Keeping My Feet Dry Under the Sea
I love visiting new places, exploring, and having amazing experiences. Mommy and Daddy are always trying to think of activities that I can do and places where I can go. Apparently not all locations are toddler friendly and finding suitable activities that are both safe and fun isn’t as easy as it sounds.
We have quite a bit of fun in our own neighbourhood just visiting local parks and playgrounds. I love going to these places but once in a while it’s nice to try something new and out of the ordinary. Last fall Mommy and Daddy had one of their best ideas and we went to the Ripley’s Aquarium. It really is fun for the whole family and they’re not even paying me to say that!
The Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto is located right in the heart of the city. Sadly that’s a bit of a drive for us so we can’t make this a weekly visit but going every once in a while is certainly not impossible. It takes a couple of hours to tour the aquarium if you go at a leisurely pace and that leaves plenty of time to make it a day trip and enjoy some of the sights and sounds of the area.
The fun starts as soon as you get into the aquarium. You walk into a dimly lit world with floor to ceiling walls of glass. Most of the lighting comes from the tanks themselves which contain a variety of creatures. Each tank is beautifully designed and truly a habitat for the lifeforms that call it home, all 20,000 of them.
There are, of course, fish of every shape, size, and colour that you can imagine. Ripley’s also has a number of other marine creatures. My personal favourite were the jellyfish and they had an entire section devoted to them. Mommy liked the octopus and the seahorses. Daddy’s favourites were the sharks and the stingrays.
Ripley’s aquarium also has several touch exhibits where you can interact with animals such as Daddy’s favourite stingrays as well as horseshoe crabs, sharks, and scarlet cleaner shrimps. I tried out the horseshoe crab touch exhibit but I was too distracted by the water itself to feel any crabs. Maybe I’ll have better luck next time. I am bigger now and quite a bit more mature.
Nearby was a huge water table with all sorts of activities and I played there for quite a while. By the time I was ready to move on I was thoroughly soaked. If you’re anything like me I would strongly recommend bringing a change of clothes which I will certainly do on my next visit. Luckily the aquarium is quite warm and my clothes were dry before we made our way to the exit.
Mommy, Daddy, and I all agreed that our favourite exhibit was the underwater viewing tunnel. It is the longest of it’s kind in all of North America and a definite highlight of the aquarium. It consists of a moving sidewalk which transports you through a tunnel where you are surrounded by 5.7 million litres of water. This allows for a truly magical viewing experiences of all the creatures who live in the exhibit and if you want to take a closer look, you can step off the moving sidewalk at any point and get back on when you’re ready to move on.
Another fun thing to check out are the dive shows. People in diving equipment make presentations from within the tanks and you can learn all sorts of interesting facts and see the animals interacting with the divers. These shows are performed every two hours so each visitor is sure to see at least one during their stay.
It’s best to go during off hours as the aquarium can get busy and then you’ll have to wait your turn at the more popular exhibits. Ripley’s is open late and operates all year long so there are many opportunities to go when other people are less likely to be there. It’s also a good idea to order your tickets online since it’s hard to wait in line when you’re excited to get going. Time you’re not waiting in line can be time you’re exploring.
The Ripley’s Aquarium is incredible and I would recommend it to everyone, but especially to eager explorers and to families with curious toddlers. If you find yourself near the downtown Toronto area you really need to make time to check out this place. Otherwise you should find the nearest aquarium to wherever you call home and have an underwater adventure of your own.
I love aquariums. My husband and I visited an amazing one Valencia! Thanks for linking up to #ThatFridayLinky
Aquariums are great as they teach and entertain at the same time. Thanks for visiting.
Looks an amazing place. I have been in several different aquariums with our kids, but none as impressive as this one. #BlogCrush
Whoops, that should be #ThatFridayLinky. Sorry!
It really is something special. We loved it and can’t wait to go back. Thanks for reading.
That looks like such a cool day out!
#pocolo
https://lizziedailyblog.blogspot.com/
It was wonderful. Thanks for visiting.
I love a good aquarium this looks fab Thank you for linking to #Thatfridaylinky please come back next week
It was incredible. Very much worth the trip. Thanks for visiting.
we have a pretty large aquarium about an hours drive from us that we love also. haven’t made it yet this summer, but its on the list #thatfridaylinky
Good thing about aquariums is that they’re generally open year round. We like to get our outdoor activities done in the summer and leave the aquarium for those long winter months. Thanks for visiting .
Back from #KCACOLS. I think thats part of the reason our aquarium keeps getting bumped from the schedule. Too much outside stuff that we still haven’t got around to either
Now that the summer is coming to an end seems like everyone is out there trying to make up for lost time. It’s been super busy everywhere we go. We too are trying to complete our summer bucket lists.
That tunnel looks fantastic, and can’t believe you got wet on a visit to the aquarium! Thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo
It was incredible. Awe inspiring really. And if there’s a way to get soaked I’m sure to find it. Thanks for visiting.
Ah I love aquariums and so do my kids! They find it so amazing! #KCACOLS
Aquariums are pretty amazing. We had a great time. Thanks for visiting.
the aquarium looks a fascinating place to visit #KCACOLS
It was wonderful. Everyone should visit their local aquarium.
We took the girls to the one in Cape Town a few years back, but I’m not sure they remember it all that well. We have The Deep in Hull on our To Do list. I love how interactive attractions have become since when we were kids. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time.
The great thing is that they are awesome for little kids too. They may not understand what they are lookingg at but they seem pretty mesmerized by it. Thanks for visiting.
Her face next to the fish is just amazing 😀 Absolutely love the aquarium! And you’re right the fish are mesmerising! #KCACOLS
The more I look at these photos the more I can’t wait to go back to the aquarium. Thanks for reading.
This looks very much like Sealife which is a great place to go. I was in awe of the jellyfish! #kcacols
Jellyfish are amazing and they were definitely my favourite. Luckily they had several tanks full of different types of jellyfish so I was able to spend a good deal of time just watching them swim around. Thanks for visiting.
We love anywhere that has fish or animals. We have a sealife centre pretty near to us, it is very similar to the aquarium that you visited.
#KCACOLS
We love animals too, and water. So the aquarium is a great option for us. Thanks for visiting.