CN Tower, Toronto > Reviews (26)

The CN Tower is an impressive structure that brings in around two million visitors every year. It is symbolic of Toronto, really stands out against Toronto’s skyline and has officially been named one of the seven modern wonders of the world. Being at the top of the tower is a completely fascinating and absorbing experience though probably best to stay away if you are afraid of heights!

Location

The CN tower is located in the Canadian city of Toronto within the province of Ontario – east Canada. The tower is located beside the waterfront or Toronto’s “HarbourFront” at 301 Front Street West.. It is located beside the Rogers Centre, well known all over Canada and beside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

About the Tower

The purpose of the tower is primarily for TV and radio communications, but had an observational area built in as well which is believed to have been included in order to encourage and attract tourists to the area as a whole and to visit the tower itself. The tower was built in 1976 by a railway company called the “Canadian National” and was therefore named after them – CN refers to Canadian National. It was built simply because Toronto as continued to develop and become more high-rise, problems were experienced with broadcasting to certain areas of the city. This meant that a taller tower had to be built and to do this a large antenna also needed to be constructed which instantly became the world’s tallest structure. In turn it also immediately solved the problems they were having with communications to the surrounding areas – as at a final height of 1,815 feet tall, nothing was going to be in its way. So the CN Tower not only overcame the poor communication problem in Toronto but because of its style of construction, it is also a tourist attraction. The CN Tower is technically not allowed to be called a building because everything below the observation deck has no floors despite the elevators built inside to reach the top - a building is only one if it has floors in which they can be accessed, so officially it has been said the CN Tower cannot be defined a building and only a tower.

How to get there

Depending on where you are staying you will have different ways of arriving the CN Tower – but either way it seems quite easy to reach. If you are arriving by Subway, you should come off at Union Station where you can then just keep walking westwards on Front Street where you will see the CN Tower getting closer and will take you to its main entrance which is also straightforward to arrive at.

Opening hours

The CN Tower is open every day of the week from 9am and closes at 10.00pm, expect Fridays and Saturdays when is closes at 10.30pm – mostly because these are the two most busiest days to visit the CN Tower, so it’s a good idea to try and visit midweek if possible and not during holiday season, if you are trying to avoid the crowds of people. CN Tower can get extremely busy generally, and you will need to queue up a bit in order to enter the elevator that takes you up to the top but when you go during the right times the queue moves at a pretty reasonable pace and saves a lot of time.

Prices / rates

There are a range of tickets you could purchase to enter the CN tower. These can either be bought online, from the site at the base of the CN tower or from the hotel if you are just making your decision to visit the tower last minute. Which ticket you go for really just depends on how much interest you have in the tower, how much time you have to spend in Toronto and how high you want to go!

The basic ticket is the Observation Experience with an entrance price of $23.99 (just over £15.00) – this involves being at the “Look Out” level where you will receive some remarkable views of the city at an incredible height of 1136 feet and will include the Glass Floor.

However for an extra $10 you can add on any of the extra experiences that are available with the other tickets such as the Sky Pod, Movie or Motion Theatre Ride (see below).

The next level is the Observation Plus Experience with an entrance price of $29.99 (around £19.00) - this involves the Look out and Glass floor as does the “Observation Experience” but the addition is that you have a choice of reaching the Sky Pod level which is 1465 feet (447 metres) high - this is around 330 feet higher than the observation deck. And if you don’t choose to visit the Sky Pod you can choose the 3D film called the “Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D” or the motion theatre ride called the “Himalamazon” which is basically a special effects simulator ride which involves watching a theatre screening and is about overcoming environmental destruction in a sci-fi fantasy way – it sounds like a really educational, creative and fun thing for kids.

If the above are just not enough and you really want to experience the tower to its fullest then you could take the Total Tower Experience for $35.99 (just over is £23.00) This will involve the standard Look out and Glass floor but the ticket will include both the Sky Pod and the movie AND Motion Theatre Ride rather than choosing between those (like you have to with the Observation Plus Experience).

The choice we went for was the Observation Plus Experience and chose to go for the Sky Pod.

At the CN Tower

Here are some of the things to see and do inside the CN Tower:

* Approaching the tower: Since our hotel was not far from the CN Tower, we were just able to walk to it; but some pretty good information we were told by one of the staff at the hotel was that if you look out at the CN tower which you can see from a distance away and you just head towards it, you will eventually reach it! We didn’t really think that would work but it does and it’s probably really just down to the way the roads are laid out. So try that – if you can see the tower and are not ridiculously far away from it, then just follow it and head towards it. When you finally do reach it and you are at the bottom of the tower, it is an incredible feeling – when you look up it is unbelievable how tall the tower looks. I mean I did expect it to be very tall but never as tall as what I saw. Overall, very impressive at first glance and from the outside and at the base of the tower too.

* On the Observation deck and the views: Once you have passed security were you are individually checked upon entering the tower, you will queue to board one of six elevator and once on you will notice the special thing about these evaluators is that they are glass so you can see outside of them as you go either up or down – so not only are you taking in observational views once you reach the top but also whilst you are reaching the top. These elevators are super fast and apparently get up to the Look Out deck in about 58 seconds at a speed of 15 miles per hour! It certainly felt that way – and was an incredible experience in itself. As you are whizzed up so fast your ears feel like they might pop and I think remember the staff member on the elevator talking about something like that – saying to block your ears or something because the pressure can really get to your ears. Once you do finally get to the main observation deck you will find an indoor observation section and the outdoor observation area. Everyone will be able to look out from the indoor observation area but if it is too windy then they can close off the outdoor section – so luckily when we went up, it was not shut even though the weather was cloudy and pretty gloomy. So we got to take advantage of the full amazing experience. My only issue with this observational deck is that the views can be really obstructed with the seriously heavy fencing – the fencing sort of slopes out, so that you can lean out and get a better look out experience but because the fencing is positioned like this, it has to be a proper enclosure almost like a net, so what you will see is big criss-crossing of the fence before you views out onto the city. It will also be extremely difficult to try and capture some amazing shots with your camera because although you can ensure you camera won’t fall down, you will probably have some fence within your photograph.

* Standing on the glass floor: The Glass floor can be found on the main observation level – it really is just a lot of fun. It was only put in and opened in 1994 and covers an area of 256 square feet. Through the glass, you can see right down to the base of the tower and you don’t even have to be standing on it to see it if you don’t want to. It is actually a really scary thing to walk on the glass floor honestly! But I am proud to say I managed to walk from one end to the other – glancing down a bit as I did. If you don’t want to walk on the actual glass, you can walk on the frame of it– it sort of takes away the experience of actually standing in “mid-air” but it still means will be able to get that walking on glass experience all the same. If you’re really confident about the glass floor you can run on it, dance on it, jump on it and don’t worry you won’t be told off for jumping on it in case it breaks but standing on it is worrying enough – isn’t it more a human nature or psychological thing to be frightened of standing on it, more than being nervous about it breaking??

You can lie face down on the glass and it supposed to gives you the feeling of flying – you can do whatever you want on it. But obviously, really just stay away from it if you are afraid of heights because that piece of glass is really intimidating.

* The Sky Pod experience: The Sky Pod at 1465 feet high – it is the highest point you can reach on the CN Tower. Basically as you finish with the Observation deck which is part of all of the tickets, you are then able to go onto another set of elevators which go up another 33 storeys to the Sky Pod level. The two benefits of being at the Sky Pod level is that you will be higher up and therefore be able to see much further out at the Toronto city but also that you will have views which are not obstructed with incredibly heavy fencing – on the other hand though that is because it is a glassed-off on the Sky Pod and is an indoor experience. These windows have huge big window frames and if the sun is shining, there will be a lot of reflection – it feels very office-building-like being behind that glass. So in my experience, I personally would not pay extra to go up to the Sky Pod again because even though it is higher than the main Look out deck, when you are actually that high up, being a little further high up in effect would not feel like such a big deal. One thing about the Sky Pod though and you may also not believe this, but you can actually see the Niagara Falls. I didn’t think I would be able to, but we definitely did...I think...(after it was pointed out to me...) but the fact that it can be seen is extraordinary I thought. It is the fuzzy sort of mist that you are looking out for. Overall worth checking out the Skypod once and also great to get those photos you couldn’t get when on the main observation deck, but other than that, not really worth that extra ticket price.

* 360 revolving Restaurant: We did not get a chance to dine at this gorgeous restaurant as you need to make reservations well in advance and so you need to ensure that you are able to make that particular day which preferably combines your observation experience with it too. What we were told whilst we were buying tickets at the tower is that if we pre-book a reservation for the 360 Restaurant and have a full meal, we will get Observation tickets free of charge - really good deal since not only are you getting that restaurant experience plus views from a revolving deck but will get tickets which otherwise will cost around $23-29. One thing to note though is that if you had tickets to the Skypod, once you are the revolving restaurant you will have already seen views much higher than the restaurant views. Either way though the restaurant does complete a rotation once every 72 minutes, so if you had spent one hour eating your meal you would have completed one rotation. This is one place I will not be rushing my meal!

* Other experiences: The other thing to do and this one is for those thrill seekers is the “Edge Walk”. This is CN Towers most recent attraction/amusement that opened in August this year.

You get to walk on the outside of the main pod or the roof of the 360 Restaurant while you are harnessed to a rail above and you will then walk without railing along the outsides - it could take around 30 minutes at a height of 1,168ft. That is not something I am interested in at ALL! But if you are, you can make a booking for next year and will cost around $175 – that roughly £112. I think I will just be holding on to my money on this occasion....!

* Gift shops & tower merchandise: Finally if you want to take away a souvenir or some CN Tower merchandise you can do this at the end of your experience. You will find the shops on the ground floor where you buy your tickets. But there are also lots of shops that you will be able to find around Harbourfront where you may have more choice and range of products, though I did generally find that there prices where pretty much the same whether it was the CN Tower gift shops or around the CN Tower – it is all aimed for tourists so the prices can all be upped just a little more than standard.

My experience

My experience involved the main observation “Look-out” deck and the Sky Pod; however I think if you take the tickets which involve the Observation Deck only, then the experience is probably just as spectacular even if you didn't have the Sky Pod tickets. If you do get to the Sky Pod, you would think that it should in actual fact be a much better experience just because it is much higher up! It may just be a case of weighing up the two observational experiences and making your own mind up about it. Either way though, I just thought, once you are at a certain height, you are basically high enough to appreciate the incredible views – whether it is at the height of 1136 feet or whether you are at 1465 feet up in the sky and that's is the reason why we came.

The whole experience was pretty much out of this world and completely breathtaking to say the least, even though we were involved in queues to buy tickets at the base of the CN Tower, queues to enter the tower, queues to wait to get on to the elevator, crowds of people inside both of the viewing deck/pod and queuing for our turn on the glass floor while also waiting for people to slide out of the way to get a picture. But despite all of this, it was still an experience that was on the whole very positive in my view; all of the above I think is just normal and part of the being at a world famous site. There are so many places in the world where you are able to reach a very high level in a tower to see the city views, but for some reason I really thought being on the top of the CN Tower and taking in views of Toronto felt like I was really airborne and so high up in the sky. Maybe it was the glass elevator and glass floor experience mixed up with the observational experience, but you end up with the vertigo feeling even when you are nowhere near the glass floor which you don’t always get with many other experiences like this and I think that just goes to show that the entire experience was outstanding and should never really get unexciting even if I return back again, which I would really like to do if I am in Toronto or even somewhere else in Ontario – I would love to revisit the CN Tower.

Overall: Toronto’s greatest

What makes the CN Tower a lot more unique to other communications towers with observational opportunities is that it is the only one in the world that has the highest glass floor and the world highest and largest revolving restaurant. These are the two things that really bring this particular broadcasting tower to a whole new level and I think it is this that enables the attraction to charge the fares it does, just because of its exclusive experiences it offers – I believe it is worth every bit we paid to get in.

As you already figured, I would definitely recommend anyone buying tickets to the CN Tower if you are on holiday in Toronto, expect for acrophobes of course. I would also say that even though you are there to spend time in the tower, I would also recommend spending some time to check out downtown Toronto because it really is a interesting place once you get to know it. There are so many different things to see and do which you don’t necessarily expect to be exciting as it is – the Harbourfront boardwalk just outside the CN Tower is a great place to just take some time out and take in part of what the city has to offer. At the Harbourfront you will find the long stretch of boardwalk in which you can walk along the water’s edge. The summer is the best time to be here as there are many shops and marketplaces open along with so many places to get some nice food to eat on the boardwalk, but any other time there are also lots of amazing photo opportunities with the harbour, sailing boats and the CN Tower in the background.

I hope my account of the tower experience helped with deciding whether you want to visit Toronto to experience it as well and wish you have as much fun as I did! Overall, a great TV/radio communicating tourist-friendly multipurpose tower! Can’t wait to return, and if I don’t choose to go up to the observation deck again, I look forward to seeing the CN Tower in the city’s beautiful skyline.