Hey Everyone, this is an exhibit that I was eager to go to but kept getting postponed. The time finally came yesterday to see it and here are my honest thoughts and recommendations that I suggest you know before you head down and see it for yourself. This site and blog post does use affiliate links.
Location
So on their site it says 1 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario and although it technically it is but you need to be mindful that there are two entrances for this location. The address and the entrance most people will go to is the address for the Van Gogh Exhibit ( check the inside look if you haven’t) but this is extremely misleading. What’s worse is that we were waiting in line for a while (with people who clearly don’t know how to maintain a respectable physical distance) and even asked the staff outside if this is the line for Illusionarium only to go all the way inside and be told no you have to go all the way around to the other side near Queens Quay (you should see the big Red Path plant).
Tickets and Availability
We got our tickets some time last year but you can get them through different methods, the most common one would be online at their site. There is a crowd for the event but not as much as the Van Gogh. But it looks like closer dates are sold out and the available tickets are north of $200 which is really pricey, and I’ll get into what I think about it below. We got ours for around $180 for 2 back in December, but right now it’s hard to see if there are any individual tickets available or even pairs as most shows sold out but there a lot of family deals available which is not terrible if you are looking at based on person.
Duration and Experience
The host was pretty good but I strongly suggest you use this blog post to make sure you are going through the right entrance and you arrive a bit early (we would’ve been fine if we didn’t go through the Van Gogh part) especially because the place to pictures and everything is right in the beginning of your tour (we didn’t realize it and even though one staff member did try to help, we couldn’t go back to take pictures, which was unfortunate). They say during the hall you can take pictures and recordings but not in the theatre sections. The duration was about an hour and they split it into different parts. The videos in between from Jamie Allan definitely gave me “Now You See Me” vibes, which were enjoyable.
However, I only really found 2 sections intriguing while some were just okay. Those two were a special under water escape and the evo-lusion which was very focused with lights, performance, energy, and honest gasping disappearance acts. Unless you’re really into magic or curious to know more about the history of magic, it might be hard to stay attentive. The Penn & Teller section which was focused on TV magic was pretty good and the trick they teach you actually works! Note: If you are a VIP holder, you will get to learn a special trick from a magician in person if not, you will be asked to check out the gift shop before leaving.
Overall
All in all, if I was to give a rating out of 10 of my overall experience it would be anywhere from a 5 to a 6. It really wasn’t exciting throughout and frankly, not worth the money spent in my opinion. It seemed much cooler before, but when you’re there it really doesn’t live up to the hype. Mind you, it’s good that they are finally open and these acts can do their job because the team behind this program is definitely working hard but for me personally, it’s not something I would recommend to anyone and not something I enjoyed, which is why I suggest only true lovers of magic or families with younger children would most likely enjoy this a lot!