Wesley Clover Parks — Attraction in Ottawa

TODDLER PARENTS BEWARE This is our third year going to MOL, and the lights were fantastic. A few lovely changes from preceding years, so the lights won’t likely disappoint. What might disappoint, however, is how little control you have over the experience when held captive in your car with your small child. On a Saturday at 630pm*. Our little warden is a normally quite delightful three year old.

1. unless you do a drive by on the 417 first, or you’re super familiar with the location, there is no way to tell how long the line up to get in/wait will be, so…
2. bring a potty in your car along with snacks and any other form of bare necessity/suitable distraction for your little that will keep them sane for an hour wait. You may also want to bring earplugs, because…
3. once you’ve decided against the three point turn allowing your escape on Corktown road, given the time you’ve already invested waiting (we waited an hour), prepare for la worst. The three year old was not impressed, and she made her thoughts known. I suspect the people in the vehicles around us may have heard her. Hence the recommendation re earplugs, above.
4. the exit set up is unfortunate. Turning west back onto Corkstown is not an option (you’d wind up in the line waiting to get into the display), so, even if you’re trying to get to, say, Stittsville, you will be compelled to head alllll the way east to Moodie, before being able to get onto the 417. Prolonging the already miserable drive.

Things don’t have to be this way, though. Real-time updates could be posted on the website, so people know what they’re in for before deciding if/when to go. Perhaps making tickets valid for a window of time (as opposed to anytime), would condense the waiting period. Physically arranging the circuit to allow those of us from the west to go back that way upon exiting would eliminate that particularly sour cherry on the sundae.

We’ll consider returning when the little one is six. Maybe.

*”Saturday at 630??? You did this to yourself!”, you say. Sure. But there is a very narrow window to see the display when a visit M-F is precluded by a school day pick up at 5pm, and bedtime is 730, and dinner throughout the...

Show grounds are terrific and their staff and instructors are very knowledgeable and friendly.You could definatly build a riding carear here. But in my opinion it just doesn't feel like a barn, very corporate office building feel, with stone and concrete everywhere (it gives me that overdone feel, but if you like super clean places than this would work I just feel that if it is too clean and sparkly you won't really know that barn feel). There are just too many things that they are trying to live up too (and it would be great if they get there someday) and it is just making it seem alittle more like a job and less like a passion that they want to do everyday. I just don't feel like you would grow to love all aspects of horses in that true equestrian way, and instead you will learn to just love riding them. They also try to make you ride like Ian miller who is an amazing rider, but I feel that that doesn't give them anyway to figure horses out for themselves if they are trying to mold you into a mini someone else. I would not recommend this to a person who really wants to learn and appreciate horses as they do give off that corput feel that just doesn't give you the barn sense when you walk in. But I would recommend this to a person only looking to ride and not do anything more (like learning about other parts of horsemanship). So it would depend on your interests. But I have not ridden here myself I have only been to their shows and...

Went there on 3rd Dec with friends & fam and it was a magical delight just as the name suggests. Despite the chilly weather, we all enjoyed taking photos of the pit stop. It has a good place to catch up for a group photo. We also enjoyed hot chocolate and fries from beaver tail. Owing to the chilly weather we were lucky to enjoy seamless( no long waits) drive through the the magical land. Interestingly, the Nativity story was narrated in different scenes. I was so happy that they didn't lose the reason for the season/ since I was just expecting a kids show/ toy characters since that's all that's featured in the ads. I loved driving through the different sections but my most memorable ones were the Nativity story, the snow flakes and the 12 days of Christmas. The kids were delighted by the different cartoon characters and dinosaurs. Definitely recommend it as a family show for all. All the staff were...