You Won’t Believe Your Eyes at San Diego’s New Museum of Illusions

Grand Opening of The Museum of Illusions San Diego

Life is nothing but a perception of our reality, and nothing makes us more aware of the illusion than the Museum of Illusions, which just opened a new location in San Diego.

I was fortunate enough to get an invite to the VIP grand opening, which also featured food and drinks from Lola 55. The food was terrific, but should you ever eat there, please note that the chicken taco is the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten in my life, so proceed with caution if you ever choose that dish.

Apart from the exhibits, the opening also featured three magicians who performed magic tricks while walking around. I’ve always been a big fan of that, so all of them had my attention. 

My favorite trick of the night was a card trick from the magician named Jeffrey. He had me choose a card, then he split the deck so half of it faced up and half of it faced down. I slid my card into the deck, and he did a little shuffle, saying that when he fanned out the cards again, they’d all face the same direction except for my card.

However, when he fanned out the cards, nothing had changed. He played it off as an “accident,” but he’d taken a photo of us holding the fanned-out cards—and in the photo, every card faced toward me, except for my card, which faced the camera.

I still can’t get over it.

Exhibits at the Museum of Illusions

Not every visit to the Museum of Illusions is going to come equipped with magicians flown in from Vegas. While they provided great entertainment, you don’t need them to have a good time at the museum.

The exhibits include illusion rooms, installations, and images.

The illusion rooms showcase the world of illusions at their best, allowing you to see tricks played out in real time. The installations play with your perception and reveal things that prompt you to question and rethink what you saw. The images showcase the difference between what you actually see versus what you think you see.

The Illusion Rooms

The illusion rooms may be the most fun part of the exhibit. You can experience their famous Tilted Room, which plays with your perspective and makes it look like you’re standing at an angle, when you’re, in fact, standing up completely straight. It’s also a good place for tall and short people to coexist, because standing right next to each other can make the shorter person much taller.

The Reversed Room is a little different and resembles a movie set. There’s a dedicated marker for the photographer, and the subject enters the room to have a picture taken. After you take the picture, you edit the photo to tilt to the right, and it comes out looking like you’re doing some serious acrobatics or floating in midair.

There’s a similar exhibit made up of mirrors, where what you do on the bottom looks completely different from how it looks on camera in the mirrors above. This particular exhibit models a building, so you can easily look like you’re hanging off a rafter for dear life.

My favorite illusion room, however, is the Vortex Tunnel, which I wouldn’t recommend after having a couple of drinks. In this one, you walk through the room on a bridge as the images in the tunnel spin in a circle. This plays with your depth perception, making it feel like the entire room is tilting. Even without the drinks, the room gives you the spins. It’s hard to walk through it without falling over, and we went through it a few times just because of how much it messed with our minds.

The Installations

The installations, which are also interspersed throughout the illusion rooms, are equally as entertaining to explore.

Among them is the Cloning Table, which is one of the more popular exhibits that, well, clones you. It’s right next to the Infinity Portal, which you can stand on, making it look like there’s a never-ending ladder going up and down. 

Ready to lose your head? Then go to the Head on a Platter installation, which features an area where you can crawl under the wall. When you pop up, only your head is visible on a platter surrounded by a table with fake food, making you and your head the main course! It’s actually a bit shocking to see it if you haven’t already located the crawlspace, but the end result produces some hilarious photos!

One of the installations features a set of broken mirrors, and when you stand opposite someone and align your faces, your attributes become split up. “You have your mother’s eyes” could take on a whole new meaning if you see her actual eyes paired up with your nose!

My favorite of the installations was the Beuchet Chair. I attended this opening with Maria, the fearless leader behind San Diego Explorer, and took some of my favorite photos here from the journey. Again, there’s a designated spot for someone to stand, someone to take the photo, and someone to sit in a chair. The end result looks like a wizard standing next to a hobbit, and Maria looked like a giant compared to me! (For those who have never seen either of us in person, she’s a little over five feet tall, whereas I’m six foot six.)

Mindbending Images

There is no shortage of optical illusions in the form of images around the whole museum. These are the types of illusions most of us already know in some way, and the Museum of Illusions did not disappoint.

Among the images are 3D holograms that appear, disappear, and reappear depending on the angle from which you view them. Some even seem to pop out from you, and there’s information readily available for you to learn about the technology behind it.

The outright optical illusions are similar to things you’d see on Instagram or in the old Magic Eye books. Things like a bunch of colored lines making up shapes, and you “swear you see yellow,” but it’s only your mind filling in the gap. Or images of a bunch of squiggly lines where some look pointed, even though they’re all rounded edges.

You can find these scattered throughout the museum, so take a moment to stop and examine them whenever you have the chance. They might confuse your brain, but it’ll also thank you for the extra dose in creative work.

Brain Teasers

There is also a whole section of brain teaser toys to either bring you lots of joy or utter despair, depending on how easy or difficult they are for you. I have to say, Maria and I needed quite a few attempts to figure some of them out.

Planning your visit to the Museum of Illusions

There are many other exhibits to explore here, but you’ll have to come and see them for yourself!

Regular admission rates are $35 for adults and $30 for children. These tickets include a pre-designated time and date. If you’re unsure of the exact time you’ll be able to make it, the flex tickets, which cost $43, act more like a day pass. You’ll still have to choose the day you want to go, but you’re not as bound to being there by your reserved time if plans get a little wonky.

This is a great place to visit as a family, and for $118, you can purchase a family pass that includes admission for two adults and two children. Additionally, you can save 15% when you have a group of 12-20; however, groups of more than 20 require special inquiries. They also host corporate events, private events, and field trips, which makes it possible to plan any event here.

Regardless of whether you’re a local or just visiting the area, the Museum of Illusions is an incredible place to spend some time and experience all the tricks your mind can play on you. The idea of perception is as individual as taste buds, so come see what they have in store for you and let it blow your mind. 

Last Updated on June 23, 2025 by Maria Haase

The post You Won’t Believe Your Eyes at San Diego’s New Museum of Illusions appeared first on San Diego Explorer.