Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures
Museum of Dinosaurs & Ancient Cultures250 W Cocoa Beach Causeway
Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931
Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931
(321) 783-7300
AT A
GLANCE Museum of Dinosaurs & Ancient Cultures
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Date of Visit:
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Saturday, April 22,
2017
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Parking
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Plentiful, onsite
parking
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Amount of time needed
to peruse exhibits:
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60 – 120 minutes (1 –
2 hours)
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Amount of time needed
for gift shop
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45 minutes
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The “must have”
souvenir
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There are three this
week:
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The giant shark jaw in the front window
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Cute orange wooden picture frame holder
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“Bite Me” key chain
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Online shopping
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There is a tremendous
online shopping site. In fact, some of
the items shown on the website are not available in the store, i.e. branded
hats.
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Kid friendly shopping
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Definitely
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Kid friendly
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Yes
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Dress code
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Cocoa Beach is a
huge tourist area. Dress casually, but
not too tacky.
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Be sure to…..
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Take a selfie with
the big boy dinosaur at the store’s entrance.
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Nearby/other
establishments to visit
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Ron Jon Surf Shop
Review: http://www.meetmeinthegiftshop.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html
Play Miniature Golf at
Lighthouse Cove Adventure Golf
http://www.lighthousecoveminigolf.com/cocoa-beach/index.cfm |
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Walkability, general
downtown area / amount of traffic
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Walkable
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Safety, in terms of
type and number of crimes committed in general area
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Generally safe, but
keep in mind that it’s up to you to protect your possessions. Stow valuables out of sight and lock your
car.
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This is a true
story. I was out and about on a hot day
in Metro Detroit several years ago, and grew incredibly thirsty. I stopped to buy a cold beverage, and couldn’t
decide what I wanted. Pepsi and/or Coke
just didn’t appeal to me at that time, and I looked for alternatives. A Snapple display was nearby, and I thought I’d
finally try one. This doesn’t end
well. I stood in front of that Snapple
display for 5 – 10 minutes trying to decide on a flavor, when I realized that I
couldn’t do it. My decision making
abilities weren’t functioning because I was consumed by thirst, so I got
overwhelmed by all of the hundreds of Snapple flavors. What did I end up with? A Diet Pepsi.
Since that day, I refer to that feeling of being overwhelmed as being “Snappled”: too many choices, and not enough desire to
give it the extra effort. The gift shop
at the Museum of Dinosaurs &Ancient Cultures Snappled me. I felt similarly
Snappled at the Bok Tower gift shop, which I reviewed several weeks ago
(link: http://www.meetmeinthegiftshop.com/p/blog-page_72.html)
where I compared it to your Great Aunt Rose’s living room, the one with lace doilies
and plastic on the furniture.
Again, let’s see if we can make some
sense of this. Does the Museum of
Dinosaurs & Ancient Cultures (the Dinosaur Museum) have the gift shop
trifecta of refrigerator magnets, shot glasses, and branded wearables? Sort of.
The refrigerator magnets are displayed near the glass counters, and I
had already gotten into trouble for taking pictures in a “No Photography”
zone. I can report that they had several
varieties of refrigerator magnets. I
didn’t see shot glasses, but we can give them a pass because they sold branded
coffee mugs. The selection of branded
t-shirts was less than impressive, but there are a few for sale.
Let’s move on to the Phase 2
questions, where we rank our answers on a scale of 1 – 10, with 10 being the
highest score.
How well does the gift shop
support the mission of the Museum?
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10
for dinosaurs;
1 for Ancient Cultures |
How is the quality of merchandise?
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10
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How is the quantity of
merchandise?
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10
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Overall aesthetics?
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2
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How does the merchandise “fit”
visitor demographics?
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10
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How would you rate the “vibe?”
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1
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How is the variety of items for
sale?
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10
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How about the % of shop dedicated
toward children?
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8
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Like the Bok Tower gift shop, we
catch sight of the issue with the Dinosaur Museum’s gift shop. They stock authentic fossils and skeletons,
but they aren’t displayed well. This is
another example of a crowded, yet well-stocked shop where few buy
anything. People wandered about, and
left empty handed, being a victim of the Snapple effect. Although the Dinosaur Museum ranks at the
apex in terms of quality and quantity, the merchandise seems dumped on the
shelves with little thought toward aesthetics.
It’s great if you know exactly what you want, but that’s the
problem. Folks who shop in gift shops
are looking for an item or souvenir that evokes happy memories in remembering
their trip. They usually don’t know what
they’re looking for. They’ve been Snappled
and would be better off walking the few blocks to Ron Jon to buy something fun
and exciting, because they won’t find anything like that at the Dinosaur Museum. Browsing through all of the “stuff” seems
more work than pleasure. Having been
Snappled, I was at a loss when I remembered my mantra: shopping is not only important, it’s fun.
If the Dinosaur Museum
asked my opinion, this is some of what I would tell them: lose the whole Ancient Culture displays and
put the slabs of fossils in the gift shop in its place. Don’t get me wrong, the exhibits are stunning,
with exquisite attention to detail, but do they add to the overall focus of the
Dinosaur Museum? Not really, because the
exhibits only show a narrow slice of both Ancient Chinese and Ancient Egyptian
cultures and either one warrants an entire museum. The fossil slabs, on the other hand, are what
the Dinosaur Museum is really all about.
Why not arrange them into a prehistoric exhibit where we can look and
shop at the same time?
Another thing I would
tell them to do to eliminate the claustrophobic vibe of the gift shop is to not
use clear glass shelving in the exhibits, but replace it with something
non-transparent. Doing this would cut
down on the amount of stuff your eyes take in.
Here’s a photo of what I mean by
glass shelving increasing the image of clutter:
So as to not Snapple
the Dinosaur Museum, I would offer a third and final piece of advice: vary the height of the display cases. Upon entering the gift shop, the visual
aspect of the floor space washes into a sea of conformity. Again, here is a photo of what I mean by this
lack of varietal display height and appearance:
From all that I’ve
written about the Dinosaur Museum, you might think that I don’t recommend
planning a visit, but that’s not true. I
need to cut them some slack, because we were some of the first visitors at
their grand opening last Saturday. We
were the first folks to see the Ancient Culture display, because everyone else
was looking at the dinosaurs. I’ll say
again that their dioramas and skeletal displays are stunning, a true labor of
love. As we were headed out, one of the
volunteers asked for our honest opinion of the Dinosaur Museum (not the gift
shop, because I’d still be there explaining things). I gave them two areas that could use
improvement, with the first being to re-aim the spotlights in the
exhibits. I fought the glare from them
in almost every photo I took. The other
advice I gave them had to do with placement of their informational posters. The space associated with them is quite
close, enough so that it’s impossible to photograph because there’s no room to
get far enough back. They seemed eager
enough to fix the lighting, but were unable to do anything about the
posters. I forgot to tell them to add
benches, since there is currently only one.
Two visitors can sit comfortably; three visitors if everyone knows each
other.
Museum photos: https://goo.gl/LhYC1n
The Dinosaur Museum and
its gift shop have an odd relationship with each other. Both share the same building, and are operated
by the same owner. The gift shop, the
Dinosaur Store, has been open for a few years and is a for-profit
enterprise. The Dinosaur Museum on the
second and third floors opened to the public last Saturday, April 22,
2017. They operate as a non-profit
entity. Regardless, both are better with
each other than not.
After tooling around
the Dinosaur Museum, it’s time for lunch.
Head across the street, Cocoa Beach Causeway, to Pita Paradise (http://www.pitaparadisefl.com/) and order
their unbelievable Gyro sandwich or other tasty Middle Eastern snacks. Pita King is one of the few places where I
strongly suggest the lemonade, so do yourself a favor and order a glass of
it. They make it with rose water, which
gives it a pleasant aftertaste. Try
it. Bonus: Susan’s Birkenstock Store is next door to
Pita King. Stop on in if your feet are
complaining.
Cross the street A1A to
walk to Ron Jon Surf Shop. I absolutely
love this place and I want you to visit here to experience the surf culture of Florida. They give you a Ron Jon clingy decal with
every purchase. Mine’s been on my car
for almost three years. I’m not worried
if it comes off because I’ve got half a dozen of them from my frequent
visits. Bonus: Ron Jon Surf Shop is open 24-hours a
day. Good to know they are there for you
if you have a bathing suit emergency. While browsing around at Ron Jon, notice
how they display items for sale and compare to the Dinosaur Museum. Shelving is of variable height here, and
there’s room between the merchandise, but you won’t feel Snappled here. Most of us don’t pay attention to things like
counters, tables, and shelving. We take
it for granted that it’s easy to open a box of merchandise and toss it on a
shelf, but now you know the real story, that merchandising is a skill.
I remembered that I’ve
always wanted to play miniature golf on my birthday, as a fun way to end the
day. However, being born in Michigan at
the end of November squelched that dream.
Last year in Florida, I got my wish.
Thanksgiving weekend was a beautifully warm and sunny day, so we drove
to Cocoa Beach to play mini golf at a place I had seen many times during my
trip to Ron Jon Surf Shop. Lighthouse
Cove Adventure
Golf looked like fun; it had the obligatory waterfall, after all, and is
located two blocks south of Ron Jon.
As we finished golfing
and were preparing to leave, I mentioned that this was my best birthday ever,
and the employee behind the counter apologized for not realizing that it was my
birthday when we first arrived because birthday golf is free. She wasn’t able to refund our money, so she
gave us a “Free Birthday Golf” card and told me I didn’t have to wait for next
November, but could use it anytime.
That’s exactly what we
did after visiting the Museum of Dinosaurs & Ancient Cultures and after shopping
at Ron Jon last Saturday. Mini golf is
not all they have, though. Talk about hitting
the motherlode, they’re a combination ice cream parlor and purveyors of fine
beers and wine. Nonetheless, it gets
better. While enjoying a pre-game adult
beverage, we fell into easy conversation with the barkeep. Get this:
there’s a phone number on the score card that connects to the bar. The good folks at Lighthouse Cove will take
your drink order and bring it out to you.
Life can be sweet.
The course wasn’t busy
at first, but we got slowed down by a large group. Sure, we could have asked them if we could
play through, but we took a different approach.
Golf clubs in hand, we headed back inside to the bar to enjoy some delicious
adult beverages. We weren’t in a hurry,
and this seemed less stressful than continually waiting for an 8-year old to
finish the hole ahead of us. We sat for
20 minutes, and then returned to the golf course. No one was ahead of us, and we had some good,
clean fun. When you visit Cocoa Beach,
Florida, I highly recommend stopping at Lighthouse Cove Adventure Golf. Our time there more than compensated for all
of those missed birthday golf outings in Michigan.
These three places
(museum, Ron Jon, mini golf) are located within a few blocks of each other and
are easily walkable (see map). I’m
begging you to be alert and careful when you cross Highway A1A, because it isn’t
always safe for pedestrians. Traffic is
especially heavy at the intersection of A1A and the Cocoa Beach Causeway with
tourists and locals, and drivers are not always paying attention. We’ve seen our share of near misses outside
of Ron Jon. Continue this alert state
even when walking on sidewalks, because there are many folks clustered in this
area, and not all of them are decent people.
Gift shop photos:
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