Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the New Wizard of Oz Museum in Cocoa Beach

By Patrick Connolly
Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO—The world of Oz has a new home on Florida’s Space Coast, and it can be found by following the yellow brick road to an emerald green building in Cocoa Beach.

The Wizard of Oz Museum, which opened in Cape Canaveral in 2022, moved into an expanded space about five minutes down the road in Cocoa Beach earlier this summer. Inside, guests can explore a collection of more than 2,000 artifacts, including a Dorothy dress worn by Judy Garland, a “Winkie Guard” spear, an Emerald City townsman jacket, and a pair of ruby red slippers previously displayed in the queue for Disney’s Great Movie Ride.

The attraction also features an immersive Wizard of Oz and Vincent van Gogh experience and a new room featuring memorabilia from the 1960s sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” including a life-sized Jeannie bottle. The show was set in Cocoa Beach.

Millions of people have watched the iconic film “The Wizard of Oz” from 1939, but many might not be familiar with the original series of books written by L. Frank Baum starting in 1900. These are what first sparked the museum’s owner, Fred Trust, to develop an interest in the fantasy world of Oz at a young age.

“I’m originally from the former Soviet Union. When I was a child in elementary school, the teacher read us a book, about 260 pages, throughout the whole year,” Trust said, recalling his memories of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” which he later read to his children.

“I decided to open a museum because I got enough pieces that were unique from the perspective of the Wizard of Oz.”

One of the rarest artifacts museum visitors can see is the first known copy of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” from 1900. Baum penned the first 14 novels, but Ruth Plumly Thompson and other authors picked up his work after he passed away, ultimately completing a series of 40 books, many of which visitors can see in the museum.

Guests can explore 50 cabinets filled with memorabilia collected by Trust and his wife, Palina Trust—including original movie scripts, miniature figurines, plates, board games, items signed by Michael Jackson promoting “The Wiz,” vintage cookie jars, and much more spread across two rooms.

Newer additions to the collection include gloves worn onscreen by actor Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion, and Muppets dressed as characters from “The Wizard of Oz.”

In a separate building, visitors can experience the immersive Wizard of Oz and van Gogh exhibition, which puts viewers in the center of scenes reconstructed from the movie and in settings surrounded by the famed artist’s work. It also includes images from outer space captured by the James Webb telescope projected onto 18-foot-high walls and the floor.

The updated location sits near Ron Jon Surf Shop and the Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures. In addition to providing museum guests with more indoor space, the new location enhances the exterior, drawing people in with a yellow brick road and murals on the building’s outside walls.

“This, for us, is a magical place. We’re going to make it the best we can and learn from our past experience,” Trust said. “We want the outside to match what’s inside.”

The Wizard of Oz Museum planned to build a new museum on U.S. Route 192, across from Medieval Times, on a four-acre property that Trust purchased for $1 million in 2024.

He then bought three former medical office buildings in Cocoa Beach for $900,000 in November 2025 and invested nearly $1 million to convert two of the buildings, according to Orlando Business Journal. Trust is working on selling the Kissimmee property.

After traveling the world with his wife and children before the COVID-19 pandemic, he hopes his museum will stand out as a unique experience that people from around the world enjoy. With 25,000 visitors annually, the museum is ranked among Tripadvisor’s top things to do in Cocoa Beach.

“Collecting is not the business. There’s hundreds of collectors, but how many of them have opened a museum and created something from scratch?” he said. “We want to create something that impresses us.”

If You Go

The Wizard of Oz Museum is open daily from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. at 333 W. Cocoa Beach Causeway in Cocoa Beach. Tickets are $29.99 for adults and $14.99 for children aged 3–12. For more information, call 888-949-6369 or visit WizardOfOzFlorida.com.

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