I recently embarked on a solo parenting weekend with my kids in Toronto. I was inspired to go because the university national volleyball championships were taking place at Ryerson University and I was hoping to attend and cheer on my old team, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. I played for the team for five years, and my former coach still leads the squad. Initially, my idea was to go ALONE (wishful thinking), but my husband had to work that weekend so it turned into a road trip for myself, Lucas and Rowan.

I had my reservations about doing the drive and whole weekend alone in downtown Toronto with the kids. There were plenty of things that gave me concern. How would they be on the drive? Would they actually let me watch the volleyball games? Would this weekend give me way too many new gray hairs? Well, I’m happy to report the weekend was a success! It was exhausting for sure, but also a lot of fun. And I have to say, much of the weekend’s success had to do with the hotel we stayed at.

I booked the hotel on Hotwire. Some people have mixed success with Hotwire, but so far the service hasn’t let me down –  and it certainly came through this time. I opted for a 3.5 star hotel for $90 a night in downtown Toronto,  and I got a winner. Hotwire gave me The Chelsea Hotel. Not only is The Chelsea Hotel only a three block walk from Ryerson University (and the volleyball gym), but it is also THE place to stay with kids.

Right when you step into The Chelsea Hotel lobby you can tell this is a family friendly place. There is a separate “kids check-in”, where kids get to step up to the desk and choose a toy from a treasure bin. My kids both opted for a rainbow colour slinky (which I proceeded to have to untangle multiple times over the weekend). There was a ton of special programming going on for the March Break at the same time we were there. Spiderman was walking around the lobby giving out high fives, and there was free popcorn and ice tea being given out to kids. We were off to a good start!

The kids and I checked into our room and then we went to explore the hotel. We quickly discovered the Kids Centre… AMAZING! I have never seen anything like this at a hotel before. The Kids Centre was a huge room with so many toys, a play kitchen, video games, movies, board games, live bunny rabbits and a fish aquarium and a fully stocked craft table. It was a god-send for me, as I had a few hours to kill with the kids before dragging them to a volleyball semi final game.

The Kids Centre also offers baby sitting for kids who are aged 3 and older. So parents could potentially sneak out to a show or some kind of adult only outing while your kids have fun with the adult leaders in the Kids Centre. I think I will have to return on another occasion with the hubby!

After plenty of playing and making crafts, we went to check out the pool. The pool isn’t huge and I found it to be a little on the chilly side but my kids enjoyed it. There is also a cool, big corkscrew waterslide for slightly older kids.

Apparently there is also an adult only pool and spa on one of the upper floors too…needless to say I did NOT get to check that one out this time around.

The rooms at The Chelsea Hotel are pretty standard, nothing special. The only real complaint about my room was that because it faced onto a very busy street, it was noisy at night. If you could request one on the other side of hotel I imagine it would be better. The other complaint would be the price of parking – it was $32 a night. That might be comparable for a lot of downtown Toronto hotels though.

Sunday morning we went to eat at the hotel’s breakfast buffet. It was a good buffet with a nice selection of food. I was pleasantly surprised to find out there was yet another kids play area right in the dining room. I picked a table directly beside it and the kids and I enjoyed a leisurely meal (how often do you get to say that?). I managed to drink my coffee in relative peace while the kids grazed with their food and intermittently played with the toys.

The UBC Thunderbird team had won the semi final on Saturday night, so the kids and I were planning to stick around for the 4 pm final on Sunday. After checking out from The Chelsea Hotel, I still had a few hours to kill before the big game. I decided to take the kids to Ripley’s Aquarium. It was our first visit, and although a Sunday afternoon during March Break wouldn’t be my first pick of times to go –  I’m still happy we went for it.

We really had a fabulous time at the aquarium, as busy as it was. I had to yell my kids’ names a few times, a little louder than I’d like. And I probably came very close to losing at least one of them, but we managed to make it out of there in one piece and create some happy memories amidst the crowded chaos.

After the aquarium visit, it was time to paint our faces and head back to the gym to cheer on the UBC volleyball team to a championship banner!

My kids were such troopers. It was a really long and busy weekend and overall, they were so well behaved. It feels like such a parenting win when you manage to do something challenging on your own with the kids. It was an amazing ending to our weekend to watch UBC defeat The University of Alberta and win the gold. I loved sharing this experience with Lucas and Rowan, who were so excited to step onto the court after the win and give out high fives.

I’m already planning another weekend in Toronto. Next time we will bring my husband Leo. I would certainly love to stay at The Chelsea Hotel again (although I would also try and get something close to that Hotwire rate). If I go again, I will let Leo enjoy the Kids Centre with our children while I head out to do a little shopping (a mom can dream anyways). I would not say The Chelsea offers up luxury, but it does offer a lot of convenience and fun for families. If you are interested in checking out this hotel for yourself, visit The Chelsea Hotel Toronto.