Aurora Winter Festival

A magical experience with the lights and sound setting tone for a perfect Christmas atmosphere. We couldn't enjoy the rides though due to cold weather the day we went. Arrangement wise, it has food trucks, heated tents, ice skating. The Mystical Garden is really worth a watch and a great place to click pics.

Amazing atmosphere amazing vibes and great lights and games!!! Absolutely love it and skating there! Would do it again! Wish they had a pass entrance for the time of the festival instead of just daily entrance.

Aurora winter festival = cold weather + Small food and drink stalls + few other stalls (scarfs, torques, toys, tarot reader, small games etc) + ice skating ring + few rides + lot of lights. Felt tickets were over priced (normal is $25 per person). Overall good place to spend an evening with family and friends.

Magical! It was freezing since it was near the water but they have plenty of hot cocoa and food to warm you up. Art with lights makes everyone happy. They have so much to see and blow your mind away. It does feel like you are in Santa's village. You can also iceskate, try the rides, play carnival games and dine at food trucks. Take your best cameras with you when you go, and get the most instagrammable pictures.

Kind of boring, even for kids. Not much to do except look at Christmas light decorations in the cold. All carnival rides cost extra so be prepared to pay more on top of the general admission. Could be improved by having interactive displays or activities for kids to do.

Good place to visit with children and family not in comparison with the CNE summer fest but very good lighting and less in number but good playable games for children .story telling by santa is good for small children good coffee shops and bars available too for adults . Excellent lighting . Overall little overpriced with general admission at 25 cad dollars. Skating ground , tube park also available

Great lighting experience. Almost like a winter CNE. A little smaller than expected. The magic show was very enjoyable. Ice skating looked fun. Great place to bring kids, but its a little pricy, look for deals.

This was one of the most spectacular places I've visited. The festival was located in Ontario place which is quite accessible via transit. They have huge parking lots so you could bring your car as well. We booked online to avoid lines. There was a 15% discount for PRESTO users which was cool. We reached there at 4 PM so there was less of a rush as compared to the evening. WE started off with the skating rink. Rental and locker options were cheap($7 and $2). Folks were there to help you out. It was pretty well organised. The lighting and decorations were also brilliant. It was hard to believe the extent of the decorations. At the same time, the decorations were quite lovely we well. They also had a lot of food options along with an indoor heated seating place, which had a singing performance. They had another place where Santa was performing. We caught the start of the performance and it seemed like all the kids there were having a lot of fun. The only thing I didn't like is that they didn't allow water to be taken inside. This was probably just to make sure people bought water from the stores inside. All in all, great place to have fun, especially if you have kids. If you missed it this year, be sure to catch it next year.

Dress for the weather when you go. It's all outdoors except for some booths and a heated tent by the food trucks. It's timed admission so make sure you go according to the time you purchased your tickets for. Once you're in you're welcome to stay for as long as you'd like. There's vendors in tiny cabins right as you go through the entrance. As you walk further in there's an area for food where many food trucks are located. Once you pass that there's a fenced in area to your right where you line up to see the light displays. The line does move quickly so you're not waiting too long. There was a ton of people when I went so it's a slow walk through with people constantly stopping to take photos. I anticipated a larger area for the display and was disappointed to see that it ended so soon. There's another section with rides and ice skating. The rides are a separate fee. Lastly, there is a shuttle service from Exhibition Station to the other side of the parking lot. It may not save you that much time but when it's cold it's welcomed.

My toddlers had a blast! We went on the last night of the festival and got the earliest entrance timeslot of 4-5. It wasn't completely dark yet so we were able to snap a few photos of the gorgeous skyline. The lines for the merry go round and ferris wheel were quite long, but my kids are too young to go on them anyway (ages 1 & 3). There was a relatively short line to enter into the Mystical Worlds. My toddler was in awe of the light displays, loved playing in the miniature hits and both kids spent quite a bit of time dancing at the disco party (with an elf!). It was a relatively cheap excursion for us - $10 for parking, $19.99 per adult, both kids were free (under 4 years old). We didn't go tubing or went on the rides (both of these had extra costs). There was a good variety of food trucks, but eating out in the cold just wasn't a good option for our little ones. I would definitely go back next year (hopefully without a double stroller).

I was surprised to see the ratings for this festival - I actually enjoyed it! We bought our tickets online in advance, and there are specific time slots you can choose on when you want to enter (you can stay as long as you want). We decided to go around 5-6 after the sun went down and we could see the lights better. We decided not to take our car and just took public transportation, which was a good AND bad idea. Good idea because there was so much traffic on the roads on our way there; if we took our car, we probably would have had to sit in traffic for longer than an hour to get there. It was a bad idea though, because we took the street car in and got off Exhibition stop, and from there to the festival was a good 15-20 minute walk. Thankfully the weather was warm so we didn't mind the walk, but it could be difficult if you have little ones. :\ The festival itself is sectioned off with a market, food area, carnival-like entertainment area, and decorations throughout. There's also a skating rink there as well. You can find drink stands scattered around the grounds too, in case you get thirsty while you're there. The downside is that there's SO MANY PEOPLE. It's hard to get good pictures unless you're going to one of the bigger displays where you stand in line to take photos. But the displays are pretty cool and fun to look at. Another hidden gem about this place is you can see the Toronto skyline from one of the hills(?), which was pretty cool. I would personally say this festival is definitely worth at least one visit!

It's being described as : Toronto's Ontario Place, East Island will be transformed into a captivating winter wonderland full of Mystical Worlds, magical characters, exciting attractions, holiday markets, and of course, the man of the hour himself, Santa Claus. I'll review it as we go on, I would totally recommend it for families, teens, adults and everyone in between. They do serve alcohol and have a small amount of "market" style booths. Not like Quebec's though. I forgot to take some photos of the booths and where you walk in mainly because it was so friggen cold, like I'm a polar bear and all but this was like -20 wind chill with the wind blowing. I could barely take my hands out of my pocket's that were wearing mittens! However they had a few vintage style market booths and then the food court was comprised of food trucks, halal, potato tornadoes, bbq, poutine, etc. Also had a tent set up with heaters so you can eat. Then we realized oh you have to go on a "journey". I don't want to spoil anything so just go. Be sure to go check it out when you can, it's totally rad and fun. It was a fun experience and the super frigid air makes it even better.

I decided to take my 9 year old son to this on the last Friday of the festival. It is held at Ontario place. Upon entering we walked though a beautiful tunnel of blue/green lights. It was crowded and couldn't get pictures without other people photobombing. We chose the 7pm-8pm entry time. I was disappointed to find out that this festival was pricey! At the gate the prices are $25 plus tax for adults and $20 plus tax for kids. With tax it was over $78! I ended up checking online and the prices were cheaper so I opted to buy online on my phone and saved $10. The price was $68 for 2 adults and 1 child taxes in. The entry line went quickly. You can't bring in backpacks And they check your purses and strollers. We were lucky and went on a relatively warm winter night. There is something there for everyone. Lots of food truck options for every taste bud. The prices at the trucks are reasonable. The rides are what to be expected ($5/ticket). Midway type rides with a winter tubing slide. There is one indoor dining option and featured a nice live band playing festive holiday music. The alcoholic drinks are between $9-15/drink plus tax and tip. I purchased the collected light-up lightbulb glasses which get refills on any cold alcoholic beverage for $9. The beer is by Mukoka brewery. I had the vodka spritzer, whisky ginger and white wine. The ice skating is free and I had a spiked hot apple Cider and it was delicious! 2-3hours is more than enough time to see all the light displays. I am giving a 3 star rating because I feel that the prices could be better compared to other winter festivals and what was offered. The displays were beautiful but if I had to choose, I would choose Canada's Wonderland instead. It was a nice night out but for 2-3 hours not worth the price and I didn't want to stay beyond that.

A friend and myself decided to go to this festival. Because of chatime and they're special winter drinks and we wanted to try them. When we arrived we walked across a bridge covered in lights and fake leaves, it was very pretty for pictures at night. We wondered over to the games decided to ride the Ferris wheel(2tickets) and the tube ride(1ticket) the 3 tickets cost $10. As we began to get quite cold even while wearing many layers. Because they're is only one indoor place and you are only allowed in if you are buying food. I have Poutine from a food truck that was quite good. My friend had pasta and garlic bread (gnocchi and tomato sauce) was AMAZING. Then we got to the chatime. Many different holiday options, hot and cold. I asked for a lychee drink with tapioca the one of the women they're replied (with lots of attitude) "the tapioca isn't ready" and it was around 4oclock at this point so I was taken aback. I kindly asked when would the tapioca be ready and she replied "hahaha 2 hours" then her and the other woman working there laughed at me and my friend like I had said something crazy. It was very disrespectful

I'm always up for a fun winter festival because the joy and warmth from them keeps the coldness at bay! However, I think I expected too much from Aurora considering it's the first time this festival has ran. First of all, everything is outdoors so make sure you bundle up! It's also VERY crowded but we did go on the last Friday. The 4 'worlds' that they advertised were all connected to each other like outdoor mazes/rooms. The line to get in took a little over half an hour and a little over 45 minutes to complete the maze so it felt very short. There isn't too much to do besides exploring the worlds. There's a little skating rink and the advertised snow hill (which I was very excited about, thinking naively that I'd actually get to sled down snow during our snow-less Toronto winter), was actually just a carnival slide ride that was painted white to look like snow. D: The Christmas market was also like 8 stalls. Overall, the Toronto Christmas Market puts on a better show and at a much lower price. It costed $20 for adult admission and even though we had a 20% promo code, we didn't think the experience justified the price. If the festival does come back, I hope it expands so that there's more to do and see.

Unfortunately, I would not recommend this event to my friends and family for the following reasons: 1. The place looks run-down and deserted on a Saturday afternoon. According to my sister, it felt and looked like a post-apocalyptic town. 2. The decorations are lackluster compared to Wonderland's WinterFest. 3. The Christmas market stalls lack variety compared to the Distillery Christmas market. 4. The admission price is too high, considering that we have to pay additional for the rides. Although, it was nice that the skating rink was free. If CNE makes more of an effort to nicely decorate the venue and offer quality market stalls, I would recommend the festival to my friends and family. Otherwise, CNE should consider lowering their admission price considerably.

They are a con. They tell you to come at a time then there are lines for hours. People have kids and can't wait for hours because you are disorganized. Rides broke down. Do not waste your time or money. Customer service has no number lol

I visited the festival on December 2 with my 7 year-old son, a friend and her son. We were very disappointed. Candy Lane is pretty but other than that there is not much to do unless you spend more in the shops, food trucks, and expensive ticket rides. Even the slide costs 3 bucks each time you want to go down. Other rides are $3 for a child and $6 for adults. What a scam!! Don't bother.

Pretty lights. A few rides (three) - you pay for the rides in addition to the entrance fee. The price did not justify the experience (or is it the experience did not justify the price?) - either way, overpriced!