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

I saw it there a few times back in the 80's, the picture was great but the sound left much to be desired. Apocalypse Now is one of my top five favorate films of all time but dressing up? That's a little um, different.
 
To resurrect one of Toronto's most interesting and controversial plans of 2010: What happened to this whole "Ontario Place Revitalization"? Front page stories in every paper and then more than a year passes with absolutely no follow-up? Does anyone have any insight into this? I saw nothing on the Ontario Place website...
 
Apparently we'll see it sometime after the provincial election. The rumours I've heard are that there will be a real effort to make it a year-round facility.
 
Driving east along Lakeshore while passing OP last night I couldn't help but marvel at how sophisticated and even futuristic it looks, almost like a floating city out of a Bond film. There is absolutely zero reason or need to get rid of the pods or cinesphere, which are two of Toronto's most distinctive landmarks. I can't understand how the management hasn't been able to exploit this great architecture to make it more of a draw than it currently is. I'm ok if they tinker with the rest of the place to make it a more vibrant, year round destination, but those 2 aspects must be kept intact at all costs.
 
bengaijin said:
Is this dependent on who wins? I wonder what the correlation is.
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Doubtful imo. Agencies and boards usually don't make announcements somewhat before or during elections in order to avoid competing for media attention.

Realistically, though, since this is the type of announcement that you'd want to get maximum coverage for, the likelihood is that it either wouldn't be covered, or else would be buried far from the front pages.
 
Well, the city has agreed to try to sell Exhibition Place. It could spell the end of the CNE or it could make it into a year round attraction along with Ontario Place. It's possible that the city would try to sell the grounds to the provincial government to merge the two which will facilitate negotiations that have been going on for years to that effect.
 
Here is an article from the Star to that effect.

Nothing too concrete, just speculation based on the appointment of one of the Ontario Place bigwigs to the Exhibition Place Board.

"A recent appointment to the Exhibition Place board of governors has revived rumours of a possible merger between the city-owned entertainment venue and nearby Ontario Place, which is owned by the province.

Connie Dejak, who has been sitting on the Ontario Place board since January 2011, says she received a call from the city clerk’s office Friday confirming her appointment by city council to the Exhibition Place board."
 
agoraflaneur said:
Just read this article by Christopher Hume at the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1074680--hume-waterfront-casino-may-not-be-such-a-long-shot?bn=1

He says it is just a rumour now, but the fact that he is publishing it lends more credibility to the venture. We have one in downtown Vancouver, though its plans to expand ran into difficulties. What do people think of this possibility?
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He says hey, Toronto might get a casino..........the rest is doom and gloom
 
Ontario Place might become a casino? So says Christopher Hume, without any 'sources' or 'concrete information', here.

I don't quite get his stance in this piece. Does he like Ontario Place or hate it? Does he think a casino is an imperfect but generally appropriate use of the land? Or does he think it about as awful and cynical as things could get? I feel like he implies all of the above positions at least once.
 
I think if they turn Ontario Place into an all-seasons attraction it will succeed for sure. One of it's main problems is that it's seasonal, and other than the pods, Cinesphere and Molson Amphitheatre, there isn't really much there that isn't better at CW. Join it with the ex and create some all-season attractions and it will become popular again. I had said when the aquarium was first proposed that it should have been built at Ontario Place, that way it would be on the water, and bring tourists over there during all seasons, very similar to where the Shedd is located.

Another idea would be to make it into something similar to La Ronde, but that is also seasonal and would compete with CW (and lose).
 
I was also was hoping Ontario Place would have got the aquarium. I visited O.P during the summer with my cousins kids, it was rather quiet for a nice summer day.:(

I would love to see a mammoth observation wheel that operates year round at Ontario Place. I can't imagine the amazing views of the skyline/water you would get from up there!!

Beijing%2BBig%2BWheel.jpg
 
OP/Ex is probably an appropriate place for a Casino and Ferris Wheel. But then again, the former is the provinces' call, and they might be under pressure from Woodbine and other regional casinos to block that scheme. I would actually prefer to have the casino on the Ex grounds instead. Come to think of it, the "pods" might work very well as art galleries.

AoD
 
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Yes - a Casino would be an absolutely perfect fit and easily make the venue an all-year attraction. With a nice a revenue split between the casino / Ontario place / the city - all parties would benefit from the revenue. I can't imagine anything else that would draw a steady stream of people, especially in the dead of winter. People need to move past the myopic view that casinos are awful, and view it for what it is, just another form of entertainment.
 
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