Visiting the Wizard of Oz Museum
Last weekend, my son, my mom and I followed the yellow brick road to the Wizard of Oz Museum in Cape Canaveral. I wasn’t quite certain what to expect, as I like the Wizard of Oz movie, but I wouldn’t say that I am a raving fan. To my surprise, I really had a great time at the museum, and so did both of the other members of my party.
What is there to do at the Wizard of Oz Museum?
The museum houses one of the world’s best collections of Wizard of Oz memorabilia. The owner, Frederick, has been collecting the items for over 35 years. He fell in love with the story as a young boy, when his teacher read pages from the book for the entire school year. When he moved to America, when he was older and realized that it was an American story, he started collecting items from the books and the movies.
He has some rare one-of-a-kind items in his collection including the first-ever published book from the Wizard of Oz series, pictures of Frank Baum the author, signed books from Frank Baum, signed manuscripts from the movie, puppets from an original puppet show production of the Wizard of Oz (which the Smithsonian has asked him for by the way as they are museum quality) historical drawings and more.
The exhibits are housed by decade and you can access an audio tour through your cell phone that will bring the history to life. I highly recommend doing this, as just walking around the museum won’t give you all the color and the history; you will simply see items in a display case. The narrations are done by Frederick the owner, and trust me, he has tons of information to share.
The museum also has an immersive room in the back, which has two immersions. The first is recreated scenes from the Wizard of Oz books. Many of these scenes are not in the movie, so I didn’t recognize most of them, but they were interesting to see nonetheless. We saw the tin man proposing to a munchkin girl, the lion falling asleep in a field of poppies, the tornado scene (which is in the movie) plus 5 more recreated scenes. The immersion room also has a Van Gogh exhibit, which was an unexpected surprise. The Van Gogh immersion features 50 paintings by Van Gogh. The two immersions continuously rotate one right after the other, so you can enter the immersion room at any time.
What is there to do for kids at the Wizard of Oz Museum?
When you enter the museum, kids are given a clipboard with a list of items for them to find in the museum. This keeps them busy while you are looking at the exhibits. Since the museum itself is small, you don’t have to worry about not being able to see the kids or them getting lost while looking for the scavenger hunt items.
The museum also has a place for kids called Munchkinland where kids are able to play with some toys and games from 50 or 60 years ago. My son had a fun time playing in this room at the end of our visit.
Good to Know
The museum is located in a very non-descript strip mall in Cape Canaveral. When you enter the museum itself, it is pretty much just one room with all the items. It seems very small, and it seems like you will be able to get through everything in 20 minutes. This is not the case. If you go through all the exhibits and listen to the narrations, the museum will take 1.5 to 2 hours to complete.
Do you have to be a Wizard of Oz super fan to visit?
You don’t have to be a Wizard of Oz super fan, have watched the movie tons of times or read any of the books to visit the museum. I have seen the movie a couple of times and that’s it. My son, not at all. We both enjoyed the museum.
What is there to do nearby?
The Wizard of Oz Museum is perfect to combine with a day out in Cocoa Beach or to Cocoa Village. You can also grab lunch a few minutes down the road at Q’s Crackin Crab and dessert at Sweet Rolled Tacos. Highly recommend both.
Go or No Go
This museum is a definite go. The entire family will have a great time at the museum.
