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

Ontario Place is free this summer, but you pay to play. Cinesphere now has 3D too.
 
The first thing that needs to be done with that whole area is to re-integrate it with the city. They should draft a plan that takes existing under-utilized parking and turns it into mixed use developments with retail on the ground, condos or offices above. They could make a condition of development that all the public parking is maintained.

I know most of the central CNE parking is theoretically needed for the fair every year, but the fair seems to take up gradually less space year after year, and at least the ontario place parking lot isn't needed for the CNE at all. In the long run, the CNE should be made both smaller and permanent.

The waterfront LRT already goes nearly all the way to Dufferin, I think the transportation problems could easily be resolved by extending the LRT and Dufferin bus a bit.

The second thing I'd like to see is Ontario Place's primary purpose changed from being an amusement park into something like Chicago's Navy Pier or San Franciso's Pier 39: An area open to the public with a mixture of shops, restaurants and museums. The main buildings at Ontario Place and CNE both are quite beautiful and worth preserving, but most of the rest of Ontario Place should be demolished to make room for better things. It's one place on Toronto's waterfront that has the best hope for being turned into a pedestrian zone, since there's minimal existing development, and easy access.

All of this could probably done in a way that would financially viable without government funding.
 
I have no issue with the entire Ontario Place property being demolished and turned into market value housing (throw in some affordable units to keep the left happy, if needed) and commercial-retail property... provided that the waterfront spaces are maintained as public and no-charge access parkland. If you just convert the entire area into a park without any residential presence you'll have no or little use of the land except for the warmer months. By adding residential you'll have year old public in the area.
 
^^ Sure, let's make Ontario Place just like the rest of the Central Waterfront because you just can't get enough of a good thing, right? It's clear Torontonians are screaming out for more condos lining our waterfront. What good is the Cinesphere or those silly floating pods, when they could be replaced with more grey, glass condos. More is always better, right? I'll be quite happy when all neighbourhoods in Toronto, look exactly the same. Then we'll have a city to really be proud of. Oh, and make sure it's all grey and glassy.
 
Ontario Place sucks, and has for a long time. But it has tons of potential.

First off, the CNE / Ontario need to partner up. I think that this is a no-brainer.

I'd like to see the CNE open a year-round amusement area on the grounds of Ontario Place (a midway, rollercoasters, other rides, etc.). As someone mentioned, something similar to Chicago's Navy Pier would be cool. If it was good, I think that it could definitely compete effectively with Canada' Wonderland. It would be way closer for Torontonians, for one. This would obviously require better transit connections. The main difference between it and Wonderland that i'd like to see is have it open to the public, with ticketed rides / attractions, as opposed to gated entry.

Add a permanent big-top circus, or maybe even Cirque du Soleil at a permanent venue (ala Vegas). A couple beer gardens here and there.

Market the Cinesphere more. This goes in hand with better transit connections. Make Torontonians WANT to see big blockbuster IMAX movies.

They would, of course, still have the traditional end of summer Canadian National Exhibition events.
 
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Torontovibe said:
I'll be quite happy when all neighbourhoods in Toronto, look exactly the same.
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That might work for you, but I'd like to see low rise residential with a bit of European flavour along the waterfront there. Every other waterfront city I've visited in the world has a mix of residential and parkland along its downtown waterfront, and it seems to work well.
 
wopchop said:
Market the Cinesphere more. This goes in hand with better transit connections. Make Torontonians WANT to see big blockbuster IMAX movies..
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You can see IMAX and OMNIMAX movies at several otherwise regular theatres in the GTA, such as Colusus in Vaughan, plus there is the Science Centre. The Cinesphere is nothing special.
 
Admiral Beez said:
You can see IMAX and OMNIMAX movies at several otherwise regular theatres in the GTA, such as Colusus in Vaughan, plus there is the Science Centre. The Cinesphere is nothing special.
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But it's the original IMAX, so it IS special.
 
Just turn the Cinesphere into a casino as they did in Montreal with the expo building. Was there. Looked great. Of course, I'm not being serious. Or am I.......?
 
Admiral Beez said:
That might work for you, but I'd like to see low rise residential with a bit of European flavour along the waterfront there. Every other waterfront city I've visited in the world has a mix of residential and parkland along its downtown waterfront, and it seems to work well.
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Yeah, and the more sophisticated among them wouldn't arbitrarily trash an Ontario Place-type landmark in their midst in order to create such fare...
 
Admiral Beez said:
You can see IMAX and OMNIMAX movies at several otherwise regular theatres in the GTA, such as Colusus in Vaughan, plus there is the Science Centre. The Cinesphere is nothing special.
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Omnimax is cool if the film was shot in the Omnimax format but very few films were made in Omnimax, it's been a dead format since the early '90's. IMAX films projected onto an Omnimax screen don't work very well, to say the least.
The Cinesphere is very special, it was the first permanent IMAX theatre in the world (IMAX is Canadian technology by the way) and the size of the Cinesphere screen dwarfs anything that you will find at your local gigaplex.
 
adma said:
Yeah, and the more sophisticated among them wouldn't arbitrarily trash an Ontario Place-type landmark in their midst in order to create such fare...
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I'm not sure you're right on this one. Bad developers may try to trash the area, so you'll need proper regulations and planning from the City.
 
Admiral Beez said:
You can see IMAX and OMNIMAX movies at several otherwise regular theatres in the GTA, such as Colusus in Vaughan, plus there is the Science Centre. The Cinesphere is nothing special.
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Of course it's special. It's downtown, right on the waterfront. That has immediately more potential than some parking lot in Vaughan or even the Science Centre. The Cinesphere should be marketed as and made into an integral component of any future season-round entertainment district in that area. Right now, it is not living up to what it could be.
 
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