Every Ontario kid had a list. Usually it was one place that came up on every long weekend and every report-card day, until a parent finally gave in. Some of those places still open their gates every season. Some have changed beyond recognition, and a few are now just memories, old photos and the odd souvenir in a basement.
This list mixes all three. For every place still operating, we checked a current official source, and for places that have changed or closed, we went to dated news reports.
Still open
1. Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan
It's the big one. Canada's Wonderland has been open since 1981, and Wonder Mountain is still its landmark. Global News reported that the 2026 season opened on May 3, on a property of about 300 acres with 18 roller coasters and a 20-acre water park.
Status: Open seasonally.
2. African Lion Safari, near Rockton
For a kid, few things beat seeing big animals from the back seat of the family car. African Lion Safari says it opened on August 22, 1969. Its founder, Colonel Gordon Dailley, chose 700 acres in the Rockton area for a drive-through wildlife park. It still calls itself "Canada's Original Safari Adventure."
Status: Open seasonally. Its website lists the 2026 season running to October 11.
3. Santa's Village, Bracebridge
A summer trip to see Santa made complete sense if you were seven. Santa's Village says local residents opened it in 1955, after the new Highway 11 bypassed Bracebridge. It sits in a bend of the Muskoka River, on the 45th parallel, which it bills as halfway between the equator and the North Pole. The 2026 season added a family coaster called Yeti Trek.
Status: Open seasonally.
4. Storybook Gardens, London
London's storybook park sits in the middle of Springbank Park, and the City of London owns and runs it. These days it runs well past summer, and the city's Storybook Gardens page says public skating is set to start November 28, weather permitting.
Status: Operating, with seasonal closures between summer and winter programs.
5. Toronto Zoo, Toronto
A school trip to the zoo usually meant a bagged lunch, a lot of walking, and a lot of pleading for one more pavilion. The Toronto Zoo is still open, and it's still adding things, including new programming for 2026.
Status: Open.
6. Centreville, Toronto Island
The ferry ride across the harbour was half the fun. Centreville and Far Enough Farm still run on Centre Island. Here's a detail that ties two parts of this list together: blogTO reports that the Ferris wheel from Crystal Beach Park moved to Centreville in 1990.
Status: Seasonal. Its website says the park is closed until spring 2027.
7. CN Tower, Toronto
Going up the tower was a rite of passage, and so was being scared to stand anywhere near the edge. The CN Tower dates itself to 1976 and is marking its 50th year. Bolder visitors can now try EdgeWalk, a hands-free walk around the outside of the main pod, 116 storeys above the ground.
Status: Open.
8. Science North, Sudbury
For kids in Northern Ontario, this was the trip everyone wanted. Science North still runs its hands-on science centre on Ramsey Lake Road, beside Ramsey Lake. The website shows ongoing work there in 2026, including new windows along the ramp.
Status: Open.
9. Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto
A field trip here meant stepping back into 19th-century Ontario. Black Creek is a working village representing south-central Ontario between the 1790s and 1860s. Its calendar lists events into October 2026, including a print apprenticeship program.
Status: Open.
10. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
For a lot of kids, the dinosaurs were the reason to go. The ROM still has its dinosaur skeletons, and its exhibition calendar runs into December 2026.
Status: Open.
Changed
11. Ontario Science Centre
If your class went on a field trip to the Ontario Science Centre, it went to the Don Mills building. That building is closed. CP24 reported that the province shut it in June 2024, citing an engineering report on the risk of the roof collapsing. The Science Centre is now running at Harbourfront Centre on Queens Quay. Construction started at Ontario Place in May 2026 on a new home that will reuse the Cinesphere and the pods. The province says it should open in 2029.
Status: Operating at a temporary location; new building under construction.
12. Marineland, Niagara Falls
Marineland's story has had a hard ending. Its website described the 2024 season as scaled down, with the rides, land-animal exhibits and aquarium closed while it prepared "for redevelopment under new ownership." By September 2026, The Canadian Press was calling it a shuttered attraction. Over the summer of 2026, its 30 belugas and four dolphins were moved to five facilities in the United States and Spain, after the federal government blocked an earlier plan to send the whales to China. Several of the belugas died after their transfers, and The Canadian Press, citing sources, reported that the property was sold on the condition that every animal be gone.
Status: Closed to the public.
Gone
13. Ontario Place (the original)
The Canadian Encyclopedia says Ontario Place opened in 1971, with the world's first permanently installed IMAX projector in its Cinesphere. For kids, though, the main attraction was Eric McMillan's Children's Village, with its rope spiderweb, punching-bag forest and water play, until it closed in 2002. The province closed most of the park on February 1, 2012. The site is now being redeveloped.
Status: The original park is gone; the site is under redevelopment.
14. Crystal Beach Park, Fort Erie
Crystal Beach had the Comet, and for decades the steamer Canadiana brought visitors over from Buffalo. It closed on Labour Day 1989, according to Brock University Library's exhibit on the park. Most of the land is now a gated community, and blogTO reported in 2026 that the old pier is one of the last traces left.
Status: Gone.
15. Boblo Island, Amherstburg
Boblo was an island amusement park reached by steamers from downtown Detroit. The Detroit Historical Society says it opened in 1898, and that the boats stopped in 1991 and the park closed after the 1993 season. CBC reported in 2025 that the island is now a private residential community, and only residents and their guests can ride the ferry.
Status: Gone.
Details checked October 2026. Hours and seasons change — confirm with each business before you go.
