@movernie
Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is FINALLY back! After 2 years of absence due to the pandemic, I am super excited that we can visit CNE again (from August 19 – September 5, 2022)! CNE is an annual family tradition for us to visit and to spending time with our family. And personally, I grew up as a kid and even now as adults, it’s never grew old. Honestly, it’s not so much of the new rides or new wacky food items at the CNE that intrigue me, it’s the nostalgic and the memories that we built as a family that I care most.
There are so much to do at the CNE. You can watch free live shows or live concerts that is included as part of the general admission. You can shop at the warehouse outlet, there are gaming sections for gamers, midway rides such as the Ferris Wheel and of course, the food and beverages that are new at the CNE. So much to do and so much to see that I highly recommend you to spend the entire day here at the CNE.
Let me give you a tour of the spots around the CNE this year and you can decide where you and your loved ones want to check out this year at CNE 2022.
ENTRANCE POINTS:
There are many entrance points throughout the entire venue space to enter the CNE. However, my favourite entry point is coming from the East side and enter via the historic Princes’ Gates. If you ride your bikes, there is bicycle parking at the front of the CNE.
Once you entered, there is a giant “CNE” sign for you to take photos. It’s especially beautiful in the evening as the sign illuminates and LIT.
MoVernie TIP: After you have entered the CNE from the entrance. there is a small outdoor booth providing guests FREE hand sanitizer, I thought that was a nice touch by CNE. It was greatly appreciated as peeps are roaming around the space so much that you will eventually touch a door, touch something while playing games or on a midway rides, a portable mini hand sanitizer is easily place in your pants pocket or purses. Great job CNE!
Food Trucks + Craft Beer Stations
If you are feeling hungry or prefer to grab a bite before roaming around the rest of the CNE, this Food Trucks section will be your choice. There are tons of options to choose from and there are benches around the area for your to sit on. Furthermore, on certain days and evenings, they have craft beer stations from various well-known craft breweries serving your beers. However, you do have to go to the CNE booths to purchase tokens in order to buy beer. The craft beer stations only accept tokens and nothing more.
As we walked along, we also saw people doing “Silent Disco”, headphones were provided and you could see people were dancing with the music while the DJ is spinning the tracks. And 50/50 Foundation draws are being sold at various kisoks.
Gaming + Shopping + Live Performances + CNE Heritage (Inside the Direct Energy Building)
After you have passed the food trucks area, you can either opt to keep walking outside and see all the Midway rides or games that you can pay and try to win plush toys. Or…you can go inside the Direct Energy Building and check out various stuff. There were so much to do inside this building. There were people selling products or there was a warehouse outlet sections for peeps to get deals on clothes and other cool stuff.
New this year, or at least new to me was the gaming section. People were sitting on chairs, playing various video games on computer screens. We all know how big gaming is nowadays so I thought that was a nice touch for kids and teenagers to enjoy CNE while playing games as a collective group in person.
You can also enjoy some live performances mostly cultural music or dances. If you like to cook, chefs are performing their cooking skills on stage as a “Live Kitchen”. You can check their schedules on the CNE website here.
In particular, I enjoyed the immersive experience of the CNE Heritage. It transported us back in time on what it was like back in the 1920s when CNE was opened. It’s quite a historic learning experience.
Mississauga of the Credit First Nation Exhibit
Located inside the Direct Energy Building, there was the Mississauga of the the Credit First Nation Exhibit. People can learn more about the Indigenous culture and history. And people could actually pose pictures with various outfits on a 360 camera screen. This was quite fascinating and it’s great there was a section such as this one for us to learn and educate ourselves about Indigenous. I highly recommend you to check this exhibit out.
Outdoor Game Activities
Now it’s time to walk back outside again. There were tons of kiosks of game activities for peeps to try their luck to win toys and other prizes. I still remembered back in the days when my dad won a Ninja Turtle plush toy for me and my bro by winning the fishing game. And I won toys by winning the Whack a Mole. Those games never gets old and they were around at the CNE. However,
I suggest you bring enough cash for these games as they don’t accept credit/debit cards. And each game had inflated to $10 CDN/game. Wow! Holy smoke! I still remember those days when Whack a Mole was $3 CDN/game. But I do have to say, the prizes nowadays are higher quality and bigger in size compared in the past.
Vinfast Electric Vehicle Display
Throughout the entire CNE, I noticed there were the Vinfast electric vehicles on display. I spotted one VF9 inside the Direct Energy Building. And a VF8 located just outside the Food Building and near the BMO Field. As you may not know, Vinfast is a fast growing electric vehicle company in the world right now. They are based in Vietnam and is planning to sell its products over here in Canada by end of this year. They work and build its vehicles quickly.
I saw Vinfast displays a few months ago at Yorkdale Mall. But during that time, only the prototypes were on display and I didn’t get to see the interior. So, it was cool to get to get inside the VF8 here at the CNE to really check out what type of material and interior layout for Vinfast. I also got to check out the front hood as well as the trunk space. Hopefully, as media, I would get to test drive this electric vehicle in the near future.
Food Building
And since we were near the Food Building, we got to check out all the food and beverage vendors. There were tons of various cultural food for sale. From fish n chips, pizza, gyros, pasta, Chinese food, Japanese food, Vietnamese food and many more. Lineups were manageable for the most part but I highly recommend you to sit outside at one of the picnic bench tables coz inside the Food Building, it’s freakin hot.
Average food costs are quite pricey, and of course, due to inflation. Most food items that we saw ranged from $11 to $18 CDN. I highly recommend you to bring enough money.
Canadian Armed Forces
Located beside the Food Building, there were a number of outdoor displays and demos set up by the Canadian Armed Forces. They have military staff on hand to allow people to get on the tank, the armed vehicles and even get their hands on some of the guns (no real bullets of course) and get to learn more about exactly what the Canadian Military Forces is all about.
I thought it was very neat as not very often we got a chance to see some of these machineries and weapons.
And of course, I would like to use this opportunity to thank our past and present Canadian Armed Forces for serving and protecting this beautiful country we called “HOME”. THANK YOU!
Bandshell Stage – Live Concerts
One of my favourite parts about CNE is the FREE concerts that comes with the general admission almost every night. Make sure you check the schedule here and see who you want to watch. I still remembered my glory days of interviewing Danny Fernandes, Massari, Mia Martina and others before they perform at the concerts.
I do, however, was hoping CNE will have a more balanced group of performers just like they did pre-pandemic, where many up & coming artists performed here. For example, I watched Shawn Hook, Tyler Shaw, these up & coming Canadian artists attracts the younger crowd to enjoy some pop music. Not this year, so hopefully, they will have more younger and up & coming rising stars to perform here in the near future CNEs.
There is just that special thing about live concerts in the summer while being outside. It’s so cool to feel the breeze, the music, watching the stars, the windmill spinning and watching the beautiful Bandshell stage while sipping an ice cold beer.
Casino
For those who likes to test their luck at their casinos, there is a new outdoor slot machines section covered with a white tent. There was also a small section for live music and you can enter to play some Black Jacks or other games. Of course, no kids allow and you have to be 19+ Legal Age to enter.
Taking a Nice Stroll Home
One of the BEST part for me is taking a nice stroll around the CNE at night before heading home. The sky is darker and all the rides are LIT. It’s a different feeling and vibe at night than during day time. I like the Ferris Wheel lit up! All the neon lights from the games and food kiosks, it’s such a treat!
And if you are patient enough to wait, buy some tickets to get on the lift ride located near the BMO Field & Casino. You get to see on the lift and enjoy a bird’s eye view of the CNE above you and you get to see the beautiful Toronto skyline such as CN Tower as the lift is heading towards that direction towards the Princes’ Gates. And by the time you exit the building, make sure to snap a photo of the illuminated “CNE” sign.
And if you are still hungry and thirsty, there were tons of food stalls located outside around the rides. In particular, the new famous Ketchup and Mustard ice cream stall is located near the Merry Go Around area.
And that’s all folks! We really enjoyed our visit at the CNE. And we are so grateful and thankful that we can continue with our family tradition to spend time with our loved ones and enjoy a lovely summer day here at the CNE.
Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website
Located in: Exhibition Place
Address: 210 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
Phone: (416) 263-3330
Ticket Prices: Adults ($25 CDN), Senior ($20 CDN). For further Tix INFO, please click here.
The media passes were provided by Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). However, as always, the opinions expressed in this post is entirely our own.
