Autoworld in Flint Michigan, someday, please! It was my favorite park as a kid....I was a weird child. or Canadian/Detroit Boblo Island! OR the Lost World of Sid and Marty Kroft park!
Pretty sure it was written by a member of OPSEU, working in a government music factory funded by the Ontario ministry of cheesy jingles and funny walks. Lol.
@@ExpeditionThemePark your content is excellent man But yeah you really captured what a nostalgic place it was for us millennials and older, while being fair and objective that it ultimately had many many issues that lead to its eventual demise Love the fact that you brought up how it was much cheaper too. Canada's wonderland has always been pricey and our family couldn't always afford it
I have so many good memories of going here as a kid. My family didn't have the money for a trip to a big theme park, so having one so close by was a godsend. Sad to see what happened to it. :(
Same! I was also poor but my dad took my sister and I here every year. Do you remember the mega maze? I’d give my left foot to be able to go through that maze just one last time
Ummm . . . shouldn't you poor people quit wasting your time on the internet and get back to work? I mean, it's like you don't mind being poor and unwashed.
I went to Ontario Place as kid in the mid 70s with my parents and really enjoyed Chlidrens Village and everything else it offered. Later in my teens and early 20s I used to bring girls I dated there and enjoyed the walks along the lake at Ontario Place and the bars/restaurants they had in a whole different view. Such great memories as I am now in my mid 50s. I was lucky enough to bring my son there when he was a baby to a whole of new set of memories. Sadly the place closed and its a shame the kids growing up today will never experience the joy I had there. They should never let this place be sold to developers or turned into a casino ..................................
Its amazing how this place resonates with so many and the nostalgia is the same. Thats amazing that you got to bring your kid there. The best memories are from the 1980s and 1990s especially when nintendo power pod was there
Some of the best visions for the future of the Baby Boomer generation have slowly crashed and burned over the decades, as a kid of the 70s I find I so sad.
It will soon be open again with all the details you remember and free access. The ducks and swans will once again be begging alongside the little pubs, the Cinesphere will again have lineups, the pods will have a real use, concerts will be year-round, and the spa will be open in cold weather months, too.
@@billdaverne9389an unaccessible mega spa who gives a shit about a spa… rich people and not the average person thats who and a half a billion dollar parking garage paid for by the tax payer benefitting a foreign company when people are literally starving to death and have no where to live around the corner. a mega spa for 95 years. seems realistic and smart. i think billions of dollars could have gone to much more realistic development that would actually benefit people
I grew up going to Ontario Place in the early 2000s, and desperately miss it. Sure it wasn't as big or crazy as Canada's Wonderland, but I feel it doesn't have to be. It would be nice to have that space back downtown, that's easier to get to for families and locals, rather than driving all the way up to Vaughan.
On every level-- municipal, provincial, and national-- we are held back by leaders who openly hate us and show negative interest in saving our nation's landmarks or attractions. Even though Toronto is easily one of Canada's biggest cities, you wouldn't know it looking at how faded and washed out everything is. The money is all gone and now we just 'exist'.
Me too 😭 we docked here where year during the ex, and just being there over night and exploring the park as a kid especially through the lantern festivals... god I miss it so much 😭😭😭 it really feels like a loss of childhood
Another Torontonian here with tears to say thank you. Unfortunately there have been new developments to this land, as of this year the Ontario government decided to turn it into a bougie spa for rich tourists instead an accessible park for the communities who live here. Its a heartbreaking loss but it makes your coverage of this all the more meaningful, thank you.
Not from Toronto, but we visited the science centre frequently enough as a kid, but only went to Ontario Place once. When I went to a concert at the Molson Amphitheater as an adult, there was nothing there that I remembered, and it was so depressing.
Extinct videos are honestly so bittersweet since I already know they'll end in abandonment or demolition, but i wont deny its interesting to see how they got there in the first place
I did see some of the rides. Mostly the kiddie rides but I think the water park area was closed or off in another part. I only saw the Molson amphitheater and a sea of ⛺s, a small stage and tables.
I do this on and off all the time. There's so many things from my childhood that are terrible now or don't exist. Its very hard to find things like this anymore. And it's become hard to accept that.
I was born in 77 and spent every summer at Ontario Place. Later, I went mostly for concerts. I think the last year I went as a child was 1994 before I saw Pink Floyd at the Exhibition. One of the best days of my life, spent with my father. I miss it. Thank you for making this. xo
As someone who went here alot as a kid growing up in Toronto I can say this place was amazing. I was very sad when they shut it down 🙁. Awsome video as always
@@ExpeditionThemePark ah crap, makes sense. from what I can recall, it was a 10+ minute, multi-section, indoor/outdoor maze. classic mirrors, stone/hedge style, classic orange and yellow cafeteria table walls ... and like checkpoints in each area you had to find. we always compared our best time printouts on the bus back to school lol
I have such fond memories of the mega maze , fun fact :my brother was the lead sound tech for the final years of Ontario place and his office was in the silos where the mega maze was housed.
Growing up on the low end of middle class in rural Ontario i gotta say.... an ambitious project abandoned over confusion and shady circumstances is a perfect metaphor for Ontario.
@@jjmarz1001 About life in general or ontario place? My life is ok but i had to move to Nova Scotia. Only time i went to Ontario Place was long after it was a Bud venue and the experience was miserable. The performance was good and the acoustic worked, but i had to navigate a sort of capitalist funnel to get there.
@@zachweyrauch2988 Well I'm glad you at least enjoyed the band. I went to many many shows there, even back when it was the Forum. Always made a day of it with the family and enjoyed all the family attractions as well. REM, Sarah McLaughlin, Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Gowan, Brain Adams, Tom Petty (one of my all-time favorite shows). I'm very happy that Ontario Place is going to be revitalized and look forward to being able to return.
@@jjmarz1001 Its cool you got the chance to do that. By the time i was old enough to try and go see music played live for myself ticket master had already outpriced me. With any luck when things start back up again live music will be more accessible and common. Ontario Place though is still prohibitively difficult to get to for anyone outside the GO bus range.
@@zachweyrauch2988 They're building a subway line to Exhibition Place. There will also be several free attractions there. Trails and Parks. I've always enjoyed bike riding there. If you come visit, Niagara Falls has some decent bands at reasonable prices at Fallsview Avalon Theater. I've seen Styx, Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Boston, The Temptations, and Art Garfunkel there. I hope to make it out to Nova Scotia someday. I've been to New Brunswick, but not Nova Scotia.
When I was a kid I had the chance to visit Ontario Place in 1974. I think I drove my parents insane on the long drive from Detroit with "Are we there yet?" I loved it so much.
I was first there in 1971 when entry was a $1 and concerts were free at The Forum. A few years earlier it was just open water. OP was built from nothing and became a wonderful space that captured the best of Expo 67, grew trees and great lawns, and brought visitors close to the water and wildlife. Then the Liberals and NDP messed it up and the political hacks they put on its boards made bad decisions from 1985 to 1995 and 2003 to 2018 -- those 25 years of mismanagement sunk Ontario Place and created the place shown in this video. Now, inspired govt decision-making is bringing Ontario Place back from the dead and once again it will be a jewel on the waterfront, this time year-round.
Man, this was my theme park growing up! My day camp had one day a week where we went on trips, and some summers I went to Ontario Place twice. The Wilderness Adventure ride was the most iconic ride for all of us. My dad lost his hat on the drop, so we needed to tell them to get it. xD Also, it was a rite of passage when you were tall enough to go on it. Especially because of the lack of seat belts, the fact that you felt like you were going to fall out, and the creepy animatronics in that dark uphill tunnel before the drop. Same with Soak City. If Ontario Place was still around, I'd go to that water park at least 2 times in the summer because the water slides were fun. It saddens me what happened here.
Ontario Place is such a special spot. There is so much wildlife and great birdwatching. The threat of re-development looms large. I hope the area remains what it is today and know that there are lots of people willing to fight for it to stay wild.
i only went once as a child in the mid-80s but i remember the play structures/water zone to be absolutely amazing. it blew my mind. i have the most clear memory of lots of really tall twisty tube slides. it was a child’s dream.
grew up going to Ontario Place, happy times with my family. there weren't many. saw concerts there in my 20s and my last memory was seeing the premiere of Trainspotting, 1996 in the IMAX Theatre. thank you, Bill Davis for opening this - Rest in Peace.
That song....just hit nostalgia I didn't know I have. They used to air infomercials for this place, and that song would play intermittently throughout.
As a child of the 80s/90s ,Ontario Place will always hold an incredibly fond and special in my heart. With the warm weather upon us I have been riding my down through there every so often and it brings back great memories every time. Its so sad thats its future is still so uncertain, for many of us it was a big part of our childhood .
If they had added at least one iconic roller coaster or ride, maybe they would still be around. They were downtown right off the main highway, unbelievable how they messed this up!
Eh, I'm not so sure. This feels like a safer version of Action Park - an amusement park only in the literal definition of the word. Adding a rollercoaster to what was essentially a playground with restaurants and an outdoor theater would've seemed out of place (not to mention that people were complaining about waterslides and log flumes being added, so a rollercoaster would've caused even more complaints).
They were downtown, but not really downtown, if that makes sense. The Ex actually cuts off Ontario Place from everything else. And the way public transit is designed in the area, you had to walk a bit just to get to the entrance. As for driving, trying to get to Ontario Place or the Ex off the Gardiner was a bit inconvenient if you were coming from the DVP. Although I suppose there's nothing new about linking "Gardiner" with "a bit inconvenient". But don't let these travel complaints fool you - I still loved going to Ontario Place every year when I was a kid.
@@kevwwong and the government is committed to building the Ontario subway line that runs to this place. Like the author of this video stated, there is some unspoken incentive going on behind the scenes with the government for making some money off this land, somehow.
It's been nearly closed for almost 10 years now?! I didn't think it had been closed that long... and the song is still stuck in my head all these years later. I definitely have memories of the maze.
Just imagine, this was a place where people WENT. LIKE WENT TO AND HAD FUN. It still blows my mind that these things are gone and like were at one point sprawling.
I'm 65. Our family visited both Expo '67 and Ontario Place. We rode the monorail through the US pavilion. We went to the CNE quite often. The CNE still had early 20th century wooden peep show boxes in the sixties! Thank you for this walk down memory lane.
I grew up going to Ontario Place every other weekend as a kid (I'm 48 this year) to watch this video and see what happened to it afterwards breaks my damn heart.. If i ever won the lottery, I'd buy a piece of that property just to save whats left of it. Thank you for showing the respect that it deserved. The information through out this video was great too. Informed me of a lot of things i didn't even know. i hope one day it comes back to life and not in a residential way.
Symphony of Fire! Yes! I dont know if this was a regular thing or just a special event one year (I'm from 2 hours away and didn't get to Toronto regularly) but we went to that one year and they also had grounded hot air balloons shooting their propane flames in time with the music. It was awesome! I was really young and that is literally the only thing I remember about that trip. I do not remember the rest of Ontario Place at all.
I was someone who frequented Ontario Place A LOT in the 70's and 80's. In this heyday, you paid $12.00 admission which gave you full access to the children's area, Cinesphere (movie theatre), The Forum, shops and restaurants. The park was packed and exciting - a real destination. I saw so many performances there, from Ella Fitzgerald to Mikhail Baryshnikov - not to mention many great Canadian bands The park's downfall came when they closed The Forum and replaced it with the Molson Amphitheatre. The admission rose (by the 90's it cost $29.00 - try taking a family in at that price), the attractions dwindled, shops closed, and the food offerings deteriorated. People just came for the concerts which now cost in the region of $100 pp. They made the mistake of trying to compete with Canada's Wonderland (which is a good 45 minute drive north of Toronto) instead of elaborating on the uniqueness of what was already a very cool venue. As for Toronto, the city is now controlled by developers who don't care about culture or uniqueness, they only care about profits. I'm sure they've been salivating over this property for decades. So sad, so short-sighted.
You're right about the price increases killing it. From $1 a day in 1971 up to $12 up to $29, etc. It stopped being value for money. Now with the re-development -- no condos, no developers involved -- access will be free for most spaces at OP and the spirit will return!
I was 10 when I went in 1969 on a school trip. I loved it. But being growing up on the farm it was difficult to go. Cost ruins enjoyment and fun. Thanks for the memories.
Hearing the classic Ontario Place ad with the Cyndi Lauper parody awakened ANCIENT forgotten memories. Used to hear that constantly over the car radio when my mom drove me to school in the morning.
My Senior Class trip was to EXPO 67. I still remember it as one of the best times of my life. La Ronde was state of the art at the time. Too bad it has fallen into hard times. Thanks for bringing back some fun memories in the Intro.
La Ronde was great as long as it was owned by the city of Montreal. It turned to crap when they sold it to Six Flags. I had a great time there in the 70's and early 80's.
What did Six Flags do to Laronde? Add a few new rides? Most of the changes from the 70s to today took place under the city's watch, as they slowly stopped funding the park.
La Ronde was way better in the 90’s b4 six flags bought the park! Six flags only ships leftover rides to La Ronde that other parks don’t want anymore and gave the park the reputation of worst six flags park ever!
My Mom use to live in Ontario when she was younger so I asked her if she ever went to this amusement park and she said she did. She told me she had a lot of memories there when her dad use to take her there. I watched a different channel cover this amusement park a while back. When I told her it was abandoned she was shocked.
Whoa! Good catch! Funny now seeing my 10yr old nephew playing Fortnite from sun up to sun down I’d catch myself beginning to nag him before I stop and realize I used to be just like him except my childhood game addiction was Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 & 2. I forgot what I was watching but it was about some European amusement park and I was able to spot a few things that looked very similar to a few assets from the game. Very cool.
A lot of Rollercoaster Tycoon's iconic pre-set stalls originate from Canobie Lake in New Hampshire. The original 'Wipeout', the seastar-themed Chance Trabant from Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was also here until it's removal in 2020.
I grew up being involved with Ontario Place through my dad and eventually went on to work there for 10 years before basically being fired over news of its closure through cp24. I could write a novel based on the experiences through the years, and I miss OP deeply to this day. Expectations are extremely low for what it will likely become. Rest in peace dear friend, thank you for all that you gave to so many.
Growing up in the 70's and 80's I guess we took for granted that Ontario Place would always be there and never change... That's how it felt back then! It was such a staple part of our landscape... AND! It was free to get in during the Ex!!
As someone who saw Ontario place in the distance as a kid when going to the CNE but never going in before it completely shut down, this was a really interesting expedition for me. It's so strange to have heard of this place only in the terms of it shutting down, so it's nice to actually know what it was all about. Thanks again for covering something from Canada!
The Children's Village, Wilderness Ride and Water Park were absolute core memories for me. I recently paddled through the inner waters of the islands and it truly is a shell of what it once was. There's another redevelopment project in talks, we'll see what comes of it. Very well done video, so much context, thank you!
I rode those concrete water slides many times in 1979 and 1980 (we didn't return to Ontario Place or CNE once Canada's Wonderland opened). I can tell you if you lost the mat going down the slide, your elbows and knees would get shredded by the rough concrete slide, even though it was painted, you would suffer all the way down. I remember the water being stained red around me as I was going down with no mat, from my bleeding elbows and knees. Another thing that was crazy was the ending of the slide. Since this was a rather new thing, they hadn't realized it would be better to *drop into a pool with the slide slightly elevated above the water surface,* instead of running into a "wall" of water. The splashdown pool had so much water in it, the flume had about a foot of water in it at the end. Also have memories of rides in the pedal boats in the lagoon under the pods, and the rollerskating rink which seem to like playing "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins.
It's so funny, Ontario Place and the Ex are such a normal thing in my life that it's fascinating to watch videos on it from those that aren't familiar. Also, as soon as that Ontario Place commercial song came on my entire childhood/young adult life smacked me in the face. 😂 Thanks for the awesome video and nostalgia!!
This place was so special to me. We went most summers when I was a kid, usually during the CNE, and then I went again many times as an adult, including during the final season in the traditional form. I don't take my last turn on the wilderness adventure ride for granted. Thanks for this!
I grew up in Ontario... These commercials are bringing back so many memories... My parents lived in Montreal during Expo 67... They said it was the best atmosphere in the city.
Ouch, right in the feels dude! The mega maze in the solo's was my favorite!! The water park there was insane! You definitely nailed it when you said every one has fond childhood memories of the place. Before cellphones were the norm
Im viet and was born in the 90's. My parents been in toronto since 1984-5 and they have alot of pictures and some videos of ontario place throughout the 90's. Hopefully will digitalize the videos one day to upload on here. Im 33 now and its sad to see such a wonderful place go away.
As a Toronto Native, first and foremost, big respect for shining some light on Ontario Place. Growing up in the City, I found that Ontario place somehow became a forgotten place to the majority of people in not just Toronto but for the whole of Canada. Personally I think much of this has to do with a poor marketing strategy and somehow not connecting with its community as effective as they should have. When you ask people about Ontario place, they cannot properly define what it exactly is, is it a place where Tourists can go for a walk, enjoy the scenery, and great food? is it a place for family's with young children? is it a place where the Arts and Entertainment can display acts for all ages and demographics? Is it where locals and tourists alike can shop and buy things? The truth is , its simply bad marketing, back in the 80's I remembered commercials for Ontario place was always playing on popular Tv channels and sports channels. Even on popular radio stations, they made sure they let everyone be reminded about coming out to Ontario Place. Personally, moving forward, I hope they focus on recreating Ontario Place as somewhere where anyone can go there to have the ultimate hangout, filled with great places to eat, places to see live music, places to Shop, places to play games and park activities, a pool and splashpad , a revamped imax theatre, a sportsbar hangout. A town square like Stage where Live Acts, can perform music, comedy, plays etc. Maybe keep a waterslide or two, add some Zip Lining, Some water activities being its right at a waterfront sort of thing. Tons of ideas, that can really show its an attraction, but also needs an enormous amount of Marketing ....
I visited as a child in the 1980's, and then only for concerts at Budweiser Stage since. But I've been on that waterslide at Canada's Wonderland so many times - I had no idea it was originally at Ontario Place!! Thanks for the factoid! I love all your videos.
Been to Ontario place many times. fond memories a child. This video is pure nostalgia! Its a sad sight to see when walking along the shores of Toronto during a summer visit. These were the peak years of Canada. Everything has gone downhill since then... :(
@@ExpeditionThemePark did you ever have the chance to go? One of the big challenges with Ontario Place was always access. Despite being downtown, there was only distant or sparse transit access. For an urban amusement and recreation park, it was a pretty big barrier to overcome.
@@EvDelen Yeah, when I lived near Bloor and Dundas W Toronto it was a pretty quick walk for me! I always struggled getting to Canada's Wonderland as I didn't have a car.
@@ExpeditionThemePark that's a good walk! A little tougher to do with a stroller or a little one in tow. Closest Streetcar stop is the CNE loop, and even walking from there when I was young I thought it was the longest walk in the world!
I feel like there's one huge element that gets overlooked when talking about Ontario Place. Toronto saw a massive evolution from a predominantly suburban, car-centric city into a high-density, pedestrian centric one thanks to the hundreds of new condo towers. Not only did Ontario Place become a lot more difficult to reach for suburbanites due to the increased traffic, but virtually zero housing or retail was built within a large radius from it, making it a mysterious distant land for the tens of thousands of new downtowners without a car. Without a single coffee shop, bar or restaurant in sight, downtowners just don't make the committment to go anywhere near Ontario Place.
You could easily get there from using the TTC...what are you talking about. There was/is a go train stop in Exhibition Place which is a short walk to Ontario place even with the EX going on and all the people there.
@@cliffitir the point is that it took a freefall down the list of things to do in the city, mainly because hundreds of restaurants, shops and bars opened in the core while nothing got developed anywhere near Ontario Place. It's a 90's American style car centric attraction, in a city where everyone dreams of a European city core lifestyle.
As someone who worked on the Future of Ontario Place, this is a fantastic video! Well researched, well edited and correct in pretty much everything. Amazing stuff
This brings back memories of the first time I visited Ontario in 2011. My parents and now wife visited Ontario Place and went to the water park, and we obviously had no idea it would all be closed the next year. The next I time I was at Ontario Place was for a concert in 2018, and it was certainly different! Thanks for this video, and for bringing up some fun memories!
Gawd, I miss Ontario Place. Went there so often as a child. Got to visit with my oldest son one last time the year before it closed. I'm sure safety standards would never allow most of the climbers and activities in the Children's Village now. But it was a place of pure adventure and skinned knees when I was a kid.
Another well researched and produced video Sam. Thanks as always. I live about 2hrs east of Toronto and have fond memories of visiting Ontario Place in the 70s and 80s. As of July 2023 the plan is to redevelop Ontario Place into a new waterpark and Spa resort.
Although I have lived within 30 minutes of Toronto my whole life, I only have incredibly vague memories of going to Ontario Place with my family when I was very young in the early 2000s. Thanks for covering it, and finally giving me the chance to see what I remember more clearly. For a while, I thought I was just imagining it!
I grew up in the 80s in Toronto, and I remember these jingles and all the memories of the time I spent there with family. I also remember the values, demographics, and overall hope that existed at the time. That Canada is dead now, but I remember
That's the thing, isn't it. After Expo 67 we were all looking forward to the future. Ontario Place was built on that hope for the future, along with a lot of things in Toronto at the time. Unfortunately by the time we got to "the future," it wasn't anything like what we hoped for. And no one seems to have much future-hope anymore. The condo vandals (I won't call them "developers") have wrecked so much...even the Big Slice fell to their greed. And Ford wants to end the Science Centre now.
As a Canadian it's rare enough to see my country featured in this genre. Your excellent summary of Expo '67 has me yearning for a similar video about Expo '86 in Vancouver BC and the lasting impact it had on the city (e.g. the launch of SkyTrain and yet another 'golf ball' structure). At this point I'm very knowledgeable about theme parks and events all over the USA and around the world but to date I've found only one short video about a single ride from the place I grew up. It would be really cool to learn more from creators I admire and respect. Keep up the great work! 👍🍍
Ontarionian here. I was present for all of this. OP was just a symbol of a huge remaking of the province by visionary leaders. It worked brilliantly and they have nothing to regret
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS Seriously though, this was a huge part of my childhood. The water park, the giant freaking maze run, Legoland and the log flume. damn lotsa memories^^
Such fond memories of Ontario Place. Went as a kid with the Brownies. Later, as an adult there were so many concerts at the forum. Sometimes my friends and I would go to 2 or 3 shows a week. The rotating stage was just amazing! The IMAX theater was incredible, and we would go to movies there every chance we got. There were a few concerts once it became the Budwiser stage, but the magic wasn't the same, without the rotating stage. It felt like the things that made Ontario Place so special were replaced with the same old stuff that you could experience everywhere else. That was the death of it.
I want to visit the remains of this place with my girlfriend so bad the next time I'm up in Ontario to visit her. Ever since Jake Williams went to it, I've always wanted to walk around a park that is still walkable and open to the public in some form. Hopefully, we can at one point before anything happens to the remains of the park.
Lots of happy memories of Ontario Place as a kid back in the 1970's. The Cine-Sphere was epic, especially when un-suspecting patrons fell victim to dry-land sea sickness the big screen caused.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I have fond memories of Ontario Place through the years. I was there opening weekend (and as a seven-year-old) sad the Children’s Village wasn’t complete. The next year it was and man was that fun! Ontario Place was the best vantage point to see the CNE Airshow, and as a teen the Forum was one of the best places to see concerts. See, it was free with admission so you could see great concerts for cheap. And the rotating stage was awesome. The Cinesphere was iconic, and in the winter months - January and February - they had the 70mm Film Festival so you could see your favourite wide-screen movies on the big screen. I saw Top Gun there from the 5th row. WOW, were those planes big! Let’s hope much of the concept is preserved - time will only tell.
Knowing the current government, it's basically a guarantee that it's getting turned into condos that are unaffordable to anyone actually living in Toroto, and instead, sit empty owned by foreign investors.
i don't know about that. ontario place was in part a vision of it's premiere of the time. bill davis - a conservative. who also started TVO and was instrumental in advancing ontario's colleges and universities. lest we forget about ontarios dark period with mcguinty and wynn.... but i digress as mike harris was just as bad. i think the video though is on the money. lack of vision at the top. they all forgot what ontario place was. wonderland was a theme park.... ontario wasn't.
@David Davison ford is as bad as wynn and the rest. perhaps even worse, as liberals act like liberals, but we expect conservatives to act at least a bit conservatives, but ford et al also act liberal. the worst thing is it will be either a conservative or liberal or ndp government for ontario next election and more of the same as before
The Mega Maze was a favourite of mine! Does anyone remember what the names of the individual sub-mazes were? There’s one I’ve forgotten and it’s driving me up the wall... 1. Mirror Maze 2. ??? 3. Mockery Maze 4. Millennium Maze 5. Madcap Maze 6. Meander Maze 7. Master Maze If anyone actually remembers and replies, that’d be much appreciated!
Loved it! As someone who grew up in Buffalo we went to Toronto often, and I loved Ontario Place. That playground was EPIC, even if you always got a bloody nose when you went in the forest of punching bags
Thank you. I needed this. 😊😊❤️ Our parents would take us here as children, then later I brought my twin sons here probably every other week In the 90’s. My sister worked there. She’s an artist and did Caricatures each summer for about 8 years. I went with my best friends Ray and Steve to one of the clubs over the water for New Year’s Eve in 1995. going to the club the Docks with a drive through movie theatre, pools and climbing walls hot tubs and other fun things to do,just over the lake from Ontario place the new years after. I love Canadas wonderland had a passport every year since 1988. Except one year we moved to California, but we missed Toronto and came home the year after lol. Love seeing all my childhood, adult adventures all in one video. ❤️❤️❤️
Too many developers drooling over this land and too many politicians with their hands out for kickbacks for this place every to remain a place for the people of Ontario.
I was a very proud dishwasher at Trillium dining lounge (a restaurant that floated above the water and yachts). It was a pleasure to walk through the CNE fairgrounds and to work in such a wonderful place ... that I’ve always loved as a kid (during the 70’s). Thanks for a very thorough and entertaining video.
Excellent episode! It's surreal seeing the islands active and full of so many people again. For the last few summers I've been going to Ontario Place on weekends to bike or wander, as it's a very uniquely bizarre public park-space for now. But there had also been random events (prior to 2020 lock-down) worth checking out there, like the Waterfront Night Market, Christmas Village, outdoor skating, and other themed food festivals.
I hadn't realized that it had closed. I worked at Ontario place back in 92/93. It was a really fun place to work. Such a shame that it hasn't survived. Thank you for showcasing the history of the place. I really hope they can redevelop it to showcase it like it deserves to be. And I agree that there is no need for additional condos by the waterfront. Toronto's waterfront was always beautiful and I loved walking down in that area when I lived there. Condo/apartments don't fit into that beauty.
We used to have such fun there when it opened. We were young and enjoyed the waterfront, having a beer or 3. Having fun with friends. Watching Ben Hur on the big screen, also 2001 a space odyssey, was fortunate enough to be asked to tour the facility before it opened to the Public. Lots of good memories.
Dude thank you so much for making this. I grew up in Toronto in the 90s and had a pretty shitty childhood, but the one positive childhood memory I have is my dad taking my sister and I here every summer. It may have been a rip off theme park, but it was as loved as much as Disney World by poor Canadian kids everywhere. I’ve always wanted to see an abandoned them park channel take up Ontario place but this is the first time I’ve seen it! I guess most channels are American and only focus on American parks
I've grown up along side with Ontario Place. I've seen it change over the years. Some were good and some were bad. The Children's Village was an amazing place for kids, but all of the stuff under the red tent was removed. Prior to Canada's Wonderland, there was very little competition unless if you were to include Centreville. Admission to Ontario Place was included with your admission to the CNE, but you still had to pay for the attractions. There was one year where your CNE admission included the attractions of Ontario Place. More water parks, such as Wild Waterworks in Hamilton and Wild Water Kingdom (now Wet N' Wild) in northwest Toronto. The killer was when Canada's Wonderland added in their waterpark. Ontario Place tried to add things which didn't help. One year they added amusement rides to the grounds. The rides were booked in from one of the local carnival operators. I really did like Mega Maze. You were given a swipe card and had to find the card reader in each of the seven mazes. They also kept track of your time. Unfortunately that was removed. It was sad to see that Ontario Place had closed. The park sat dormant for a number of years. The reopening of the Cinesphere has been a huge success. The Cinesphere was also used by IMAX as a test lab for their new dual laser projector prior to reopening. There's been the Winterlight Festival for the past few years with lighting displays around the West Island along with ice skating and fire pits.
Ontario Place holds a lot of nostalgia for me. Had my prom there, actually. Went there with my kids a couple of years before it shut down for good. It was still a nice area, albeit a bit of a pain to get to from north of the city. I do hope that the government can do something with the property outside of the Domestic Beer Theatre. Open it up as a location for festivals and such (once we're no longer in a pandemic of course).
staple of my childhood. every summer, we went to see family in England. when we got home we'd spend a full day or two at the CNE, Ontario Place and Centreville on the Toronto Islands. Never went to Canada's Wonderland until I was in highschool. Thank you for making this video. Brought back a lot of amazing memories
Love that you did this video - thank you! We walk through Ontario Place every single day. It’s a 7km loop from our front door, all the way around Ontario Place and back. It’s fun walking through an abandoned theme park that brings back so many memories and wondering what the future holds
That first commercial brought me right back. I remember seeing it on TV all the time as a kid and begging my parents to take me there - they finally took me there and I had a great time! The flume ride reminded me a lot of Splash Mountain.
Despite having Canada's Wonderland in my backyard, I remember going to the Ontario Place every Canada's Day - and absolutely loved it! I have such great memories of the splash park, getting my "driver's license", and waiting in line for whatever IMAX film they were showing that day... lol. And the commercial was the shit.
Thanks for the history; this one hits home... I used to go to this every year! Sad I won't be able to take my kids to enjoy these rides now but the Amphitheater is still open, and they have Echo Beach as well, so I still find myself going there. I loved the Lego pavilion and the log flume (one of the only rides my mom would go on lol). I also had the chance to try the Nintendo Virtual Boy once when it came out (first and last time though haha). The maze was awesome too.
Omg I'm so glad I found this! I love it when channels talk about local stuff to Toronto. I just watched your video on Sledgehammer in Wonderland and thank you for highlighting this childhood gem! That "kids just Anna have fun" commercial is one I remember as a kid. I'm really sad they want to make it into an expensive spa resort 😢
There is one thing that always confused me about the purpose of Ontario Place compared to Centre Island. Centre Island also has a little amusement park, doesn't it? At least that's what I remember. I also remember Ontario Place's cinema was the only place to see a 3D movie on its Imax projector. My family and I saw Spy Kids 3D. I also remember really wanting to try out that Atom Blaster super ballpit but my parents never let us :(
I _loved_ the footage of Expo 67! My parents were there, but I was still a few years away from being born. I visited the site a few years ago. The metal framework of the geodesic dome remains standing, but the site is now mostly overgrown. The French Pavillion is now a casino; most other remenents of the fair are long gone.
It was 1974 and I was 9 and Ontario Place was heaven. We had not long moved from Northern Ontario to Hamilton, and a day trip to Ontario Place was a HUGE treat. The children’s area was not even complete at that point, but the ball pit(first I had ever seen!), the HUGE inflatable jumping field, the hanging soft cylinders, the rope glide, all those were in place and unlike anything my brother and I had ever experienced before. Inside the dome, there was a display of animated characters up high and they played “It’s a Small World”. And then there was the IMAX film being shown in the theatre, every time we went back, a different one. So awesome in those days when there wasn’t even a vcr yet! We went back every year for the next four or five years until we were teens. Such a happy part of my young life. Then Wonderland opened when I was 15 and it became the place to go……
Coming across this video really brought back a lot of great memories of going to Ontario Place, and enjoying the video game section in the big golf ball! The log ride was great and so much more! Was great being a kid in 90's Toronto! Thank you for the memories!
I feel like Cove Reber would want to see this as he played a small set list back in the early 2000s. A tour I begged dad to take me to and thoroughly enjoyed. Yeah I did get pics with him and the band. BTW never did the rides though I wanted to.
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How about expedition six flags la Ronde?
@@wendyokoopa7048 I will in the future!
👌
I've been here as a kid back in the early 2000's, make the next video on Canada's Wonderland or Niagara falls attractions
Autoworld in Flint Michigan, someday, please! It was my favorite park as a kid....I was a weird child. or Canadian/Detroit Boblo Island! OR the Lost World of Sid and Marty Kroft park!
Yo that Ontario Place commercial jingle was a banger tho.
been on repeat for weeks for me!
Pretty sure it was written by a member of OPSEU, working in a government music factory funded by the Ontario ministry of cheesy jingles and funny walks. Lol.
Probably because it's just "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," which is already a banger, but re-worded.
Billboaed Top 50 for 678 weeks
Though* There's a "ugh" in the word.
28 year old from Oakville, Ontario, here
i cried
i cried a whole lot
thank you for giving this place the respect it deserves
Thank you for watching.
😢😭😭😢
I miss Ontario Place 😭😭😢
@@ExpeditionThemePark your content is excellent man
But yeah you really captured what a nostalgic place it was for us millennials and older, while being fair and objective that it ultimately had many many issues that lead to its eventual demise
Love the fact that you brought up how it was much cheaper too. Canada's wonderland has always been pricey and our family couldn't always afford it
@@RequiemDream We get your point dude. It's ok, all of us Ontarians that grew up in that era miss it as well
I have so many good memories of going here as a kid. My family didn't have the money for a trip to a big theme park, so having one so close by was a godsend. Sad to see what happened to it. :(
Yeah a real shame
Same! I was also poor but my dad took my sister and I here every year. Do you remember the mega maze? I’d give my left foot to be able to go through that maze just one last time
@@paigemcmaster5040 I really miss Ontario Place 😢😭😭
@@paigemcmaster5040 Ontario Place 😔😢🌹
Ummm . . . shouldn't you poor people quit wasting your time on the internet and get back to work? I mean, it's like you don't mind being poor and unwashed.
I went to Ontario Place as kid in the mid 70s with my parents and really enjoyed Chlidrens Village and everything else it offered. Later in my teens and early 20s I used to bring girls I dated there and enjoyed the walks along the lake at Ontario Place and the bars/restaurants they had in a whole different view. Such great memories as I am now in my mid 50s. I was lucky enough to bring my son there when he was a baby to a whole of new set of memories. Sadly the place closed and its a shame the kids growing up today will never experience the joy I had there. They should never let this place be sold to developers or turned into a casino ..................................
Its amazing how this place resonates with so many and the nostalgia is the same. Thats amazing that you got to bring your kid there. The best memories are from the 1980s and 1990s especially when nintendo power pod was there
Some of the best visions for the future of the Baby Boomer generation have slowly crashed and burned over the decades, as a kid of the 70s I find I so sad.
It will soon be open again with all the details you remember and free access. The ducks and swans will once again be begging alongside the little pubs, the Cinesphere will again have lineups, the pods will have a real use, concerts will be year-round, and the spa will be open in cold weather months, too.
@@billdaverne9389an unaccessible mega spa who gives a shit about a spa… rich people and not the average person thats who and a half a billion dollar parking garage paid for by the tax payer benefitting a foreign company when people are literally starving to death and have no where to live around the corner. a mega spa for 95 years. seems realistic and smart. i think billions of dollars could have gone to much more realistic development that would actually benefit people
I grew up going to Ontario Place in the early 2000s, and desperately miss it. Sure it wasn't as big or crazy as Canada's Wonderland, but I feel it doesn't have to be. It would be nice to have that space back downtown, that's easier to get to for families and locals, rather than driving all the way up to Vaughan.
I agree, it is such a pain to get to CW
On every level-- municipal, provincial, and national-- we are held back by leaders who openly hate us and show negative interest in saving our nation's landmarks or attractions. Even though Toronto is easily one of Canada's biggest cities, you wouldn't know it looking at how faded and washed out everything is. The money is all gone and now we just 'exist'.
Me too 😭 we docked here where year during the ex, and just being there over night and exploring the park as a kid especially through the lantern festivals... god I miss it so much 😭😭😭 it really feels like a loss of childhood
Another Torontonian here with tears to say thank you. Unfortunately there have been new developments to this land, as of this year the Ontario government decided to turn it into a bougie spa for rich tourists instead an accessible park for the communities who live here. Its a heartbreaking loss but it makes your coverage of this all the more meaningful, thank you.
Yep . I'm a northern girl who moved east to Ottawa ! Lol that's awesome to see many from Ontario here join together!
its true. :( even as a rundown place that was growing in nature, Ontario place was inviting to many
Toronto isn't a place for ordinary people anymore.
Not from Toronto, but we visited the science centre frequently enough as a kid, but only went to Ontario Place once. When I went to a concert at the Molson Amphitheater as an adult, there was nothing there that I remembered, and it was so depressing.
That sucks, I went there as a kid
Extinct videos are honestly so bittersweet since I already know they'll end in abandonment or demolition, but i wont deny its interesting to see how they got there in the first place
I did see some of the rides. Mostly the kiddie rides but I think the water park area was closed or off in another part. I only saw the Molson amphitheater and a sea of ⛺s, a small stage and tables.
Right?!
@@ExpeditionThemePark might have seen the free fall as I snaked my way to Molson amphitheater. But I just remember a kiddie tower
I do this on and off all the time. There's so many things from my childhood that are terrible now or don't exist. Its very hard to find things like this anymore.
And it's become hard to accept that.
I was born in 77 and spent every summer at Ontario Place. Later, I went mostly for concerts. I think the last year I went as a child was 1994 before I saw Pink Floyd at the Exhibition. One of the best days of my life, spent with my father. I miss it. Thank you for making this. xo
I was there at a pink floyd concert in 87 I think. Learning to fly album. Incredible.
As someone who went here alot as a kid growing up in Toronto I can say this place was amazing. I was very sad when they shut it down 🙁. Awsome video as always
Thank you so much!
I know right!! I'm glad they posted this as a reminder❤
how dare you not linger on how cool the mega maze or bumper boats were! the highlight of any school field trip
Sadly I couldn't because I couldn't find any footage of inside the maze 😢
@@ExpeditionThemePark ah crap, makes sense. from what I can recall, it was a 10+ minute, multi-section, indoor/outdoor maze. classic mirrors, stone/hedge style, classic orange and yellow cafeteria table walls ... and like checkpoints in each area you had to find. we always compared our best time printouts on the bus back to school lol
@@LauraMuirhead yes there were like ten different maze sections including a mirror maze and optical illusion painted maze
@@LauraMuirhead the chair on the ceiling.. memories
I have such fond memories of the mega maze , fun fact :my brother was the lead sound tech for the final years of Ontario place and his office was in the silos where the mega maze was housed.
Growing up on the low end of middle class in rural Ontario i gotta say.... an ambitious project abandoned over confusion and shady circumstances is a perfect metaphor for Ontario.
Well how do you feel now?
@@jjmarz1001 About life in general or ontario place? My life is ok but i had to move to Nova Scotia. Only time i went to Ontario Place was long after it was a Bud venue and the experience was miserable. The performance was good and the acoustic worked, but i had to navigate a sort of capitalist funnel to get there.
@@zachweyrauch2988 Well I'm glad you at least enjoyed the band. I went to many many shows there, even back when it was the Forum. Always made a day of it with the family and enjoyed all the family attractions as well. REM, Sarah McLaughlin, Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Gowan, Brain Adams, Tom Petty (one of my all-time favorite shows). I'm very happy that Ontario Place is going to be revitalized and look forward to being able to return.
@@jjmarz1001 Its cool you got the chance to do that. By the time i was old enough to try and go see music played live for myself ticket master had already outpriced me.
With any luck when things start back up again live music will be more accessible and common. Ontario Place though is still prohibitively difficult to get to for anyone outside the GO bus range.
@@zachweyrauch2988 They're building a subway line to Exhibition Place. There will also be several free attractions there. Trails and Parks. I've always enjoyed bike riding there.
If you come visit, Niagara Falls has some decent bands at reasonable prices at Fallsview Avalon Theater. I've seen Styx, Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Boston, The Temptations, and Art Garfunkel there.
I hope to make it out to Nova Scotia someday. I've been to New Brunswick, but not Nova Scotia.
When I was a kid I had the chance to visit Ontario Place in 1974. I think I drove my parents insane on the long drive from Detroit with "Are we there yet?" I loved it so much.
ahaha classic
Lotro profile picture, nice!
@@sutterismine In all these years you are the first to recognize it!
@@myrany8407 I used to be mad addicted to that game lol, haven't played in a bit tho
I was first there in 1971 when entry was a $1 and concerts were free at The Forum. A few years earlier it was just open water. OP was built from nothing and became a wonderful space that captured the best of Expo 67, grew trees and great lawns, and brought visitors close to the water and wildlife. Then the Liberals and NDP messed it up and the political hacks they put on its boards made bad decisions from 1985 to 1995 and 2003 to 2018 -- those 25 years of mismanagement sunk Ontario Place and created the place shown in this video. Now, inspired govt decision-making is bringing Ontario Place back from the dead and once again it will be a jewel on the waterfront, this time year-round.
Man, this was my theme park growing up! My day camp had one day a week where we went on trips, and some summers I went to Ontario Place twice. The Wilderness Adventure ride was the most iconic ride for all of us. My dad lost his hat on the drop, so we needed to tell them to get it. xD Also, it was a rite of passage when you were tall enough to go on it. Especially because of the lack of seat belts, the fact that you felt like you were going to fall out, and the creepy animatronics in that dark uphill tunnel before the drop. Same with Soak City. If Ontario Place was still around, I'd go to that water park at least 2 times in the summer because the water slides were fun. It saddens me what happened here.
Me too
Ontario Place is such a special spot. There is so much wildlife and great birdwatching. The threat of re-development looms large. I hope the area remains what it is today and know that there are lots of people willing to fight for it to stay wild.
i only went once as a child in the mid-80s but i remember the play structures/water zone to be absolutely amazing. it blew my mind. i have the most clear memory of lots of really tall twisty tube slides. it was a child’s dream.
grew up going to Ontario Place, happy times with my family. there weren't many. saw concerts there in my 20s and my last memory was seeing the premiere of Trainspotting, 1996 in the IMAX Theatre. thank you, Bill Davis for opening this - Rest in Peace.
I use to go to the iMac at science north in Sudbury all the time !! I grew up up north in that area .. visited Toronto plenty
There and Crystal Beach.
Trainspotting in IMAX??‽!!! What in the worrrrrrld
That song....just hit nostalgia I didn't know I have.
They used to air infomercials for this place, and that song would play intermittently throughout.
As a child of the 80s/90s ,Ontario Place will always hold an incredibly fond and special in my heart. With the warm weather upon us I have been riding my down through there every so often and it brings back great memories every time. Its so sad thats its future is still so uncertain, for many of us it was a big part of our childhood .
If they had added at least one iconic roller coaster or ride, maybe they would still be around. They were downtown right off the main highway, unbelievable how they messed this up!
Would of been cool!
Eh, I'm not so sure. This feels like a safer version of Action Park - an amusement park only in the literal definition of the word. Adding a rollercoaster to what was essentially a playground with restaurants and an outdoor theater would've seemed out of place (not to mention that people were complaining about waterslides and log flumes being added, so a rollercoaster would've caused even more complaints).
They were downtown, but not really downtown, if that makes sense.
The Ex actually cuts off Ontario Place from everything else. And the way public transit is designed in the area, you had to walk a bit just to get to the entrance.
As for driving, trying to get to Ontario Place or the Ex off the Gardiner was a bit inconvenient if you were coming from the DVP. Although I suppose there's nothing new about linking "Gardiner" with "a bit inconvenient".
But don't let these travel complaints fool you - I still loved going to Ontario Place every year when I was a kid.
@@kevwwong and the government is committed to building the Ontario subway line that runs to this place. Like the author of this video stated, there is some unspoken incentive going on behind the scenes with the government for making some money off this land, somehow.
@@lutesjay Kathleen closed it .
It's been nearly closed for almost 10 years now?!
I didn't think it had been closed that long... and the song is still stuck in my head all these years later.
I definitely have memories of the maze.
Yep! NEarly 10 now
Just imagine, this was a place where people WENT. LIKE WENT TO AND HAD FUN. It still blows my mind that these things are gone and like were at one point sprawling.
Yep!
I'm 65. Our family visited both Expo '67 and Ontario Place. We rode the monorail through the US pavilion.
We went to the CNE quite often. The CNE still had early 20th century wooden peep show boxes in the sixties! Thank you for this walk down memory lane.
I grew up going to Ontario Place every other weekend as a kid (I'm 48 this year) to watch this video and see what happened to it afterwards breaks my damn heart.. If i ever won the lottery, I'd buy a piece of that property just to save whats left of it. Thank you for showing the respect that it deserved. The information through out this video was great too. Informed me of a lot of things i didn't even know. i hope one day it comes back to life and not in a residential way.
It's under re-construction right now. Happy Days will be here again. And when the Ontario Line is complete there will be subway service, too!
If you win the lotto and I also win, I'll throw some of my winnings in too
I dont know why but this made me cry. its such a shame seeing a place that so many people loved be failed by our government yet again
Me: Mom, can we go to EPCOT?
Mom: We have EPCOT at home.
EPCOT at home:
Aha it's true.
I don’t lol 😆
I loved epcot at home tho ;_;
Yeah I’d rather go back here to relive my childhood than go to Disney or Epcot
@@paigemcmaster5040 Not to mention that rework of "Let's go to the Hop", rofl. I remember that, it was just as cheesy then as it is now.
I loved Ontario Place as a kid! Loved watching the Symphony of Fire in the summer - happy memories of summers in Canada.
Symphony of Fire! Yes! I dont know if this was a regular thing or just a special event one year (I'm from 2 hours away and didn't get to Toronto regularly) but we went to that one year and they also had grounded hot air balloons shooting their propane flames in time with the music. It was awesome! I was really young and that is literally the only thing I remember about that trip. I do not remember the rest of Ontario Place at all.
I was someone who frequented Ontario Place A LOT in the 70's and 80's. In this heyday, you paid $12.00 admission which gave you full access to the children's area, Cinesphere (movie theatre), The Forum, shops and restaurants. The park was packed and exciting - a real destination. I saw so many performances there, from Ella Fitzgerald to Mikhail Baryshnikov - not to mention many great Canadian bands The park's downfall came when they closed The Forum and replaced it with the Molson Amphitheatre. The admission rose (by the 90's it cost $29.00 - try taking a family in at that price), the attractions dwindled, shops closed, and the food offerings deteriorated. People just came for the concerts which now cost in the region of $100 pp. They made the mistake of trying to compete with Canada's Wonderland (which is a good 45 minute drive north of Toronto) instead of elaborating on the uniqueness of what was already a very cool venue. As for Toronto, the city is now controlled by developers who don't care about culture or uniqueness, they only care about profits. I'm sure they've been salivating over this property for decades. So sad, so short-sighted.
You're right about the price increases killing it. From $1 a day in 1971 up to $12 up to $29, etc. It stopped being value for money. Now with the re-development -- no condos, no developers involved -- access will be free for most spaces at OP and the spirit will return!
I was 10 when I went in 1969 on a school trip. I loved it. But being growing up on the farm it was difficult to go. Cost ruins enjoyment and fun. Thanks for the memories.
Hearing the classic Ontario Place ad with the Cyndi Lauper parody awakened ANCIENT forgotten memories. Used to hear that constantly over the car radio when my mom drove me to school in the morning.
My Senior Class trip was to EXPO 67. I still remember it as one of the best times of my life. La Ronde was state of the art at the time. Too bad it has fallen into hard times. Thanks for bringing back some fun memories in the Intro.
That is amazing!!
La Ronde was great as long as it was owned by the city of Montreal. It turned to crap when they sold it to Six Flags. I had a great time there in the 70's and early 80's.
@@ve2vfd EXACTLY - Six Flags totally ruined it.
What did Six Flags do to Laronde? Add a few new rides? Most of the changes from the 70s to today took place under the city's watch, as they slowly stopped funding the park.
La Ronde was way better in the 90’s b4 six flags bought the park! Six flags only ships leftover rides to La Ronde that other parks don’t want anymore and gave the park the reputation of worst six flags park ever!
My Mom use to live in Ontario when she was younger so I asked her if she ever went to this amusement park and she said she did. She told me she had a lot of memories there when her dad use to take her there.
I watched a different channel cover this amusement park a while back. When I told her it was abandoned she was shocked.
That's awesome!
So THIS is how the Roller Coaster Tycoon cinema design came to be. Interesting!
Dang I completely forgot about that!
Whoa! Good catch! Funny now seeing my 10yr old nephew playing Fortnite from sun up to sun down I’d catch myself beginning to nag him before I stop and realize I used to be just like him except my childhood game addiction was Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 & 2. I forgot what I was watching but it was about some European amusement park and I was able to spot a few things that looked very similar to a few assets from the game. Very cool.
Thought that immediately! I
used the cinema in that game as “Spaceship Earth” when I made my Epcot recreation so many years ago, wow.
:O I didn't know that
A lot of Rollercoaster Tycoon's iconic pre-set stalls originate from Canobie Lake in New Hampshire. The original 'Wipeout', the seastar-themed Chance Trabant from Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was also here until it's removal in 2020.
I grew up being involved with Ontario Place through my dad and eventually went on to work there for 10 years before basically being fired over news of its closure through cp24. I could write a novel based on the experiences through the years, and I miss OP deeply to this day. Expectations are extremely low for what it will likely become. Rest in peace dear friend, thank you for all that you gave to so many.
Growing up in the 70's and 80's I guess we took for granted that Ontario Place would always be there and never change... That's how it felt back then! It was such a staple part of our landscape... AND! It was free to get in during the Ex!!
Fun fact about the Cinesphere: while it was closed between 2012 and 2017, IMAX used the theater to test out their new dual-laser projection system
such a cool place!
As someone who saw Ontario place in the distance as a kid when going to the CNE but never going in before it completely shut down, this was a really interesting expedition for me. It's so strange to have heard of this place only in the terms of it shutting down, so it's nice to actually know what it was all about. Thanks again for covering something from Canada!
Of course! Gotta support my home city 🥰
@@ExpeditionThemePark you're canadian?
@@wendyokoopa7048 I'm not Canadian but until recently I lived in Toronto.
@@ExpeditionThemePark oh cool. I am Canadian but I'm in between la Ronde and a fair place.
@@ExpeditionThemePark I'm in between Ottawa and Toronto
The Children's Village, Wilderness Ride and Water Park were absolute core memories for me. I recently paddled through the inner waters of the islands and it truly is a shell of what it once was. There's another redevelopment project in talks, we'll see what comes of it.
Very well done video, so much context, thank you!
I rode those concrete water slides many times in 1979 and 1980 (we didn't return to Ontario Place or CNE once Canada's Wonderland opened).
I can tell you if you lost the mat going down the slide, your elbows and knees would get shredded by the rough concrete slide, even though it was painted, you would suffer all the way down. I remember the water being stained red around me as I was going down with no mat, from my bleeding elbows and knees. Another thing that was crazy was the ending of the slide. Since this was a rather new thing, they hadn't realized it would be better to *drop into a pool with the slide slightly elevated above the water surface,* instead of running into a "wall" of water. The splashdown pool had so much water in it, the flume had about a foot of water in it at the end.
Also have memories of rides in the pedal boats in the lagoon under the pods, and the rollerskating rink which seem to like playing "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins.
It's so funny, Ontario Place and the Ex are such a normal thing in my life that it's fascinating to watch videos on it from those that aren't familiar. Also, as soon as that Ontario Place commercial song came on my entire childhood/young adult life smacked me in the face. 😂 Thanks for the awesome video and nostalgia!!
This place was so special to me. We went most summers when I was a kid, usually during the CNE, and then I went again many times as an adult, including during the final season in the traditional form. I don't take my last turn on the wilderness adventure ride for granted. Thanks for this!
Thank you for watching !
I grew up in Ontario... These commercials are bringing back so many memories...
My parents lived in Montreal during Expo 67... They said it was the best atmosphere in the city.
Ouch, right in the feels dude! The mega maze in the solo's was my favorite!! The water park there was insane! You definitely nailed it when you said every one has fond childhood memories of the place. Before cellphones were the norm
I am sad i couldn't find any footage of the Mega Maze
That Ontario Place theme song is Catchy AF 🔥😎
Right?!
It totally was. I remember the commercials on tv !!
I have such vauge yet nostalgic memories of this place
Im viet and was born in the 90's. My parents been in toronto since 1984-5 and they have alot of pictures and some videos of ontario place throughout the 90's. Hopefully will digitalize the videos one day to upload on here. Im 33 now and its sad to see such a wonderful place go away.
when lurking on youtube pays off
The dream!
That music. Dont even have to think about it. It's so 70s. Haha. This was a great expedition.
Thank you! Some really good songs in this one 🤣
As a Toronto Native, first and foremost, big respect for shining some light on Ontario Place. Growing up in the City, I found that Ontario place somehow became a forgotten place to the majority of people in not just Toronto but for the whole of Canada. Personally I think much of this has to do with a poor marketing strategy and somehow not connecting with its community as effective as they should have. When you ask people about Ontario place, they cannot properly define what it exactly is, is it a place where Tourists can go for a walk, enjoy the scenery, and great food? is it a place for family's with young children? is it a place where the Arts and Entertainment can display acts for all ages and demographics? Is it where locals and tourists alike can shop and buy things? The truth is , its simply bad marketing, back in the 80's I remembered commercials for Ontario place was always playing on popular Tv channels and sports channels. Even on popular radio stations, they made sure they let everyone be reminded about coming out to Ontario Place.
Personally, moving forward, I hope they focus on recreating Ontario Place as somewhere where anyone can go there to have the ultimate hangout, filled with great places to eat, places to see live music, places to Shop, places to play games and park activities, a pool and splashpad , a revamped imax theatre, a sportsbar hangout. A town square like Stage where Live Acts, can perform music, comedy, plays etc. Maybe keep a waterslide or two, add some Zip Lining, Some water activities being its right at a waterfront sort of thing. Tons of ideas, that can really show its an attraction, but also needs an enormous amount of Marketing ....
I visited as a child in the 1980's, and then only for concerts at Budweiser Stage since. But I've been on that waterslide at Canada's Wonderland so many times - I had no idea it was originally at Ontario Place!! Thanks for the factoid! I love all your videos.
I remember the World’s Fair as a child. A wonderful experience and memory.
Wish I got to experience some of the classics
Been to Ontario place many times. fond memories a child. This video is pure nostalgia! Its a sad sight to see when walking along the shores of Toronto during a summer visit. These were the peak years of Canada. Everything has gone downhill since then... :(
I miss the Children's Village. So many memories!
So amazing
@@ExpeditionThemePark did you ever have the chance to go?
One of the big challenges with Ontario Place was always access. Despite being downtown, there was only distant or sparse transit access. For an urban amusement and recreation park, it was a pretty big barrier to overcome.
@@EvDelen Yeah, when I lived near Bloor and Dundas W Toronto it was a pretty quick walk for me! I always struggled getting to Canada's Wonderland as I didn't have a car.
@@ExpeditionThemePark that's a good walk! A little tougher to do with a stroller or a little one in tow. Closest Streetcar stop is the CNE loop, and even walking from there when I was young I thought it was the longest walk in the world!
You could go wild as a kid!!!
I feel like there's one huge element that gets overlooked when talking about Ontario Place. Toronto saw a massive evolution from a predominantly suburban, car-centric city into a high-density, pedestrian centric one thanks to the hundreds of new condo towers. Not only did Ontario Place become a lot more difficult to reach for suburbanites due to the increased traffic, but virtually zero housing or retail was built within a large radius from it, making it a mysterious distant land for the tens of thousands of new downtowners without a car. Without a single coffee shop, bar or restaurant in sight, downtowners just don't make the committment to go anywhere near Ontario Place.
You could easily get there from using the TTC...what are you talking about. There was/is a go train stop in Exhibition Place which is a short walk to Ontario place even with the EX going on and all the people there.
@@cliffitir the point is that it took a freefall down the list of things to do in the city, mainly because hundreds of restaurants, shops and bars opened in the core while nothing got developed anywhere near Ontario Place. It's a 90's American style car centric attraction, in a city where everyone dreams of a European city core lifestyle.
Downtowners are too busy trying to make their over-inflated mortgage/rent payments to worry about minor things like entertainment.
@@nevarmaor Clearly you don't live downtown
@@cosmocalisse Not any more. I'm priced out of that market.
As someone who worked on the Future of Ontario Place, this is a fantastic video! Well researched, well edited and correct in pretty much everything. Amazing stuff
This brings back memories of the first time I visited Ontario in 2011. My parents and now wife visited Ontario Place and went to the water park, and we obviously had no idea it would all be closed the next year. The next I time I was at Ontario Place was for a concert in 2018, and it was certainly different! Thanks for this video, and for bringing up some fun memories!
Thanks for watching!
Excellent! I have such fond memories of Ontario Place. Concerts, kids place and drinks before the Blue Jays games at the Ex!
Yesss
Gawd, I miss Ontario Place. Went there so often as a child. Got to visit with my oldest son one last time the year before it closed. I'm sure safety standards would never allow most of the climbers and activities in the Children's Village now. But it was a place of pure adventure and skinned knees when I was a kid.
yes!
Another well researched and produced video Sam. Thanks as always.
I live about 2hrs east of Toronto and have fond memories of visiting Ontario Place in the 70s and 80s.
As of July 2023 the plan is to redevelop Ontario Place into a new waterpark and Spa resort.
Although I have lived within 30 minutes of Toronto my whole life, I only have incredibly vague memories of going to Ontario Place with my family when I was very young in the early 2000s. Thanks for covering it, and finally giving me the chance to see what I remember more clearly. For a while, I thought I was just imagining it!
It was real!
I grew up in the 80s in Toronto, and I remember these jingles and all the memories of the time I spent there with family. I also remember the values, demographics, and overall hope that existed at the time. That Canada is dead now, but I remember
Im in Hamilton and when I heard it I swore I heard it on tv yesterday!
That's the thing, isn't it. After Expo 67 we were all looking forward to the future. Ontario Place was built on that hope for the future, along with a lot of things in Toronto at the time. Unfortunately by the time we got to "the future," it wasn't anything like what we hoped for. And no one seems to have much future-hope anymore. The condo vandals (I won't call them "developers") have wrecked so much...even the Big Slice fell to their greed. And Ford wants to end the Science Centre now.
As a Canadian it's rare enough to see my country featured in this genre. Your excellent summary of Expo '67 has me yearning for a similar video about Expo '86 in Vancouver BC and the lasting impact it had on the city (e.g. the launch of SkyTrain and yet another 'golf ball' structure).
At this point I'm very knowledgeable about theme parks and events all over the USA and around the world but to date I've found only one short video about a single ride from the place I grew up. It would be really cool to learn more from creators I admire and respect.
Keep up the great work! 👍🍍
YET ANOTHER AMAZING VIDEO.
SAD TO SEE THESE PLACES ROTTING AWAY.
KEEP THESE AWESOME VIDEOS COMING.
Thank you so much!
Ontarionian here. I was present for all of this. OP was just a symbol of a huge remaking of the province by visionary leaders. It worked brilliantly and they have nothing to regret
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
Seriously though, this was a huge part of my childhood. The water park, the giant freaking maze run, Legoland and the log flume. damn lotsa memories^^
hope you enjoyed
Such fond memories of Ontario Place. Went as a kid with the Brownies. Later, as an adult there were so many concerts at the forum. Sometimes my friends and I would go to 2 or 3 shows a week. The rotating stage was just amazing! The IMAX theater was incredible, and we would go to movies there every chance we got. There were a few concerts once it became the Budwiser stage, but the magic wasn't the same, without the rotating stage. It felt like the things that made Ontario Place so special were replaced with the same old stuff that you could experience everywhere else. That was the death of it.
It's sad that they allowed jets at the Island airport. After that, you couldn't hear the performers on stage.
I want to visit the remains of this place with my girlfriend so bad the next time I'm up in Ontario to visit her. Ever since Jake Williams went to it, I've always wanted to walk around a park that is still walkable and open to the public in some form. Hopefully, we can at one point before anything happens to the remains of the park.
I went a few times and it is so interesting to walk around and see the remnants
Lots of happy memories of Ontario Place as a kid back in the 1970's. The Cine-Sphere was epic, especially when un-suspecting patrons fell victim to dry-land sea sickness the big screen caused.
This and the CNE were things I remeber form my childhood, I recall they said they wanted a all year round theme place and yet still didnt do anything.
yeah
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I have fond memories of Ontario Place through the years. I was there opening weekend (and as a seven-year-old) sad the Children’s Village wasn’t complete. The next year it was and man was that fun!
Ontario Place was the best vantage point to see the CNE Airshow, and as a teen the Forum was one of the best places to see concerts. See, it was free with admission so you could see great concerts for cheap. And the rotating stage was awesome. The Cinesphere was iconic, and in the winter months - January and February - they had the 70mm Film Festival so you could see your favourite wide-screen movies on the big screen. I saw Top Gun there from the 5th row. WOW, were those planes big!
Let’s hope much of the concept is preserved - time will only tell.
Thanks for sharing your memories
Knowing the current government, it's basically a guarantee that it's getting turned into condos that are unaffordable to anyone actually living in Toroto, and instead, sit empty owned by foreign investors.
As someone who moved from England to Toronto I was so shocked by apartment prices
i don't know about that. ontario place was in part a vision of it's premiere of the time. bill davis - a conservative. who also started TVO and was instrumental in advancing ontario's colleges and universities. lest we forget about ontarios dark period with mcguinty and wynn.... but i digress as mike harris was just as bad. i think the video though is on the money. lack of vision at the top. they all forgot what ontario place was. wonderland was a theme park.... ontario wasn't.
@@ExpeditionThemePark Now that is saying something!
@David Davison ford is as bad as wynn and the rest. perhaps even worse, as liberals act like liberals, but we expect conservatives to act at least a bit conservatives, but ford et al also act liberal. the worst thing is it will be either a conservative or liberal or ndp government for ontario next election and more of the same as before
Aged like milk
The Mega Maze was a favourite of mine! Does anyone remember what the names of the individual sub-mazes were? There’s one I’ve forgotten and it’s driving me up the wall...
1. Mirror Maze
2. ???
3. Mockery Maze
4. Millennium Maze
5. Madcap Maze
6. Meander Maze
7. Master Maze
If anyone actually remembers and replies, that’d be much appreciated!
Ahhh my childhood! I loved Ontario Place so much as a kid. Truly the highlights of my summers
Loved it! As someone who grew up in Buffalo we went to Toronto often, and I loved Ontario Place. That playground was EPIC, even if you always got a bloody nose when you went in the forest of punching bags
That place was rough ha
Ah this brings back memories, went there a few times as a kid and it's too bad it's gone.
Yeah a real shame
Thank you. I needed this. 😊😊❤️
Our parents would take us here as children, then later I brought my twin sons here probably every other week In the 90’s. My sister worked there. She’s an artist and did Caricatures each summer for about 8 years. I went with my best friends Ray and Steve to one of the clubs over the water for New Year’s Eve in 1995. going to the club the Docks with a drive through movie theatre, pools and climbing walls hot tubs and other fun things to do,just over the lake from Ontario place the new years after. I love Canadas wonderland had a passport every year since 1988. Except one year we moved to California, but we missed Toronto and came home the year after lol. Love seeing all my childhood, adult adventures all in one video. ❤️❤️❤️
Too many developers drooling over this land and too many politicians with their hands out for kickbacks for this place every to remain a place for the people of Ontario.
So very happy to be proven wrong!!! Can't wait for the revitalization.
I was a very proud dishwasher at Trillium dining lounge (a restaurant that floated above the water and yachts). It was a pleasure to walk through the CNE fairgrounds and to work in such a wonderful place ... that I’ve always loved as a kid (during the 70’s). Thanks for a very thorough and entertaining video.
Excellent episode! It's surreal seeing the islands active and full of so many people again. For the last few summers I've been going to Ontario Place on weekends to bike or wander, as it's a very uniquely bizarre public park-space for now. But there had also been random events (prior to 2020 lock-down) worth checking out there, like the Waterfront Night Market, Christmas Village, outdoor skating, and other themed food festivals.
I hadn't realized that it had closed. I worked at Ontario place back in 92/93. It was a really fun place to work. Such a shame that it hasn't survived. Thank you for showcasing the history of the place. I really hope they can redevelop it to showcase it like it deserves to be. And I agree that there is no need for additional condos by the waterfront. Toronto's waterfront was always beautiful and I loved walking down in that area when I lived there. Condo/apartments don't fit into that beauty.
Checked youtube on a whim. Feel like I won the lottery. Never been this early to an expedition lol
Haha good timing !
lol same
Exactly
We used to have such fun there when it opened. We were young and enjoyed the waterfront, having a beer or 3. Having fun with friends. Watching Ben Hur on the big screen, also 2001 a space odyssey, was fortunate enough to be asked to tour the facility before it opened to the Public. Lots of good memories.
Dude thank you so much for making this. I grew up in Toronto in the 90s and had a pretty shitty childhood, but the one positive childhood memory I have is my dad taking my sister and I here every summer. It may have been a rip off theme park, but it was as loved as much as Disney World by poor Canadian kids everywhere.
I’ve always wanted to see an abandoned them park channel take up Ontario place but this is the first time I’ve seen it! I guess most channels are American and only focus on American parks
I've grown up along side with Ontario Place. I've seen it change over the years. Some were good and some were bad. The Children's Village was an amazing place for kids, but all of the stuff under the red tent was removed. Prior to Canada's Wonderland, there was very little competition unless if you were to include Centreville. Admission to Ontario Place was included with your admission to the CNE, but you still had to pay for the attractions. There was one year where your CNE admission included the attractions of Ontario Place. More water parks, such as Wild Waterworks in Hamilton and Wild Water Kingdom (now Wet N' Wild) in northwest Toronto. The killer was when Canada's Wonderland added in their waterpark. Ontario Place tried to add things which didn't help. One year they added amusement rides to the grounds. The rides were booked in from one of the local carnival operators. I really did like Mega Maze. You were given a swipe card and had to find the card reader in each of the seven mazes. They also kept track of your time. Unfortunately that was removed. It was sad to see that Ontario Place had closed. The park sat dormant for a number of years. The reopening of the Cinesphere has been a huge success. The Cinesphere was also used by IMAX as a test lab for their new dual laser projector prior to reopening. There's been the Winterlight Festival for the past few years with lighting displays around the West Island along with ice skating and fire pits.
Ontario Place holds a lot of nostalgia for me. Had my prom there, actually.
Went there with my kids a couple of years before it shut down for good. It was still a nice area, albeit a bit of a pain to get to from north of the city.
I do hope that the government can do something with the property outside of the Domestic Beer Theatre. Open it up as a location for festivals and such (once we're no longer in a pandemic of course).
Yeah I hope so also
I need that Ontario Place sweater at 6:47
Right?!
staple of my childhood. every summer, we went to see family in England. when we got home we'd spend a full day or two at the CNE, Ontario Place and Centreville on the Toronto Islands. Never went to Canada's Wonderland until I was in highschool.
Thank you for making this video. Brought back a lot of amazing memories
It always breaks my heart when theme parks close down.
Love that you did this video - thank you! We walk through Ontario Place every single day. It’s a 7km loop from our front door, all the way around Ontario Place and back. It’s fun walking through an abandoned theme park that brings back so many memories and wondering what the future holds
I have spent much time walking through the place!
I remember this mostly from when Jake Williams and his friend visited this abandoned park.
That first commercial brought me right back. I remember seeing it on TV all the time as a kid and begging my parents to take me there - they finally took me there and I had a great time! The flume ride reminded me a lot of Splash Mountain.
Only found your channel a few weeks ago, love it! Thanks for all of this.
Thank you so much
Despite having Canada's Wonderland in my backyard, I remember going to the Ontario Place every Canada's Day - and absolutely loved it! I have such great memories of the splash park, getting my "driver's license", and waiting in line for whatever IMAX film they were showing that day... lol. And the commercial was the shit.
Thanks for the history; this one hits home... I used to go to this every year! Sad I won't be able to take my kids to enjoy these rides now but the Amphitheater is still open, and they have Echo Beach as well, so I still find myself going there. I loved the Lego pavilion and the log flume (one of the only rides my mom would go on lol). I also had the chance to try the Nintendo Virtual Boy once when it came out (first and last time though haha). The maze was awesome too.
I did read Nintendo did a thing here! Ispent alot of time walking around after I moved to Toronto. Such a faciniating history
Omg I'm so glad I found this! I love it when channels talk about local stuff to Toronto. I just watched your video on Sledgehammer in Wonderland and thank you for highlighting this childhood gem! That "kids just Anna have fun" commercial is one I remember as a kid. I'm really sad they want to make it into an expensive spa resort 😢
There is one thing that always confused me about the purpose of Ontario Place compared to Centre Island. Centre Island also has a little amusement park, doesn't it? At least that's what I remember. I also remember Ontario Place's cinema was the only place to see a 3D movie on its Imax projector. My family and I saw Spy Kids 3D.
I also remember really wanting to try out that Atom Blaster super ballpit but my parents never let us :(
They do have a small one!
sorry you missed out on the ball pit, it really was something else 🤩
I _loved_ the footage of Expo 67! My parents were there, but I was still a few years away from being born. I visited the site a few years ago. The metal framework of the geodesic dome remains standing, but the site is now mostly overgrown. The French Pavillion is now a casino; most other remenents of the fair are long gone.
It was 1974 and I was 9 and Ontario Place was heaven. We had not long moved from Northern Ontario to Hamilton, and a day trip to Ontario Place was a HUGE treat. The children’s area was not even complete at that point, but the ball pit(first I had ever seen!), the HUGE inflatable jumping field, the hanging soft cylinders, the rope glide, all those were in place and unlike anything my brother and I had ever experienced before. Inside the dome, there was a display of animated characters up high and they played “It’s a Small World”. And then there was the IMAX film being shown in the theatre, every time we went back, a different one. So awesome in those days when there wasn’t even a vcr yet! We went back every year for the next four or five years until we were teens. Such a happy part of my young life. Then Wonderland opened when I was 15 and it became the place to go……
Stifling Ontario Place of funding and letting it decay while resenting it becoming commercialized feels like a metaphor for rhe past 50 years.
Coming across this video really brought back a lot of great memories of going to Ontario Place, and enjoying the video game section in the big golf ball! The log ride was great and so much more! Was great being a kid in 90's Toronto! Thank you for the memories!
I feel like Cove Reber would want to see this as he played a small set list back in the early 2000s. A tour I begged dad to take me to and thoroughly enjoyed. Yeah I did get pics with him and the band. BTW never did the rides though I wanted to.
Awesome!
@@ExpeditionThemePark the photos are on a cd but it's with mom...