Woozles and wozzles and teeny, tiny Whos on fuzzy clovers – if your kids are amazed by the imaginative worlds in DrSeuss books and wish they could jump right into a field of Truffula trees or visit the Circus McGurkus, they’re in luck!
The Dr Seuss Experience brings some of the author’s best scenes to life in a series of interactive, quirky and detailed rooms. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the wacky worlds, one story at a time.
We took our three boys (5, 3 and 11 months) and they all enjoyed it. There were kids older than them who were loving it just as much and all the adults I saw couldn’t help but smile as the Cat in the Hat chatted them up, too.
What stories does it cover?
The Dr Seuss Experience plunges visitors into a good variety of Seuss’s work. Each of the nine rooms covers one story each:
- There’s a Wocket in my Pocket!
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- Horton Hears a Who!
- The Lorax
- Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
- The Sneetches
- If I Ran The Circus
- The Cat in the Hat
- Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
Don’t have The Lorax memorized? No problem! If your family isn’t acquainted with some of the stories, this is the perfect opportunity to familiarize yourself with the ones that are new to you (and to revisit favourites!) before you go. However, each room is still absolutely fun and enjoyable, whether you know the story or not. Our boys’ favourite room was the one based on Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? which is one of a couple we’d never read!
Oh! The places it will go
We visited The Dr Seuss Experience in Mississauga, across from Square One mall. The Toronto-area stop is just the first – future cities and dates will be announced soon.
Need-to-know extras
While it’s an easy and exciting outing for kids, there are a few things to note before you join the wild world of Dr Seuss:
No strollers are permitted in the exhibit, so bring a baby carrier or be prepared to carry littles from room to room. We had our 11-month-old with us and carrying him in our arms was perfect; he could crawl around and explore as we room-hopped. Everything was nicely concentrated, it wasn’t a lot of walking – in other words, quite manageable without a stroller. There was, however, plenty of “parking” for strollers within the building, but outside the exhibit area.
Similarly, don’t feel as though you need to rush from room to room. While entry times on tickets are staggered by the quarter-hour so there aren’t too many people inside at one time, your ticket time does not expire – you can spend as long as you like in each room and even revisit your favourites. The official website suggests allowing yourself an hour to an hour and a half to explore, but our family spent over two hours playing and our 5-year-old would have been happy to stay even longer.
Grab a stamp on your hand so you can exit the actual exhibit to have a snack in the designated area, use the washroom, or meet some of the characters who come out at specific times for meet and greets. We met Thing 1 and Thing 2!
Finally, note that there is a gift shop selling books, stuffies and other Seuss merchandise, should that be of interest (or of interest to purposely avoid!)
Enjoy it
Dr Seuss Experience truly brings the author’s zany and fun style to life in one concentrated space. It’s easy to feel as if you’re right in the pages of his stories, which is downright magical – so take your time and let loose.
Crawl among the clovers, swing to your heart’s content under a truffula tree and lose yourself in the balloon maze. As Seuss would say – It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how!
The Dr Suess Experience is on until March 22, 2020 at 199 Rathburn Rd W, Mississauga, ON L5B 4C1
Across from Square One Shopping Centre, North of Rathburn Road.
By Adrienne Brown
Adrienne Brown is a freelance writer based in Ontario. She hopes to pass her love of learning and for travelling to new places to her three sons, one adventure at a time. She has a particular interest in exploring Canadian destinations and is willing to try almost anything once.
