Hi Andrea, I'm sorry to hear you felt your visit wasn't worthwhile. Our family pass rate is cheaper than going to the movies, and most visiting families are here for a similar length of time as a movie. Most people don't come for the trails, though- they're nice enough but there are many free trails in this region. Our facility is meant to be a fun educational experience about Canadian reptiles and amphibians, and we have more of them than any other facility in the country. However, there's only 9 species/subspecies of freshwater turtles and ~35 species/subspecies of snakes (1/3rd of which are variations of gartersnake!) in total in our country. We have many of these, and with the amphibians and non-native species included, we usually have 60-70 species on hand for people to learn about. Our staff are biologists or biology students, so they're generally quite knowledgeable and have a lot to share, but I'll agree that toddlers are not the ideal age group. When yours is older, I'd be happy to provide a free pass for you to see if you have a better experience. If it helps, please know that you're helping to support our conservation work- most of which happens away from the public view at the centre. We're very active with efforts to conserve these species in central Ontario and a few other locations.

Hi Garry! We're glad you think so highly of us, and thanks for bringing the grand-kids! I just wanted to add some info on the cost- we did have a price increase this year, about 25-30%- for example a family pass (2 adults, 2 kids) went from $32+HST to $40+HST. Some categories were slightly more than 25% so that we could keep everything as round numbers. This was our first price increase since we opened in 2010, so it was long overdue, but it was also related to the minimum wage increase this year. Especially with the level of interaction we offer (thanks in part to our awesome volunteers!), our staffing costs are pretty high relative to our admissions revenue. Other than some student summer job wage support through the federal government, we don't receive funding for the nature centre operations. Admissions actually don't come close to covering our operating costs, our outreach programming around Ontario and other off-site activities greatly subsidize the cost of the public nature centre. The centre is only open to the public ~109 days of the year, but animal care happens 365, so there's no way admissions and gift shop sales could hope to cover everything that goes into this place, but we do need to cover the costs of being open those days through admissions or we would have to reduce our hours, staffing, etc. We try to keep our prices in line with other nature/animal facilities, such as Reptilia, Little Ray's Reptile Zoo, Wye Marsh, etc., and also below such things as a trip to the movies. It's definitely a challenge, but we also do want to keep it affordable. We offer season's passes for repeat visitors to come at a discount, give away passes at community events and fundraisers, etc. Suggestions are always welcome! Thanks again for the repeat visits, and the good review here!