No longer a “museum of oddities” that is accessible to many adults or people with disabilities.

My husband and I visited Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in the Wisconsin Dells 10 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. This year, we decided to finally visit Wizard Quest, saw that Ripley’s had moved, and decided to visit again as the tickets were cheaper if you bought them together.

We truly enjoyed Wizard Quest. There was some squeezing or crawling into places, but having 1 agile member of the group was sufficient, or you could ask a nearby child to help you out. This was expected and there were warnings. (This will be relevant I promise).

Ripley’s moved into the old Wizard Quest building. There is no indication that the coolest displays at Ripley’s are now hidden behind puzzles, or require crawling and squeezing. Without being able to do this, the average adult visitor will see very little that is worth the price of admission. Also, the signs describing the pieces adults are able to see were difficult for me to read, and I have never had an issue reading signs before.

We were very disappointed in our latest experience. We happened to bump into someone who seemed like a manager on our way out. He tried to be helpful and told us where the coolest displays are. However, his response to “how is the average adult expected to see the cool displays” was “send a child in to take pictures”. I did not pay adult admission (even if discounted) which is higher than children’s admission to have to crawl on the floor to see displays.

I appreciate that they are trying to do something different, but they need to warn and advertise that crawling and squeezing into corners is required. (For reference- I weigh 140 pounds at 5’6”. I was barely able to squeeze into most of these areas.)

We left and both said we felt we had been lied to and taken advantage of. We were very disappointed that for the price of admission, we didn’t manage to see some of the coolest exhibits we remember from last time.

It also felt like they haven’t finished moving. There was a fraction of the displays as the previous location. While this does mean it feels less claustrophobic and more like a regular museum, it also added to our feeling of disappointment.