Ripley’s Believe It or Not! St. Augustine

We went hoping to see some unusual phenomenon. There were a couple of interesting items such as the tall man, but most was not interesting, not exciting, or just plain garbage. It cost $ 52.00 for 4 of us and was a total waste of money. There are many more entertaining things to do with your money. I suggest you don’t waste your time on this place.

A great big mansion, filled with weird, wonderful, silly, bizarre stuff. Stuff you just won’t see anywhere else. You could easily while away an afternoon in here, and have plenty to talk about on the way home.

A small museum but with some interesting things, but the last part of the museum is extremely fun!

ghost tour was a joke… waste of $ and time. Our ghost meter battery died… disappointed all around in this tour.

loved loved loved the show and books as a kid and the museum definitely did not let me down. It’s not huge and you will need to do some reading about different exhibits so be prepared for that but well worth it. They do have quite a few interactive exhibits as well. It’s also in a haunted castle/​hotel which adds to the fun. Me and my girlfriend had a blast and would visit again. I saw children there and I would say that it is appropriate for them as well just a couple of spooky exhibits they may want to watch out for. Everyone working there was very friendly and helpful as well.

I love museum and by far one of the most recommended place I would recommend. Lots of strange, weird, creepy, and hands on experience. Get ready to jump, scream, wow, and awe with the things you will experience.
What I paid for two was worth the money. I recommend going in a big group. I was with my wife but I felt as if it would be better with more friends and family.
All the manikins are so realistic. If you do bring kids along warning of scary music and things that goes bump at night. There are a few hands in stuff that require money but I personally didn’t care for them (pinball machine, palm reading, fortune teller, ect.)
Overall had fun and love this place!!!

This review is only based on the Ripleys Christmas lights tour. I had heard amazing things, knowledgeable drivers, Christmas music, sing a longs, an hour long… Our tour was supposed to start at 830. The trolley didnt come until 840. I was under the impression this was an hour long drive through St Augustine. The driver said it was only 30 minutes. Uhm ok. The driver said NOTHING about the city or what we were going past and before we knew it we were back at Ripleys! Our ride lasted LESS THAN 20 MINUTES! I am never doing a Ripley tour again. I didnt buy the tickets or else I wouldve asked for a refund. The only bright side is the glasses they give you that makes the Christmas lights into shapes. This year was snowmen and I guess last year was Santa. Dont waste your money, there are tons of tours, do them.

Not worth the price. $ 42 dollars for 2 adults and 2 kids. It is a hour at best walk through. A few cool items, but very weak overall. It is next to the fort, so parking sucks. I feel I was lucky and only waited about 5 mins for a spot. I won’t go back. My kids enjoyed parts of it, but not good value for your money.

Great place to go if you have money to waste. After spending $ 15 per person to get in the «kid friendly» museum, anything inside the museum that was interactive cost extra. And some of the activities had no warnings that they might be scary for children (loud noises, creepy music etc) and the toddler we had with us was clinging on to daddy for dear life.
Not impressed.

Worth the price, but I’m happy we still had coupons because it can get expensive.
Awesome exhibits. Some weird but very cool. We took a ton of pictures. A few of the last exhibits were more kid-​oriented but most of it was adult and family-​friendly.
Very happy we went here.

This was told to us by the guides of the Red Trains as the first original Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Odditorium.
I took my mother with me, and seeing as we got a discount, we decided to give it a try. Let me also mention that I have been to two other locations prior to visiting the original. The workers at the ticket counter were very friendly but seemed a bit frazzled. There was a lot of people attempting to fit into the small room, most of whom were just buying train tickets. Anyone who buys a ticket gets sucked into a rehearsed spiel about trying to upgrade the tickets to any of the add ons. I can understand that they want to get more revenue, and that the workers are required to try and upsell the add ons, however, with the place being so busy, it took a great deal of time away from ringing up potential customers. I witnessed people who decidedly left and went to try for the other guided service in St. Augustine, just because they didn’t want to deal with the five minute monologue on how you can go play mini golf for just a dollar more or ride the ghost train. If they want to try and upsell things for the train, perhaps they should have a counter devoted to the train outside in the little alcove of the building.
It didn’t bother us much on waiting because we were going in with a coupon and nothing else to do that day. They didn’t really watch the people going through the gates to the museum, so I’m sure people have entered without paying before, especially when the coworkers are so preoccupied. I was in love with the architecture of the building. It was originally the Warden House, as well as a hotel back in the day before it caught on fire. It did have all the gimmicks that at Ripley had, so I wasn’t disappointed there. I did enjoy that they did have placards around the building about the history of the building and Ripley’s part in it. I have heard part of it on the trains by the guides, but it was nice to visually see what they were talking about.
I think there was only one thing that stood out to me. As someone who has worked with animals, especially exotics, I was sad to see the lack of care that was for their Goliath bird eating spider. This was the main reason why I came to Ripley’s because it was featured on the train and in an insert. The habitat was of an okay size and it was relatively clean. However, the full spectrum light that was on top of the habitat wasn’t on. The spider did need some sort of light source during the day for it’s wellbeing. I am not sure if this is a new exhibit along with their scorpions, because the habitat did look new. It could be the fact that it was unplugged and in the middle of the room, so they haven’t figured out a way to attach it without people tripping over it yet. I just feel for the poor guy who needs some sort of light.
Other than that, it’s your simple odditorium, from the longest gum wrapper chain to a picture of justin beiber made out of candy. Something every age could enjoy.

You’ll only like it if you like history and weird things. It was fun for my boyfriend and I. We got our hand waxed and won a two tailed rat in the crane game. There were so many kids but that comes with the territory. Will bring my kids here one day. The tickets are valid for 7 consecutive days and since we couldn’t bring our hands with us for the rest of the day we saved our ticket and got it done right before we left.

Cool mansion, interesting things to see. Go with people who have a sense of humor, are literate and like to read. (Actually this bit of advice can apply in any situation). It’s an Odditorium for sure and if you approach this experience with that in mind, then you’ll enjoy the air conditioned splendor of this architecturally interesting house that’s rumored to be a home of haunts.

Very nice museum, lots of strange things! I have been to two ripley attractions before and this is by far the best! Its alittle pricey but it is such a large museum it is worth the money!

Odditorium was cool, the spinning vortex tunnel was the most insane, crazy fun thing I’ve done in a while. Stayed for the haunted castle tour and that’s where my review takes a turn. I was pretty let down by this one. Your «90 minute» tour starts with a 25 minute movie where they show you other people doing investigations and put thoughts in your head about what you might experience in a few particular rooms. One of them was our tour guide. Then you go to three rooms in the museum where she tells you a little story and you get maybe 2 – 3 minutes to walk around each room, with 20 other people flashing their laser lights and emf detectors beeping, freaking people out every time they get too close to a wall or an electrical box.
It would have been a lot more fun if we’d had more time in each room or broken into smaller groups. Felt rushed. I’m hypersensitive and the only thing I felt was a mild emf effect in the theater room (got nauseous sitting close to a high emf wall– likely a lot of wires in that wall) and two spots where I saw an orb on my camera screen whip through the room and through a doorway, faster than a bug and not the typical dust pattern of flight. But never felt any presence or saw or heard anything. Next time will opt for one of the actual investigation groups.

Nice AC and break from the Florida sun and heat. Some interesting displays. Question some authenticity, fun things to sit and ponder. Reasonable entrance fee and free parking if you get there early enough. Takes roughly 1 – 2 hours to go through the museum.

A great and interesting exhibit. For the price, this is a great place for family fun. Some rooms a little scary for young kids. The end has a really cool LED lit tunnel that revolves as you try to cross a bridge. It play mind games on you and could make you lose your balance. It was my favorite part. I wanted to do it twice, so keep an eye out for the secret door to the left which leads you back to the start of that spinning tunnel, through a black light, glowing painted room! Such a cool exhibit!

I was shocked the number of items inside you have to pay in order to see… great place to park for the day… ride the trolley and enjoy this great city… If your from out of town. spend lots of money.

SO MUCH FUN!!!
It was great that I found out Florida Residents were 50% off (until today, but St. John’s locals get 50% off all the time for Ripley’s tickets). The 50% price also applied to the Red Train Tours and two other ghost tours, but we opted just for the Ripley’s tickets because by the time we finished viewing the whole building the Red Train tours were about to end and we wouldn’t have time to get off the train and walk around, then hop back on.
Anyways, we paid under $ 20 for 2 tickets and headed inside. There was a lot of things to look at, to read, and to interact with. My fiancée and I had a great time and learned some interesting things. Surprisingly it wasn’t so busy for a Saturday (we were there around 2pm). Definitely a cool place to go to if you’re in St. Augustine. Good for kids, although some parts are kind of super creepy — you have been warned.

This was the first Ripley’s museum! The building itself has lots of history and is kind of awesome!
There were lots of items on display, the FIJI MERMAID! A Captain Jack Sparrow statue made out of car parts, candy collages (including a Freddy Krueger made out of Twizzlers!), a dress made out of coffee filters, a mummified cat, the largest Erector set, a shrunken head! All of which have little cards to explain what they are and how they came to be at Ripley’s.
It’s a little corny, but still a lot of fun to go through. There are lots of interactive parts and tons of history. I think adults enjoyed it as much as the kids did, and it’s certainly worth the $ to get out of the Florida heat for an hour or two while you enjoy the air conditioned museum!