Museum of Ice Cream Review and Tips: Going with a Toddler

The exterior of the Museum of Ice Cream. If you look closely, you can see Little Leia and her "Dada."

Before I went to the Museum of Ice Cream, I read a few reviews from other moms in one of the Facebook mom groups that I frequent. They weren’t shining reviews by any stretch of the imagination, so I was a bit nervous about going with Leia and my husband.

The first thing I took note of was that parking was a pain. The installation is in Miami Beach, so that means that only street parking is available.

So here’s the first tip...

1. Get there early to look for parking, but not too early!

We got tickets for December 22nd. My husband took the day off of work, and we left our house an hour and a half before the time on our ticket (11:30am). We got there an hour early (10:30am), and found parking two blocks from the building. We tried to enter the museum early, but they explained that they couldn’t let us in until 20 minutes before our ticket time.

So we went across the street and took a leisurely stroll down the beach, then explored the Faena Hotel (Wowza! What a beautiful/expensive hotel!). At 11:10am, we made our way back to the museum.

Our shadows in the sand at Miami Beach across the street from the Museum of Ice Cream.

We also noticed plastic sprinkles all along the sidewalks for several blocks around the museum.

See article linked later in this post to learn more about plastic sprinkles on the sidewalks outside the Museum of Ice Cream.

2. Tickets are only sold online. Buy them as soon as you know you want to go because they sell out fast.

We stood in a short line and witnessed a family in front of us attempt to buy tickets at the door. They were turned away and informed that the tickets for December were all sold out and that they might be able to purchase some online for the beginning of January.

Leia waiting patiently to enter the Museum of Ice Cream.

Leia was fascinated by this bench full of real sprinkles in the entrance lobby. She looked at me and asked if she could eat them.

We were welcomed into the museum and waited in a short line to reach an ice cream fortune teller.

3. You can skip the fortune teller if it’s not your thing.

We thought it was cute, so we let the fortune teller read our ice cream-related fortunes. I got the rainbow, which she said meant that I have a vibrant personality that attracts people around me.

The ice cream fortune teller at her booth that had a countertop full of sprinkles.

Then we walked into the first official room, and it was a 1950’s diner! We were served the most delicious miniature chocolate shakes topped with pink whipped cream and a pink cherry. I loved this room. It was definitely my second favorite in the whole museum. I wish I’d stayed in this room longer. They were playing fun music and it has several Instagram-worthy photo ops. 

You could take one of these placemats and a pencil and do some fun activities.

An employee was nice enough to snap a few pics of us in this room.

We each sat on a bench at a counter to enjoy our milkshakes.

Leia is eating a cup full of whipped cream because she didn't like the chocolate milkshake. It was "too cold."

So delicious.

We left the diner to enter an open area in the center of the building where met the “Stairmaster” (instead of Ringmaster). 

The Stairmaster stands below this mass of balloons. Aren't they striking?

The Stairmaster stands on a short platform to announce the rules of the museum...

4. Stay in a room as long as you like because they do not allow you to go back to any room. 

5. The ice cream melting off the walls and other props hanging from the walls are not to be touched.

6. There are interactive exhibits, and those that you can touch and interact with will be obvious.

7. There are 4 floors and there is one bathroom on each floor. Careful on the stairs, as you will be going up a lot of them!

8. They have an elevator…

But in a review I read on my Facebook mom group, a mom had gone with a stroller on a day when the elevator broke down, so her stroller was a total nuisance.

We always take our stroller everywhere, but this museum is not exactly stroller friendly, so my next tip is…

9. Don’t bring a stroller. You can bring it, but I don’t recommend it.

We went upstairs into a room with colorful walls and these fun Ice Cream windmills.

The ice cream windmills look good enough to eat.

The walls in this room were so colorful and fun!

Then, we moved on to the tropical room.

You can read the rest of this post at ellanewriter.com.