Florida

The Sporking Life

Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures





Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures






 Museum of Dinosaurs & Ancient Cultures250 W Cocoa Beach Causeway
Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931

(321) 783-7300





AT A GLANCE Museum of Dinosaurs & Ancient Cultures

Date of Visit:
Saturday, April 22, 2017

Parking
Plentiful, onsite parking

Amount of time needed to peruse exhibits:
60 – 120 minutes (1 – 2 hours)

Amount of time needed for gift shop
45 minutes

The “must have” souvenir
There are three this week:
·         The giant shark jaw in the front window
·         Cute orange wooden picture frame holder
·         “Bite Me” key chain

Online shopping
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.

Kid friendly shopping
Definitely

Kid friendly
Yes  

Dress code
Cocoa Beach is a huge tourist area.  Dress casually, but not too tacky.

Be sure to…..
Take a selfie with the big boy dinosaur at the store’s entrance.

Nearby/other establishments to visit

Play Miniature Golf at Lighthouse Cove Adventure Golf
http://www.lighthousecoveminigolf.com/cocoa-beach/index.cfm

Walkability, general downtown area / amount of traffic
Walkable    

Safety, in terms of type and number of crimes committed in general area
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.




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?
10 for dinosaurs;
1 for Ancient Cultures
How is the quality of merchandise?
10
How is the quantity of merchandise?
10
Overall aesthetics?
2
How does the merchandise “fit” visitor demographics?
10
How would you rate the “vibe?”
1
How is the variety of items for sale?
10
How about the % of shop dedicated toward children?
8


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

Gift shop photos:
https://goo.gl/s2LT8C

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.

Museum photos:
https://goo.gl/LhYC1n

Gift shop photos:  




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