Top St Maarten Attraction Tickets

First off, as Star Wars fans, this is the hidden gem of our Caribbean vacation. The museum is so full of history and behind the scenes of Star Wars and other films. It’s educational and entertaining. The best part was meeting the man himself at the end of the tour and being able to sit and talk with him like catching up with an old friend. The shop had true one of a kind items that allowed us to take a piece of this trip home with us. We highly recommend this tour and the people there were so incredibly friendly and helpful.

An unexpected St Martin gem! I really liked the museum and all of the cool artifacts. Nick is super sweet and signed my Yoda print and answered all my Star Wars questions. The exhibit is small but mighty, with so much memorabilia I will be coming back to read everything in full. Rock on Nick!

We Culture: The Carnival Experience" tells the story of Carnival in the Caribbean. It is just past the airport. The owner is from Trinidad. He made most of the costumes in the collection! Carnival in most Caribbean countries is not the traditional European Carnival. That carnival is celebrated before Ash Wednesday and comes from the Latin "carne levare" (to remove meat). Caribbean carnivals are celebrated at various times of the year and derive from slave rebellions. (Sint-Maarten's carnival is on from April through the beginning of May.) The museum includes a bar, designed by the owner's wife, where you can get complimentary drinks. The figures on the bar are three-dimensional and you can pat their patooties!When you walk into the first room, you see many costumes on display. A guide gave me a 45-minute tour of the exhibits. (I was the only one on the tour. Peak season ends at Easter and the day I visited there were no cruise ships in Philipsburg, so it was very quiet.) My guide wore two of the costumes in the display. An unusual costume is called "Burrokeet" and is a woman riding a donkey. This type of costume was brought by Venezuelan immigrants.Many of the costumes were designed to scare people. "Jab Molassie" dates from the mid-1800s. Ex-slaves daubed themselves with black molasses to conceal their identities when they played the devil. "Jab Molassie" is a mispronunciation of the French words for devil and molasses. One of the traditional characters is the "Bookman" . His book contains a list of naughty people. If you pay the Bookman, he will erase your name. At a meeting of Amoco oil representatives and international leaders, the owner's father played the "Bookman". When the oil executives did not pay (they thought it was a joke), he told how they damaged the environment and mistreated their workers.Prior to the mid-1960s, Carnival was a man's world. The owner's mother wanted to get women involved. She made sketches of carnival costumes in 1965-71. Today most of the participants are women. Their costumes may contain less material, but they cost a lot more! One room shows a timeline of carnival, so you can see how it evolved over the years. After my tour was over, I was able to browse through the exhibits on my own. Then my guide walked me to a large hotel and put me in a taxi back to my hotel.I highly recommend a visit to this museum to learn more about Carnival and experience this tradition.

One of a kind experience getting deeper knowledge into the carnival roots, making my carnival experience more enjoyable! The rum punch was good too! The effort put into the HANDMADE costumes & the setting up of the museum is amazing - the bar is also handmade!

This was a great tour. The booking was easy and Vanessa always answered my emails right away. Great customer service. From the cruise boat it was an easy walk to the parking lot. Vanessa was there with a sign to greet us. We boarded our van (about 16 in total) and both the tour guide and driver introduced themselves. I am sorry I forgot their names but they were excellent. We pretty much went all over the island with stopping at places and getting out and taking pictures. The iguanas were very cool. The best part was seeing the airplanes land. We did have to ask the tour guide for a little extra time there because there were planes landing and we wanted to see them. So I think the only suggestion is to have more time at the beach where you see the planes. But he was great and let us stay an extra 20 mins. They had water on the van for us. We stopped in a town to eat and explore for about an hour. We went to the fort instead of eating. I would suggest this tour if you didn't want to sit at the beach all day. I also would suggest wearing sneakers instead of flip flops. Overall I do suggest this company and tour. Thanks.

Edwin was amazing! Do yourself a favor and book this tour. He is knowledgeable of the island and very pleasant.

Had the opportunity to visit yoda guy museum while in St. Maartan. Nick and staff were so welcoming to us. The museum was amazing and was filled with more than we anticipated. Enjoyed meeting Nick....he was a wonderful person he gave us his complete undivided attention. My husband ended up leaving with 3 signed prints as well as his book. Thank you Yoda guy for this experience. Will definitely visit again.

Do or do not. There is no try. If you’re in St. Maarten, this museum is a must-see for anyone who enjoys movies, Star Wars, or practical special effects. Nick Maley couldn’t have been more welcoming. We could have talked for hours, and I honestly don’t think he would have minded. Hearing stories from someone who spent countless hours bringing iconic characters to life—including his work on Highlander (‘There can be only one’)—made the experience unforgettable. A genuinely kind person who is passionate about his craft. Highly recommended.

We had the opportunity to visit the museum and enjoyed it very much! We were pleasantly pleased with the tour and the owner was there to give us all the history and explain the costumes. You could see and hear his passion. His handmade costumes are breathtaking. I would recommend going to see this display of Carnival Culture. You won't be disappointed.

This tour was absolutely amazing. The staff went into great detail about the history of carnival, which was great considering I knew very little about it. They were very friendly, knowledgeable and more than helpful. Definitely a great place to visit

Our driver Darean, was excellent! He was a great driver and a very knowledgeable tour guide. He picked us up promptly at the agreed time. He had cold beverages to offer us along with restaurants suggestions. He was very patience allowing us plenty of time for pictures and shopping. We really enjoyed him sharing the history of St Maarten St Martin. Highly recommend this tour and Darean.

As a life-long Star Wars and sci-fi movie fan, this experience did not disappoint. The owner and curator of the exhibit, Nick Maley, greeted us and gave us a history of the place. He was instrumental in creating the Star Wars cantina scene creatures in addition to building and adding animatronics to the Yoda puppet in Emprire Strikes Back. He has also contributed to other hit movies as well. The museum has a number of original movie scripts, story boards, props and signed letters from many Hollywood stars. Nick is the nicest man and will gladly answer any questions about the making of the Star wars films as well as other hit films that he has contributed to. This is a definite must-see for any sci-fi film buff.

If you are a Star Wars fan or a lover of movie history, visiting Nick Maley (That Yoda Guy) in Philipsburg is an absolute necessity.We stopped by at the end of what had clearly been an incredibly long, exhausting day for Nick, he had been completely slammed managing convention business, yet he welcomed us with open arms. In spite of how busy and tired he must have been, he was exceptionally kind and remarkably generous with his time.Nick didn’t just greet us; he truly engaged with us, generously sharing incredible behind-the-scenes stories from his legendary career. As a member of the 501st Legion, it was an absolute honor and a highlight of the trip when he acknowledged my affiliation with the Legion. He speaks to fans with genuine warmth and mutual respect, proving he is just as wonderful a person as he is a cinematic pioneer.The museum itself is a treasure trove, but getting to chat with Nick made this an unforgettable, bucket-list experience. Thank you, Nick, for your kindness, your stories, and for everything you continue to give to the community. GBU & MTFBWY!

Such a cool little museum! So much character, owners of the shop were funny and knowledgeable , a lot of cool history in that lil spot and its bigger than it seems!

I enjoyed my visit to the Yoda Guy Movie Museum. Nick Maley is a specialist in theatrical prosthetics who was a key contributor of Yoda for "The Empire Strikes Back". He has worked on over 50 movies and the museum shows many of the designs for those movies. Did you know that the Ewoks were designed by a toy company and the movie designers had to make the characters look like the toys? You can see the first draft of the "Star Wars" script, before Luke Skywalker got his name. He was originally called Justin Valor.In order to make prosthetics, designers needed to make a lifecast of the actor's face. You can see historical lifecasts of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin as well as those of several actors. The displays included behind the scenes photos. Of course a Yoda Guy Museum must have a display of Yoda. There were molds and parts that were used in Yoda's fabrication. At the end, I had my photo taken with Nick Maley, the "Yoda Guy".

What an unexpected bit of sci-fi movie fun in the Caribbean. While perusing options for things to do in Philipsburg, we found this gem. As a Star Wars fan seeking a reprieve from the heat, I stumbled into this lil museum and it did not disappoint. Full of movie scripts, props and paraphernalia from many legendary movies beyond Star Wars, this is a must-see attraction for fans. Nick takes the time to chat to visitors and offers career insights. Take home some of Nick's artistry on your way out. It's a surreal encounter on this beautiful island with the beach moments outside his door.