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Museum of Ice Cream NYC: What to Expect

ByLanie van der Horst Updated on

Are you thinking about going to the Museum of Ice Cream in New York City but aren’t sure what to expect?

I put off going to the Museum of Ice Cream with my kids because I heard it was just an Instagrammer’s Playground. From what I had heard, it was a good place to take pictures, but not really worth the money.

Luckily, I eventually decided to see for myself, because the Museum of Ice Cream is a lot of fun! Sure, it isn’t exactly cheap, but it includes all-you-can-eat ice cream, and you are welcome to spend as much time as you’d like there.

We visited the Museum of Ice Cream in New York City’s Soho neighborhood when my kids were 10 and 11 years old.

Keep reading to find out what to expect at the Museum of Ice Cream in NYC.

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Buying Tickets

You must purchase tickets to the Museum of Ice Cream in advance. They do not sell tickets at the door, and you show your ticket before entering.

Ticket prices change depending on the day of the week and the time of entry. As I wasn’t sure what time we would be there, I checked for open spots throughout the day. Beware, the cost changes depending on when you book your ticket!

Tickets are available on the Museum of Ice Cream website, or you can see if there is a deal on Get Your Guide, Viator, or Klook.

The tickets are timed entry, but you may be allowed in early. It depends on how busy they are.

Getting to The Museum of Ice Cream

The Museum of Ice Cream is located on Broadway between Prince Street and Spring Street in Soho.

There are a few options for public transportation to the museum, but the closest is to take the R or W to Prince Street.

Other options include taking the 4 or 6 to Spring Street or the B, D, F, or M to Broadway Lafayette.

Choose an Ice Cream Name

Once you enter the museum and your ticket is checked, you are asked to stand by a velvet rope until a staff member is ready to let you in.

The first thing to do, like at Sloomoo Institute, is to come up with a name and write it on a name tag. There are ice cream inspiration names on the wall, like BeChoc Obama, Lady Fingers Gaga, and Oprah Winfreeze.

Unlimited Ice Cream at The Bar

The Museum of Ice Cream is self-paced. Once you have your name tag, you are welcome to enter each room as you’d like, but you can’t move backwards.

The first room, after you have your name tag, is the bar. The room, like the entire museum, is pink. There is a bar at the front where you can get ice cream or drinks.

Ice cream is included, and drinks can be purchased. At the bar, we discovered that the ice cream is unlimited. You can eat as much as you want while at the museum.

The ice cream options at the bar were pink vanilla or pineapple sorbet. You can choose between a cup or a cone, and you can add sprinkles if you’d like.

There are a few seats along the wall at the bar. We also found big plastic cards with jokes on them, in a container on the wall by the stage.

High Tea and Dip n Dots

After we read the jokes and ate our ice cream, we went upstairs to the next room. There is a bathroom before you enter room 2.

The next room is, of course, pink. High tea is set up along the table in the center of the room, and there is a hole in the wall where you can order dip n dots.

Dip n dot options are Oreo or blue raspberry.

Doors and Dancing

You are welcome to bring your treat from one room to the next, but we liked to finish our ice cream before moving on.

After the dip n dots, there is a room with various doors to open. Some have peepholes.

Don’t forget to look behind the curtain, too; there is a dance party going on back there.

The Pink Subway

After the room of doors is the pink subway. You can sit and watch a short video, or you can walk on through.

Bananas and a Bounce House

On the other side of the pink subway is a room filled with bananas that you aren’t supposed to touch.

At the end of the room, there is a small bounce house and a climbing space.

We had to wait a while to use the bounce house, as it is really just for one group at a time. You need to take your shoes off to enter.

Magnet Questions

While the kids could have bounced longer, we didn’t want to hold everyone up, so we moved on to the magnet questions.

The questions included What’s Your Dream, Where Are You From, and What Are You Celebrating.

Giant Ice Cream Scoops + 4 Choices

It is time for more ice cream, and this time, there are 4 choices.

In this room, the choices are rocky road, chocolate extreme, banana pudding, and rainbow Italian ice.

There are giant ice cream scoops along the wall, and my kids liked sitting in the groove that was cut out.

This room, like many others, had someone in there mopping. The floor gets pretty sticky, but there is plenty of staff around to mop up the mess.

The Museum of Modern Ice Cream

The room called The Museum of Modern Ice Cream is a good place to sit down for a bit.

One wall has a timeline of the history of ice cream. There is another wall with items from the past. You will find a wall of scoops. Lift the scoop to find an ice cream fact about different places.

Water fountains are located in this room, as are several tables. Each table has the game Jenga, a sheet with activities, and colored pencils.

The Jenga pieces have questions on them for you to answer as you remove them.

Rainbow Walk

From the Museum of Modern Ice Cream to the slide is a rainbow to walk through.

What’s Your Sign & a 3 Story Slide

Before sliding down to the basement, you can find your sign and take home information about it. For example, they each have a flavor profile, topping suggestions, and a summary.

Across from the wall of horoscopes is the entrance to a slide. You can see the slide from the entrance of the museum.

You have to sit on a black sheet to slide down.

I opted to take the elevator down while my kids slid down to the basement.

Basement Crafts

Tables are set up in the dimly lit basement. Each table has a tray with an ice cream truck cut out on it. You can sit and create the ice cream truck to take home with you.

Games and Bagels

From the basement, walk through fun house mirrors, spin a giant wheel, and discover a room filled with games.

An ice cream stand is set up in the game room, and while you can get your cream cheese gelato or coconut ice cream in a cup or a cone, you can also get it on a pink minibagel.

My daughter and I opted for sprinkles on our cream cheese gelato bagel, but you can get everything but the bagel seasoning if you want something really unique.

Popsicles at the Playground

Once you convince the kids to leave the game room, there is a colorful playground with swings, climbing toys, basketball, and a ball pit.

As soon as you walk in, there is a freezer filled with mini popsicles. During our visit, the popsicle options were passionfruit, guava, and pina colada. You can help yourself to the popsicles.

Jump Into Sprinkles

The room is set up like a swimming pool, but the entire pool is filled with large plastic sprinkles. There is a slide going down into the pool, as well as diving boards and ladders.

Everyone must take off their shoes before entering the pool. Benches are set up along the wall with shoe cubbies.

A separate mini pool is set up for adults only.

We thought the last space in the Museum of Ice Cream was the sprinkle pool, but it is not!

Ice Cream Shop

We thought that once we left the pool of sprinkles, we were finished. No one is there to tell you differently.

While we saw this ice cream shop, we figured it was to purchase ice cream and drinks. We went to the shop at the front of the store, and thankfully, I texted my sister to ask if her child would like one of the items for their birthday.

She didn’t text back until we were across the street, but we went back inside to purchase the item. That is when I asked about the ice cream stand and was told that it is meant to be the last stop.

The flavors are more common flavors, and they include chocolate, caramel, chocolate chip cookie dough, strawberry, brownie, cookies n cream, vanilla, and cherry Italian ice.

From the lobby, you can see the slide that goes from the top floor to the basement. It is fun to watch people slide down.

Museum of Ice Cream NYC Wrap-Up

At the New York City version of the Museum of Ice Cream, there are 6 places to get treats. All in all, we had 21 flavors to choose from. Most of the time, you can opt for a cone or a cup. Usually, sprinkles can be added.

As the ice cream is unlimited, you are welcome to try more than one flavor per location, but we struggled to eat even one per stop.

Most of the ice cream stops are spaced out with physical activities in between.

Some people walk with their ice cream while others, like us, prefer to eat it before heading to the next space.

Sure, there are plenty of photo opps, but we thought that the Museum of Ice Cream was a fun place to spend a couple of hours. My kids could have spent longer inside the museum, but we rushed a bit at the end so we could meet friends for dinner.

It is best to time your entry with when you want to eat a lot of treats.

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Lanie is the owner and author of Make More Adventures, a family travel blog that helps families make the most of their holidays. Lanie is an American living in Australia with her husband and 2 kids who love to travel almost as much as she does. When she is not traveling, working on her blog, or planning her next vacation, Lanie is watching Bravo, reading, or working with kids.

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