Toronto Ontario Place | ?m | ?s | Infrastructure ON

The pods held all sorts of things in the early years that were fun to see. The two things that come to mind quickly from fading childhood memories are films projected on multiple screens in an overwhelm-you-with-images-and-see-how-beatiful-Ontario-is kind of way, and a dark maze with mirrors, fluorescent accents, and blacklight that was fun (and probably dangerous) to run through, and jump-scare your sister in.

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interchange42 said:
The pods held all sorts of things in the early years that were fun to see. The two things that come to mind quickly from fading childhood memories are films projected on multiple screens in an overwhelm-you-with-images-and-see-how-beatiful-Ontario-is kind of way, and a dark maze with mirrors, fluorescent accents, and blacklight that was fun (and probably dangerous) to run through, and jump-scare your sister in.

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That's probably part of the issue - it never really had a strong, singular and durable purpose like OSC does.

AoD
 
I'd argue Ontario Place started to decline once Canada's Wonderland opened. In the early days it was one of the few places in the GTA for rides beyond the few weeks the CNE was on.
 
interchange42 said:
The pods held all sorts of things in the early years that were fun to see. The two things that come to mind quickly from fading childhood memories are films projected on multiple screens in an overwhelm-you-with-images-and-see-how-beatiful-Ontario-is kind of way, and a dark maze with mirrors, fluorescent accents, and blacklight that was fun (and probably dangerous) to run through, and jump-scare your sister in.

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The pods also had a baseball museum and held magic shows for children, along with other entertainment type shows before they were leased out to private companies.
 
I mentioned the baseball museum :) But how long was it there?
As said above - they never had a clear purpose, unlike Cinesphere.

and it was never a great place for rides. The log ride was a relatively late addition. My memories of going as a kid were concerts at the Forum, the waterslide/waterpark and Children's Village. But it was never "competition" for Wonderland. Really, Centreville was far closer and even that's a stretch.
 
It's actually funny... most of my memories involving Ontario Place as a kid are of the disappointment that we weren't going to Wonderland instead. Even Centreville was more exciting, yet my dad kept bringing us to Ontario Place.
 
A few thoughts,
Both OP and OSC have a place in my heart. As a teen from Scarborough in the 70s OSC was a frequent destination, for interest and for meeting other teens. And during late high school years and into my 20s OP filled that. The music was the draw as well as the cinesphere. In early university I studied the pods for a civil engineering project while studying architecture. Later as a parent with a mini van I took vacation time off during spring break. For about 10 years when my daughter was 5 though 15 I had a van of kids that I’d take to the OSC. Fun days!

I’d really like to see OP refurbished, upgraded and focused on education fun and entertainment. I don’t care for casinos but I’m not indifferent either.

I truely hope there is enhancement and not removal of the pods and cinesphere.
 
interchange42 said:
The pods held all sorts of things in the early years that were fun to see. The two things that come to mind quickly from fading childhood memories are films projected on multiple screens in an overwhelm-you-with-images-and-see-how-beatiful-Ontario-is kind of way, and a dark maze with mirrors, fluorescent accents, and blacklight that was fun (and probably dangerous) to run through, and jump-scare your sister in.

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Ditto the water over which the pods are perched -- paddle boating around them is actually my fondest childhood memory of OP.
 
The terminals with touch screens stand out as one of my most memorable memories. You could find them malls, etc. too. They were all decommissioned at some point with touch screen in general. Full circle now.
 
Memories of OP: Children's Village (the area under the big tent like thing, for younger kids, with mazes, the pit full of balls, all sorts of gymnastic like things.

Nearby was an old caboose that served greasy fries, and my Dad and I would walk up stairs beside it and eat them with a view of the area.

Free shows at the Forum.

Magic shows in the pods.

Cinesphere

Paddle boats.

Dinner at the seafood themed place 'The Mariner'

***

OSC memories are less clear despite frequent trips at one point...........

The escalators into the valley.

The model trains

The bikes you had to peddle to power a camera to see yourself on a screen

Of course the static balls that made your hair stand up.
 
ADRM said:
Ditto the water over which the pods are perched -- paddle boating around them is actually my fondest childhood memory of OP.
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Also don't forget the *roof* of the pods, especially when they had the all-year skating rink up there.

But I do agree that the attempts to touristically "purpose" the pod interiors over the years were halfheartedly provisional at best; they always seemed to register more as glorified OP administrative space, paradoxically enough.

Perhaps the tragedy of OP is that it was designed (naturally, as a response to Montreal's Expo) for a "World's Fair" ooh-aah boosterish way of seeing ourselves that was becoming outmoded in its own time--in fact, remember that the log ride was created out of the guts of the c1980 Ontario North pavilion, which was probably the last gasp of such unabashed a-place-to-stand boosterism. (In fact, the Ford regime's "Ontario News Now" method of self-presentation is a truer successor to the vexedness of such boosterism in our time than they're willing to admit)
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
I mentioned the baseball museum :) But how long was it there?
As said above - they never had a clear purpose, unlike Cinesphere.

and it was never a great place for rides. The log ride was a relatively late addition. My memories of going as a kid were concerts at the Forum, the waterslide/waterpark and Children's Village. But it was never "competition" for Wonderland. Really, Centreville was far closer and even that's a stretch.
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No, Ontario Place never had the focus on CNE type rides, it was more of a place for leisure type amusements like mini-golf, water slides and the Children's Village where kids could have fun and not realize they were getting hours of exercise. Most of the rides were geared towards children but there were restaurants and bars for adult fun too. The Forum was a great place for free concerts, many of which I saw. It was so crowded some days, that they had to close down the front gates, like when Cool And The Gang had a Forum concert.

I worked at a restaurant/bar for one glorious summer at OP and it was packed almost every night, selling lots and lots of beer! Lots of drunken fights too. It was a fun place to work.
 
Torontovibe said:
No, Ontario Place never had the focus on CNE type rides, it was more of a place for leisure type amusements like mini-golf, water slides and the Children's Village where kids could have fun and not realize they were getting hours of exercise. Most of the rides were geared towards children but there were restaurants and bars for adult fun too. The Forum was a great place for free concerts, many of which I saw. It was so crowded some days, that they had to close down the front gates, like when Cool And The Gang had a Forum concert.

I worked at a restaurant/bar for one glorious summer at OP and it was packed almost every night, selling lots and lots of beer! Lots of drunken fights too. It was a fun place to work.
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I mean, OP was never supposed to be a copy of CNE from the info I can gather. It was a great place with its amusement rides and those so called "rides that were leasureous and not giving children the feeling of exercise" as you mentioned and now me as well. If there's one thing we all know about OP, is, TELL the DoFo government NOT TO BUILD A CASINO there.
 
I dont think Ontario Place is good for a casino and frankly Woodbine mall can develop a casino area I think.
 
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