Bright yellow, flowers, cookies, kisses, confetti…the Happy Place pop-up has come to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, but is the hype worth the price? We will dissect the Instagram worthy pop-up experience and will provide you with our honest review.
Getting to the Happy Place Exhibit
We chose the first day it was open, and the earliest timeslot available with the hope that most people would be at work and it wouldn’t be busy. Rushing to make our 11 AM time slot, yes, they give us a time slot in which we could only be 20 minutes late to. I emphasize the ability to be late because we were 10-15 minutes late. We parked at the lot diagonally across from the Happy Place, unbeknownst to us it was discounted to $10 for 2 hours of parking to those who could display their purchased Happy Place ticket rather than paying the full day price. Speed walking to the entrance, we came across an inflatable duck, similar to the Giant Inflatable Duck that was brought to Toronto last year.
When we first walked through the smiley face doors, we entered the candy shop with gumball machines to our left, giant high heels made of M&M’s in the center, and a desk with free M&Ms to the right. Heading on through the golden streamer curtain, we waited in our first line. Yes, the next photo-opt spot had a line, which was the case for everything else going forward! We were allowed one minute with the dangling plastic, yellow flowers, in a darkened room with minimal light in which we needed a short ladder to climb into the holes. The pictures in this space didn’t turn out well for us since the lighting was terrible. Until we saw a picture of on the Happy Place Instagram for the next room, my sisters and I were not impressed by the furniture on the ceiling and didn’t understand the point of it.
The lineups continued for the next rooms containing the disco mirrors, hanging chains, and the infamous rubber ducks with a yellow bathtub. For each room, we didn’t have much time to snap photos as they tried to move us along.
There was a confetti area where we could only shot photos from above was very awkward and since we weren’t allowed to throw confetti a bit pointless of a picture. The xoxo and kisses space, a happy sign and a cookie room with the aroma of cookies offered more photo taking opportunities.
The final area contained the ball bit and the dome with airborne confetti. While each room had something Instagram worthy about it, this definitely wasn’t an amazing art installation or even a play place for adults. It was merely a place for the “gram” and honestly not worth the price of $35.31. I’d prefer to just walk around Toronto for Instagram photos. This wasn’t an interactive place to jump and play in the ball pit rather we got two jumps before being rushed out for the next person. Best off saving your hard earned money.
Things to Know Before You Go
- They have coat check – use it, we carried our stuff and it was annoying having to put it down every time.
- Parking for 2 hours is $10 at the lot diagonally across from the venue
- There is food, but it’s overpriced
- Be prepared to stand in line for the photos in each room
- Bring your phone or camera
Total Cost = $45.31 CAD
- Parking $10 CAD
- Admission $105.94/3 = $35.31 CAD per person
