Project site map:

ontplace_site_map_en.png


http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/ontarioplace/celebrationcommon.shtml
EA Notice: http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/ontarioplace/notice_cc_ea.shtml

AoD
 
This, sadly, is just more landscaping which is fine but it doesn't bring crowds to the waterfront. It's just more passive parkland to add to what is already there. As someone who loves urbanity, animation, culture and infrastructure, this is giving me nothing to get excited about. It's probably just the cheapest option, so the government is taking the easy way out but where is the creativity and new ideas promised here? Most people are not going to complain about more grass and trees on the waterfront, (then again, I'm not most people) so it's a safe, cheap option for the Ontario government but very disappointing for me! I want a "world-class" major attraction here that will bring in crowds year-round, not just more passive parkland! Trillium Park was almost empty the 4 times I was there last summer, so is there really that much of a demand for more of the same?

When the Ontario government first closed down Ontario Place, didn't they promise to redevelop it into a bigger and better attraction? How can closing down the water slides, restaurants, rides, entertainment venues, museums and fun attractions, only to replace all of that with grass and trees, make Ontario Place better? Remember, we already have parks on the east (Coronation Park) and west (Marlyn Bell Park) on both sides of Ontario Place, for those who want a pick-nick in the park. (and they are much closer to condo dwellers in the area)

I see this really as the government abandoning the original purpose and spirit of Ontario Place, to take the cheapest, easiest option out. How is this the year-round attraction promised, if there are no indoor spaces to spend time on cold days? Go to Trillium Park today and count how many people are in the park. As Mel used to say, nobody!!!!!!!!!

I am NOT a happy camper! Let me also say, I have nothing against grass, trees, flowers or shrubs! (or even rocks and boulders) I just had much higher hopes for Ontario Place!
When I want grass and trees, I go to Tommy Thompson Park and get lost in nature!
 
^^ Trillium Park was packed when I was there last summer. There's a real demand for (passive) park space downtown, which is the motivation behind the rail deck park afterall. I think this park will be well used.
 
This, sadly, is just more landscaping which is fine but it doesn't bring crowds to the waterfront. It's just more passive parkland to add to what is already there. As someone who loves urbanity, animation, culture and infrastructure, this is giving me nothing to get excited about. It's probably just the cheapest option, so the government is taking the easy way out but where is the creativity and new ideas promised here? Most people are not going to complain about more grass and trees on the waterfront, (then again, I'm not most people) so it's a safe, cheap option for the Ontario government but very disappointing for me! I want a "world-class" major attraction here that will bring in crowds year-round, not just more passive parkland! Trillium Park was almost empty the 4 times I was there last summer, so is there really that much of a demand for more of the same?

When the Ontario government first closed down Ontario Place, didn't they promise to redevelop it into a bigger and better attraction? How can closing down the water slides, restaurants, rides, entertainment venues, museums and fun attractions, only to replace all of that with grass and trees, make Ontario Place better? Remember, we already have parks on the east (Coronation Park) and west (Marlyn Bell Park) on both sides of Ontario Place, for those who want a pick-nick in the park. (and they are much closer to condo dwellers in the area)

I see this really as the government abandoning the original purpose and spirit of Ontario Place, to take the cheapest, easiest option out. How is this the year-round attraction promised, if there are no indoor spaces to spend time on cold days? Go to Trillium Park today and count how many people are in the park. As Mel used to say, nobody!!!!!!!!!

I am NOT a happy camper! Let me also say, I have nothing against grass, trees, flowers or shrubs! (or even rocks and boulders) I just had much higher hopes for Ontario Place!
When I want grass and trees, I go to Tommy Thompson Park and get lost in nature!

Trillium Park was essentially full every time I was there in the summer. Roaring success.
 
^^ Trillium Park was packed when I was there last summer. There's a real demand for (passive) park space downtown, which is the motivation behind the rail deck park afterall. I think this park will be well used.
Was that on just a normal day? Do you have video or pics? I do! I was there a number of times and I filmed it!

You are missing my point! Yes, there is demand for parkland downtown but in high density areas where people live, like The Entertainment District or Liberty Village. Do you know how long of a trek it is from Liberty Village to Ontario Place? You have to go under the rail tracks and through all of the CNE over the Gardiner and the parking lots just to get to Ontario Place and you have to walk past other parks to get to it. Who's going to do that, when they have parks in Liberty Village, close by? I can easily prove you wrong, just tell me when you want me to film the park and I will be there to prove my point! I'll scan that park with my camera and prove just how unused it is on almost all non-event days.

What's really happening here, is Ontario Place is being taken from a public major attraction and being turned into an exhibition ground, just like Exhibition Place, which is NOT what was promised. Ontario Place was originally an amusement park, much like Tivoli Gardens, which is more of a cultural and leisure park than a thrill ride park like Wonderland. It had a few smaller rides but the rides were not the main draw, it was the human-powered activities that provided the fun, like at Children's village. The water slides were also a good way to be active, yet still, have fun for kids. The museums, shows, movies, bars, restaurants also provided a reason for people to go for a fun day/night out. It was a place you could take your family or out-of-town guests for a good time any day or night of the week. You didn't have to wait for a special event.

Now what the Ontario government is turning it into is essentially a big exhibition space, where it can be rented out by businesses for food events, beer tasting events, sporting events or concerts much like Exhibition Place or Fort York Grounds are used today, when they have their beer festivals that charge 60 dollar admission. It now becomes all about corporate profits! So now you get the spicy food festival or some dance festival or some other paid event where the public is invited if they agree to fork over big bucks. Think Molson Amphitheatre.

This new park, the size of 14 football fields will be just a landscaped, open field where they can rent the space to businesses to make money. It's all about making money, it's not about giving people buildings to do it in. I understand, the government wants to spend as little money as possible and yet say, see, we did something, so please give us your vote. The thing is, what are we getting that we don't already have? Please, tell me what are we getting here that we can't already do at Trillium Park, Coronation Park, Marlyne Bell Park, Exhibition Place park or the convention facilities therein? Want to hold a beer event, great, put it in Beanfield Centre at Exhibition Place! You can hold a food festival at Ontario Place's West Island, which it did this summer. This is not what we were promised and it's not what is needed. It's the cheap, easy, neo-liberal thing to do! You spend as little money as you can and you offer corporations a new venue to make money, as well as getting money back.

What you are not doing is returning Ontario Place, the daily tourist attraction back to Ontarians, like they promised, when they closed the place down. They are not returning a fun place to take kids on any day of the week one chooses. So now we have a large, public space that will have nothing of interest on most days and on days they have events, families will have to pay. I wonder if kids will get a discount when they hold a Festival Of Beer?

This is not what I was expecting and it is not what I want. Please tell me how this will be a year-round attraction if they don't build any large, indoor facilities? I think very little thought and no effort at all went into this! The government just wanted a quick, easy way out of their original commitment and I think it STINKS! I really don't think the Liberals give a crap at all. Probably most people don't care either, so it probably won't affect them but it affects me because I care about Toronto and I especially hate being deceived! Just like with the Sam's sign, we again, are taken for a ride.

Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining!
 
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As I said, I went to Trillium Park 4 times last summer and this was the most crowded of those 4 times.

Go to 3:20 to see the new section but as you can see in the video, the older west side had more people than the east side, which was pretty empty for a nice weekend in a new park.


Notice how there is almost nobody sitting on any benches on a hot, summer, weekend! I waited in that park for over 2 hours around 4-6pm, hoping I could find people playing sports or just animating the park in some way, to make the video more interesting but I gave up and just filmed the almost empty.
 
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I agree with Torontovibe. It's always nice to have more parkland, but this lacks imagination. It's safe, conservative, won't cause anyone to lose an election, and probably is lower cost than more ambitious ideas.

I think we need to bring the city closer to the lake in this area, build a unique village, some compelling attraction, and residential on the present Exhib place and Ont Place parking lots, get rid of the Indy, and even build over Lake Shore with land bridges and developments. It needs good transit access, and should have indoor and outdoor 24 hours activities. Bring in the private sector to invest in exchange for some development rights, and weave both the Exhib and Ont Place together with a 21st century master plan. We need a bold 21st century Daniel Burnham kind of plan and the political will to see it through, but that just doesn't describe Toronto/Ont/Fed politics and vision. I hope I am wrong!
 
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When the Ontario government first closed down Ontario Place, didn't they promise to redevelop it into a bigger and better attraction? How can closing down the water slides, restaurants, rides, entertainment venues, museums and fun attractions, only to replace all of that with grass and trees, make Ontario Place better?

What's really happening here, is Ontario Place is being taken from a public major attraction and being turned into an exhibition ground, just like Exhibition Place, which is NOT what was promised. Ontario Place was originally an amusement park, much like Tivoli Gardens, which is more of a cultural and leisure park than a thrill ride park like Wonderland. It had a few smaller rides but the rides were not the main draw, it was the human-powered activities that provided the fun, like at Children's village. The water slides were also a good way to be active, yet still, have fun for kids. The museums, shows, movies, bars, restaurants also provided a reason for people to go for a fun day/night out. It was a place you could take your family or out-of-town guests for a good time any day or night of the week. You didn't have to wait for a special event.

Now what the Ontario government is turning it into is essentially a big exhibition space, where it can be rented out by businesses for food events, beer tasting events, sporting events or concerts much like Exhibition Place or Fort York Grounds are used today, when they have their beer festivals that charge 60 dollar admission. It now becomes all about corporate profits! So now you get the spicy food festival or some dance festival or some other paid event where the public is invited if they agree to fork over big bucks. Think Molson Amphitheatre.

If you look at the image @AlvinofDiaspar posted you'll notice that this announcement is for the area east of the amphitheatre. The only thing there was the waterpark. The area of Ontario Place that was the amusement park is the west side of the park. I don't believe anything has been announced for that area yet. I hope that area will be more than just parkland. Time will tell.
 
If you look at the image @AlvinofDiaspar posted you'll notice that this announcement is for the area east of the amphitheatre. The only thing there was the waterpark. The area of Ontario Place that was the amusement park is the west side of the park. I don't believe anything has been announced for that area yet. I hope that area will be more than just parkland. Time will tell.

In fact, what's being announced is basically entirely along the masterplan - this portion of land is always meant to be parkland in that scheme:

OntarioPlace_SiteMap_numbers.jpg


http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/ontarioplace/vision.shtml

Including the beach. Hopefully the landbridge will be included in this phase. I wish they could excavate out where the north parking lot currently sits, create a circular cove and put another hotel there.

AoD
 
You are missing my point! Yes, there is demand for parkland downtown but in high density areas where people live, like The Entertainment District or Liberty Village. Do you know how long of a trek it is from Liberty Village to Ontario Place? You have to go under the rail tracks and through all of the CNE over the Gardiner and the parking lots just to get to Ontario Place and you have to walk past other parks to get to it. Who's going to do that, when they have parks in Liberty Village, close by?

Personally, I think it'd be odd if someone who lives in LV would go to Trillium Park via the tunnel under the GO tracks then the huge swaths of parking at the CNE. Considering that most of the towers are on the east side, it's a much nicer, easier, and shorter walk down Strachan, past Princes' Gates, and then the western edge of Coronation Park.

And no, LV does not have enough good park space for the amount of people that it houses.
 
Personally, I think it'd be odd if someone who lives in LV would go to Trillium Park via the tunnel under the GO tracks then the huge swaths of parking at the CNE. Considering that most of the towers are on the east side, it's a much nicer, easier, and shorter walk down Strachan, past Princes' Gates, and then the western edge of Coronation Park.

And no, LV does not have enough good park space for the amount of people that it houses.

I walk from Parkdale to Ontario Place parks all the time.
 
I grew up in Parkdale in the 80's and 90's and loved coming down to the kids village at Ontario Place. They definitely should make it more interesting and appealing as an alternative to driving out to wonderland or other amusement parks. I have kids now and need a bit more to keep them interested than an open lawn.
I say bring back the mini golf, kids village and water park. I think there are so many new families in the area that it would be a success as an amusement park.
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I don't remember those climbers, but certainly remember the ones that were covered by tarp. Lots of fun. But now that you mentioned mini golf, that was probably one of the best mini golfs I've seen in the whole province to this day. And probably the only mini golf I'm aware of in the city. Unfortunately even 20yrs ago it wasn't kept well with lots of twigs on the green, which is a shame. But they should certainly put in a new mini golf.
 

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