, which is the icing of the cake in this place, for three minutes. And that three minutes let me tell you, is the shortest three minutes you have ever had. 

As I already mentioned, this museum is not really designed for kids even though we saw many of them there. One of the reviews mentioned that they will not allow strollers inside the museum. This was good to know, since there is nothing about that on their website, and I had planned to take our baby with me. Finally, I decided to leave her home which was a good move. 

If you happen to be one of the lucky ones to get tickets to the Museum of Ice Cream, you should also know, that they will check your ID at the door. The ticket holder must be present but the rest of the party can be anyone you want to invite. It was also interesting that they wouldn’t give you the actual tickets until 24 hours prior to your tour. At that point, it will be texted to your phone. This information was also no where to be found, and I had to call them to find out why we haven’t gotten our tickets yet.

Opening this kind of place must of taken some courage. Who could have known that it would be such a success. But I must admit that the idea is pretty fun! Stay tuned for some more pictures of the Museum of Ice Cream on my Instagram account @paulagaston.