The house featured in the famous holiday movie A Christmas Story may have plenty of good memories attached – from a leg-lamp to tongues frozen to metal poles – making it into a tourist attraction seems like overkill. It’s your regular old restored Victorian style in Ohio, but other than that, there’s little to see.
There are plenty of other tourist attractions to pick from, even in a relatively low-key place like Ohio, even ones you won’t have to wait in line or pay for to see what is essentially just a house. There are a lot of those. They’re everywhere. If you look out your window, you’ll probably see, like, a hundred of them.
We Heard the Moon Was Made of Cheese, but This is Ridiculous
Wisconsin's reputation for cheese is well-earned, and there are plenty of cheese shops and stores to pick up some of the best in the world while watching this dairy treat being made by master cheesemakers.
The Mars Cheese Castle, on the other hand, isn't much more than a place for vacationers to stop, nestled right next to the freeway. You can get cheese, yes, but you're in Wisconsin – you can hardly throw a stone without hitting a cheese store or one of the many cows. Give it a pass.
Wow, Water. Exciting.
The Undersea Gardens in Oregon sounds like the kind of place that might be fun, but don't be fooled. This is nothing more than a master tourist trap for people who don't know any better.
Here's the scam: you shell out some money, go underwater in the Garden structure, and through windows, watch swimmers swim around. It's dirty water, the undersea wildlife isn't all that exciting to look at, and it's Oregon – it's not like there are reefs or anything like that. This attraction closed for good in 2019, which means even if that sparkling explanation got you hyped, you're out of luck.
Walk Past This Famous Walk
It's ranked as one of THE most overrated tourist attractions in America, and you'll see why shortly. The Hollywood walk of fame is so bad it's been getting nothing but negative reviews for years. While it looks huge in pictures, that's just camera magic, as in reality it's only two blocks long.
It's one of the most crowded places in L.A., and it's also brimming with pick-pockets and other seedy types. Trust us, there are lots of other places to visit in Los Angeles. If you have a specific celeb you want to visit on the walk, make it a quick trip.
From Iowa to Space
Captain James T. Kirk is one of Star Trek – and science fiction's – most famous names, and you'd never guess he was born in one of the smaller states of the union. At one point, series creator Gene Roddenberry decided the town was Riverside, and fans began to flock. But there's only a single monument, stating it's the future birthplace of a fictional character.
It might not even be correct: a town mayor basically pushed Roddenberry to make Riverside the origin of this famous character, which makes it nothing more than a cash-grab from frenzied fans.