Illuminarium Toronto — Attraction in Toronto

Horrible Experience This was not anything like what we thought it was going to be, it was about 45 minutes each if not less, not an hour. The staff does isnt helpful for photos like the website says they will be, half the time "they" meaning the ome person they have in the giant room cant even be found and when you can find them they arent doing anything else just standing there until they announce the next scene but cant help you take photos cause they "need to be ready to do announcements" and then not do anything for the next 10 minutes, you cant bring anything in to take your own picture like a tripod or selfie stick so pictures are not happening for couples unless you bring other people, which on a date night isnt happening Its advertiszed as a great photo opportunity and was absolutely not that at all The space one was cool but seemed to just repeat the same thing on all the walls and then again at the end was almost the same thing AND we had to wait 10 minutes for them to actually start it because they started the lite brite one again instead of the space one so didnt even get to walk into space had to sit around and wait for it to change from the one we had all already saw They were not very good at telling people to turn their flashes off or asking people who continued to put their flash on to leave because they were ruining it for everyone else

Its literally one room other then the 2 minutes intro in the auditorium and its the same room for both "exhibits"

and although not entirely the companys fault it was just filled with parents letting their children do whatever they wanted including pulling on other peoples hair/hitting/kicking adults(myself and many others)/other kids, getting into the few photos we could take or literally letting their child scream the entire event because that kid didnt want to be there but their other one did

Not worth the $77 for 2 people AT ALL definitely will not be back (Photo is what we starred at after they turned off the lite brite one to change it to the space one ruined the whole experience of "walking into space" like...

TLDR; It was a very underwhelming experience, and definitely not worth $50.

The place is basically a repurposed warehouse with some fancy(ish) projectors and speakers. As you enter, you’ll immediately get the feeling you’re in an unfinished building and you’ll start to regret it right away.

The first 10-min intro was decent, but it was all downhill from there. It’s basically a show on a loop and they let hordes of people in every 15 mins or so. It starts with images about constellations — mixed with astrological messages, mind you. Then, some images of planets depicted with a lot of artistic liberties. So, you don’t know if it’s an actual image from a satellite or some artist’s dreamt up version they wanted to sell as a wallpaper.

Visuals and information keep coming up on multiple screens and you won’t know where you should be standing to take all that in. There’s no sequence as such indicated by them. If that’s not frustrating enough, these visuals are punctuated by trippy, hypnotic music and imagery. Most of the time there’s too much information scattered all around and there’s no time to soak it in. It’s all unguided after the first 10 mins, so it’s mostly find your own adventure.

The worst part of all is that they let far too many people in at once. The whole place was super noisy — chatter from people, kids playing, instagram influencers posing? (Or whatever that was). I could have sworn there were at least 150 people at one point in that small space.

To rub salt on the wound, tickets were $50 each!! I definitely do not recommend this place. You’re better off doing something else...

My husband and I went to check out the Illuminarium exhibit after dinner one night at the Distillery District. Although my husband has never been big into the visual arts scene, he was blown away by this exhibition. What a beautiful way to end a memorable evening following a great night at one of the local restaurants.

Our experience: we got tickets at the box office last minute and waited in line for less than 5 minutes before being admitted into the atrium, where one of the astronauts gave us a brief description of what we were to see before we "blasted off into space." It felt like we were getting ready to go into a ride at Disney or Universal studios.

We were led into the main exhibit and were awed by the visual effects that were perfectly paired with great music, both classical and rock. My husband was impressed because not only was it a treat for the eyes and ears, but we were able to learn about the images we were seeing of the planets, moon landing, and space phenomena like nebulae. There is no doubt that our kids will benefit from the visual and educational experience when we bring them.

I was able to capture some incredible pictures of the colourful visuals as the space was not crowded at all, and one of my favourites was when the zodiac constellations came out, so I searched for and took snapshots of my family members' star signs.

The venue is amazing and there is potential for other opportunities to use this space. Hopefully the owners can incorporate live music, promotional launch parties, and cocktail events. We look forward to visiting future Illuminarium...