Keep on truckin’ folks! After spending a night in Niagara Falls, we
made the short trip up to Toronto for a quick visit. We figured as long as we were in Canada, why
not look around a little?
The Prius can
only go so far before you eventually have to put gas in the tank and we all had
a time trying to figure out the math of liters and gallons.
Plus we got a real kick switching the
speedometer over to kilometers…I can assure you that’s the first time my
slow-as-a-snail driving husband has ever had his car in the triple digits
range!
The drive to Toronto cracked us up! The
little car on our GPS literally stopped on the border and refused to drive into
Canada. Remember the days of using a map
to actually get places? It took some
effort, but we finally found our hotel after we realized that the signs reading
“TO” meant Toronto rather than “to.”
Sometimes I think it’s a wonder we found our way to New York from
Mississippi.
We loaded up on the Toronto subway, or TTC, and
headed towards the downtown area.
Toronto seemed to be a lot like New York City, except cleaner. The subway was nice, didn’t smell like urine
and was easy to navigate. Honestly, I
think if you can get around NYC’s subway system, you can probably do just about
anything in life.
Our first official stop in Toronto: the CN
Tower! The signature building of Toronto
is a beacon! Standing 1,815 feet tall,
it’s the world’s tallest tower! Every
year, more than two million international visitors check out the tower and we
were tickled pink when we were generously given tickets by the CN Tower
marketing department to come visit it ourselves.
Coming in the winter was a good idea too, the
busiest season for the tower is between May and October so we had no wait to
get in. Most people visit between 11:00
a.m. and 4:00 p.m. so if you go before or after those times, you’ll also
shorten your wait time.
If we thought Niagara Falls was a natural
wonder, then the CN Tower is certainly a modern wonder! Its amazing stature literally towers over
Canada. The tower was built in 1976 and
features a Look Out Level, Glass Floor (it was crazy!), Sky Pod and 360
Restaurant, which makes a full rotation every 72 minutes.
Wow, that’s tall!
Our tour started in a quick elevator ride to
the top. No really, we shot up to the
Look Out Level in 58 seconds in an elevator with a glass floor! No reason for awkward elevator silences or
bad Kenny G music here. We got a chance to
check out the city of Toronto from 1,136 feet high in the sky! The view was amazing and the lights of the
city were spectacular.
A staircase from the Look Out Level led us to
the Glass Floor…well, not all of us. My
mother stuck to the wall like Spiderman as my dad, Brett and I pranced, posed
and cheesed it up for the camera on the 2.5″ thick glass panels 1,122 feet
above Earth. I’ll admit my stomach sort
of dropped when I first walked across it…but it was too amazing to miss! I’m sure we were a sight sprawled across the
floor trying to get a good shot with the street down below. Good thing that glass is strong enough to
hold 14 large hippos!
I’m laying 1,122 feet above the Rogers Center!
Just outside of the Glass Floor is an outdoor
observation deck. Caged in securely, you
feel absolutely safe when walking around the outside of the CN Tower. At
night it’s a little tougher to grab a decent picture though of the scenery, so
we had to settle on photographing ourselves. (Notice the death grip my mother has on Brett)
The highest level is the Sky Pod and from
here on a clear day you can see across Lake Ontario to Rochester, New York! Up here you’re at 1,465 feet and its pretty
much all glass. My mother barely made it
out of the elevator. She really missed
out because the view was amazing! The
time we spent in the Sky Pod was totally worth the trip to Toronto.
Our tickets to the CN Tower also included
passes to watch Himalamazon and The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D. Both films were great additions to our
experience! Himalamazon is a motion theatre ride with special effects. You do have to be at least 42 inches tall to
ride it. The show features an
environmental story that follows a Super-Tree on its journey from seed to
harvest.
The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D reminded us a lot of The Perfect Summer but with cool 3D
effects. One of the newest attractions
to the CN Tower, the film is the first 3D surf movie ever created. The movie runs about 45 minutes and the
scenery will make you forget you’re in Toronto. Plus, Brett really likes wearing those 3D glasses, can’t you tell?
If you’re visiting the best bang for your
buck is to purchase the Total Tower Experience ticket package. For $34.99 you have total access to the Look
Out Level, Glass Floor, Sky Pod and Himalamazon
and The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D. You can purchase tickets online at
cntower(dot)ca or get them at the box office when you arrive. If you have a reservation at the 360
Restaurant, access to the Look Out Level and Glass Floor are complimentary.
If we would have had more time in Toronto, we
probably would have done the Toronto CityPASS.
Only $59 for adults and $39 for kids 4-12, you get access to the CN
Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Zoo, Casa Loma and the Ontario Science
Center. You can purchase a CityPASS
online at citypass(dot)com for Toronto and several other travel
destinations.
I don’t think you can come to Toronto and
miss the CN Tower! Even though my mother
is a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to heights, she promised she had a good
time. Toronto turned out to be a
beautiful city that really offered a lot of things to do. Brett and I hope to come back in the spring
or summer to check it out again!
We heart Toronto!
*Special
thanks to the CN Tower marketing department for providing tickets and
admissions to the Look Out Level, Glass Floor, Sky Pod and Himalamazon and The
Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D. Thanks y’all…it was amazing!
Photography image credits: Ed Flanigan, Heather Flanigan, Brett Garrett.
