Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada: Underwater Adventures

Last week we managed to get out of the house and go downtown Toronto to visit Ripleys Aquarium of Canada. Although we were supposed to go as a family of 6 for my oldest daughters birthday and I was fully going to let them skip school and make a day of it, the older ones refused because it was pizza day 🙁 They had already went with their school last year anyways so I didn’t fight them too much. Whether they came or not we still had a wonderful time and I literally had to drag my hubby out of the Dangerous Lagoon.

Location, Parking, & Hours

Located right at the base of the CN Tower in downtown Toronto and right beside the Rogers Centre there is no way that you can “miss” Ripleys Aquarium driving in to the city. Parking was ample as it is right downtown and we managed to park just south of the aquarium where we took an elevator to street level right across the street. Hours are great, 9 AM till 11 PM most days unless there is a private function but that is clearly labeled on the calendar on the website HERE

Strollers, Breast Feeding & Change Rooms

Ripleys is basically a course you go through. Very easy to navigate your way from gallery to gallery with ramps through the whole facility. I saw breastfeeding rooms just off of the change-rooms although the staff member I asked did not know the code to get in. I am sure if I asked around I would have found the code but since I didn’t actually need to use the facilities I moved on with my adventure. Change rooms were in the washrooms, spacious and clean.

Food & Gift Shop

Ripleys Cafe is located in the Discovery Centre which is a  perfect gallery for your kids to explore hands on. It has a great menu of quick food. We had fries and they were delicious. The Cargo Hold™ gift shop is located at the end of the course right before you exit the aquarium. It is filled to the brim with beautiful marine themed gifts and keepsakes.

Galleries

As I mentioned Ripleys is easy to navigate as it is a course. There are 9 galleries to take you through a world of marine life.

Canadian Waters is the first gallery you encounter and it is full of goodies from the Great Lakes and bodies of water surrounding Canada. Some of the fish reminded me of spending summers with my dad on the water and all of the different fish we caught. It was nice to see them under water and not swinging on a hook 🙂 My favourite part of this was the giant lobster

True to it’s name, Rainbow Reef is a plethora of bright colours and just beautiful to watch. Based on the Indo-Pacific  waters of the world this is something that I would love to have in my house…once all the kids move out:)

Stand back and relax on the moving walkway or go at your own pace to enjoy the Dangerous Lagoon tunnel of marine life. Truly packed with the scariest sights. Seeing the many rows of a sharks teeth that close gave me goosebumps but also made me want to just stand there in awe.

The Discovery Centre was where the party was at for Aria! A great place for explorers of all ages to discover. The biggest problem in this section was getting Aria away from the Horseshoe Crab touch pool.

I could have stayed in Ray Bay ALL DAY. You don’t realize how amazing sting rays are until you are face to face with them. I almost feel as if the bottom of these creatures is just a smiley face

Corals, lion fish and lots of delicate species from around the world are in the Gallery. This is where our child decided to lay down on the floor and just drink her bottle oblivious to all the people milling around her.

Another place that I got transfixed is the Planet Jellies gallery. They are just such delicate and beautiful creatures to watch. Such a great place to just relax and be amazed.

The behind the scenes filters, pumps and machines that are needed to maintain the aquarium along with real time stats are located in the Life Support Systems Gallery

Shoreline Gallery is somewhere where you will want to spend some time as it is the final gallery before you head into the gift shop and end your adventure. With a huge shoreline for you to get close to and TOUCH the sting rays and sharks. My water loving toddle just couldn’t get enough of this area…that is until she saw the gift shop 🙂

Ripleys Aquarium is a fairly new attraction in Toronto but one that will really open your eyes. I have a new found amazement at all of the wonders UNDER the water and would really like to make it back soon for one of their sleep over events. I don’t know how much sleep I will get sleeping in the Dangerous Lagoon with all of those sharks swimming over me but will I actually want to sleep?

Aneta Alaei

Aneta is a Toronto-based mom of four that loves a good meal, great company, and learning something new. In her free time, you can find her trying to keep yet another plant alive.

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