Courtesy of Catja Christensen
Have you ever seen a 14-foot-tall PEZ dispenser? We can now say we have!
You can too at the PEZ Visitor Center in Orange, Connecticut! Just a 15-minute drive down I-95 from Yale University, this museum is tucked into an industrial park, but you know you’ve arrived when the massive PEZ sign on the front of the building comes into view.
A few weeks ago, we were looking for something to do while we waited for a few friends to finish taking the GRE. A quick Google search informed us that Connecticut was home to the PEZ museum just outside New Haven. As lovers of weird museums, it was an automatic yes, but we went in with very low expectations.
While driving down the road to the museum, we were nervous, especially because it was such an industrial area with warehouses and loading docks. As soon as the PEZ sign came into view, we were hooked. Walking into the building, we were greeted by a glass wall of hundreds of PEZ dispensers. We bought our tickets, which were only $5 per person and included a $2 store credit for the gift shop and a souvenir lanyard, and then walked through the doors. The massive robotic PEZ dispenser greets you upon entering and dispenses an equally enormous PEZ pellet at the push of a button.
There is no right place to start in the 2-story, 4,000-square-foot building, but we turned left and started with the history of PEZ. Eduard Haas III invented PEZ in Vienna, Austria, deriving the name from the German pfefferminz (peppermint). After its advent in 1927, PEZ rapidly grew in popularity around the world, thanks to its unique dispenser invented by Oscar Uxa.
Featuring famous cartoon characters, celebrities, and logos, these dispensers have become iconic collectibles. The museum even had a book of eBay PEZ listings; the most expensive one we found was a pair of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dispensers that sold for $9893.33! When PEZ became more popular in the US in the 1970s, PEZ built its first American warehouse and manufacturing facility in Orange — the same warehouse that is open to the public today.
While reading up on PEZ’s history, we took in the decor of the space. High on a wall, there was a PEZ for every pez-ident from Washington to Obama, arranged side by side. We walked over hundreds of dispensers covered by clear floor panels. Vintage artwork on bright yellow walls featured the “PEZ ladies,” women representing the company in 1950s-style uniforms, a technicolor reminder that PEZ was originally advertised as a smoking alternative for adults before it became predominantly a candy for children.
Next, we began our scavenger hunt, a monthly game that the museum offers with the promise of a free PEZ dispenser if you complete it. During our trip, the goal was to find a series of crystal skull dispensers that would have a letter or word next to it. We would put those finds on a card that eventually spelled out a phrase. We expected it to be easy – this appeared to be a children’s museum after all –but we were surprised just how long it took us to find all the crystal skulls! Eventually, we found them all and were rewarded with a PEZ dispenser with the head of RJ from Over the Hedge.
While hunting for crystal skulls, we passed a glass wall that provided a peek into the PEZ production facilities that still operate today. Thousands of sugar pellets of all flavors sat in clear tubs around the room. On the opposite wall, the gift shop displayed the finished products along with t-shirts, postcards, and even a photo-op display where you can make your head the top of a dispenser.
After going wild in the gift shop buying PEZ for friends and family, where most individual dispensers were under $3, we left the museum feeling educated, exhilarated, and in awe. The PEZ Museum exceeded our expectations, and we highly recommend a visit!
