Museum of Ice Cream
I'm not going to be predictable and start this off saying "I scream, you scream..."
The Museum of Ice Cream is currently the "must do" of us Angelinos (holy crap, I just referred to myself as an Angelino). I remember seeing posts about the New York location last year and wishing I could get a chance to attend, so when I heard they were packing it up and bringing it over to the West Coast, I couldn't contain my excitement. Tickets sell out almost immediately, selling out for 3 months in advance.
When tickets first went on sale, I purchased for two different days (that's why I'm wearing two different outfits. I didn't go all "Mariah Carey MTV Cribs" and do an outfit change). Every room has a theme, and there are five treat stations, which I'll go more into detail later. The first two rooms are more to ease the stream of people coming in. You enter an all pink room with pink phones where you listen to a greeting from Seth Rogan.
From there you enter another room, decked out like a pink Los Angeles, complete with a pink Hollywood sign and palm trees with cones as trunks. There you get your first sample of ice cream courtesy of McConnel's Ice Cream.
The fun starts in the next room, the Banana Split Room. Between the scratch'n'sniff wallpaper, the dual swings and the room with 50/50 pink and yellow hanging bananas, you'll have enough photos for your instagram to #tbt for an entire year. The line flows in steadily here so you have to make sure you're diligent about getting your photo ops.
In the Mint Chocolate Chip Room you're greeted with a sample of Mint Chocolate Chip Mochi Ice Cream. The room itself looks like a beautiful white and mint green greenhouse. There are live mint plants growing out of dirt that's been topped with cacao shells so you're engulfed with Mint Chocolate Chip through sight, scent and taste.
From there you go into the Sherbet Room. The photo opportunities here are endless! There is a pink mirror wall, a cute little saying complete with a neon heart, and rainbow. Who ever created this room had the Instagrammer in mind. Every corner creates a great backdrop for a photo. They also have a free claw machine in here and you can play over and over trying to get a cute cellphone case (I never have ANY luck with these, so I passed).
I felt a little sad about the popsicle room. The first week or so of the museum being open, I saw photos of people laying on the popsicles. I'm assuming something happened between the opening and when I visited because now the popsicles were chained off and you weren't allowed to touch them (even though, in the photo above...I totally did). The room is really cool, you feel like a little mouse scurrying to get a taste of sugar. I just wish that chain wasn't there so I could get a better photo of the entire room.
The Gummy Bear Room is a different story. Here you can touch, kiss, hug the gummy bears as much as you want! This is another tasting room, where you're given gummy bears as a treat. When I first went, I was wondering how gummy bears tie into the whole ice cream theme, but then I realized, what's ice cream without toppings? I can remember getting Cold Stone Ice Cream with gummy bears when I was younger, I don't know about you.
From there you enter the Charcoal Ice Cream Room. I really like the art work in here, it's a little... angsty. You get a sample of charcoal "ice cream" but it's not really ice cream, it's charcoal cookie dough. My friend is a huge ice cream fan so she felt a little deceived when she went to lick it and it was warm. This room can get back up because after this room, is the sprinkle pool room.
Every experience something that lived up to it's hype? This room, right here, does 100%. You feel like a little kid just playing around in the sprinkle pool. You're can't help but have a permanent grin. Stepping into the pool feels a little weird but very satisfying, it's like the happiness energy just zaps right through you. There is a time limit to how long you can be in here (I believe it was 2 minutes), so make every second count!
And what's a museum without a gift shop? The last and final room is a mini play area, final tasting spot and a memorabilia purveyour. You receive an ice cream sandwich made with pink pancakes and then the remainder of the time you can chill, decompress and reflect on the fun you just had. The entire museum takes about an hour to run through at a decent pace, but can make it longer because they never force you into the next room.
I love this museum so much, I got tickets again in September. If you want to go, make sure you follow them on Instagram because they'll always announce when they're making new tickets available.
