How Sweet It Is: Museum of Ice Cream - Las Vegas (Review)

My first, and until now only experience of the Museum of Ice Cream was at an after party for an industry event pre-pandemic. This was in the early days of the selfie palace phenomenon, one that I had — and let me be honest here, still have — a lot of skepticism about.

The appeal of doing something purely “for the ‘gram” has never been a strong motivator for me, although maker knows that I know a lot of people live to chase trends. (And I’m not totally immune to the charms of a well constructed photo set-up.)

What I always did find interesting about the “Museum of…” trend that the Museum of Ice Cream pretty much single handedly started is the when those spaces morphed into all-ages playgrounds. Sure, you might get lured in to going with the promise of taking cool pictures & videos, but a few genuinely fun interactive installations can elevate the experience into a memorable group outing.

The Museum of Ice Cream in Las Vegas is the culmination of the MOIC story so far, and the biggest instance of the phenomenon yet. It’s also elevated itself fully into the all-ages playground frame. 

INTO THE CHURN

After an on-boarding that needs a little work (see below), an elevator or stairs takes you up to an atrium filled with pink freeze doors. This "Hall of Freezers" has each pair of doors labeled with a whimsical name. While the second and third “floor” of the atrium is out of reach, each door of the level we are on has a surprise behind it. 

It might be an interactive comic strip, a storybook, or a button that causes a snow machine to go off. 

Or it could lead to a cozy s’more’s suite, where a projection map assisted fireplace waits for you to toast oversized marshmallows and a graham cracker framed bed is primed for bouncing on — and taking photos, of course. It could be a make your own popsicle treat room, where flavor combos of twin stick ice pops and fruit roll ups await. Perhaps it’s the gift shop, which gives you a clear eyeline to the rest of the Museum. 

ALL ABOUT THE ICE CREAM

Beyond the gift shop is the heart of the attraction: a big ice cream parlor that features both hard pack and soft serve ice cream. There are scoopers on hand offering up to four sample scoops at a time of a wide variety of flavors — I was a big fan of the Bumbleberry Cheesecake (I think that’s what it was called) and their Coffee (my go to) was on point. There’s also a self serve soft serve bar and across the way from that just about every topping you can imagine in copious quantities. The pledge is unlimited ice cream, and while I didn't test that I suspect they would keep the promise.

All around staff members wipe down every surface that gets touched in near constant fashion, leaving the parlor countertops and service areas picture perfect at all times. It’s a heroic job, to say the least, when the clientele is sugar jazzed kids and their likely hungover parents. 

Thankfully there’s a cure for that, as right at the edge of the parlor is the bar. Featuring both cocktails and mocktails. I was intrigued by the S’more Sweet — an espresso martini topped by a toasted marshmallow (see my aforementioned affinity for coffee) but was pacing myself at 11am on a Sunday and elected to have a dirty soda featuring root beer and vanilla cream, making a tasty near root beer float. 

BEYOND THE PARLOR

The bar and parlor is just the centerpiece, however, and Vegas’ MOIC carries on, featuring some faux casino games (roulette, cards, slot machines — all ice cream themed); a costume shop with ice cream themed gear you can borrow for photo shoots on site or buy; a magic show tucked into its own speakeasy theatre that plays on a regular schedule; a temporary tattoo parlor; a few holes of mini-golf which give you the option of using hockey sticks, thanks to a promotion with the Las Vegas Knights ice hockey team; a party limo installation that features windows showing you driving down an ice creamized version of the Vegas strip. 

Of course, the capstone is the sprinkle pool, here themed as a resort pool with oversized sprinkles and two slides that allow the young and young at heart to splashdown. I remember the sprinkle pool in San Francisco featuring normal sized but plastic sprinkles, but it could be a false, pre-pandemic memory. 

THE CHERRY ON TOP

While the sprinkle pool is iconic to MOIC I’d wager that the crown jewel of the Las Vegas edition is the Little Pink Chapel. 

Decorated in a wedding cake theme, the little chapel features twelve pews and a wedding arch. When I dropped by some kind of ceremony had just happened, and as it turns out one can get married at the Museum of Ice Cream in Las Vegas. The assistant general manager is ordained. All you need is a license, and those are easy to come by in town. 

But what’s more intriguing is that the MOIC has a “relationship baker” on staff who will perform all kinds of ceremonies: friendship, family, romantic but not legally binding. It’s a way for everyone to have a chance to get in on the iconic Vegas Wedding action without involving the IRS or having to answer the tough questions about just where this relationship is going, Marie. 

Kidding. There is no Marie. 

A ROCKY ROAD OF AN ON-BOARDING

The one place the Vegas MOIC needs work is in the on-boarding experience. 

For some reason the staff insisted that we didn’t line up in the roped off queue but huddle near the ticket kiosks in the lobby. This was fine until the lobby was overloaded with families looking to get out from under the blazing 114 degree heat. 

Once we were checked in the acoustics of the space made it difficult to understand what the staff was saying to us, even with one of them using a personal amplifier/speaker. That actually might have made things a little worse. Some acoustical paneling — disguise as waffle bowls and cones, perhaps — might go a long way to alleviating these sour notes. Because one thing that isn’t happening is keeping the kids who are chomping at the bit to get into a museum dedicated to ice cream from operating at a volume lower than “sand blasting roar.”

The lack of polish here made me a bit anxious, but as you can tell from above that was quickly washed away by the sheer joy that has been invested into the rest of the space. I suspect this will get smoothed out as the Las Vegas space hits its operational groove.

HOW SWEET IT IS

All in all I found the Vegas MOIC shockingly charming, especially as I was all by myself and the bit about it being 114 degrees outside. A lot of that had to do with how cool the inside of the Museum was and how warm the staff running the place were. Everyone was just so nice. 

If you love ice cream and have friends/family who love ice cream it really is a nifty spot to visit and just goof around for a while. Get a drink. Have a little too much soft serve, maybe. Take a whole lot of silly photos. Get fake or real married.

Make some memories that won’t melt if you leave them out of the fridge.

Museum of Ice Cream - Las Vegas is open Wednesdays - Mondays from 11am to 8pm (8:30pm select days) at Area15 in Las Vegas, west of the Strip. Additional Museum of Ice Cream locations are open in Boston, Chicago, New York City, Miami, and Singapore, and one is slated to open in Los Angeles.

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