Oh, The Places We've Been ... The Dr. Seuss Experience

Approximately a month before the lockdown, we went to the Dr. Seuss Experience in Mississauga. We absolutely had a great time! Read on to know more about our experience!

The Dr. Seuss Experience allowed our inner child to be liberated and to have fun. On the other hand, it also gave us the chance to interpret the meanings behind the stories through the eyes of an adult. Visiting the exhibit was a win-win, in this case! We also enjoyed ourselves, making it a win-win-win experience. The details put into each room in order to replicate the story and in doing so, to provide a truly immersive experience, were astounding. Read on to see more pictures and for details behind each room/exhibit!

The place was filled with spots comprising of a Dr. Seuss art gallery, a Dr. Seuss Experience area, a food area, a store where Dr. Seuss merchandise can be purchased and a little area for the children visitors to draw some pictures at, where we also spent our time while waiting for the appearances of several of Dr. Seuss' characters! We were able to meet the Cat in the Hat, but not the Lorax, unfortunately.

Also, upon our arrival, we were provided with Dr. Seuss Passports, which would get stamped after we visit a particular Dr. Seuss story! There were 9 in total, as will be described shortly. The place was packed with children, young adults and adults alike! Hence, proof that the event is for all ages to enjoy!

While having read the books or having watched the movies allows you to fully feel the experience, visiting the Dr. Seuss experience event will help in visualizing the stories better when the books or movies are read or watched later on.

Note about the images above: The above pictures are in no particular order. Also, for the purpose of protecting the privacy of the people that were in some of the shots we took, the above images were selected.

Anyway, here are the books that we visited during our Dr. Seuss experience:

The Lorax

The first room we entered was The Lorax. The Lorax is a story about how human greed affects the Earth. Initially, the Earth was filled with trees. On the other side of the story, there was a character that seeks the approval of society, especially from his family. This character keeps having different business ideas, but one day, someone finally appreciated his product. He immediately goes to the 'Forest' to get the materials he needed, where he was met with many living creatures that liked him, except for the Lorax, fairies for trees. In spite of this, the person was able to manipulate the Lorax and forest creatures, and eventually cut the trees. The person was able to gain the approval and popularity he wanted , but he lost the forest creatures and even the Lorax in the process. It was too late for him to realize that he has destroyed the forest and lost his friends... This is not the whole story, but we can most definitely learn from it and we highly recommend that you either read the book or watch movie. Let us know what you think of the movie and/or the book!

The Dr. Seuss experience was able to convey the message of the story really well. From the slideshow above, the trees were designed in a detailed manner. The cut trees and the green gloves too. The experience also had pipe art, which we were unable to take a photo of, unfortunately.

Horton Hears A Who

Another room was for Horton Hears a Who. The book is about an elephant who is determined to help the Whos find a safer place for the clover, the home of the Whos. We like the story because even Horton, the elephant, do not see the Who, he/she still believes in them. Also, there were a lot of people who were against him and planned to finish him off because they think he is crazy. Doesn't this remind you of the story of Joan of Arc?

As a whole, the room was fun and it was really tricky to find which clover was the habitat for the Whos. As mentioned before, the design was really detailed and we almost jumped out when we heard the Whos out of fright. What an amazing experience!

The Cat in the Hat

Gosh, this room was totally upside down. This room is a nightmare for those who prefer neatness.

The book is about family relationships and how each member of the family contribute to make the relationship work. There are two children who are being raised by their mom. They were asked by their mom to not mess the house because of a work event that she will be hosting at their place. After the mom leaves for work, a Big cat arrives and makes a big mess, encouraging the children to have fun. Even though the children enjoyed themselves after taking the Cat's advice, they did not forget the favour asked of them by their mom. Ultimately, the cat leaves, but returns everything to where they were before.

The experience in the room was good because they have various locations to take pictures, but were we unable to take any, due to the amount of people taking shots of their own. There was also a place where we can put things on top of another and an interactive cat who answers your question. But you have to say hello first (Be polite!) before it does. We couldn't test this out because other visitors were preoccupied with taking pictures with the Cat. A fun experience overall!

Did I tell you how lucky You are?

The book is about making the reader realize how lucky they are because there are things in the world that they do not experience. It gave a lot of scenarios on why you are lucky. The book is a good read when you are feeling down to help you realize that you are still lucky, even when things go wrong.

This is the room we like the most! We enjoyed it because of the science theme. The room is from the Herbie Hart section of the book. However, it was hard to interact with everything because the children were trying out the gadgets too. There was also a Throm-dim-bu-lator from the story and the blue thing that floats balls. Funnily, when we were playing with the floating ball, the children gathered around us and brought other balls and the fur ball from another "machine". The fur ball was sucked and spat out from a high place. The children thought of it as a confetti and started catching it, putting these pieces on the blue thing afterward, which prevents the light balls from floating due to blockage. The innocence of these children is so adorable!

The room as a whole was a great experience and really caters to those who are really into science.

There's a wocket in my pocket

The book talks about the feelings of the protagonist as he was lived with the Wockets, which are basically everywhere in the house. The book is a good book for beginners and is fun to read.

When we entered the room, we were actually confused on what are we supposed to do. So, we backtracked and read the poster describing the room. We then re-entered and saw that most of the "critters" have been found. To fix this and still enjoy the room, we had to cover up or hide the "critters", so that we can "find" them. Note, when we were looking them, we had the Detective Conan theme song playing in our head, for Detective Conan/Case Closed anime fans. The children even copied what we did!

Surprisingly, we enjoyed the room. Unfortunately and regretfully, we were unable to find all of the wockets, due to us not having read the book. After reading the book, however, we were surprised by the details of the room based on it! Also, we are proud to say that we found most of the wockets, but we cannot post all the videos and pics here to protect the privacy of the people in the videos.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

When we entered this room, it was like Christmas again. The Christmas decorations even made us wish that Christmas would come really soon.

Briefly, the Grinch story is about the consequences/effects of our actions, especially with how we treat the people that surrounds us. The Grinch did not like Christmas for reasons you will find out when you read the book or watch the movie. The Grinch then planned to ruin Christmas for everybody because of his experience, but he was unable to ruin the Christmas Spirit at the end and regained his joy during Christmas.

In the room, we took our fishing poles and started fishing out for gifts that are on belt. After we caught the gifts, we moved to place them in the gift meter, as was instructed. Overall, the room was fun and memorable, because of how it made us miss Christmas.

If I ran the circus

For this room, the story is about how far our imagination can go. The protagonist was imagining how he will have a circus on a lot that is located behind a small store. It will have characters to entertain people, especially the role of the store owner. The circus seemed really good and we really liked the imagination of the protagonist.

This place had a mini chair swing ride for All Ages. It is safe for children, but being children at heart, we tried it, of course! The room also has a cone that was used for announcements, which was often mistaken for a telescope by the children. Adorable innocence strikes again! They also had 500 Gallons of pink lemonade. The stack of cups made us think of coffee, which we love to drink.

The Sneetches

The story of the sneetches was quite controversial because it is about discrimination. From what we know, the sneetches with the green star think they are special and oppress the sneetches with no stars.

The room was tiny, but the representation/symbolism used to send the same message as the book was done in great detail, which is to not discriminate others and to treat others with fairness.

Oh, the Places you'll Go

Oh, The Places You'll Go is a good book to prepare yourself for the hardships that you will be facing later in life. We read the book and each word really hit us hard.

The location of "Oh, the places you'll go" was located at the centre and it had balloons. There was a saying on the wall and we have to fill in the blanks to get our stamp for the passport. When we first entered the Dr.Seuss Experience, we thought that they had strung up deflated balloons together to look like that. On the contrary, after hitting our head accidentally on one of the balloons, they were actually balloon shaped hard objects. Also, most people did not really get the purpose of the balloon display and just took photos for Instagram. We were able to eventually figure out the puzzle and we got our stamp. *Spoiler* The missing words were printed on some of the balloons. The words were printed in the same colour as the line for the missing words *Spoiler*. Scroll on the slideshow to see two hints. Comment below for the answer!

It was really hard to choose which rooms we really liked the most because we enjoyed them all and learnt something valuable from them as well. In the end, we were able to complete the passport and to experience the experience. Because of this exhibition, we were able to appreciate the books at a different level as a result of the details of the rooms and have nothing but high praise for the creator, due to her writing her books that have meaningful messages for all ages.

Which Dr. Seuss story do you like the most? How about the movie adaptations? Let us know in the comments below!