A Christmas Story House

Reviews 3

KA

Katey Till

We really liked the gift shop. The museum was very informative; full of really cool relics and pictures that had been collected from the movie and set. The house, on the other hand, was very disappointing. It was not an exact replica. The bathroom was rebuilt in the wrong room, plus it was arranged incorrectly. And because the bathroom was built in the wrong room, a new room had been added to the house, which wasnt a part of the movie at all- a sewing room. The house was missing the dining room. The kitchen was not arranged correctly: the appliances were not only positioned incorrectly, they were placed on different walls. Plus the room was missing the door to the dining room (which as I said before, was non-existent). The basement door was on the wrong side of the kitchen. In the house we toured, the basement door is next to the back door. In the movie, the basement door is located ACROSS from the back door (on the other side of the room.) Ralphie and Randys room was rebuilt in the wrong room of the house (in fact, their room was at the complete opposite end of the house.) The parents room wasnt on display. The dimensions of many of the rooms were noticeably off. The outside of the house was overly landscape, which would look beautiful in any normal house of today, but it takes away from the authenticity of the house you see in the movie. The Parkers were a blue-collar, working class family. Their back yard would not have looked like it came out of a suburb. When you first walk into the house, you think, "Everything SEEMS familiar, but something is off." Once you take pictures and then compare them to the movie, the mistakes are glaringly obvious. Dont believe me? Google images of the house and see for yourself. The overall experience (this includes the house, museum, and gift shop) was just ok, hence the two stars. There were so many mistakes done with the house that it really took away from the experience of feeling like you are actually in the house that Ralphie lived in. What we couldnt figure out was, if the owner spent over $200,000 on the house and renovations, why didnt he build it back to its authentic state? And if he couldnt, then he should have explained why certain things like: why were rooms were not rebuilt in their original places, why the dining room was omitted, why a sewing room was added, and why rooms werent arranged the way they were shown in the movie. Im sure there would have been good reasons for all of these things. I did notice the museum had included pictures of the house being renovated, but I guess I didnt see the explanations. Our tour guide had informed us that the owner had studied the movie frame-by-frame in order to create an exact replica of the house, so we were left with lots of questions as to what went wrong because he really missed the mark. The bottom line is this: either make sure you have created what you claim or be transparent about your project and explain why things were done the way they were; especially when dealing with something that has been treasured as much as this movie and its relics. After all, many of us grew up watching it. This movie is a Christmas tradition, so we know it by heart. -- two stars thanks to the gift shop and museum.

C

C Policastro

We were told online that you could do a self guided tour, but when we got there they said NO and we had to pay $12 a person to go on the tour otherwise we couldnt see anything. I felt very salty at this moment as they pulled the ol bait and switch but we were here already so we paid. We drove up to the street containing the house at 10:15 and people were already in line for the tour and walking around. I was amazed at how popular this place is! I thought we would be one of a few people stopping here on a Thursday morning, but nope lots of others. They have a building as a museum, another as the gift shop with an attached garage with some trucks from the age and then across the street is the actual house. Inside the gift shop were 6 staff memeber...6!! Its not a large shop but what kind of money are they making that they have 6 people at 10:15 in the morning during the week?! They did have some shirts for $10 on sale but most were $20-$25. They have cups, soap and all kinds of crap with the movie logo on it. Some cool statues but they are $150-$250. The museum is meh. Inside is a door from the class room and some of the outfits they wore. Nothing nuts but if youre a fan of the movie its interesting. The actual house is just that....a house. Its redone so it looks like the set of the movie and it was really clean when we went in, so at least your money is being spent to take care of the house. Inside you walk around and take pictures with your favorite props and can recreate some scenes. Our tour guide was a younger girl and she was good, she told us some things about the house and movie we didnt know and was fun. She brought some of the pink bunny suits for us to put on for pictures so that was a good photo for this years Christmas card. I mean if you liked the movie its neat to see the house and all but its not something I would drive all day to go see. We were done in about an hour and it didnt drag on so that was nice. We had a good time but once is enough for us.

WI

William H

Absolutely wonderful! We very much enjoyed the house, museum and gift shop. Admission cost is very reasonable. I read a couple other reviewer comments but respectfully disagree. The tour took far more than 5 minutes. It took about an hour perhaps longer to see everything and listen to the tour guide. We didnt have to wait anymore than perhaps 12 minutes to start the tour as they are conducted all day up until about 4:30 I believe then it is a self guided tour. If you loved the movie then youll want to take your time and take it all in. There are plenty of photo opportunities in the house and they allow you to wear the pink bunny suit if you wish so there is plenty of hands on things to experience. Brings back great memories and the Randy character resides in Cleveland according to our tour guide and visits the house and the fans of the movie from time to time. Beautifully restored. The museum is likewise a treat. You can also view the family car and a fire engine. Tons of merchandise in the gift shop. A must see. Oh, and you can actually pickup the old telephone in the upstairs hallway and hear Ralphies mom telling her sons mother about the bad word that Ralphie claimed to have heard or learned from his friend in the movie. Very funny. You can also let your child hide inside the kitchen cabinet underneath the sink just like Randy did in the movie. The home is all decorated for Christmas. Lovely tribute to the movie and the characters. I give this an A++++++. Pure poetry. Lol.