Fantasy Fair — Attraction in Toronto

I bought the family of 4 pass on a deal website which required at least 1 adult for $67 inclusive which I thought was a great deal consider we stayed for 6 hours. Depreciated over an hourly basis, depending on how long you stay, it is surely value compared to some other family entertainment venues.

We came with 3 children (ages 5, 7 and 9) and my Mom and we lived up my 1980s childhood together! Place hasn't changed including some dust balls here and there but considering that some rides are the originals, they have maintained its momentum for almost 40 years.

If you purchased a Groupon, you still have to wait in line at Admissions along with everyone else. It felt long especially with waiting kids and a long line as soon as they opened in the morning and with only 2 employees. Parents seem to have a lot of questions and the staff measure each child for ride requirements on certain rides. They also explain to each guest at this time which rides are open. Better to come a bit earlier than opening and be first in line. The line is not busy at all thereafter about an hour into opening.

There is a newer 3D movie theatre where you wear the 3D glasses and sit in the seats that move according to the movie as well as blow wind in your face. It is thrilling enough for me that we rode it 4 times. There are 3 movies in total so if it is not busy, just run back into the line and try and watch it as it is either random or by sequence as staff told me. It would cost you more if you watched it at another venue elsewhere.

The drop zone ride was a hit with my kids. There is a 2 ride max and then you have to wait 15 mins to ride again for health and safety issues.

All rides are open unless noted. Sometimes the staff during the off peak hours have to man two rides at once so you can ask any attendant and they will operate the ride you wish.

I was able to ride all rides with them less the airplanes. I had to chaperone my 5 year old on the bumper cars and Spinner.

It is really a place of fantasy for children in the way that it is laid out with lots of things to see and do. After running all day, they were sleeping on the ride home.

We brought our own snacks even if there were slushies, popcorn, candy for sale. The mall food court is conveniently located just outside the entrance. Tonnes of seating in the park and also at the entrance. Went on a weekday so it was not rammed like on the weekends.

Check your receipt afterwards at the bottom there may be a promotion for...

Visited on Tuesday night —ALL 3 of your signs say that the park closes at 7pm, however, the supervisor stated that website closes at 8pm. We came to the mall to shop with 2 children (and knew about the $10 before last hour closing and decided to purchases passes to the rides) they were so disappointed because now we have to wait for extra hour. The supervisor on duty was honestly friendly and was very attentive to what I had to say. This is FALSE advertisement. Instead of using paper to re-do hours, why not make different signs for off season/on season hours? Makes so much more sense.

Moreover, the lady working in the customer service desk IS RUDE, she ignored me TWICE, rolled her eyes at me when I asked for the information to contact you while the supervisor went to fix 1 sign. The supervisor said he spoke to the manager of the park and that she said “in no way Im I getting the deal early because the sign says so” (Which it DOES NOT)- states park hours may change, NOT that the sign may be wrong.

Your customer service sucks and I have been a repeat customer for years, even having birthday parties here.

**here is the response from the manager on the email I wrote that was the same as above, VERY unprofessional * Hi Anthony, Good morning. Thank you for your email. I apologize for the issue you encountered yesterday at Fantasy Fair. Our regular hours of operations are posted in the park, however it does also say on that sign that “hours are subject to change”. We also have our summer hours posted on our website. I understand that not everyone looks at the website but this is really not something new that we have implemented, it has always been this way. I will speak to the owners regarding this situation and to see if he is willing to change the hours of operation signs.

The supervisor said he never told you that I said “in no way I am getting the deal early because the sign says so” because I never said that. We have rules and have to follow them, if we start bending the rules because it is not satisfactory to one person then we should be fair and do it for everyone.

I will address your concern with the staff that was in Customer Service as that behavior is not acceptable.

I know that my response is not what you are hoping to hear but we are all here to do our jobs and we need follow the rules.

Regards,

Nanda...

Well, the mall itself is basically a real life Backrooms. Generally from the moment you walk into the mall until the time you leave, you experience a very high purity liminal space. Stores with no staff in them or hand written signs telling you to go several stores down if you want to buy anything, Burger King with its original 90s branding, teenagers riding rented motorized stuffed animals, random garden furniture for seating, and whole wings mostly empty. So weird.

The actual play park is like if the concept of joy was a grape, then this place would be it as a raisin. In its heyday I’m sure it was a deliriously fun experience for families. You can still feel that. It’s still colourful and some things are still sparkly. But it’s in very visible disrepair. The whole place is clearly someone’s creative mind at work on every detail, but entropy has long ago set in here. The dinos have open wounds of foam and tattered cloth and the animatronics glitch here and there and the paint needs a refresh. I did get pretty nervous on some of the rides that felt rickety. I broke a sweat on the balloon ride which went very high and didn’t feel safe. My son really wanted to go on the giant slide so I asked the operator if his size and age was appropriate. He said yes, but my son came out the other side very much done with slides for a while. It probably isn’t okay for under 5s. The staff seem pretty unperturbed overall. Just kinda “there” in body but checked out. It’s an odd juxtaposition of an airplane hanger filled with a dreamy child world and the zombie-like teenage staff.

Still, I’m glad I took the kiddo. We loved the carousel and the train. We had ice cream and the aforementioned time capsule Burger King. We bought a toy that I hadn’t seen in a store for at least a decade at the mall toy store. We had a good day and I had a great series of text conversations with a bunch of friends documenting the oddity of the whole thing. I classify this as an especially unique and weird...