What you'll find inside the Museum of Ice Cream, opening in Boston in December (2024)

Things to Do

"You will be using all of your senses" in this new family-friendly interactive experience, coming to Boston's Seaport.

By Kristi Palma

Visitors can slide into a pool of sprinkles, explore a cookie living room, and taste lobster ice cream in Boston’s newest museum opening in December.

The colorful and immersive Museum of Ice Cream will open in the Seaport on Dec. 14 after two years of construction and design. The 12,300 square-foot, two-floor space will feature 14 “magical playscapes,” some of them Boston-centric.

“It’s a dream come true to come to Boston,” said Manish Vora, co-founder along with Maryellis Bunn and a native of Wayland.

He said Boston has a passion for both art and ice cream, adding, “I don’t know if you can combine those two in any better city.”

The entrepreneur, who grew up exploring what he calls Boston’s “insanely good museums,” opened the first Museum of Ice Cream as a pop-up experience in New York City in 2016.

“It’s every Boston parent’s nightmare to have your kid leave a Wall Street job to start a Museum of Ice Cream,” he said. “But it turned out to be a good idea.”

Now there’s a permanent location in New York City, as well as in Miami, Austin, Chicago, and Singapore. The museums have attracted nearly 3 million visitors from more than 80 countries and have inspired nearly 500 marriage proposals, Vora said.

“Bostonians demand excellence,” Vora said. “To come to Boston, we needed to step up our game. This is our sixth permanent museum and this is the most interactive and probably the most experimental in the way that we’re bringing our food and drinks.”

Boston visitors will get five sweet treats with the price of admission, including lobster ice cream, Vora said.

“Only in Boston are you going to be able to find our lobster creation,” Vora said.

An on-site cafe will feature local ice cream shops and serve sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream-themed drinks, and beer and wine, he said. The cafe will also offer treats from Friendly’s.

Museum zones will teach the history and science of ice cream, Vora said, and there will be plenty of opportunities for play.

“We have a history of our tourism being fun and playful,” he said about Boston. “From Duck Tours to even the walking tours of the city are playful.”

Visitors can explore the museum’s version of Fenway Park, called “Fun Way Park,” which Vora called an ice cream carnival with a fun surprise treat and odes to the Green Monster and other aspects of the iconic landmark. A Chipwich room boasts cookie decor and leads to an ice cream library. Both of those experiences are unique to Boston.

Other exhibits include a Hallway of Freezers with 24 mysterious doors filled with secret passageways, interactive games, and surprises, as well as a ‘60s-inspired airline experience called the Cream Liner.

Then there is the double helix slide.

“We have what we think is going to be the fastest slide in Boston that will lead you to our iconic sprinkle pool,” Vora said.

People are looking for ways to connect, he said, so what better way to connect than with ice cream, which is designed to be shared.

“We work with scientists to think about the whole sensory experience throughout the museum,” Vora said. “You will be using all of your senses.”

Guides stationed throughout the museum are trained to encourage interaction, he said.

“Everyone is walking in with a common story,” said Vora. “And that story is, ‘We love ice cream and we’re open to something weird, experiential, playful, immersive, sensory.’”

Vora’s favorite ice cream flavor? Mint chocolate chip.

The museum will debut new flavors, highlight seasonal flavors, and offer dairy free, gluten free, and kosher ice cream options as well. A retail shop will sell everything from sweatshirts to socks to ice cream scoops.

“I think it’s really going to put the Seaport into another stratosphere of family tourism,” Vora said.

Tickets must be purchased online and the timed-entry tickets are available beginning on Nov. 19. Once inside, guests can spend as long as they’d like and the experience typically takes about 90 minutes. General admission tickets start at $33.99.