The Museum of Ice Cream is back in town in NYC, it’s original hometown and it’s here to stay!
So what IS the Museum of Ice Cream? If you know, you know. But if you don’t, where have you been? It’s one of the OG pop-up Instagram havens. It started here in NYC years ago and then migrated to LA, San Francisco and Miami before finally coming back home. They opened up a temporary pop-up called Pint Shop last summer I visited that you can read about here. What started as a small experiment has become a national phenomenon as its products and merchandise can be found all around the country now in Target stores and even had a makeup collaboration with Sephora last year. They’re still going strong with their own line of ice cream at Target stores. I loved their LA location and I enjoyed their Pint Shop rendition last summer so I was so happy to hear that they were coming back to NYC finally. I legit stalked their ice cream truck during NYCC because I was so excited.
TICKETS
Tickets launched this past October and you bet your bottom dollar I snagged tickets for their first opening week! I decided against a weekend day and tested my luck on a weekday instead for a chance of being less busy so I could have optimal time gramming and experiencing it without feeling or being rushed through the experience since quite frankly, the prices and fees are quite steep at $39 a pop with a $8.50 service charge . Long story short, is it worth it? Absolutely. And no, this is not sponsored or anything. I bought tickets on my own and I have honestly always found Museum of Ice Cream to be one of the better pop-ups I’ve attended. I am NOT entirely bias though as I did report back on the Pint Shop Tasting rather objectively which you can read about here for that experience.
TIME
My appointment was Thursday at 2pm and it worked out pretty well. I didn’t leave til around 6pm (yes, I spent 4 hours here, don’t judge me) and when I left, there was a LONG line waiting to get in. So I definitely recommend a weekday and I recommend earlier time slots if you don’t want to fight for an empty gram photo. Although, I do have to say, they have also improved their policies in regards to time! You still can only go forward in a pop-up (meaning you can’t go back to a room once you’ve moved forward) BUT there is no time limit on ANY of the rooms and exhibits! Yes, you read that right, no time limit! For those who have visited MOIC and infinity room like pop-ups, you know their money maker rooms usually have time limits as little as 45 seconds. For the LA MOIC, the sprinkle pool was limited to 3 minutes once they started the clock. Gone are these days for this installation. You can stay in the sprinkle room as long as you like! But remember, going during busier times, means a lot of people in the same room as you and a few of you might be standing around fighting for that coveted empty shot. Tickets are also the same price no matter what day or time slot you choose, so I definitely recommend strategizing to get the most out of your visit. They do only allow a set number of guests at a time, which is good and bad; good because you’ll never feel too crowded but bad because if you go during a busy time, obviously you’ll have to wait in line before your group can get in. It’s a no brainer to go on an off-peak day at an off-peak time (think before school lets out and the families flood the place because that’s what happened at 6pm when I walked out). It is self-paced though so take your time once you get in and absolutely take advantage and take photos of everything, eat everything and play with everything.
ICE CREAM
I think I got to try 5 different ice creams in the exhibit. I remember Churro Churro being in the first room, which was delicious, an ice cream cake pop, booza ice cream (elastic ice cream), soft serve, and Queen Bee (a delicious honey ice cream!). They were all stationed pretty evenly apart and you’re allowed seconds or thirds or however many times as you want to keep going back for more so long as you’re still in that room! My favorite was the Queen Bee and the booza since it was unique and my first time trying stretchy ice cream.
THE ROOMS
There are 13 installations across 3 floors. Some rooms are bigger than others; some HUGE and some closet sized but there is definitely a LOT to get through. Take your time, take your time, take your time! Oh yes, a coat check is provided before you start on your adventure which I found really convenient and amazing to have built in to a pop-up. The only other pop-up I’ve found to have done this so far was Rose Mansion, which is also another one of my favorite and highly recommended pop-ups worth your money. They also have restrooms available on the first floor before you start as well. I found the bathroom to not only be clean, spacious (unheard of in NYC) but also gorgeous and grammable. I found it to be an extra photo op!
After the coat check, you walk down a pink waffle cone wallpaper hallway that has cute little facts about the beginnings of ice cream on the wall. From there, you step into a room where you brainstorm and think up your new ice cream name and write it on your name tag. I suggest you do this before arriving so you can think up something cute and clever. I was RxBerries & Cream but they have a lot of cute celebrity ones on the wall as inspiration like Dairyana Grande and Angelato Jolie. From there, you get a little introduction from the staff and head into your first room where you get a sample of Churro Churro. This room is themed like a cute little speakeasy bar. From there, you walk up a long pink hallway upstairs into a Marie Antoinette dream of a room filled with dessert and balloons. This was probably my favorite room as it smelled amazing like cotton candy and was in a pink haze as you walk through. Everything was grammable from everything on the table to the wallpaper. MOIC really knocked it out of the ballpark with every little detail. On the table are cute little ice cream cake pops that are for you to take and enjoy as you please. I love that everything is for you to touch and grab and enjoy. It doesn’t feel like a stuffy museum where everything is roped off and no photography allowed.
From here, you journey to a pink room with different doors to open like a fun house, and then into a mock subway car but in pink MOIC fashion. This was another favorite room as it felt like a Disney ride as it hyper spaced you into the next “station.” There were so many photo ops in the subway room. From here, you walk though a galaxy/cloud room and then straight into the banana room. I liked that they brought the banana room back from the LA rendition. It’s a simple room but spacious, fun and I just love the splash of vibrant color. From here, they have two small rooms you have to crawl into to gram; one is a bouncy pink room and a sprinkle wall room. From there, you walk down a hallway with magnets on the wall where you can answer questions like “What are you grateful for?,” “What are your dreams?,” and “Where are you from?” After this, you get another serving of ice cream; this time the booza vanilla ice cream. Then you walk to the music room where they have giant keyboards on the wall with rings you can grab to play diifferent sound effects into the music, or you can listen in on two record players and scratch like a DJ. After this, you walk down a rainbow corridor (another one of my favorites because rainbow so duh) to the slide! This slide was wild! It spans 3 floors. You spiral down into the basement, which looks like a melted pink ice cream room. Here you get a soft serve cone before venturing into the yellow bee hive room with wings, chairs and a serving of Queen Bee ice cream. Then it’s onto the jungle gym with swings, seesaws, an ice cream cone ballpit, and ice cream cone basketball hoops. From here, you walk up the stairs into the last room, the sprinkle pool room! There are cubbies for you to leave your belongings and shoes before dipping into the insta-famous sprinkle pool, which my husband likes to call the Instagram hoe room, lol. The sprinkles used this time around are significantly larger and made of a softer rubber-like material. I don’t know how deep the pool really is because of how much larger the sprinkles are. I dug and dug but got too tired before finding the bottom, hahaha. There is a LOT of space compared to the LA rendition as well. The smaller “adults only” pool has more green sprinkles in it while the larger pool has a significant higher ratio of pink sprinkles. Again, take your time! After this, they have postcards and stickers on a table you can grab and take with you or write a message to leave on the wall. And after that, it’s time to say goodbye! You arrive back at the beginning, where coat check is and the bathroom before you leave.
Did I enjoy my visit? Hell yeah I did. It’s safe to say I absolutely love the new and permanent location of MOIC NYC. Would I go back? Yes, especially if they plan on doing holiday overlays on the existing exhibit like how they do the Christmas in San Francisco to switch it up from time to time. The tickets are expensive yes, but I definitely say it’s worth it in terms of grammability and the opportunities. It’s professional looking and the quality is there. It’s worth its price of admission. It doesn’t look like a cheap dorm room decoration installation like other cheap ‘pop-ups’ that claim to be ‘interactive’ and ‘immersive’ when they’re not at all anything but a cheap cash grab and an Instagram trap for “photos for the gram.” MOIC delivers; not only are the photo ops well done, but it really IS interactive and immersive. The staff is there acting the part, enthusiastic and charismatic to guide you on your journey. I found everyone to be incredibly friendly, helpful and encouraging. No one ever made me feel rushed or ashamed that I was taking too much time. They actually celebrated you as you took photos and took your time going through the entire exhibit. I love reading little facts everywhere and little interactive QR codes built into the museum for selfie filters and little games in the elevator. There is so much attention paid to detail from the windows to the walls, to the cute questions and rainbowed halls! You can actually PLAY here and take as long as you want playing. So it’s definitely not just for photos. And oh man, that slide still gets me. It was wild. That’s all I have to say. When you experience it for yourself sliding down 3 floors, you’ll get it. I screamed all the way down, hahaha.
If you choose to go, my best advice is to go in with a super cute outfit (don’t be basic or boring in your civilian clothes, come on, it’s about to be 2020!), have your ice cream name ready, and take your time take your time TAKE YOUR TIME. Go with a few friends, you’ll have a blast! And no worries if you don’t have anyone to go with either. The staff is amazing and super friendly at helping with taking your photos for you on your phone. Most of all, remember to have fun!
MOIC NYC is located at 558 Broadway and is open Wednesdays - Mondays: 9:30am - 9:30pm. It is a permanent location and tickets are currently on sale now through March 1, 2020 for right now. If you’re not sure about going yet, you can still stop in to the shop as the first floor is a gift shop with merchandise and ice cream available for purchase. You can see part of the slide at the entrance too. But if you go, well, when you know, you know. Have lots of fun!
