When your roof suddenly decides that it doesn’t want to keep water out anymore and that it needs to be replaced, you summer vacation ideas tend to take a swift and dramatic turn.
While never looking to do anything extravagant, since with a family as big as mine, extravagance is a synonym for great gobs of money, we had nonetheless hoped to getaway somewhere this summer. It’s a tradition for families with kids in school – to use the 9 or 10 weeks available during the summer break to get away and spend time together, and my wife and I had similar hopes for this summer as well.
Then our 15 year old roof decided it didn’t want to do its job anymore. Given that we had already replaced our washer and dryer as well as our dishwasher this year (yup…all of them 15 years old, just like our house), the extra several thousand dollars we now have to find quickly meant that any getaways for us this year are going to be close to home, and more than likely day trips.
While this may be disappointing, we’re still lucky enough to live in the Greater Toronto Area, and because of that, there are more than enough family-friendly and exciting day trip opportunities to make our now-determined staycation one that still offers plenty of fun.
A regular favourite destination for our family has been Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament – an exciting, family-friendly dinner attraction inspired by an 11th century feast and tournament. Guests are served a four-course banquet and cheer for one of six Knights competing in the joust and other tests of skill including almost two hours of jousting, swordsmanship, thrilling hand-to-hand combat, displays of extraordinary horsemanship and falconry as part of an exciting yet touching story set in Medieval Spain.
My family and I have been several times and loved each experience. On a recent visit I decided to bring my video camera along, and was also given some unique access behind the scenes to try and share with my readers and viewers what the experience was like. Check out the video by clicking on the image directly below to see for yourself (but then come back and keep reading since there might just be a ticket giveaway happening at the end of this post.)
The good people at Medieval Times reached out to me recently to ask if I’d be willing to help spread the message about their theatre again, and whether I’d like to bring my family back for another visit (Yes…I am disclosing the fact that my family will visit once more as guests of Medieval Times in exchange for this post).
Naturally we said yes, but I’d also like to give my readers a chance to visit as well. SO I’M HOLDING A GIVEAWAY!
I’m happy to be able to offer 4 tickets to an upcoming show at Medieval Times in Toronto. There are multiple ways you can enter, and all of them are found below.
THIS GIVEAWAY WILL RUN UNTIL SUNDAY, AUGUST 13TH AT MIDNIGHT, so don’t delay!
We love to go home to the Kawarthas as much as we can. Visitting Centre Island is also a lot of fun! This Summer we mapped out all of the splash pads in our city and are trying to visit them all!! So many things to do on staycation! 🙂
We go to the local parks and beaches.
Ontario Science Centre & Heading to a local pick your own farm.
We have visited the Harbourfront and went to the aquarium!
We’ve been to Lakeridge conservation area, sky zone Whitby. Planning to go to ROM, Casaloma, Reptilia…
Some great ideas in the comments! We loved Warsaw caves, all the local conservation areas, fishing in Kawartha lakes …
Some staycations we’ve tried and enjoyed recently are: a visit to Primitive Designs in Port Hope, visit to Yogi Bear Jellystone park in Bradford, Wet’n Wild waterpark, Scenic caves blue mountain, Reptilia Zoo in Vaughan, IMAX, 4D movie theatre at Yonge/Dundas, Cool N2 Ice Cream in Markham for some “Dragon’s breath”, Poop Cafe on Bloor street, Port Dover beach has added palm trees,Drive-in Oakville & Drive-in Cherry St., Pickering Nautical Village. Some places on our bucketlist are Treetop Village in Stouffville, Tobermory grotto, Peterborough Zoo, River tubing in buckhorn, Indian River Reptile Zoo east of Peterborough.
We did a day trip to Toronto. Public transit to the ROM (GO train, subway) then out to dinner nearby.
We go to local events such as Tractor pulls and town festivals
For staycations we explore a new neighbourbood in the city tru the food, visit the shops, get to know the locals!
Going to museums and different parks around the city are things i like to do on staycation with my kids.
I have never been to Medieval Times and would love the opportunity to go.