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Toronto Hippo Tours
Category: Hotels & Travel Tours Tours [Edit]
151 Front St WToronto, ON M5J 2N1
Neighbourhood: Downtown Core
(416) 703-4476
6 reviews for Toronto Hippo Tours
6 reviews in English
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Review from Lester K.
9/16/2010
I had posted a Halp Me! thread (http://www.yelp.ca/top...) asking Torontoinians about touristy stuff to do when I (4 adults, 4 kids, 2 dogs) was going to be visiting Toronto. I got lots of suggestions for some really nice S&M clubs, dominatrixes with fully equipped dungeons, and even some penis enlargement UYE's. I appreciated these suggestions, but I was looking for stuff more in the way of being kid touristy friendly. Had I been visiting alone, or with my parents, I would have taken up all of these said suggestions. OK OK, so most of these suggestions may have been made up by me.
A good number of the absolute coolest Torontoinians recommended Toronto Hippo Tours.
Short review:
Good!
.
Long review:
It's a school bus!
It's a boat!
...
It's both!
I fully admit that I was actually more excited and giddy than any of the kids were when I saw this Transformer of a tour bus. I was kind of disappointed that it never actually transformed and yelled out "Autobots!" like it had in my dream the night before.
What this bus actually is, is a school bus that has been modified to be able to run both as a school bus and a boat. Imagine that! And it costs only $1,000,000 for the modifications, per our guide.
We boarded the bus downtown in front of the Toronto Hippo Tour office and it guided us through many of the different neighborhoods and sites in Toronto. Had I not taken this tour, I would have never realized all of the beauty that Toronto has to offer:
Beautiful architecture
Beautiful landscape
Beautiful layout
Beautiful people
Toronto Bluejays/Raptors
Cleanliness
Funny accents, eh?
Wonderful balance of people/culture/land
Diversity (most diverse city in the world!)
Best rated children's hospital in the world
Underappreciatedness (not a real word, bite me!) of Toronto to the rest of the world
All of this in a 90 minute tour! Amazing!
This list can go on because, mainly in part to this tour, I fell in love with Toronto. I actually looked for jobs in Toronto after getting back, but realized that there probably is an overabundance of fluffers and porn set extras already. Plus, I realized what winters are like here compared to the DC area and my nipples instantly froze off in fear of the frost that are the winters of Toronto.
The guide:
I can't remember our guide's name, but just imagine a much hotter and younger version of Kate Gosselin, even Kate Gosselin v2010. And imagine her being cool. And funny. That's her.
OK, so some of her jokes are kinda corny, but it's cute corny. She does a nice job of giving descriptions and history of areas and sites. I actually listened to the whole tour and was the first person in the history of Canada to correctly answer a certain question about the design of a certain building (peacock!)
Towards the end of the tour, the bus heads to and drives into Lake Ontario. We didn't sink and die! Another year of my term life insurance going to waste! OK OK, it's actually a lot better than how I just described it. From the reactions, it's the part that most people, especially kids, were looking forward to the entire time. I do admit that it's a pretty neat experience and my favorite part was seeing the kids' faces light up with excitement when we splashed into the water.
OK, who am I kidding? Who gives a flying fuck about the fucking kids? *I* loved it, dammit! And I was the most excited one out of them all! It was ME who chuckled and giggled and jumped up and down when we splashed into Lake Ontario.
In closing, I highly recommended this tour, especially if your time:sightseeing ratio is small. -
Review from M T.
12/23/2010 5 photos
A great city tour and boat ride. A must do with the kiddies! I took this tour back in October right before it ceased operations for the winter season. The mister and I went with the locals who happen to be my uncle, aunt, and my adorable godson. The mister and I have been to Toronto before but that was years ago. It was really sweet of my uncle to booked this tour for us.
We took the Sunday tour and the five of us were the only ones on it. It was awesome of them to operate the tour with just us! Zack, our guide did a great job of entertaining us. He joked around with my godson with some corny jokes and trivia. On the tour, we were driven all over the neighborhoods of Toronto and pointed out the landmarks. The tour was educational as Zack provided some tidbits about Toronto and asked us questions on guessing the answers.The highlight of the tour was the bus becomes a boat on Lake Ontario. Captain Mary drove the boat up and down the lake. It was at first scary as we approached the shores of the lake and it was cool as you wondered how does a bus float on water?!
I would recommend this tour during the summer. It would be more enjoyable to have the windows rolled down. And bring the kiddies. -
Review from Lynda W.
Toronto, ON
9/8/2008 2 photos
Toronto Hippo Tours is a great way to see Toronto, in a stress free (you try driving across Toronto) and fun (HELLO you're on a Hippo bus) environment. The location for the tours start on Front Street, and it goes all around the hot spots in and around Toronto.
It's like a double decker bus tour, you don't get to stop and check out all the sites on the tour, but you can get a sense of all the different touristy areas in Toronto. You go as far north as Bloor to the lake, and Ontario Place. East-West, the bus only covers between Bathurst and Yonge, so it's a very concentrated area. If you're here on vacation, I would go on the Hippo tour on the first few days, so you get a better sense of the downtown areas you want to spend more time at. But don't limit yourself to these areas, there's a lot to see on Bloor (more than the little stretch the tour covers) as well as College, King Street and Spadina (which I'm shocked the tour didn't cover, as it's a pretty popular tourist attraction).
The best part is the bus is not only a bus, but goes in water as well! A solid $33 investment for this 90 minute ride! -
Review from Adam P.
Toronto, ON
8/14/2009
Went on this tour on a team building function with work. The other 3 reviewers did a really good job of summing it up so I don't know if I can add much more.
I would agree with the other review that said if you are a tourist to do this early in your vacation because it does give you an idea of how you want to explore this city. While on the tour there were a couple of interesting facts about the city that I wasn't aware of.
The 1.5 hour tour is a decent value for $33. I would think it covers a lot of what this city has to offer, and I'm sure there could always be more to talk about, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
The bus drives by Ontario Place and the CNE before going in its water portion of the tour. There isn't a whole lot to see in the water portion as it just drives around the Ontario Place grounds and not into the Toronto Harbour.
This would be a delight for young kids while offering some interesting info to the parents to help plan out their exploration of the city. -
Review from erin k.
2/21/2009
The two primary reasons to consider the tour:
1. it provides a quick intro to this big city: 90 minutes will give you a decent sense of the main landmarks and where things are.
2. it's family friendly. Kids are cheaper than adults and every kid likes a little splash in the water.
Athletic-Minded Traveler (http://www.athleticmin...) gives some more details for the tour. Just go to browse cities and toronto. This is a free city so all the info on Toronto is free. For example AAA members get a discount. Also, there are a number of restaurants near the departure point: 151 Front St. -- SE Corner of Front and Simcoe.
And keep in mind too that the tour runs only from May 1 through Oct 31. -
Review from Gregory O.
1/5/2009
Unfortunately, my girlfriend and I only had one day to spend in Toronto. The Hippo tour was a great way to drive by most of the major landmarks and get informative and amusing commentary. Ontario Place, where the Hippo goes in Lake Ontario, isn't a must-see but going in the water is always fun.
