Passion for Québec and Elsewhere

Pour la version française de cet article, cliquez sur Illumi par une nuit d’hiver.

The sun goes down, the shadows lengthen, the night gets comfortable, are you up for a luminous adventure?

I am sharing with you my Christmas Eve 2021. The gift I had offered my father and my dog, Ushenna, was a visit to Illumi by Cavalia set-up in Laval, just a few kilometers north of Montreal.

Every time I was commuting between home and Montreal on highway 15, I would see the tall illuminated tree of Illumi like a beacon in the night. When I found out about the option to tour the site by car, that was it, I made up my mind about what to offer them as a Christmas gift. My father is 87, he is always cold, so a tour on foot in winter was really not a good idea.

As mentioned, there are two options for the visit, you should anticipate approximately 90-120 minutes by foot or approximately 60 minutes by car. I bought the tickets online, there are allotted times in order to manage the number of visitors by foot and by car on the site. One ticket for the car and the driver (myself) et one ticket for my dad. It was free for Ushenna! Well, his gift was the long car ride with an open window during the tour! See below, just to give you an idea how much he loves the open car window…

The indications were very clear to find the entrance and we arrived on time to the site. We waited in the queue for a few minutes prior to presenting our ticked to the entrance booth attendant. The lighted tree is in the heart of the site, just beside the entrance on one side and then we drive by the other side during the tour. It is possible to park your car either before starting the tour or when you drive by it later on to go in the tent beside it to have a bite to eat or enjoy a refreshment before continuing the visit.

We are ready to start the tour, we select the radio frequency indicated at the entrance of the first scene. Surprise! It is not music but a rapid clapping noise that we hear when we drive through the first red arcade. It sounds like TIC – TIC – TIC and it leads us to a fantastic illuminated path. It is the spiders’ tunnel… with the sound of their legs walking briskly…

Next scene, we need to tune in to another station, this time it is a futuristic music accompanying us while we drive very slowly on the marked path lined with quirky extra-terrestrials.

A new scene is announced, so is a new radio station. Dinosaurs, here we come! It was impressive and this scene was one of my favorite top three.

We are moving towards a new wonderland to the sound of a cool background music, no pun intended! We enter the white world of winter. In this crystallized winter world, we drove through sheets of glistening white icicles flowing over cars and dropping to the ground on each side of the path. It almost felt like weathering a suspended snow storm.

We are leaving winter behind us for a warmer climate. We are heading towards a large elephant with his trunk reaching for the stars, then we are finding ourselves in an enchanted oriental land. Will we encounter Alibaba or Aladdin?

We are continuing our world tour, here we are landing in Italy. Large illuminated canvases transport us to Venice and Rome to visit the Rialto bridge, the Fountain of Trevi and the Colosseo. Another of my favorite scene since I am planning my trip to Italy next May. Unfortunately, none of these cities are included in my itinerary as of yet.

We are leaving the grand Italian cities to move towards the farm and to drive by the ocean in the following scene. Alas, the photo does not do justice to the work done to make us feel like driving in between the waves. The seahorses were magnificent.

Fun fact: did you know that the male seahorse is the one carrying the eggs to term in a pocket on its stomach? I had learned about that detail while visiting a seahorse exhibit in Chicago in 1995. It was so beautiful to see them glide in their aquariums.

The next scene was my WOW moment! We entered the equestrian world of Cavalia. For those who had seen the wonderful show of Odysseo, you will be reminiscent while wandering through the simplicity of this monochrome scene. It was magical to be among these galloping horses.

The last scenes were very colorful and have us come across fantastic worlds with giant flowers and vegetables among sparkling multicolored trees.

We really appreciated our visit. My father was marveling and commenting what we had seen on our way back home. We went for a second time during the summer. It was a special night, the canine evening (dog night). Of course, Ushenna came back with us. We did the visit once again with the car as my father did not feel like walking for an hour and half. On top of looking at all the lighted sculptures, we were glancing at the dogs on the paths that were wandering among the different scenes. In the fall, I think that certain scenes were modified. It is possible that it might not be exactly the same as last year. Always a good reason to go back!

It was not easy to take photos, I was trying to stop only for a few seconds at the time without slowing down the cars following me. There was so many things to see on both sides of the path. It would be nice if there could be a few parking spots to allow us to stop to better appreciate the details of certain scenes.

While preparing this post, I noticed that Illumi has now opened its doors in Mississauga. Some of the scenes seem to be similar to the ones in Laval, but others are different like the Oriental and European ones.

I recommend this eye opening activity to share with family and friends. I am convinced that you will be enchanted by these whimsical worlds and that you will find your inner child. Check the schedule, there is usually one canine evening per season. If you cannot attend on that special evening, no worry dogs are always welcome.

Share your comments with me, I will be delighted to read them.