Kate’s Trip to the Museum of Ice Cream
During a recent family trip to Boston Massachusetts, we visited the Museum of Ice Cream. https://www.museumoficecream.com/boston/ One of the highlights being all you can eat ice cream. I was not entirely sure what to expect, but I assumed there would be ice cream, trivia on the wall, and a slew of small children excited for sweet treats.
Like most tourist attractions, we entered with a group. I was distracted at the entrance as my husband was handing me and both our teens brightly colored tokens with a mischievous grin. Once we were shuffled into a smaller room with a group, I had the opportunity to look up and evaluate who I would be enjoying ice cream with, and to my surprise my teens were the youngest in attendance by far. The lack of kids did not deter any of our tour guides from providing magical fun for everyone. We had to start by creating ice cream names. Yes, pink name tags all around. “Do not use your real name, you are someone different for the day,” we were told. The entire group rushed to the name tags and markers and as I had only a moment to make my decision. “Cheery Cherry,” I wrote very neatly so my clever name could be shared later if needed. I love to ace a test, and this felt like a test. Who else could come up with such a clever fruity name that just rolls off the tongue and portrays my mood so perfectly. Who wouldn't be cheery amongst all the pink and promise of ice cream? As the room was called to go around and introduce themselves, I found myself married to none other than Grumpy Grape.... apparently, mood + fruit is as winning a combo as Cream + Sugar.
As soon as we exited the name-tag-room we were directed upstairs to the ice cream trivia room. The experience left no moment untouched and midway on the stairs you were handed your first frozen treat, cherry chocolate chunk ice-cream on a stick. Enjoying the tasty treat, my entire group worked its way around a room full of interactive trivia. Delightful ice cream scoops dotted a wall. Lift one up and you are treated to a fun fact. In the middle of the room a table of clickable bubbles with ice cream toppings inside. After careful examination (read: I pushed all the bubbles with zero effect) the rooms tour guide came over to excitedly explain that it was a trivia game. I was not deterred by her warning that it was very very hard. It's a test, I am great at tests. Ice cream has humbled me as I got exactly zero questions right. Circumstances around ice cream toppings such as hot fudge, marshmallows and sprinkles is apparently something I'll need to study more. I will need field work to really experience the toppings in their natural habitats. (Read: I'll be making more ice cream sundaes in my future!).
I was impressed again as we were invited to enter the next room or stay in this room as long as well like. This immediately made me realize we were in for an experience that was not going to be rushed; we were meant to savor the experience. The next room “arrived” every 7 minutes and we jumped in the next opening. Throughout the experience we left earlier and later than others and found ourselves rarely with the same group. Sometimes we were the only ones in an experience which led to magical family moments as I watched my teens explore.
We caught the next room before it left and entered the bright orange Creamliner. We enjoyed a simulated flight through ice-cream land. The views from the window were directly from a dream. We were also served Pineapple Dole Whip with vanilla soft serve. This treat was my family's favorite, and we will all be chasing the tangy, creamy, sweet, frozen treat for years. When the flight ended, we were guided to the hall of freezers. I am so impressed that they made use of transitioning from rooms to provide an additional experience. The hall of freezers was lined with old school looking freezer doors. Pull open the large silver handle and you are rewarded with a mini game, trivia or even a secret room. The end of the room held a delightful kitchen scene with a GIANT chocolate chip cookie baking in the oven. This was giving you a clue to what the next ice cream treat would be.
Surprisingly, when we entered the next room there was no treat waiting for us. It seemed to be a very relaxing room, large TV on the wall playing... nothing? Large chairs that looked like cookies and space to color. Hmmm, we must be missing something.... On one wall was a bookshelf with bells to ring. Grumpy Grape was the first to test out the bell and was rewarded with a secret compartment swinging open and presenting him with a chocolate chip
ice cream sandwich. Ahhhh, Grumpy Grape might be thawing a little. I explored another bookshelf and was rewarded with a secret door to a room of books. All with names familiar but somehow altered such as “Around the World in Eighty Desserts, or “Oh the places you’ll Dough.” When I left this secret room, I was rewarded with seeing my son on the TV screen. He found a secret room that projected him onto the huge TV screen overlaying him with a chef's hat to make it look like he was hosting a cooking show.
We transitioned through the hall of refrigerator magnets, pathway of bananas, an LED light room with techno music and finally hit the largest, nosiest, busiest room in the experience. Funway Park held loads of arcade games with a twist. A giant gumball machine in the middle of the room dispensed soft baseballs that you could use to play any of the carnival like games. Our favorite was a version of Skee-Ball where you had to bounce the ball on a platform to get the baseball to sink into the Skee-Ball like targets. We passed on the cotton candy ice cream offering to keep our hands free for maximum game playing fun.
As we moved through the remaining rooms I was growing in curiosity as to what the brightly colored token in my pocket would lead to. At the very last room we were met with the choice of what ice cream treats we would want to end our day with. The Mischievous Grumpy Grape announced it was time to take out our tokens and the three of us were rewarded with the most over the top ice cream sundaes. They literally came in swimming pools! The all you can eat ice cream promise was fulfilled as none of us were able to finish a swimming pool worth of ice cream.
To end the experience, you had a choice to exit via elevator or exit via two story twisty slide. I am sure you can guess how Cheery Cherry exited... At the exit you needed to remove your name tag and step out of your ice cream persona. I like to think that Grumpy Grape’s name tag enjoys having Cheery Cherry name tag right next to him for as long as the name tag shrine stands.
