Detailed review by TheDaz
TheDaz(36)
Halifax, United Kingdom98%
'Attention! If anyone is more than a little bit scared of heights - please move along, there's nothing but knuckle-stiffening, mind-melting fear to be had here.'
That, I believe, is what the signs on the front of the CN Tower lifts should say. Glass floored and walled I ask you - are they trying to find uses for their defibrillators?!
The Tower, at various points since it's construction in 1976, the World's Tallest building, World's Tallest Free Standing Structure, and now World's Tallest Tower (ask Guinness World Records, it's very confusing) - stands a whopping 553.33m high, on the shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto. To compare that to our feeble British buildings - On Canada Square (Canary Wharf) is the UK's tallest at a rather sensible 235.1m.
Drawing over 2 million visitors annually, it is Toronto's biggest tourist attraction, and has added a number of concessions and features at it's base to supplement the main point of visiting. Being an Acrophobe myself (a complete sissy on a stepladder), I relished the challenge of paying to scare myself witless, with the justification that it's the tallest thing I can go up, the view would be spiffing, and I may never get to do it again. My first visit was as a washed up ex-student in 1999, but I returned earlier this year to share my terror with my partner.
Ok - History - pay attention at the back. Built in 1976 by Canadian National, the Railways company to showcase Canadian Industry, the Tower was designed to show off Engineering skills in the Great White North (it's pretty tall up there eh?), and as a Telecommunications Hub. The plethora of 40-60 storey skyscrapers that appeared in the Toronto downtown made TV and Radio signals hard to pass through the area - and so an Antenna was conceived for the top of a Tower to enable clearer transmissions. It pokes up a hundred or more metres above the observation deck and has the usual blinking lights to stop aircraft landing on it. In 1985 the Tower was transferred to the Canada Lands Company (CLC), a state owned organisation, to preserve it for use as a National Attraction.
Right - the fun stuff. Located on Front Street (well, a large lump of grass in front of the Gardiner Expressway), the Tower adjoins the Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), and is linked to downtown via the PATH network of above and subterranean shopping passageways (it gets very cold in the Winter).
Outside the Tower you will find the ticket booth, with a bewildering array of ticket options. Simply visiting the Observation Deck will set you back $21.99 (plus Sales Tax of erm less than 10%), which although seems rather British in its cost, is good value when you consider it's the ultimate thing to go up, the busiest attraction in town, and that there's plenty to do up there.
There are also 'Experiences' available - including a motion theatre and a movie, and also, for the silliest of you, the Skypod, a small observation floor a further 120 metres above the Observation Deck, at a spine-melting 447m high.
So - choose your ticket and go through the entrance and up the ramp, along which are video screens and pictures showing the Tower's construction, and into the atrium. The open floor below comprises a few gift shops (plenty of tat mixed in with some quality First Nations (Native Canadian Inuit/Eskimo) products, and an eatery. The gallery contains an 8ft mock up of the Tower to have pics taken next to, and more panels showing other Towers and buildings around the world competing for altitude.
Next comes security - a notable addition between my 2 trips. After a quick frisk I stepped into a Particle Disintegrator (ok, an explosives search portal), and had gusts of air blown at me. If you worked hard on a hairstyle than prepare to need your brush again.
Around the corner and a very evil attendant with a nice voice will ask you if you want to ride the elevator with the Glass Floor - failing to mention the 5 elevators with sensible unglassed floors.
Step into the elevator, and about a fifth of the floor area is thick glass, and all the walls are similarly glazed on all 6 elevators.
It's difficult to describe the terror really. Gently up in darkness as the lift climbs out of its concrete well - and then Bam! You're doing 15mph (much faster than normal lifts) and the view of the ground is shrinking rapidly as you pelt upwards. The Distance covered is 120 floors in 58 seconds, and any adult without jellied knees by the end is fibbing! As the skyscraper roofs become visible in Downtown and you think you're surely there, it just keeps on going. Your ears pop, you wish your mummy were there to hold your hand and you grimace at the 4 year old bouncing around as they point out cars that look like ants.
Finally, you reach the Observation Deck and you stagger from the lift into a large, blissfully carpeted area. I suggest you visit the Horizons Café for an overpriced pint to regather your wits first. Then - stroll around the glass windows, goggling at the stupendous views that take in the entire city (The Metropolitan area is substantially larger than London), and across the side of the Lake to Missisauga and Hamilton. On a clear day you can see Rochester, NY, over 100 miles away, although you'll have more luck up on the Skydeck via the lifts on the Observation Deck for that. To one side is the City Airport, which sits on one of the small Islands in the Lakeshore area, and the other is Downtown, with acres of dark glazed skyscrapers.
There are the usual 'insert money for use' Binoculars, and plates on stands showing you what you can see, as well as a door out to the External Viewing area. Yes - brave the wind and the vertigo to walk around the caged exterior of the tower. I set one foot out and found I'd lost all Motor Skills.
The main attraction of the Observation Deck is the Glass Floor - an area the size of a garage floor that is glazed over to reveal the park below, and the tiny Baseball players in the Rogers Dome on match days. Adults stand at the edge saying 'go on, darling, you go and I'll follow', whilst kids jump, leap and roll around on the floor, oblivious to the abject terror of their parents. Each floor panel is weight tested to something like 6 Hippos, although when I asked how they got a Hippo in the lift I was eye rolled by the attendant and the other visitors. (They must have been Americans...).
Other features of the Tower include the 360 restaurant, a swish revolving eatery that is strictly booking only, and very expensive, and some secret, hidden conference facilities. The website has booking options, nerdy information and other things to pass the time whilst deciding if you're brave enough to visit.
Upon return to the elevators - you will feel a prolonged period of slow falling as you hurtle earthwards, and walk gingerly back outside to stare up at the Tower. Don't be afraid to gibber or mumble, most of the other visitors do, and it's a handy way to see who's been up and who is yet to.
As an additional woo! To your trip, visit at night, the view is completely transformed. Also - on various days and for various events the Tower has different coloured lights (Canada Day on July 1st is an example), and most nights, the lights up the lift shafts are sequenced to rush up the side in a rainbow, which is rather nice to look at.
It's a once in a lifetime experience. Actually I've done it twice now, so that's a big fib. Go - you will never forget it.
CN Tower10
Ratings
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Accessibility
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"Must See"-Factor
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Budget Friendliness
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View
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Amazing views - easily linked to PATH network and close to Downtown.
Can be pricey for Families - with all the attractions thrown in.
Views - like nothing on Earth.
