By Patrick Connolly
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla.—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.
A Dorothy dress worn by Judy Garland is on display at the Wizard of Oz Museum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Aug. 18, 2026. Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/TNS
“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.”
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One of the rarest artifacts museum visitors can see is the first known copy of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” from 1900. While Baum penned the first 14 novels, 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—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.”
Gloves worn by Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion actor, are one of the artifacts on display at the Wizard of Oz Museum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Aug. 18, 2026. Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/TNS
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 immersive Van Gogh exhibit is one of the attractions at the Wizard of Oz Museum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Aug. 18, 2026. Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/TNS
“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 features a yellow brick road and more than 2,000 artifacts inside at the Cocoa Beach, Florida, attraction. Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/TNS
The Wizard of Oz museum planned to build a new museum on U.S. Highway 192, across from Medieval Times, on a 4-acre property that Trust purchased for $1 million in 2024.
“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.”
