Toronto – Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

In my last post I mentioned about our visit to CN Tower “Civil Engineering wonders of the world”. We happily returned back and I was very happy that I had seen CN Tower. The money was also in my mind that we had spent CAD 140 in the first week at Toronto in my Ghumakkari. The next day morning one of our friend (who has come to Toronto 4 months back ) came and he told us that during any of the weekend all of us will plan and go to Toronto Zoo. He also said that we will buy City pass which is very economical i.e just $ 60 per adult and $40 for kid and includes Toronto Zoo , Ontario Science Centre , Royal Ontario Museum , Casa Loma and ………………..CN Tower;Which means $ 140 for 5 points.

”Humare to kaate to khoon nahi” wala hisab ho gaya. Both of us got shocked. We had spent $140 only at CN Tower where as in the same amount we could have visited 5 points. We felt so regretted that in hurry we made a mistake. We should have done some research before going. I was feeling very bad and sad that because of my Ghumakkar itching I had wasted $140.I felt bad for continuous 2 days and then I decided to write a mail to CityPass.I wrote a mail to Citypass describing all the events happened and if they can somehow help us to issue us CityPass. Within 2 hours I got reply from CityPass that money has gone to CN tower account, so we can’t help you in this case.

When I received the response I was impressed with the CityPass team that they had responded me so quickly but was also upset due to negative response. The next step I did was I forwarded the mail to CN tower sales team and asked them if they can help. I waited for next 6 hours, checking my mails after every hour but I didn’t get any response. Next day morning sharp 0915 I received a mail from CN Tower team and they said that they will change our general admission ticket (without Skypod entry) into citypass booklet and I can bring all the tickets and payment receipt. He also told us to exchange it quickly as he can not hold on the offer for long time. I was so happy that next Saturday we went to CN Tower and got our ticket replaced by City pass booklet and saved exact $100.Hats off to me and for all my effort and quick responsive team of Citypass and CN tower team.

After collecting Citypass booklet we decided to go straight to Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).This time my research and background check was very much accurate , so we did not find any difficulty in reaching ROM. But weather was not good. It was 3 degree (feels like -1 degree), still we managed to travel and walk in windy and sunny weather with my 5 year kid and reached ROM.

So, here comes the benefit of buying Citypass. First of all Citypass is very very economical, secondly there is no need to stand in a long queue of buying tickets but the disadvantage is its validity which is just 9 days which means one has to finish seeing all these points in just 9 days. In the Citypass reviews, I had mentioned my comment on increasing the validity period of the pass. We had skipped the ticket queue and directly entered in the Museum.

Royal Ontario Museum (ROM):

Address: 100 Queens Park,Toronto.ON

Phone : 416-586-8000

Website : www.rom.on.ca (For timings check website)

At the entrance we were welcomed by the huge skeleton of Dinosour. Out 0f 5 + 2 levels , 3 levels were exclusively dedicated for Museum display.

Level 1 Gallery : At the entrance (Level 1) there are Japan, Asian Special , China, Korea, Canadian Special, Canada ,First Peoples special and First People Exhibitions galleries.

In the visitors guide we can find special mention of “ICONIC must see treasures of the ROM” of each level. Thus one can not miss the special display. We took almost 01 hour to complete level 1 itself. As usual we got tired and hungry so we went to Café at ROM.We were sure that we will not get anything vegetarian to eat and may be we have to returned with just eating French fries.When we went to Café we were surprised to found wide range of Vegetarian Pizzas and bakery product were available. We had ordered Pizza slice and Muffins. After finishing our snacks we moved to next level of Gallery.

Level 2 Gallery : This level was of more excitement for kids. At this level there are galleries of Dinosours , Mammals , Discovery Gallery , Birds, Bat , Biodiversity, Gems and Gold , Minerals etc.

Level 3 Gallery : This level has Galleries of different continents like Africa, the Americas and Asia Pacific , Middle East , South Asia , Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Rome, Europe etc.

At the same level there was Kids play area. There were many educational toys / games were on display. Kids can spent hours and hours at this section. There was telescope, Tribal tent, Vintage dresses , Sand exploration area, finger puppets etc. The best part of this area or anywhere in Toronto that everywhere kids strollers are allowed. There are access made in such a way that people can carry stroller along with kid with less difficulty. There are designated Stroller parking areas near Kids area.I really like this concept as if you travelling with kids it really becomes difficult to carry them, their stuff etc.People here actually carry half home in their stroller.You will find everything in stroller . Public transport and accessibility are all made to suit Stroller.

In Animal Galleries there are staff who will explain you variety of creatures, their skin type , other habits etc.Its a knowledgeable tour for both kids and adults.

 

It is a huge Museum and one really need minimum 05 hours to see it properly. By the time we finished all galleries , our camera battery as well as Mobile battery didn’t continue with us. Still it was fun as well as very good experience to watch such a large Museum. Journey to Casa Loma, Toronto Zoo continues in next post.