The Great Canadian Midway
Attraction Type: Family Entetainment Centre
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario
Years Operational: 2002-Present
Designer(s): White Hutchinsin Leisure Learning Group, Art Attack FX, Integrative Design Services
HOCO's Dazzleland Family Fun Center had completely changed Niagara Falls attractions (and more specifically the complexes they were located in) when it debuted in 1992. Being the first family entertainment centre (an arcade-like complex that includes small rides and other attractions as well) in the Falls, it would usher in the direction the area's amusement industry was headed, and several more would open in the area in the decades to follow.
Dazzleland Family Fun Center, mid-90's.
When the government of Ontario was selecting the location for Casino Niagara in the mid-90s, HOCO apparently put in a bid to get the casino on their land. Eventually the casino went to the Falls Ave. Company, replacing the Maple Leaf Village mall between the Sheraton Foxhead and Sheraton Brock Hotels. This ended up being a financial injection large enough to start a bit of an attraction arms race against HOCO. After the rebranding of all the hotels in the Falls Ave. complex, the opening of Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood, and a massive 2002 expansion to the complex consisting of Rainforest Cafe, WWE Niagara Falls, and the 4D Motion Theatre, the Falls Ave. Company was well into a several-stage redevelopment plan. The plan also featured upcoming additions of more attractions to fill out the already built and soon-to-be-named MGM Studios Plaza that the 4D Motion Theatre sat in the basement of, as well as an indoor F.E.C. to replace the second-floor mall in the now-renamed Sheraton Fallsview.
Dazzleland (top, 2001) and the Great Canadian Midway
(bottom, 2002) built atop the old Dazzleland foundation.
With Dazzleland already being a massive success, and wanting to stay ahead of the curve, HOCO didn't just expand but also refine it into an entirely new attraction. More games reasonably equals higher guest enjoyment, and therefore profit. With this taken into account, the outdoor courtyard style with it's room for walkways between the buildings was re-designed, and HOCO again called upon the White-Hutchinson Leisure Learning Group (WHLLG), the firm who had designed Dazzleland.
WHLLG designed not only a remodel of Dazzleland, but an incredible 5-step plan that if seen through to completion would have changed Clifton Hill even more than it ended up doing, leading up to an outdoor amusement park and a waterpark hotel in the field between Clifton Hill and the Skylon Tower. However, only steps 1 to 3 would actually come to fruition. Step 1 was remodeling Dazzleland into The Great Canadian Midway, which opened in 2002 and cost roughly $10 Million. The level, concrete foundation Dazzleland was built on was kept as the foundation of the Midway, hence why it has a similar footprint. Dinosaur Park Miniature Golf was moved to a former parking lot in front of Comfort Inn, and Wendy's would remain above Circus World with the Midway built around it. Rather than have several different buildings, the Midway would all be one indoor space, allowing for more games and year round operation, a genius business move.
The Midway, like Dazzleland before it however, was divided into different themed areas and attractions, with the interior themed to an old-school amusement park at nighttime to make it feel outdoors. This makes the Midway somewhat of a spiritual successor to Dazzleland, which builds on the theme and retains the same atmosphere. The central area of the new Midway housed the Games Zone, with miscellaneous redemption games, arcade games, and strings of carnival-style lights between poles above the arcade. Surrounding this area was originally a variety of fake facades utilizing forced perspectives to resemble the buildings and stalls of a carnival midway.
Inside the Midway in 2002.
Wendy's remained, complete with the former entrance on the Dazzleland side that now exited into the Midway. The only change would be the removal of the hallway near washrooms at the back of the restaurant leading to Dazzleland, as the washrooms had also served as the washrooms for the attraction. The Midway would have its own, much larger washrooms, rendering the connecting hallway redundant. Next to Wendy's, roughly in the place of the former video game/pinball building in the back corner of Dazzleland, was the Ride Theatre. It was originally themed to a funhouse, as it showed the SimEx ride film "Fun House Express", also sometimes simply referred to as "Fun Express." The facade was made to resemble red and white carnival banners flanking the theatre's main sign above the ticket/control booth, which read "Ride Theatre" in a vintage-style carnival font. Clockwise to that was a funnel cake stand, and next to that the prize counter. Along the wall adjacent to that one was a large neon design resembling the marquee of a carnival game stand. Underneath it was all the carnival-eqsue redemption games, including Skee-Ball, Boom Ball, Roll-a-Ball and a Hi-Striker hammer game in the center.
Top Left: The main sign for the Ride Theatre as seen from Clifton Hill. Top Right: The funnel cake stand between the ride theatre and the prize counter. Bottom Left: The prize counter, with the Skee-Ball machines visible along the adjacent wall under the carnival marquee. Bottom Right: Shot of the Games Zone facing the carnival marquee.
Entrance to the Game Factory.
Continuing clockwise around the Midway's walls would bring you to the Game Factory, with a crooked, askew factory building acting as it's facade provided by an Edmonton company called Art Attack FX. When Dinosaur Park was moved, the Boston Pizza and Sports Zone was built in it's place. These were also accessible from the Midway via a staircase up immediately to the right when you walked in the doors. The Sports Zone used the same tokens as the Midway, housing most of the sports games for the arcade, including pool tables and a bowling alley, and you could walk through the restaurant to get to the area from the Midway. It was under this area that the Game Factory existed in the Midway below, with all the water, utility, and power hookups necessary for the restaurant and arcade above being cleverly incorporated into the factory theme of the lower-ceilinged area. This is where several pinball machines and other miscellaneous games originally resided, and a few originals still reside to this day.
Boston Pizza and the Sports Zone, 2002.
One of these includes an old western-themed shooting gallery that may have come out of Circus World, or a variety of other locations. The Falls have seen a variety of western-themed shooting galleries over the years, mostly "Bonanza" shooting galleries dating to the 70s. If the Midway's is in fact recycled from another attraction, it stands to reason it's most likely it came out of Circus World, who rented their space from HOCO and formerly operated a similar sized shooting gallery that was removed around this time. It's contents have mostly been updated over the years, but some of the animatronics and props it originally contained include a bear, a drunk bandit, a fox, a snake, a skunk, a coyote, and a cowboy in a covered wagon with a rifle. The Game Factory formerly housed another shooting gallery called Blasteroids, which was a one of a kind custom shooting gallery game by Lazer-Tron. The game was themed to a laser tag-esque practice range bunker, featuring blacklight targets with bright, flashing sensors that moved around on arms. The back corner of the Game Factory is also where you can find the washrooms.
Wild West Shooting Gallery, mid-2000's.
Blasteroid in the Game Factory, early 2010's.
Original Ghostblasters facade as it still appeared in the
late 2010's.
Located next to the Game Factory underneath the rest of Boston Pizza and the Sports Zone is Ghostblasters, a backlight, interactive laser shooting dark ride by the Sally Corporation of Florida. The ride was a package offered by Sally Corp., and was already installed in four other locations. The Midway's however would be the grandest. Rather than being themed to a regular mansion as was the pre-packaged story of the ride, the Midway's version was themed to a haunted hotel to match the history of the local area. In addition to all the props that came with the ride, several custom ones were made by Sally Corp. for HOCO to match the custom theme. Despite being one story underneath Boston Pizza, it originally had an impressive two story facade with crooked roof peaks, also provided by Art Attack FX.
The Midway's logo has genius design, with the individual letter fonts making up the word "Midway" referencing all the areas and attractions originally in the complex, which flies right over most people's heads now that many of said elements have been changed or removed. The "M" is patterned with a design similar to that of the arcade's original carpet, the bowling pin "I" is a reference to the Sports Zone, the old-school lightbulbs on the "D" reference the lights that made up the word "Snacks" above the funnel cake stand, the art-deco font of the "W" is similar to the font of the original Ride Theater's logo, the spooky and slime-covered "A" is a reference to Ghostblasters, and the industrial typeface of the "Y" is a reference to the Game Factory area.
The Great Canadian Midway's creative logo.
The exterior of the attraction features this logo proudly on a double-sided sign which can be seen from either up or down the Hill. The sign is perched on a large overhang that offers a large covered area to the sidewalk below, calling tourists in through the attraction's massive, slide-up bay doors. On the wall of the building flanking the overhang was originally a sign on each side, each promoting a different ride within. Signs remain in these spots today, however the originals were very different. The one on the downhill side of the main sign was a poster for the Ride Theater, and on the uphill side of the main sign was the exterior signage for Ghostblasters, which included gargoyles, lanterns, and a tall sign showing a photo of the ride and it's logo surrounded by a three-dimensional gothic border. Under this sign was the set of double-doors, and on either side of them the thematic signage continued. On each side was a lenticular poster in a faux-stone box showing images of the attraction that changed as you walked past. These double doors are always unlocked while the Midway is open, but are mainly used when the large bay doors must remain shut in the winter.
Left: Ride Theatre's original exterior signage, 2002. Right: Original outdoor Ghostblasters sign, late 2000's.
To say the Midway did well (and continues to do well) is an understatement. It became an instant icon of Clifton Hill, it's giant sign becoming synonymous with the street itself. In total it originally provided 60,000 square feet of games, rides, entertainment, and dining across two floors, and was home to over 250 games in total, many of which were kept from the Dazzleland days. These included the ever-popular Wheel Em' In (which had been Dazzleland's most profitable game), the aforementioned Skee Ball machines, Roll-a-Ball and Boom Ball machines, several video games and pinball machines, and the giant Sega Super GT 4-player racing game that was placed in front of the Ride Theatre. There would also be several then-new games however, including large-screen Sega simulator titles like Top Skater, Water Ski, and Prop Cycle, several new coin pushers joining those held over from Dazzleland, Konami's Mocap Boxing, a TsuMo Multi-Game Motion System machine, "The Maze of Kings" Egyptian-themed light gun video game, dancing games, and much more.
Large-screen Sega games along the Wendy's wall, 2002.
The Sports Zone upstairs even featured 3 linked large-screen Harley Davidson motorcycle simulator games, a 4-player Daytona USA with TV monitors atop it so gameplay could be watched by Boston Pizza bar patrons, a Real Sports virtual sports simulator cage, and several more redemption, video, and pinball games. There was also a second, smaller redemption counter upstairs in the Sports Zone, as well as the aforementioned Cosmic Bowling glow-in-the-dark bowling alley featuring six Brunswick Bowlingo lanes. The alley featured a large, three-dimensional blacklight mural beside it matching the Cosmic Bowling theme.
Rare light gun video games Brave Firefighters and Maze of Kings, 2002.
Daytona USA simulators, 2002.
Above: Sports Zone, early 2000's. Right: Pool tables and Cosmic Bowling, early 2000's.
All this safely squashed any chance of the Falls Ave. Complex overshadowing the attractions further up the Hill, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Marvel Superheroes Adventure City would end up being the F.E.C. that replaced the Sheraton's Colonial Shops in 2004. It's unclear exactly when certain elements were planned for the Falls Ave. Complex, and if the attraction's details were planned before or after the Midway opened, but the Midway's influence on Adventure City in at least some form is clear. Shortly after this, the Midway itself would see it's first wave of updates.
The first of these would come in the form of a renaming of the Ride Theatre to the "FX Thrill Ride Theatre", which received updated signage outside the Midway. The new signage featured a fiberglass ride vehicle protruding from the wall as if it had crashed through it. The ride vehicle resembled the one you're supposedly sitting in during the events of the ride film, and featured a clown sitting in the car. The theatre would see a massive overhaul in 2005. It would now show "Robots of Mars", a film that itself is now shrouded in a bit of mystery. It was a privately created film licensed to Simex ride systems, available in both a standard 21 minute version and a cut-down, ride theatre version. It's possible a portion of the film which took place before the events of the ride version (and were therefore cut from it) were used as the pre-show on the screen in the attraction's waiting room. This is of significance as both the ride version and the full, unedited standard version of the film with the 21 minute run time are currently considered lost media. It's estimated the film was likely only shown at an extremely small handful of ride theatres the world over, leading to it's obscurity. The Lost Media Wiki doesn't even have it listed on the website despite a limited search existing in YouTube comment sections.
Updated theatre signage, early 2010's.
Theatre re-themed to"Robots of Mars", mid-2000's.
The exterior of the theatre would now be themed to the film, complete with the ride's sign atop a massive flying saucer protruding out of the wall, adorned with flashing lights. The wall itself would now feature a massive mural themed to the film that stretched from the wall Wendy's is along, over the ride's entrance, over the Sega Super GT game, and all the way to the Funnel Cake stand. The mural made several references to the film, the most prominent being the giant painting of one of the sand creatures you escape from in the film over the Sega Super GT Game. Under the flying saucer sat the ticket/control desk, flanked by the attraction's entrance and exit. Fiberglass statues portraying characters from the film, namely an Marty the Martian and "Doc" the robot, stood next to the entrance and exit which were located under giant, glowing tower structures. Art Attack FX was once again called upon to provide the theming for the updated theatre.
The impressive theming of theatre during its FX Thrill Ride Theatre days, 2005.
Ghostblasters would receive updates as well, with the ending of the ride being changed a few years after it opened. The final battle against "Boocifer" (the attraction's antagonist) in the scene after the "Boo Bomb" is detonated, being removed in favour of a much more elaborate graveyard scene. All the props from the original ending were relocated elsewhere in the ride. The new figures for the scene (as well as additions to the lobby) were produced by an Ohio company called Scarefactory at this time, and the lobby was given new, more hotel-theme-fitting wallpaper featuring a ghost pattern instead of the gothic brick design it opened with.
Original Ghostblasters lobby (Top) versus how it has appeared since the update (Bottom).
Robots of Mars would be replaced by the "Cosmic Coaster" film in 2007, but the thematic elements would remain as they matched the space theme of the new film, save for Marty the Martian who was moved to the lobby of Galaxy Golf. The Cosmic Coaster film would later outlive the thematic elements outside the theatre (more on that later) but the film would begin a hiatus in 2008 with the theatre showing the "Time Riders" film, hosted by John Cleese. It too would be short-lived, and end up being the last film shown fitting the sci-fi theme of theatre. It ended up being replaced sometime around 2010 by an edited version of Fun House Express with additional shots and footage, now dubbed "Coaster Chaos". This would be the last film shown using the original ride system and theatre layout, somewhat poetically as the original Fun Express, had been the first. The original theatre would drop the word "Thrill" from most of it's branding and usually be referred to as simply the "FX Ride Theatre" in it's final days, it's carnival-themed movie somewhat juxtaposed to the heavy space theming outfront.
The Midway would see rapid changes throughout the 2010's. By this point the final stages of HOCO's aforementioned 5 stage plan that began with the Midway had been scrapped in favor of a new redevelopment plan in the wake of massive changes to the entertainment industry. With a different design company (Integrative Design Solutions) doing the groundwork and no amusement park to lead up to anymore, many of the thematic elements the Midway opened with would be removed and replaced in the next decade. The first to go in this less-structured era of direction for the Midway was the funnel cake stand beside the FX Theatre, being replaced with an expanded area of ticket counting machines in the very early 2010s.
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The expanded area of ticket counter machines can be seen on the lefthand side of this image (2011) in the former location of the funnel cake stand.
Strike Rock n' Bowl in it's early days shortly after the remodel,
early 2010's.
Strike! Rock 'N Bowl opened in 2011 as an expansion/rebranding of the Sports Zone connected to Boston Pizza upstairs. The new 7-lane bowling alley replaced the Bowlingo alley that had previously been upstairs, and the Real Sports simulator was removed (along with the Cosmic Bowling mural) due to the wall it was along being the one knocked out for the expansion. The large-screen racing games that patrons could view from Boston Pizza's dining area were moved to the Game Factory around this time, and the space along the wall filled in with various other games.
The FX Thrill Ride Theatre was gutted, the theming removed, and reopened as the "XD Theatre". The new ride was built by motion ride system company Triotech, with the new ride system utilizing individually moving seats rather than the entire seating section being on one moving platform. This allows for a higher rider capacity, more comfortable seating, and guests to be able to switch the motion on or off individually. The ride reopened with the new moniker in 2012, the first film it showed being none other than the Cosmic Coaster. A new, flat, printed sign for the theatre replaced the themed signage outside the Midway, a the giant 4-player Sega GT game previously along the wall outside the theatre was moved into the Game Factory.
Left: The XD Theater in the mid-2010's. Right: XD Theater signage which replaced the FX Ride Theatre vehicle sign.
The gradual phasing out of many of the games the Midway opened with ramped up around 2014, with the older pinball and video games being the first to go. Other updates came in 2016 when the Blasteroid shooting gallery was removed from the Game Factory, the carpeting for the entire arcade was replaced, and the Safari Adventure film (which briefly replaced the Cosmic Coaster) was replaced by the Wild West Coaster film in the XD Theatre, the entire theatre now taking the name of the latter. Two of the Daytona USA and two of the Sega Super GT machines were also removed, and the giant "Sega Super GT" header would follow suit shortly after. By this point, the integration of the Sports Zone (now Strike! Rock 'N Bowl) as part of the actual Midway had begun to fall away, and the area became steadily less sports-themed and more akin to a second, separate arcade. This was furthered even more by a sign reading "Sports Zone" in the main Midway's Games Zone below located on the wall next to the XD Theatre after the old theatre's theming was removed, however this area always seemed to have a revolving door of randomly themed games save for a couple basketball toss machines.
Updated carpeting in the arcade.
The "Sports Zone" sign added next to the XD Theatre.
In 2018 Boston Pizza was heavily remodeled and much of it's custom location-oriented theming removed as part of an initiative to match HOCO'S franchised restaurants with the standard styles of them found elsewhere in the country. This included the removal of the games against the wall along the walkway through Boston Pizza from Strike! Rock 'N Bowl to the staircase to the Midway. The staircase itself would finally be sealed off entirely when the pandemic hit in 2020. This was likely because you had to walk through the restaurant to get to the bowling alley, and during the pandemic an employee would have had to man the stairwell at all times, carding people for proof of vaccine. It was most likely not the only contributing factor to the decision however, as long before the pandemic, carding people for ID when the upstairs area became 19+ after a certain time had required someone staffing the stairwell during the evening hours anyway since it opened, and was likely a costly endeavor.
The same year, Ghostblasters had the large haunted house facade (and gothic signage for it outside the Midway) removed and would be replaced with flat cutout signage. The Game Factory followed suit the following year. The Wild West Coaster was updated as well, now reverting to the name XD Theatre and welcoming back a revolving turnstile of films, starting with the Cosmic Coaster's second return to the Midway in 2022. Several older games from the Dazzleland era continued to be phased out including the original Skee-Ball machines, Roll-a-Ball, the Water Gun game, Boom Ball, Knock Down, Bromley's Rock n' Bowl, Namco's incredibly rare (and now highly valuable) Godzilla Wars Jr., Treasure Falls, Hungry Dragon, Wacky Gator, the last remnants of Sega Super GT and Daytona USA, as well as several more.
Former staircase up to Boston Pizza while walled off, 2022.
The biggest change in the Midway's history however came in February of 2024, when the entire arcade switched from a traditional token and tickets operation to running on a play card system. This had various impacts on the Midway, the most obvious being it leading to the removal of all of the token action games, many of which were the last remnants of Dazzleland by this point. This included Wheel Em' In, Smokin' Token, Goin' Rollin', Wonder Wheel, Deep Freeze, Simpson's Kooky Carnival, Big Shot, Lite Em' Up, Big Haul, and all the coin pushers save for the more modern "rapid fire" ones that use recycling tokens which never leave the machine. Various new games filled in the space created, including a large number of e-claw electronically-fixed claw machines. It also led to the removal of the ticket counter machines next to the prize counter. One positive to seemingly come out of it however was the re-opening of the staircase from the Midway up to Boston Pizza/Strike! Rock 'N Bowl (now named Strike! Games Zone), perhaps due to the cross-compatible play cards proudly displaying the logos of both the Midway and the bowling alley.
Updated Ghostblasters and Game Factory facades after the removal of their 3-dimensional theming.
When the Midway debuted the play card system, Bone Blaster Shooting Gallery (which had briefly occupied the front half of the former Fun Factory store space next to Movieland) was moved into the arcade along the Wendy's wall. The gallery was built by Daniel's Wood Land, the benchmark name in shooting galleries, and for good reason. It's incredibly well designed, witty, and worth the money, despite taking up a huge amount of former arcade floor space.
The impressive "Bone Blaster! Shootin' Gallery"
The Midway has now been entertaining guests for over two decades, three if you include it's past incarnation as Dazzleland. It may be very different than it was when it opened both in contents and concept, but the Midway still offers a wide variety of games for various styles of arcade-goers. The future for the attraction remains unclear, as it has always seemed to and always will be a reflection of larger industry trends, but while the glory days of it's thematic elements and storytelling are gone, several elements such as Ghostblasters, the wild west shooting gallery, the string carnival lights and marquee in the main Games Zone, and an increasingly smaller handful of older games remain. Between Adventure City's even more lackluster attempts at removing it's theming, some of the totally themeless F.E.C.s that have recently opened in the area, and the lack of maintenance at the Skylon Tower's Skyquest (despite its impressive collection of rare and vintage games), the Midway continues to be a stand out location that still rises above the rest.