Review: Is It Worth Spending $50+ to Visit the Museum of Ice Cream in NYC?

There’s no shortage of things to do in New York City, but when it comes to touristy attractions, the Museum of Ice Cream is a serious draw for any Instagram-wielding sweet tooth. Especially if you have kids. Or it’s a rainy day—or winter—and you’re looking to spend a few hours indoors. But, after years of being inundated with built-for-selfie ‘experiences,’ is the Museum of Ice Cream worth it? Particularly when tickets can cost more than $50 apiece?

No—it’s not. Unless you can snag a deal, and you head there with a game plan. Let me explain.

First, a Quick Breakdown of What the Museum of Ice Cream Even Is

It’s not a museum in a traditional sense—in fact, the company calls it an “experium,” as it’s more a place to play, wander and explore. The multi-story building features a series of rooms with varying degrees of games and dessert-inspired art installations. Some you can spend just a few minutes in, snapping a quick pic and moving along (like the banana room, which is largely just a bunch of plastic bananas dangling from the ceiling). Others are more involved, like the arcade area, where you can play a ice cream-inspired takes on Skee-ball and What-a-Mole.

There is a museum-ish component, in that one room offers memorabilia and fun facts about ice cream, but that’s it in the sense of traditional museum-style artifacts on display.

What You Should Know Before Visiting the Museum of Ice Cream

1. Save Money (and Avoid Crowds) with a Weekday Morning Visit

Tickets are typically cheaper mid-week, especially in the morning, when the museum first opens. (I’ve seen it as low as $37 per person.) You may not think you want ice cream at 10 a.m., but did you know that now through the end of 2024, you can enjoy all-you-can-eat mini pink bagels stuffed with cream cheese ice cream and rolled in everything seasoning? How’s that for a breakfast of champions?

(It’s called the Ice-a-Bagel, as part of a partnership with famed NY bagel joint Ess-a-Bagel. Yes, I’ve tried it, and yes, it’s better than you think. The bagel’s a little stiff, but it’s basically a chewier version of a cold everything bagel, only with a creamier, meltier filling.) Which leads me to my next point…

2. Come Hungry

The Museum of Ice Cream offers unlimited ice cream during your visit, and there are multiple stations throughout the roughly 20,000ish-square-foot space. You’ll find things like pink vanilla soft serve swirled into sugar cones, pink popsicles, cookie dough- and Oreo-studded Cookie Monster ice cream and berry-based sorbets. During my June 2024 visit, they also served the aforementioned Ice-a-Bagel and cotton candy. Just maybe balance things out with plenty of water and something savory (and, ideally, vegetal) afterward.

3. Tour the Museum of Ice Cream at Your Own Pace

The brand says it takes about 90 minutes to experience the museum, but you could easily spend two to three hours there. It’s a go-at-your-own-pace event for the most part, save for the sprinkle pool (which, yes, is a regularly sanitized pool filled with oversized sprinkles, much like a ball pit). I wouldn’t bore yourself by overstaying in certain rooms, unless you want to get artsy with your photography skills (ahem, faux-subway train, banana room and ethereal clouds room). But! The arcade and playground rooms are worth taking a little extra time in, as well as the room that details the history of ice cream (including Carvel’s signature Fudgie the Whale).

4. The Sprinkle Pool Has Changed

If you visited the Museum of Ice Cream pre-COVID, you probably remember tiny rainbow sprinkles that looked almost identical to the real-deal ones. Today’s sprinkles are pink and red, and they’re larger than the size of your hand, more like pill-shaped ball pit balls—or hollowed Bala weights—than before. It’s still a fun sensory experience, albeit in more of a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids way.

5. Ditch the Stroller and Bring the Baby Carrier

Children under 2 are allowed in for free, but strollers aren’t allowed in the exhibits, so you may want to bring a baby carrier to avoid wrangling a squirmy kid the entire time. Unless your kids are like mine and screamed their heads off the second they slid into a Líllébaby or the like, in which case it may be best to wait until they can walk…but still snag free admission.

6. Don’t Skip the Slide

You may think you’re too old for the two-story twisty slide. Or that once you’ve tried one slide, you’ve tried them all. Just go for it. You’ll be handed a sack to slip your feet into and hold onto as you go down, which helps you get great speed going down. Even at 5’11”, I didn’t feel claustrophobic or too big to zip down, and it wound up being the highlight of the visit. So stop playing cool for three minutes and enjoy it.

7. Follow Your Whims

There’s a certain pull in these experiential spaces to zip from room to room, always rushing toward what’s next. And getting frustrated by all the people around you as you wait for your turn playing Whack-a-Cone or taking that perfect selfie in the rainbow LED hallway or whatever catches your eye. You have time; give yourself time. In fact, while everyone else heeds that call to dash onto the next thing, lingering can give you just the space you need to enjoy each element of the museum without the jostling.

The Verdict:

At $52+ a ticket, the Museum of Ice Cream is pricey for a two-hour-ish diversion. However, tickets can be as low as $37 apiece, depending on when you go (again, weekdays FTW!), and it doesn’t feel that out of range when you compare the prices of other Only-in-NYC—or, OK, Only-in-NY-or-Other-Major-Cities Attractions, such as:

• The Edge Observation Deck at Hudson Yards, $43
• Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, $39+
• Empire State Building Visit, $48+
• The Summit One Vanderbilt Experience, $48+
• The Lion King on Broadway, $115+

I can’t say I’d go every month, or even every year—in fact, it’d been five years in between my visits—but when I do, I enjoy my stay. And come back wanting to install a sprinkle pool in the basement. Maybe that’s just me though.