Ice cream is my favorite food, so when I was offered tickets to The Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco, I couldn't say no. I first heard about this attraction back in March, and I was intrigued from the beginning. However, when I tried to get tickets I found out it was extremely difficult due to popular demand.
That made me wonder: why does everyone want to see this museum so badly? I needed to find out for myself first hand what was so great about The Museum of Ice Cream.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the building was how neat everything was. It had that feeling where it was a little TOO clean and organized. All the workers were sweet and friendly, and they were prepared to answer any question. There was also pink everywhere I looked.
This brings me to my next point. The color scheme and designs of each room were very aesthetically pleasing! There were about 15 different rooms and sections in this whole museum, and each pertained to a different theme. All of the paints and decorations attaining to each room were very fitting, and it was apparent a lot of planning went into creating this museum by a top-notch designer.
So, if you care about Instagram worthy pictures, The Museum of Ice Cream is definitely the place to be.
When you enter, there is an upstairs space with a few different things to do. Of course, the iconic pink wall that says Museum of Ice Cream is front and center. There is also a little space to taste test three different types of ice cream made especially for this museum. The flavors looked amazing! There was Sprinkle Pool, Piñata, and Vanilla With Wafers. I was excited to try all of them…only to find out that I could only have one bite of one flavor. What? I expected at least a scoop, especially since I was in a place where ice cream was so celebrated.
I tried to look past that as I waited in line to swing on some nicely decorated swings (which ended up being as fun as it sounds), and I got hyped up to dive into a giant pool of sprinkles.
The sprinkle pool was honestly my favorite part.
Just like it sounds, it was a giant tub filled with sprinkles that you could just dive into. It reminded me of an adult version of a ball pit, and the sprinkles felt strangely relaxing to sink in to and the colors were a pretty sight.
After that, my tour group was ushered downstairs for the main part of what the workers called "our ice cream experience." The downstairs portion was, as I mentioned earlier, just a bunch of differently themed rooms. Each had an activity and sweet treat pertaining to the theme.
As I walked back upstairs, my opinions about The Museum of Ice Cream were rather torn. I did have a good time, mostly because of how visually pleasing everything was, and I got to share this experience with my family. However, I was also somewhat disappointed and left wanting more.
When I heard the words "Museum of Ice Cream" for the first time, I was expecting something a lot different. I wanted to learn about the history of ice cream, different ice cream facts, and the process of making it. Was it too much to expect a live demonstration of making ice cream? Perhaps.
Even if those were too much to ask for, I at least wanted to actually eat ice cream! I thought there would be somewhat obscure flavors and taste testing sessions. You would think, right?
There wasn't even an option to buy a scoop of ice cream in the overpriced gift shop.
So what are my overall thoughts? I'm happy I went. If I didn't go I'd be left wondering what this amazing Museum of Ice Cream was all about and I'd feel like I'd be missing out on something great. Also, props to whoever designed the whole layout, I LOVED the look. Everyone was friendly in the same way that all the Disneyland workers are. But for the exhibit itself, I was very underwhelmed. This had so much potential to be an interesting learning experience about ice cream but it fell very flat, at least for me.
