My only concern is the design needs work. Other then that it has the potential to add to the cities fabric.
Toronto doesn't need an aquarium the size of the Geogria aquarium. We have many cultural venues in this city and this aquarium will add to that.
 
Brans89 said:
My only concern is the design needs work. Other then that it has the potential to add to the cities fabric.
Toronto doesn't need an aquarium the size of the Georgia aquarium. We have many cultural venues in this city and this aquarium will add to that.
Click to expand...

No, we don't need an aquarium to be the biggest but we do need one that is substantial and of top quality. If it's a cheaply done, cookie-cutter design of second or third rate quality, it will do this city no good. In fact, it will only harm the city leaving a bad impression on any tourist who sees it and compares it to the other more serious aquariums of the world. I do not want people leaving this city with the impression that our attractions are of the quality of Niagara Falls. We all know what it's like to go to a museum in NF and come out thinking that was 6 bucks wasted! It doesn't give you a good impression of the city. You just think of it as some tacky tourist town. I don't want to bring that cheap, tacky tourist schlock to this city. If they can't build a respectable, first rate, decent sized aquarium, I'd prefer nothing gets built at all.

Some of you people have such low regard for your city. Just remember, Ripley's needs us more than we need them. Toronto is one of the fastest developing cities in North America. This is NOT Detroit! We don't need to jump though hoops, trying to please developers of 2nd rate attractions because we're afraid they'll go somewhere else. Let them go. This is our time to demand better quality, not less. I'll be quite happy to tell them to hit the road and wait for something better to come along.

An aquarium would be nice but not if it's the run of the mill crap. We will do just fine without an aquarium. Something else will come along to get Torontonians excited about their city. Is there anybody here that really thinks this will be a great aquarium? (I don't think so) Sure, for Myrtle Beach, an aquarium of this stature may be just fine but I think Toronto is on a whole different level. We are competing with the Chicagos of the world, not the Myrtle Beaches. We are not going to attract top quality people or businesses to Toronto if we just throw our hands in the air and say "It's good enough". Start thinking we can do better and we will do better. (and I'm not talking just aquariums here)

I plan to make my views known to city hall, as well as my local councillor. Take a bit of pride in your city, people! You guys should do the same. OK, my rant is finished. :D
 
Last edited:
Can we a least wait until the plans are released in detail before judging?

The details needs work, and I am confident it will turn out fine.

I also plan on voicing my support for the project to the local councillor.
 
Brans89 said:
Can we a least wait until the plans are released in detail before judging?

The details needs work, and I am confident it will turn out fine.

I also plan on voicing my support for the project to the local councillor.
Click to expand...

I think your statement that "it will turn out fine" just about sums it up. If that's all you require, that's probably all you'll get. The sad part is, that maybe if you had higher expectations, the bar might be raised to meet those expectations. I guess we just see Toronto in different ways.
 
Last edited:
Brans89 said:
My only concern is the design needs work. Other then that it has the potential to add to the cities fabric.
Toronto doesn't need an aquarium the size of the Geogria aquarium. We have many cultural venues in this city and this aquarium will add to that.
Click to expand...



Yah, we just need an aquarium because........well everyone else has one. So.......it doesnt matter if its a great landmark building or an excellent operation, it just has to be enough to get by.................so we can say we have an aquarium too.............so, yah, thats it.............um...yay go aquarium go...........i'm...um...real excited.
 
Torontovibe said:
No, we don't need an aquarium to be the biggest but we do need one that is substantial and of top quality. If it's a cheaply done, cookie-cutter design of second or third rate quality, it will do this city no good. In fact, it will only harm the city leaving a bad impression on any tourist who sees it and compares it to the other more serious aquariums of the world. I do not want people leaving this city with the impression that our attractions are of the quality of Niagara Falls. We all know what it's like to go to a museum in NF and come out thinking that was 6 bucks wasted! It doesn't give you a good impression of the city. You just think of it as some tacky tourist town. I don't want to bring that cheap, tacky tourist schlock to this city. If they can't build a respectable, first rate, decent sized aquarium, I'd prefer nothing gets built at all.

Some of you people have such low regard for your city. Just remember, Ripley's needs us more than we need them. Toronto is one of the fastest developing cities in North America. This is NOT Detroit! We don't need to jump though hoops, trying to please developers of 2nd rate attractions because we're afraid they'll go somewhere else. Let them go. This is our time to demand better quality, not less. I'll be quite happy to tell them to hit the road and wait for something better to come along.

An aquarium would be nice but not if it's the run of the mill crap. We will do just fine without an aquarium. Something else will come along to get Torontonians excited about their city. Is there anybody here that really thinks this will be a great aquarium? (I don't think so) Sure, for Myrtle Beach, an aquarium of this stature may be just fine but I think Toronto is on a whole different level. We are competing with the Chicagos of the world, not the Myrtle Beaches. We are not going to attract top quality people or businesses to Toronto if we just throw our hands in the air and say "It's good enough". Start thinking we can do better and we will do better. (and I'm not talking just aquariums here)

I plan to make my views known to city hall, as well as my local councillor. Take a bit of pride in your city, people! You guys should do the same. OK, my rant is finished. :D
Click to expand...
I agree entirely with this. The best we can do is demand better at this location and hope that something greater is in store for Ontario Place (certainly based on the Sorbara Report) and the Harbourfront. The building here doesn't need to be absolutely amazing, but it does need to go beyond the generic. I've said before that people will choose to visit the aquarium based on its quality and not how the building looks, but there is a greater civic need for something that doesn't look like a Loblaws.
 
Torontovibe said:
I plan to make my views known to city hall, as well as my local councillor. Take a bit of pride in your city, people! You guys should do the same. OK, my rant is finished. :D
Click to expand...

Great rant, and I totally support making such views known to our elected officials. I may do the same. Toronto really is a global player now and this rinky-dink, knock off proposal does nothing for us. Go big or go home, I say.
 
Brans89 said:
Can we a least wait until the plans are released in detail before judging?

The details needs work, and I am confident it will turn out fine.

I also plan on voicing my support for the project to the local councillor.
Click to expand...

Well, if anything requires judging, it's your method of pitching the project within UT. And to go back to

The Ripley's Aquariums are very popular. They are among the most attended in the US. The exhibits are Fun and Educational at the same time.

right down to the capitalization of "Fun" and "Educational", that reads as something out of Bumpkinville. It certainly doesn't read as something reflective of Toronto.

Even your vow to voice your support "to the local councillor" sounds rather unsophisticated. You might as well be just any old dumb cluck recruited to do a generic pitch on an urban message board.

This is Toronto, not Toledo--come to think of it, do you even live in Toronto? For all I know, you're just a rather dim spam artist...
 
Yes I live in Toronto. The Ripley's aquarium Are among the top attended aquariums in the US. And I visited the Tennessee Ripley's aquarium numerous times and yes it is fun and educational.

There is no need to be rude. Don't believe me look up the information yourself.
 
ya no offense, but when some guy signs up for UT the day after a proposal is made public and posts only in one thread with nothing constructive to add beyond one sentence responses in support of the project, it smells awfully fishy.
 
I think in must be the Ripley's name that riles some people up. However, they must be doing something right to be among the most attended aquariums in the US. The aquarium in Tennessee for example is attended by people who live in various states across the US.

Is this proposal perfect no it is not. This proposal needs to go the the city design review board. It needs to meet the street better.
 
I just don't see the point of building an aquarium, and certainly not one at the foot of the CN Tower in Toronto, if the objective is anything other than to be the most impressive or the most unique or some other superlative. If not, why bother really? It will always feel somewhat pathetic and would probably fit in better on Clifton Hill in the Falls.
 
I don't know if I'd ever be able to associate the name "Ripley" with the term "educational"... I visited the Ripley's museum in Niagara Falls a few years ago and that was as far from educational as you can get. But good luck to the developers. Perhaps they'll change my thinking.
 
Tewder said:
I just don't see the point of building an aquarium, and certainly not one at the foot of the CN Tower in Toronto, if the objective is anything other than to be the most impressive or the most unique or some other superlative. If not, why bother really? It will always feel somewhat pathetic and would probably fit in better on Clifton Hill in the Falls.
Click to expand...
I don't think we should be building an aquarium just for it to rival other city's aquariums. We should be building an aquarium as a fun, educational place for families, couples and friends (and what other big group not listed,) to go to on the weekend. If that means making it big and nice, by all means. I agree that we shouldn't have some crappy little aquarium because it probably wouldn't be as fun to go to.

I disagree with the current location for a couple reasons too. First, being right in the heart of downtown, the location doesn't suit the family friendly, relatively peaceful feeling an aquarium is supposed to permit. Not only can Ontario Place do that, but by giving Ontario Place something that's supposed to suit being family friendly and relatively peaceful activities, it could be well assisted into becoming less junky and insubstantial and more of a family-friendly yet still all-ages area. The best outcome would be something with some small but not bad rides, free admission, and a nice landscape with greenspace, small stores, cafes and the like. Almost something emulating the Port Vell (Barcelona) feel, which I'm sure Ontario Place could pull off.
Also, I think that an Aquarium is a substantial enough thing that it could safely branch out of the safe downtown-centric cultural development in the city. Right now, the GTA really has 3 fully separate downtowns, but Downtown Toronto has pretty much all the cultural attractions. And we're supposed to be getting all sort of planned density areas supposed to be mini-downtowns, yet everything's still going to the one big downtown. I think it's safe to say that downtown has enough attractions and culture, and if we want to keep the rest of the city vibrant instead of a sea of suburbia, we'll have to create major attractions outside the downtown zone.

A downtownerly aquarium (whether it be Ontario Place or the CN Tower,) certainly isn't the only opportunity for an aquarium in the GGH though. Niagara Falls could undoubtedly have a full size, separately functioning aquarium, something much better than the little thing they have going on at Marineland. Though a Toronto aquarium should definitely come first, it's probably in the city's best interests to separate the Aquarium and Theme Park from Marineland and make them two separate entities. "Marine Aquarium" and "Landland" could be the two names coming out of such a split. And Vaughan could certainly do something with the little square of attractions around Wonderland-Vaughan Mills. It could be overkill, but I see some opportunity. Such a thing would certainly be at least 20 years from now though.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top