New Mold-A-Ramas from our own Milwaukee Zoo

Just a brief post for our own records that we now have two more Mold-A-Ramas from Milwaukee County Zoo! 

One of my daughters made a spreadsheet of all our Mold-A-Ramas figures and their origins, and was pleased that we now have things acquired in the month of May. Apparently a first for us, and the only month not represented in the collection is November, so we will keep that in mind this coming Thanksgiving weekend.

At our zoo we picked up a second otter in a new color, and a turtle! We've never seen a turtle Mold-A-Rama before, so that's fun. 

 

The zoo outing in general was nice. They have changed their entrance design to be a QR code thing where you enter your license plate after you park. I'm not really a fan of any system that requires you to have a phone (or a car for that matter), but I suppose it's nice to not have to wait in a line.

 

The bird exhibit is closed out of caution about bird flu in the area. We missed seeing crocodile birds, but glad they are safe. There was no lack of peacocks all over the zoo, however, so we got our fill of birds that way. Lots of fancy tail displays performed for disinterested looking peahens, but also peacocks in trees and loud squawking. There are few things more beautiful than peacock feathers, so we appreciated seeing them in every enclosure from the giraffes to the camels to the kudus. 

It's amazing how relaxing a visit to the zoo can be when you are not in charge of anyone else. My adult kids don't need help navigating bathrooms and are in charge of their own water bottles and I couldn't carry them at this point if I wanted to. Quite pleasant! 

 

We've been on a bit of a break from Mold-A-Rama collecting since our early whirlwind trips, but have discovered many new interesting figures on the map to go find. There's even a sphinx available at the public library in Los Angeles if we ever venture that far out west again.

 

And of course we still have hopes of getting our own machine going. My kids have ideas for several unique designs that I think would be amazing to do.

 

Next stop should be for more figures we don't have yet from the Brookfield Zoo! Stay tuned. 

Surprise Mold-A-Rama!

When my mom was visiting recently we took her on her first visit to the Milwaukee County Zoo, and what did we stumble across?  A new Mold-A-Rama!  One we've never seen before anywhere:  A cow!

How cool is that?  We knew they had a hippo now (a rare figure--we only have one other that we found in Florida on our big Mold-A-Rama road trip) because Aden picked one up for the family collection when she was at the zoo on a field trip last month.

Holiday Mold-A-Ramas at the Brookfield Zoo

I have to say, the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois takes its Mold-A-Ramas seriously. 

When we started our collection last year the only Mold-A-Rama machines we had any experience with were at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  A few of those machines are inside buildings, but several just suffer the extremes of Wisconsin weather year round.  (Even the indoor machines look a bit worse for wear.)  Everywhere else we've been the machines are in much better shape.

On a recent visit to the Brookfield Zoo again we got a clue as to why.  When we went the first time in the fall when the weather was pleasant, most of the machines were outside (but covered).  When we returned recently to collect six new figures, all the outdoor machines had been moved to indoor locations.  What a concept!

Mold-A-Ramas at the Brookfield Zoo

For Mold-A-Rama collectors (which we have decided we are) there are three, big jackpot places to get Mold-A-Ramas: The Milwaukee County and Brookfield Zoos (each with thirteen machines) and the Henry Ford Museum (which has ten).

I don't think if our own local zoo here in Milwaukee had so many I would have paid much attention.  But being able to start our collection with that many Mold-A-Ramas so easily kind of got us hooked.  Getting all ten figures at the Henry Ford Museum when we were visiting Detroit was a great deal of fun.  Getting only two at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago was less exciting, but satisfying in a different way.  This weekend we finally hit the last of the big bonanza locations for Mold-A-Rama collectors: The Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.  (Which my GPS had never heard of, but since we had my husband along it didn't matter because he can find anything.)

We had the rare, free Sunday to do with whatever we liked, and seeing as the weather was cool and beautiful and we even got to turn the clocks back an hour to give us extra time, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to splurge on a trip down to Chicago for a Mold-A-Rama hunt at their zoo.

The Mold-A-Rama machines in the Brookfield Zoo are in beautiful shape.  Most of them are pristine.  (So far the ones we have at the Milwaukee County Zoo appear to be the shabbiest around, probably because so many of them suffer outside in all the Wisconsin weather.)  But the best part about the machines at the Brookfield Zoo is not only are there thirteen of them, but they have additional molds to go with them.  For Halloween they switched out six of their regular figures for "limited edition" Mold-A-Ramas, including a skull, a devil head, a Frakenstein's monster head, and a few dinosaurs.  Someday when they switch those six machines back to their regular molds we may visit again and collect those as well.

In the meantime we made quite a haul!  All the machines were working, and we managed to collect all thirteen over the course of our four hour visit.  (Supposedly our zoo has additional molds as well, but, aside from a few dinosaurs that were used during the traveling Dinosaurs Alive exhibit a few years back, we don't know what they are or on what occasions they get used.  But we're keeping an eye out!)

Most of the Mold-A-Ramas were new for us.  We now have doubles of the alligator and kangaroo, and our we're up to three waving gorillas in our collection, but the eagle is new, as are the grizzly, penguin, dolphin, stegosaurus, T-rex, apatosaurus, and the three Halloween heads.

New additions to the family collection.  (We're up to 38!)

Mona picked up an apatosaurus for her personal collection

Quinn couldn't resist getting an eagle

The zoo itself is quite nice.  It's not as big as we were expecting so it wasn't hard to get around.  It's a bit dated, and there are way too many gift shops to try to navigate with kids in tow.  They have a cassowary but it wasn't out, which deeply disappointed Aden so I promised her we could go back again one day and maybe catch it then.  We did see wombats, though.  And the bat display had you in the same room as the live bats which added an element of "danger" that was interesting (Mona hoped one would somehow land on her finger).

The highlights were the primate exhibit and the dolphins. The primate house was the best I've ever seen.  Very large rooms with tall, artificial trees and no glass or mesh between the visitors or the different groups of animals.  It's all cleverly spaced so it looks as if, for instance, the tamarins and the gibbons are in the same environment, but then you realize the gaps between their areas are too large for them to traverse.  (Though how one keeps a gibbon out of anywhere is beyond me.)  There were three such enormous rooms, the final one with gorillas where you could walk up and around their whole space to observe them.  There was an underwater viewing area for watching the dolphins be dolphins.  Mona was thrilled, saying she'd never seen a live dolphin before.  I keep thinking that can't be right, and yet, it's probably true.

In any case, the Mold-A-Rama hunts will continue, but the thrill will now come in procuring the obscure rather than the windfall.  Once we have exhausted the possibilities in nearby Chicago we will start planning treks a bit farther afield.  Can't wait!

Mold-A-Ramas at the Henry Ford Museum

The Mold-A-Rama collection is growing.  To the point where we've officially declared ourselves "Mold-A-Rama Collectors."

When I showed my kids the online map of all the Mold-A-Ramas in existence (which all apparently happen to be in this country) Quinn lit up and said, "We could get all the Mold-A-Ramas in the world."  So maybe we will.

After successfully obtaining the dozen Mold-A-Ramas from our zoo, plus the bonus Mold-A-Rama not on the map, we decided to take advantage of the fact that while we were in Detroit there were supposed to be more there.  Specifically at Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.

Mold-A-Rama Rama

Our family talked at the beginning of the summer about things we want to do before vacation is up.  The top thing on my list?  Get one of every Mold-A-Rama figure at our zoo.  And today was our Mold-A-Rama Rama.

What is a Mold-A-Rama?  Well, if you're not from Milwaukee (or a small handful of other places according to a quick Google search) that's a very reasonable question, since I've only seen the likes of these machines here.  They were built back in the 60s, and maybe they were all over at one time, but I've never personally seen any outside of the Milwaukee County Zoo.

There are twelve of them scattered around the park.  You put in two dollars, and you get out a plastic figure molded on the spot that is shoved into a holding tray while it is still hot.  It's seriously kind of wonderful.