Since the beginning of April, Angelenos have been anticipating the opening of the Museum of Ice Cream. The New York based pop-up museum came west to Downtown Los Angeles and opened its doors on April 22^nd. The interactive museum has a handful of rooms that are brightly colored and themed with ice cream and candy from space to space. There’s a telephone room with a celebrity caller on the receiver, walls you can scratch and sniff, a pool filled with millions of plastic sprinkles, a mint garden, an ice cream sandwich swing, and so much more. Tickets to the museum are $29 for adults and $18 for children and seniors, and sell out faster than you can refresh your internet browser. Luckily a friend and I were able to get tickets before they were gone. We went to the museum last night and enjoyed the hour and half we spent going from room to room.

After our ice cream adventure came to an end, there were a few things I came across that I wish I would have known prior to stepping foot in the museum. If you have plans to get tickets and head down to the Arts District to experience the fun yourself, here are five things you should know in advance.

[1] Get daytime tickets.

My friend TJ and I had tickets to go at 8:30pm and while the museum was fun, I know if we had gone during the day it would have been better. During the day, the museum lets in a good amount of natural light in specific rooms that have windows allowing the sun to hit its exhibits. As you can assume, that’s not the case once the sun goes down. While the energy of the staff was still on high and the ice cream was delicious in the evening, the building housing the museum relied solely on interior low lighting causing a lot of shadows. This will only be a problem to work around if you’re looking to take photos primarily as you’re in first and last rooms.

When buying tickets, if the choice came down to going in the evening or during the day I would opt to go during the day.

[2] Don’t go hungry.

I read an article in the LA Times which stated the museum advises “visitors to come hungry” and I wouldn’t suggest you do that. While you’ll spend at least an hour in the museum, you don’t get enough ice cream to fill yourself up. Instead, feel free to eat before you go and treat the museum as your dessert.

[3] Go with a friend.

The museum has some really cool rooms and fun activities to partake in making it fun to do with friends. Of course you can go alone, but don’t! Having another person with you is really great for photo purposes, but it’s also a lot more fun to go with someone so you can sniff the banana wall together. With a friend alongside, you can record silly videos on the wall cameras and can push them in the sprinkle pool. Please note, the museum explicitly advises against pushing people into the pool and frowns upon that, but a frown is just a smile upside down so in my head it’s ok.

[4] Stay behind in each room.

If you’re looking to get the full experience and to take photos I suggest you linger behind everyone else when in each room. Since the rooms crowd with the people in your time slot and everyone is taking pictures, to get the wide room shot you want with no one else in it linger after everyone else leaves. Doing so means you get all the space in the exhibit to take photos whether it’s with the yellow and pink bananas, the California sign, black ice cream wall, and Popsicle.

[5] Ask for extra ice cream. Especially the mochi.

Going to a museum that is surrounded by delicious ice cream, it’s almost natural to want seconds. Whether you want another cup of the McConnell’s ice cream or the pancake sandwich don’t be shy, do it. Just be polite and throw a smile across your face after you ask. Consider it as you taking a greater appreciation of the art. I did this in the mocha room. Twice.

As of today, tickets are available for May 30^th to July 10^th, 2017 so get yours before they’re gone!

For more photos, see below!