Behind the Museum · Chapter 4 of 10 · Stories 38–50 of 145
We had the collection, a building, and a vision for the experience. But opening the Wizard of Oz Museum would take far more than we expected. Construction surprises, fire-safety requirements, early visitors, and difficult decisions turned our plans into a real museum.
My name is Fred, and this is the part of our story when everything became real.
Until now, Palina and I had spent years collecting, researching, planning, and imagining what the museum could become. Once construction began, we had to deal with the realities of opening a public attraction.
These thirteen stories describe what happened between building the museum and learning how to welcome its first visitors.
The Extra Exit That Cost Tens of Thousands
When we began building the museum, I thought mainly about displays, artifacts, and the immersive experience. I did not expect one doorway to become such an expensive problem.
As we worked through building requirements, we learned that our plans required changes involving an additional exit and related fire-safety construction.
That meant dealing with fire-rated materials, doors, walls, and other work that had not been part of my original vision.
What seemed like a relatively small change became a major expense. My recollection is that the additional work cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The lesson was difficult: in a museum, the parts visitors rarely notice can be among the most expensive things to build.
Two Days Before Opening, the Fire Inspection Changed Everything
Palina remembers September 23, 2021, particularly clearly. It was our son Sean's birthday.
We were preparing for what we hoped would be the museum's opening just two days later.
The displays were in place, and after so much work, we believed we were almost ready.
Then came the fire inspection.
We learned that additional work was necessary before the building could operate as we intended. Instead of celebrating an opening, we faced more construction, permitting questions, and fire-safety issues.
For our family, it was a major disappointment. We had already invested so much time, money, and energy.
The museum was physically taking shape, but we could not yet welcome visitors in the way we had planned.
We Were Improving a Building We Knew We'd Never Own
When we selected the Cape Canaveral location, one possibility made the investment easier to imagine.
If the museum succeeded, perhaps we might eventually be able to buy the building.
But while we were already investing heavily in renovations, the property was sold.
That changed how we felt about the entire project.
We were improving a building that we now understood would not become our permanent home. Every additional construction expense raised the same uncomfortable question: how much should we invest in property we did not own?
Yet walking away would have meant abandoning everything we had already built.
So we continued. Sometimes building a museum did not mean choosing between a good option and a bad one. It meant choosing the next workable step when neither alternative felt easy.
We Opened Before the Museum Was Finished
Our original opening plans had been disrupted, but the collection was already installed.
The museum portion was beginning to look like the place we had imagined for years. We wanted people to see it.
After additional work, we began allowing visitors into the museum portion during an early opening period. Palina remembers this happening around November 2021.
Instead of immediately operating the complete attraction, we welcomed visitors on a more limited basis.
I personally guided people through the exhibits and explained the collection. During that period, visitors could contribute donations.
It was not the grand opening we had originally envisioned. But it gave us something invaluable: our first real experiences with museum visitors.
Our Very First Google Review Was One Star
When people imagine the beginning of a museum, they probably picture happy visitors and encouraging reviews.
Our experience was different.
Fred and Palina remember that the museum's first Google review was a one-star rating during the early appointment and soft-opening period.
It followed an uncomfortable interaction near the museum entrance. The exact review and its date still need to be checked against the original record.
What I remember most is the feeling of seeing a negative public rating before we had properly established ourselves.
We had worked for years to open the museum, and suddenly one unhappy interaction had become part of its online reputation.
It was an early lesson in the realities of running a public attraction.
I Didn't Know What to Charge—So Visitors Decided
One of the practical questions I had to answer was how much a visit to the museum should cost.
I knew what the collection meant to me. But that did not tell me what visitors would consider a reasonable admission price.
During the early opening period, we allowed visitors to decide what they wanted to contribute.
Their donations gave us feedback that no spreadsheet could provide.
My recollection is that many visitors valued the museum experience at around twenty dollars.
That helped me understand how people perceived the experience we had created.
I Personally Toured Almost Every Visitor
In the beginning, I spent a great deal of time speaking directly with museum visitors.
I explained the rare books, described the history of Oz, and watched how people responded to different exhibits.
Those conversations were more than guided tours. They helped me understand the museum through the eyes of its audience.
I noticed which objects surprised people, which stories held their attention, and which explanations needed to be clearer.
Visitors asked questions I had not anticipated. Their reactions challenged assumptions I had made while designing the exhibits.
My first visitors were also my first research team. They showed me how the museum worked in real life.
Those early tours helped shape how we presented the collection.
How Visitors Helped Set the Ticket Price
As we moved from a donation-based opening period toward regular admission, we needed a more consistent price.
The early donations had already given us useful information about how visitors valued the museum.
We also had to consider the immersive experience as part of the complete attraction.
That meant thinking about the value of the museum displays, the additional immersive component, and what families might reasonably expect to pay.
I compared our offering with other local attractions and activities for children.
Rather than relying only on what I believed the museum was worth, I used the visitors' responses to guide the decision.
The Real Grand Opening Was February 2022
People sometimes ask when the Wizard of Oz Museum opened.
The answer depends on what we mean by opening.
Visitors began experiencing the museum portion in late 2021, during our early opening period.
But the complete concept involved both the collection and the immersive experience.
That fuller attraction came together for the grand opening in February 2022.
It was the moment when the museum more closely resembled the experience we had spent years imagining.
After all the delays, building challenges, and unexpected expenses, we could finally begin welcoming visitors to the complete museum concept.
For-Profit or Nonprofit?
Before opening, I had to make a decision that had little to do with Oz books but a great deal to do with operating a museum.
Should we organize it as a nonprofit institution or as a for-profit business?
The nonprofit model was an option I considered. Museums are often associated with charitable organizations, donations, and educational missions.
But I also needed to think about how we would manage operations, make decisions, and support the attraction financially.
A conversation with someone connected to another museum influenced my thinking about the decision.
It was another reminder that creating a museum requires both a cultural vision and a workable business structure.
I Opened With Exactly One Employee
When people visit a museum, they may imagine a large team working behind the scenes.
That was not how our museum began.
At the start, we had exactly one employee, along with Palina and me.
We were involved in almost every part of the operation.
There were displays to arrange, decorations to install, a gift shop to organize, and visitors to welcome.
We could not divide every responsibility among specialized departments. We had to handle many jobs ourselves.
It was a small beginning for a project that had already required years of preparation.
We Painted and Built It Ourselves
Opening the Wizard of Oz Museum was not a process where Palina and I simply hired people and waited for the finished result.
We painted walls, worked on displays, arranged cabinets, installed decorations, and helped prepare the gift shop.
We were involved in the practical details of making the museum ready for visitors.
Some days were about creative decisions. Other days were about completing ordinary physical work that simply had to be done.
There is something personal about walking through a place where you remember painting the walls and arranging the exhibits yourself.
The museum was not only our idea. It was also the result of our own hands-on effort.
I Made a Video That Could Talk Someone Out of Buying a Ticket
As the museum began welcoming visitors, I realized that not everyone arrived with the same expectations.
Some people expected an attraction focused almost entirely on the famous 1939 movie. Others were interested in books, history, collectibles, or immersive technology.
I wanted visitors to understand what we actually offered before buying a ticket.
So I made an explanatory video intended to give people a clearer picture of the experience.
I knew that some viewers might decide the museum was not what they were looking for.
That was acceptable to me. I would rather someone make an informed decision than buy a ticket with expectations we could not meet.
A visitor who knows what to expect has a better chance of enjoying what we created.
Helping people understand the museum became part of improving the visitor experience itself.
The Museum Was Open. The Learning Had Just Begun.
By February 2022, the Wizard of Oz Museum had moved beyond years of planning and construction.
We had faced unexpected expenses, difficult building requirements, an interrupted opening schedule, and the realities of operating with a very small team.
But we had also begun meeting the people who would shape the museum's future: our visitors.
Their questions, reactions, donations, and reviews gave us information we could never have learned from planning alone.
We had opened the doors. Now we needed to build a community around the experience.
Next chapter: Finding Our Community.
