Ontario Place is one of those exciting Toronto locations that many of us are returning to with our children. While the cinesphere is still standing tall and proud in the center of the park showing incredible IMAX features, as it has done for as long as most of us can remember - a majority of the park has had a facelift over the years - to the point that it is certainly even more family friendly that it was 15 to 20 years ago. Something for all ages is a pretty predominant theme at Ontario Place these days.

When you enter the park and go to your left, there are a number of smaller rides that are good for the 3 to 10 year old group - providing enough fun for the pre-teen to still be cool while offering thrills that are not too much for the little guys to handle.

Follow the path around and there is an area where live shows are conducted - a rotation of entertainers comes through all summer to this area - the Big Comfy Couch show was on when we there. Then conveniently just across the way is the water park known as Soak City - huge and with numerous slides to offer families to enjoy together as well as a great water play area for little ones and all ages to enjoy - this is a must stop on a hot summer day at the park. And we were there on a very hot day! Be warned though - I went down each slide with my daughter and had a 20 to 30 minute wait in line for each one but for good reason. Very safety conscious staff are located at the top and bottom of each slide and will let no one proceed downward until they have given each other the all clear signal. We easily spent a good 2 hours here and were glad we had left it as our last stop of the day.

A 10-minute walk across the park from here has another standby that has been a part of Ontario place for years in the Wilderness Adventure Ride on Adventure Island. That combined with gem mining, a Mars Ride Simulator and the new Lego building area makes this area a good stop too.

Now, let's talk about the new stuff now - much of this existing in the Go Zone! Kids and parents can blast each other with foam balls in the Atom Blaster, climb the H2O generation station or take out a paddleboat at the boat yard.

While the Marina Village has bumper boats, a driving school with little cars on a pretend road for the kids to enjoy and the Cool Hoops basketball area where the whole family can shoot hoops all set at different height levels.

You are allowed and almost encouraged to bring your own snacks for a picnic in the park like settings but if you don't want to, the usual array of hot and cold goods are available including a great healthy addition called Booster Juice! It may cost you a little extra to get a drink here but when you watch them grind up fresh fruit and yogurt into a healthy combination right before your eyes - it is definitely worth it!

Overall our family spent 6 hours and found a great variety of things for the kids and us to enjoy while we were there. Now the cost is 32 dollars for the 6 and up age group while only 17 dollars for the 4 & 5 year old set - 27 dollars and 14 dollars respectively if bought online. For our family (mom, dad, a 9 year old and a 6 year old) the cost would be over 100 dollars if you bought it on line or at the gate. That is why the family pass is the best way to go - 99 bucks for an entire summer of fun! You are already saving money on your first visit and if you decide to go back one or two more times - even better! Now this does not include parking, which is 10 bucks a pop too, but this is more a necessary evil that is going to come with doing anything in Toronto these days.

Bring some of your old memories and mesh them together with some new ones with your kids and Ontario Place is a very enjoyable way to spend the day with your family.

www.ontarioplace.com