Canadian National Exhibition - August 22nd, 2019

Thursday, August 22nd was the day that I made my annual visit to the Canadian National Exhibition (also known as the CNE and The Ex) in Toronto! My Mom joined along for the trip and had a great day as the weather was a bit cooler and the crowds were not as large.

There were many new attractions at The Ex including the Star Dancer, a ride that sends thrill-seekers head over heels as it gains momentum, eventually going all the way over. It was a nice addition to the North American Midway Entertainment line up of rides. Be sure to check out the photos below!

As per tradition, here we are catching the GO Train at Oakville, which takes us directly to Exhibition Station.

After a half hour ride on the GO train, we arrived at the CNE. Here's the midway games getting set up for the day.

North American Midway Entertainment (NAME) had repainted this Tilt-A-Whirl, making it look brand new.

Here's the popular Crazy Mouse roller coaster testing before opening for the day. Rides at The ex open at 11am on weekdays and 10am on weekends.

Here's the all-new for 2019 Star Dancer, a Technical Park Street Fighter Revolution ride. It sends passengers head over heels after gaining enough momentum to go over the top! Below is an off-ride video that I had filmed of the Star Dancer.

Once the rides had opened at 11am, the midway was buzzing with activity! Here's a log on the Niagara Falls log flume coming in for a splash landing!

The Zipper, which was refurbished for the 2018 season was placed at the west end of the main midway this year. 

For lunch we went to the Food Building and grabbed a couple of slices of pizza from Pizza Nova. They unfortunately didn't have the more fancier varieties at The Ex on the day we were there. There were many of these large maps around the grounds to help find your way around.

A view of the south side of the Food Building.

The Rock-N-Cars bumper cars were quite popular all-day long.

Some classic rides, including Campbell Amusements' Zero Gravity (Hrubetz Round Up) were on the midway this year. While NAME is the main midway ride supplier at The Ex, Campbell Amusements brings in a few rides to fill some spots on the midway.

Pharaoh's Fury was also placed at the west end of the midway this year, allowing it to swing over visitors walking by.

The Pharaoh's Fury is packed with a lot of airtime!

The Euro Slide also received a face lift, making it look all shiny and new!

Here is Campbell Amusements wonderful Scrambler!

The Mach 3 and Mega Drop were providing sky-high thrills!

Visitors of all ages were enjoying the spinning of the Crazy Mouse under the mid-afternoon sun.

The all-new Star Dancer continued to loop above the midway throughout the day.

The view of the midway from the Gondola Wheel is quite nice.

Here's an overview look of the Crazy Mouse from the Gondola Wheel.

The west end of the midway was quite busy in this shot.

The Orbiter was good as usual, but seat dividers were added to the cars. I guess this was mandated by the manufacturer to prevent riders from potentially slouching in their seat, possibly slipping under the lap bar. You just had to be careful entering and exiting the seat.

Out of all the years of going to The Ex (I've been going since 2006), the Rock-N-Roll Video Fun House was always broken and had none of the fun house elements working. Well, this past off-season NAME had the fun house refurbished and all of the elements, including the spinning barrel fixed. It was nice to see everything working on it now!

The Blitzer was unfortunately down all day. It was testing throughout the day, but it never opened. I had many rides in years past, so that was okay.

Here I am atop the Mardi Gras fun house. This mirror made me look quite short! ;-)

After spending a great day at The Ex, we decided it was time to head home. Thanks for looking at my photos of our time at the CNE! :-)