I am obsessed with ice cream. One of my favorite movies is Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. (I also love Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.) Pink is my FAVORITE color. This is everything that I love all in one place. The best way I can describe it to people is like Disney but for ice cream. It’s literally my version of Disney. These are my thoughts on the Museum of Ice Cream Chicago.
Currently, MOIC has locations in Singapore, New York, Austin, and Chicago. There use to be one in San Francisco but it closed a few years ago. We went to the one in SF our first year in California. I had so much fun and highly recommend it to EVERYONE. I found out that the one in Chicago was opening on July 16th when we driving home from Milwaukee in May. Sunday, July 17th is also National Ice Cream Day.
The Beginning
When you first walk in is a giant pink wall with a Museum of Ice Cream Chicago sign. It is all PINK! Before you can go enter you say the Scoop Motto. I can’t tell you what is it because you’ll just have to visit yourself to find out. Then you enter the Sprink-L train. It looks exactly like the L Train throughout Chicago except it is all PINK.
From there you start the Museum of Ice Cream Chicago. It’s called the Chicago Speakeasy. They have cocktails/mocktails, shakes, ice cream sundaes, and so much more. The museum starts and ends with here. From here you can go to the sprinkle pool or continue through everything. We decided that we wanted to go through everything and finish with the pool.
One experience that I can’t wait to go back to do is Ice Cream Lab. They didn’t have it as an option or else I would have totally purchased it. From the website, Ice Cream Lab is where you learn to make ice cream. They had the area set up but not able to go in, and the picture that I took didn’t do it any justice.
The Tour
The Musuem of Ice Cream Chicago has 14 installations with unlimited ice cream. In the beginning they let you know it’s unlimited and enjoy. (Which is completely different than San Francisco.) I was talking with the social media manager and she said the record is 30 of the same ice cream in Singapore. The first installation is what I call the jelly bean room. It was jelly bean wallpaper everywhere. I mean everywhere on the walls and floor. It had both good and bad flavors of jelly beans. There is something Chicago related in every room which I thought was really interesting. Before going to the next installation, there is some sort of ice cream treat available.
One of the best things about the MOIC is there are plenty of spots to take pictures. When I went to the MOIC Chicago it was opening weekend but everyone was so great to make sure everyone got photos. We took pictures of others, and they returned the favor. I have read some of the reviews, and people say it’s an expensive self place. I think that is kinda true, but the unlimited ice cream and time you can spend in the museum make it worth it.
One of my favorite rooms is the statement room. The whole room is magnet based with all sorts of magnets to spell whatever you want. Here they have it broken down in I am From, I’m Grateful For, and I Dream Of. I’m not sure if they had prompts because it was opening weekend, or if that is what they will have all the time.
In MOIC Chicago I would say there is 1 room that is really educational. I liked that room because there was different names for ice cream, and when you lift it up it tells you where it’s from. They had some from the US and some internationally. I didn’t do very good on figuring out where the ice cream. There was one that looked and spelled a lot like speghetti, but it wasn’t from Italy. If I remember right, it was Germany.
My ABSOLUTE favorite area and area I was looking forward to the most was the putt putt room. There’s 3 different putt putt courses – there is the ice cream, donuts, and hot dog. I did 2 out of the 3 because it was so busy in this room. Another reason this was my favorite because there was a birthday cake in the middle of the room. (I went on my birthday) This is where you could also get ice cream hot dog. It was hot dog flavored ice cream on a poppyseed bun. The ice cream actually like a hot dog. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I was disappointed because in pictures the bun looked bright pink, but it was more like a soft pink. Not a huge deal but I was really looking forward to that.
From the putt putt room you enter into a carnival or circus like room. They had frosted animal cracker carousel that moved up and down and side to side. It was VERY touchy because it jerked me around a few times. Other games was basketball, whack a mole, water gun game and something else but I can’t remember. This ice cream treat was my favorite and could probably eat it all day. It was a sorbet with candy candy on top. You could choose between 2 different types of sorbets then a lot or a little of candy candy on top.
Then you were back at the beginning or the Speakeasy. I had preordered 2 cherry on tops, and they were so delicious. And because it was my birthday I got a birthday package with included an ice cream museum pool with sprinkles. It was so good with so many sprinkles. I can’t wait to go back and try more of the drinks. I am really hoping they have a PINKMAS and Gary can come with me.
