Canadian National Exhibition - August 20th, 2025

On August 20th, my mom and I went to Toronto for our annual visit to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto!

It was a great day to check out some exhibits, ride many rides, and have some food at the CNE as the weather was cooler, with a slight chance of rain, making the crowds rather light! It was a nice change as the last two years were quite hot and crowded when we visited.

Be sure to enjoy my photos of our day at the CNE! 🙂

Our day started off a bit drizzly and a tad foggy! The CN Tower was hiding behind some rolling fog off in the distance.

My first ride of the day was on the Sky Ride. Its a great way to view the Exhibition grounds. This year it is themed to Wednesday Addams, a series offered on Netflix.

As it wasn't 11am, the other rides were testing before opening for the day.

Here's a close up of the Crazy Mouse from the Sky Ride.

Here's another view of the midway from the Sky Ride.

There was a decent collection of rides supplied by North American Midway, with many rides that return year after year.

While the Gondola Wheel hasn't been the largest wheel on the midway for the past two years with the introduction of the Observation Wheel, it did receive a repaint as the supports were previously painted yellow.

The games and food booths on the midway were opening for the day as I got off the Sky Ride.

It was neat to see old photos of the CNE's past printed on canvases to cover up utility boxes on the midway.

At 11am, I got on the Outlaw coaster. It is fun, but was running slower than usual, with the brakes being applied rather heavily. I guess the rain earlier in the morning had a factor in that.

The wind began to pick up, so I got in line for the Swing Tower as it would eventually close due to strong winds later in the day. It is a fun ride as usual.

After a ride on the Swing Tower, I got in line for Crazy Mouse. The car I rode in didn't spin very much.

Up next was a ride on the 130 foot tall Mega Drop, followed by a ride on Orbiter.

North American Midway has moved away from paper all-day ride wrist bands to these small scannable cards attached by a tightened ribbon on a tensioner. The employees would scan the card with their phone when boarding to ride. Also, paper tickets are now more and can be loaded onto cards if you wish to use that option.

Up next was a ride on the classic Polar Express! It's an annual must ride!

Another must ride for me was X-Drive! This ride is now two years old and is still very thrilling and greatly unpredictable with its quick twists and flips!

After being thrown around on X-Drive, I rode Niagara Falls log flume. I always enjoy a ride on it, especially when the line is short!

After a morning of rides, it was time to take things a bit more slowly, by checking out the new display at the Withrow Common Gallery. This year, the gallery proudly displayed 'CNE in Colour: The Joyful Lens of Scooter Korek. Many photos fof the CNE midway from over the years taken by Greg "Scooter" Korek were on display. It was a very nice collection of photos.

After checking out the display at the Withrow Common Gallery, I decided it was time to finally get on the Dragon launched coaster in the Kiddie Midway. It was introduced in 2019, but always had quite a line in the past. It was a 'walk-on' today, so I got on!

While it has a simple oval layout, the tire propelled launch (with four cycles) was quite fun!

For lunch, we went to the Food Building. I had a burrito bowl from the Burrito Co. It was good, but I wish the serving was a bit larger for the price paid!

For dessert, I had some Gold Ribbon Ice Cream (vanilla/chocolate with caramel) from the Baskin Robbins booth. It was good and not too sweet!

After my ice cream, I took a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl. It was fun as usual!

I eventually made my way over to the Euro Slide. For some reason, the mats didn't glide all the way down to the end of the slide. I guess the lanes haven't been greased in a while!

I've always liked the décor of the Haunted Mansion, even though the ride doesn't do much.

Up next was a ride on the Ring of Fire. I was lucky enough to get an end seat!

The Scrambler, owned by Campbell Amusements was on the midway once again. It moves quite fast for an electric powered Scrambler!

Also during my visit, I did the two fun houses on the main midway.

This year I decided to play a couple rounds of skee ball. Even through I didn't win, I came close! At only $2 per play, how could anyone pass it up?

Inside the EnerCare Centre is the 'Legacy of the CNE' display. It mostly focused on various aspects that helped form and shape the CNE over the years.

It's always neat seeing old photos and artifacts from the CNE's past.

The light fixtures within the display had photos from over the decades!

After walking through the EnerCare Centre, I got back on the Sky Ride for my second ride on it of the day.

Here's a look down on the Polar Express.

A boat on Niagara Falls was going down the second drop as I captured this photo.

After a relaxing ride on the Sky Ride, I joined my mom and headed over to the Farm Building to see what was on display. Here's a wonderful sand sculpture being made in the Farm Building.

There were many goats in the Farm Building.

After a walk through the Farm Building, I got on the Sky Ride one last time for the day. The Star Dancer was swinging around in the late-afternoon. I would get a ride on it before heading out.

The Mach 3 stands tall above the midway.

The splashdown on Niagara Falls log flume is quite the visual and not all that soaking, but slightly refreshing.

As I began to feel hungry again, we headed back to the Food Building. This time I went to Smash Burgers.

The burger and curly fries were seasoned very well, making them very delicious!

The midway began to get busier in the early evening.

I decided to have a waffle ice cream sandwich. They're very good and a CNE tradition!

I took another ride on Mega Drop. Despite its size, it is quite thrilling!

I also captured another ride on the Wave Swinger. It too is a staple of the CNE midway.

After getting on another handful of rides, including the X-Drive and Star Dancer, it was time to head out for the day. Here's my mom and I after a nine hour day at the CNE! We had a great day! 🙂

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! :-)