One-Tank Trip / Toronto
Adventures your kids will love
here are places that are best seen through the eyes of children, places where their imaginations make everything seem bigger than life. Toronto has plenty of attractions geared toward kids, but here are few that really capture their fantasies and are sure to create lasting memories.
Prehistoric sleepover
Digging for dinosaurs, a bat cave, meteorites, shrunken heads and Egyptian mummies are just a few of the exciting exhibits you can explore anytime at the Royal Ontario Museum. But for a truly unique experience, why not pack your toothbrush and sleeping bags and spend an entire night at the museum?
The ROMkids Sleepovers are scheduled the first weekend of the month. With a lineup of activities that last until midnight, shut eye may not be a big part of the sleepover, but fun certainly is. The adventure begins on a Friday evening. After visiting some of the museum’s many galleries, campers watch the movie “A Night at the Museum.” In the film, Ben Stiller is shocked to find that the exhibits come to life at night when the doors close to the public.
There are no roaming TRexs here, but sleeping under towering dinosaur skeletons is a sure way to make history come alive. Participants roll out their sleeping bags in the ROM’s impressive art deco Heritage Building, which displays highlights of the museum’s specimens and artifacts, including two hadrasaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs.
The gallery is sectioned off into groups—the Barosaur Barracks, Pterosaur P-town, Stegosaur station and T-Rex territory. After sorting out your gear, you can make a dinosaur puppet, have a bedtime snack of pizza and popcorn, and sing at the PJ Karaoke Party. All events are great fun, but the best part has to be wandering around in your pajamas, feeling as though the museum is your own personal play space.
While you’re not free to roam the entire museum, most of the second floor is open, and it’s here that you’ll find kid-friendly exhibits like the dinosaur galleries which display 25 fully mounted dinosaur skeletons, including “Gordo” the Barosaurus, the largest dinosaur on permanent display in Canada.
Despite the late hour, kids show no sign of slowing down as they uncover dinosaur bones, dress up in knight’s armor, and identify meteorites in the Discovery Gallery. The interactive activities in the biodiversity gallery is also a big hit—though the 11-foot stuffed moose looks a little too real at this hour of the night.
Likewise, the bat cave takes on an even eerier quality as midnight approaches. The screeching sounds of thousands of these creatures of the night echo through the tunnel, but it doesn’t seem to spook the kids, who return again and again to this popular display.
There is no normal closing announcement, but as the witching hour approaches, two security guards come around saying “beddy-time” in a singsong voice, and the few stragglers make their way back to their bunking quarters. It’s dinosaur dreams until a wake-up call that comes far too early.
At 7 a. m. the next morning, bleary-eyed campers shuffle down to breakfast and pack their belongings. You still have the museum to yourself until it opens at 10 a. m. And while you can see the effect of the late night on the adults, the kids are as energetic as ever as they once again explore all the museum has to offer.
Tickets cost $75 (Canadian) per child or adult, late-night snack and breakfast included.
Cosmic dreams
If your child aspires to be an astronaut rather than a paleontologist, the Ontario Science Centre has an out-of-this-world sleepover program. Space exploration activities include designing and testing a rocket, navigating the moon in a rocket chair and exploring its Space Hall. This newly renovated section includes among its many interactive displays, stunning images of the early universe, a rock specimen from Mars, a meteorite collection and a working cloud chamber.
The Science Centre’s new planetarium takes you on a personal journey through space. The 3-D effects allow you to feel as though you’re flying through the universe with a close-up view of thousands of stars and galaxies. For the best effect, try lying on the floor on the cushions provided.
The evening wraps up with an IMAX film and an opportunity to “dance with the stars” at a late-night DJ/PJ party, before bunking down among the exhibits.
Tickets cost $54 (Canadian) per child or adult. Sessions sell out fast; May 2 is still open.
Medieval nights
“Dragon’s blood soup, young squire,” the serf says, as he dishes out the steaming red broth. The 6-year-old boy’s eyes widen, the arena fills with mist and the audience is transported to the Middle Ages. And so the pageantry begins here at Medieval Times Dinner and Theatre.
As you feast on chicken, ribs, garlic bread, potatoes and pastry— all eaten with your hands —a fairy-tale saga of treachery, betrayal, bravery and even some romance unfolds before your eyes. Guests are divided into six color-coded sections, each represented by their own gallant knight, who then competes in the joust and other skill-testing feats of strength and bravery. The applause gets louder as the noblemen wield their medieval weapons in a tense showdown.
Not only is it entertaining to watch the well-choreographed battles between the competitors, it’s great fun to watch the kids’ reaction to the spectacle. With feet stomping, hands clapping and throats hoarse from cheering on their knight, kids are thoroughly caught up in the sword clashing medieval battle.
Finally a victor emerges, winning both the tournament and the heart of the princess. The show ends and young squires and princesses, swinging imaginary swords, reluctantly return to the modern world, but will surely remember this fairy-tale evening.
Tickets cost $62.95 (Canadian) plus tax; for children under 12, $43.50.
If you go
Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park.; www.rom.on.ca , (416) 586-8000. Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Road, www.ontariosciencecentre.ca , (888) 696-1110. Medieval Times, Exhibition Place, 10 Dufferin St.; www.medievaltimes.com , (888) WE-JOUST.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments