Ontario Place Toronto, Canada

A popular Ontario tourist attraction in the summer months is Ontario Place, located on three man-made islands on Lake Ontario. When weather is hot, Torontonians make their way to Ontario Place Toronto for waterslides, movies, shows, and amusement park rides. This Ontario attraction has a vast variety of recreational activities for all ages. The best bet is to buy a ‘Play All Day’ pass that gives you access to the Soak City water park, all of the park rides, and a seat in the Ontario Place Cinesphere. The Cinesphere has a curved screen six-stories high that shows specially made IMAX movies year round.

Ontario Place Toronto has been around since 1971, but despite its age has always had a futuristic, ‘space age’ look to it. The five pods (theaters and exhibits) and huge geodesic dome (the Ontario Place Cinesphere) seem suspended in the air when viewed from across the water. Ontario Place has gone through some major renovations since its 1971 opening, each time adding more fun and entertainment options. Originally this huge Ontario tourist attraction was built to showcase the Province of Ontario and to beef up the then underdeveloped waterfront area. Initially, Ontario Place Toronto covered 96 acres, 51 of those being landfill.

Recent additions to the park are aimed at smaller children, giving them a place to run free without worry. The H2O Generation Station is the largest outdoor soft play climbing structure in the country. Kids can run, slide, climb and crawl through a variety of activity centers. There are tunnels, slides, towers, hurdles and more for kids to run through that are both soft and safe. The Atom Blaster is a huge foam-ball playground--- the only of its kind in Canada. Foam balls are spilling out of canons, fountains, baskets—you name it—all to the great delight of the kids.

Though most of the Ontario Place features are only open from mid-May until Labor Day, the Cinesphere says open all year. While you can watch the standard Hollywood films there if you please, the real attraction are the many unique IMAX and educational films that the Ontario Place Cinesphere shows. From dolphins to Mt. Everest, the Cinesphere shows are fun and educational for families, as well as school class trips.

Also located on the Ontario Place grounds is the Molson Amphitheatre. This theater can hold up to 16,000 spectators--- 9,000 in the covered reserved seating area and 7,000 on the surrounding grass. The rest of the Ontario Place attractions are not included with concert tickets, but even so, the amphitheater has some great shows worth attending.