The iconic man-made island complex on Lake Ontario is undergoing a massive transformation — but the waterfront promenade, the Cinesphere dome (North America's first IMAX screen), and the summer events remain. Watch the redevelopment unfold in real time.
Neighbourhood: Harbourfront · Address: 955 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON · Hours: Grounds open year-round · Phone: (416) 314-9900
Why Visit
Ontario Place lets you stroll lakeside boardwalks, pop into North America's original IMAX Cinesphere, and watch one of Toronto's most controversial redevelopments happening up close.
What Makes It Unique
No other city park combines cutting-edge architecture, brutalist relics, and lakeshore views quite like Ontario Place. The Cinesphere's geodesic dome is a retro-futurist landmark that still screens films, while the grounds feel uniquely unfinished in the wake of redevelopment. It's a front-row seat to the city's changing face.
Ontario Place is a site in transformation — an iconic 1971 man-made island complex on Lake Ontario's Toronto waterfront that spent decades as an amusement park, fell into partial closure and disuse, and is now the subject of a massive and controversial provincial redevelopment project that will reshape it significantly over the coming years. Whatever you think of the politics around that redevelopment, the site right now offers some genuinely worthwhile experiences, and its location, scale, and history make it a fascinating place to visit.
The original Ontario Place was designed by architect Eberhard Zeidler in the early 1970s — a visionary complex of pod structures suspended over water, connected by bridges, with a geodesic dome housing an IMAX theatre (the Cinesphere), a marina, a concert amphitheatre, and a water park. Much of this infrastructure still stands in varying states of preservation. The Cinesphere was restored and continues to show films. The grounds themselves are accessible and the waterfront promenade provides excellent views across the lake.
The outdoor concert venue — now operating as the OVO Hydro Amphitheatre (formerly Molson Canadian Amphitheatre) on the adjacent grounds — is one of Toronto's best summer concert destinations: a medium-capacity outdoor space with good sightlines and a lakeside atmosphere that enhances almost any musical experience. Summer concert season runs June through September and consistently draws major acts.
The broader site will look different in coming years as the redevelopment proceeds. For now, arriving during the concert season or for a Cinesphere film provides the most complete experience of what Ontario Place still offers. The surrounding Lakeshore corridor and Exhibition Place immediately east provide additional context and connecting programming through the CNE in late August.