Dr Pepper Museum Review – Is It Worth Visiting?
If you’ve looked for “best things to do in Waco” you’ve no doubt seen the Dr Pepper museum pop up. It’s BY FAR one of the most recommended Waco activities. The entrance fee is pretty inexpensive (there are a few option add-ons) and it only takes an hour or two to go through the entire museum, so it’s easy enough to try it out. But if you want a few extra details before you decide if it’s the right Waco activity for you, I’m happy to be the guinea pig.
Is The Dr Pepper Museum Where They Make Dr Pepper?
No… although it used to be the original Dr Pepper bottling plant! (Called a different name, though.) So if you’re expecting to be touring a “Dr Pepper factory” of sorts, this is not where they make Dr Pepper. It is, however, where Dr Pepper was created in the 1800s!
Cost Of Visiting The Dr Pepper Museum
It’s $12 per person, and children 4 & under are free. The admission ticket also includes a free Dr Pepper drink at the old fashioned soda fountain, where they make Dr Pepper the old fashioned way by pumping in the flavored syrup and then adding sparkling mineral water on top. It tastes totally different from a normal Dr Pepper from a can!
Dr Pepper Museum Review
Admission // You don’t need to reserve tickets in advance! Just walk in and pay at the admissions counter, and you can start your museum tour right away.
(If you want to do the extra Taste-A-Soda or Make-A-Soda add-on experience, you can make a reservation for that in advance and select your time slot!)
The Museum Layout // The main museum is three floors and takes about an hour to walk through if you want to read most of it. (I read about 80% of the displays because it was actually really interesting!)
First Floor: Ok, they go waaayyyyy back to the earliest historical discoveries of mineral water and its healing properties, sparkling water, and the creation of soda. We’re talking like the 1300s!
It’s actually very cool to learn about the springs that used to be under the city of Waco. It was called “Geyser City” and had all sorts of spring-fed pools and fountains until people dried up the aquifer that’s down there.
You’ll also learn about the creation of Dr Pepper, the guy who came up with those 23 flavors, and you can see an example of the old fashioned bottling line and the way it used to be made back when this building was being used as a Dr Pepper bottling plant.
My favorite part? They accidentally uncovered the original well that supplied water to the Dr Pepper factory! They put a sturdy plastic shield over it and guests can literally walk on it and look down about 30 feet.
Second Floor: This floor is mostly about the distribution of Dr Pepper all over the world. The world loves DP and it started right here in Waco!
You can see examples of cans and bottles in languages from around the world, and how various countries have fallen head-over-heels in love with Dr Pepper.
There’s also a cool display about the original building and how it was eventually repurposed to be this museum.
Third Floor: A lot of Dr Pepper postcards, and a display about WW “Foots” Clements, the beloved CEO of Dr Pepper in the 1970s and 1980s who really grew Dr Pepper into the global brand that it is today.
After you finish at the third floor, you’ll walk outside to go to the gift shop or the Kellum-Rotan building (the building with the iconic Dr Pepper mural on it) to go to the soda shop and Make-A-Soda experience.
Gift Shop At The Dr Pepper Museum
You don’t need a ticket to walk into the gift shop! If you’re a big Dr Pepper person, I swear that this is the place where you’ll find ALL the souvenirs!
Dr Pepper cotton candy? They’ve got it.
Dr Pepper candles? Yup.
Dr Pepper shirts and hoodies, kitchen towels, playing cards, bumper stickers, pins (and pens!), vintage posters, and pretty much any DP memorabilia that you could want…you’ll find it here.
Soda Fountain at the Dr Pepper Museum
Your admission ticket gets you a free Dr Pepper at the soda fountain, so make sure you hang on to your receipt! It’s made the old fashioned way. You’ll see the soda jerk pump some Dr Pepper syrup into a cup, then top it off with sparkling water and ice.
It tastes a lot less sweet than the stuff you get in the can. I loved it!
Don’t want a Dr Pepper? You can also use your free coupon to upgrade to any other treat (like a float) and they’ll take $1 off.
Make-A-Soda and Taste-A-Soda
These are the only two experiences at the Dr Pepper museum that cost anything extra. They’re both 10 bucks and require a reservation.
The Make-A-Soda lets you create your own custom Dr Pepper soda! You start with DP, Diet DP, or Big Red and you can add custom flavors to it to make it your own unique soda.
Taste-A-Soda is really fun! You get 6 different Dr Pepper Signature Flavors and do a blind taste test. The flavors include Strawberries and Cream and Dark Berry, and this is a pretty unique experience because some of the 6 flavors have been discontinued…and this is the only place on earth where you can try them.
More To Do In The Soda Fountain Building
Even though the museum is in a separate building, the Soda Fountain Building (aka the Kellum-Rotan Building) has a few more displays!
There’s a really cool replica of a 7Up bottling facility, some old fashioned wagons that used to be used for soda distribution, and a bunch of vintage posters that were used for marketing.
I loved this miniature village:
And then, of course, you can walk over to your Make-A-Soda or Taste-A-Soda experience if you decide to purchase one of those.
This entire building is spacious and carpeted, so there were a few kids running around. It’s a great family-friendly space!
Dr Pepper Museum: Is It Worth It?
It’s hands-down the best museum in Waco! Even if you don’t really consider yourself a Dr Pepper fan, it’s one of the biggest world-wide soda brands and it literally started right here, so it’s pretty cool to learn about its origins and how it grew to be such a massive household name.
Plus, admission is really inexpensive (and free for children 4 and under). It’s an indoor museum, so it’s a good Waco activity on a rainy day or really hot summer day.
It’s not the type of place you would want to visit more than once, though. It’s a small museum and you’ll be able to see all of it in one visit. But it's a cute place to visit in Waco!
WEBSITE | 300 S 5th St, Waco, TX 76701, United States
About me: I’m Kelsey, a bestselling travel book author and the creator of 3 Texas travel websites. As a native Texan, I spend my own time and money exploring this state to help millions of readers find the best food, things to do, places to stay in Austin and beyond. Check out my other sites: TheSanAntonioThings.com and TheAustinThings.com!
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