The Wizard of Oz Museum

It is apparent that this personal collection, yes that is what it is-- a PERSONAL collection, is lovingly maintained and certainly a passion for someone; however, it doesn't rise to the level of a curated museum and it definitely not worth its current price.

We were getting off a cruise and we visited solely due to the high TripAdvisor ratings, as I'm sure many do. But, after having visited, I'm not entirely sure how it can score so high. The owner, whom we presumably met, seems to be capitalizing entirely on these social media ratings to drive business, which leaves some doubt in my mind of their veracity. The staff, including the owner, are very nice and seem to genuinely enjoy their work.

I had an inkling from the moment we were made to watch the two minute expectation lowering video PRIOR to buying a ticket that they've likely had this conversation before and this was designed to give people an out.

The collection is impressive for an amateur, personal collection of items related to all things Wizard of Oz-- book, movie, Wicked, etc. There were lots of books, toys, trinkets, props, etc. and they were organized decently enough. Their display was amateur and not on the level of a true museum. Information was displayed on paper printed from a computer and scotch taped (seriously not even looped on the back, just taped to the case in many cases). It overall presented in a very amateurish way. I immediately regretted paying what I did.

They had a sign in the kids room (just a darkened room playing an animated version of Wizard of Oz with some toys in it) that said "#1 Children's Museum in the US." Seriously?! How would that be possible? Kids would not enjoy this place at all. I can name 10 places off the top of my head that are actual children's museums and not a converted strip mall, but that mystery remains. It certainly makes me rethink using TripAdvisor in future.

So, after the interesting, yet disappointing collection, we ventured into the immersive experience. We arrived just as the Oz portion began. It consisted of what appeared to be early-2000s era digital graphics that were jerky and repetitive. The music was either royalty-free stock or public domain, but didn't really fit. The main scene that struck me was the lion on the cart. The cart came at us from one wall, then appeared on one side wall and the floor, but not where it should be. The image on the side wall then frame by frame disappeared in a disjointed, weird way. Remember the dancing baby that was all the rage in the 2000s? That's what these characters looked like and they didn't even dance as well. Inexplicably, interspersed in the Oz section was a section of stars from the James Webb Telescope. That part was interesting, also the motion was smooth. Presumably this section was not created by the museum and so it worked. The Van Gogh part was fine, but we were so done at this point. BTW... this is NOT the Van Gogh Experience you see in major cities, there are several other companies that offer that and this one is listed nowhere on their sites.

As we left, we debated whether or not to say how disappointed we were with the experience and, as soon as we walked out the door the (presumably) owner asked us. We told him that we were disappointed and didn't feel the exhibit was worth the price of admission. He then proceeded to aggressively, yet kindly, explain how we were wrong. He was standing between us and the door, so we kind of felt we had to stay and be talked down to. At one point I stopped him before he told me about the operating expenses and said, "It is just my opinion, and I understand you have expenses, but this is how I feel about it." He patiently waited and then continued to tell me why my opinion was wrong. He tried to tell me the rockets launching from the Cape misaligned the projectors. This wasn't misaligned projectors... I think he was running this whole thing on like a Gateway 2000 computer. It was apparent that he had had this conversation MANY times. He had all his facts and figures locked and loaded to prove why our opinion was wrong. Seriously, all you have to do is look at the bad reviews on this site and see his reply. It's the same thing over and over. I eventually just said, "OK, we've got to go." He was still pontificating on how we didn't get it and we expected something else. Naturally, no form of compensation was offered.

Bottom line: If you LOVE the Wizard of Oz, in any form, then it MIGHT be worth it for you to see the impressive personal collection of items contained herein. Otherwise, skip it-- your kids will thank me.

I want to also add, that it's clear that the people here are proud of the museum and enjoy what they do and I don't mean to denigrate what they are doing. But they really do not have an accurate self image of what it is. Honestly, if they were more humble and didn't pretend that they're the Guggenheim of Wizard of Oz museums it would be more palatable-- but still not worth $32.