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Abandoned animatronics at ontario place.
Topic Started: Jun 8 2016, 01:38 PM (1,246 Views)
PTT
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Just off the shore of Toronto, lies a small man-made island called Ontario place that once held a small amusement park. It was constructed in the late 60's and opened in 1970. It was a feat if engineering and technology at the time, and contained the cinesphere, a large sphere shaped building that housed the first imax theater. It also had five square-shaped pods that were suspended over lake Ontario. Each pod was connected by walkways, and contained different milestones in Canadian innovation, each pod being a different era, much like Disney's COP without the Animatronics. The last pod was the future pod, but the second last pod was modern times. This pod included a large clock on a wall. Every 15 mins sections of the wall would open to reveal Animatronics that played the park's anthem. The park also had a go kart track, paddle boat swans, a dangerous 70's playground and water park called the children's village, and an Alice in wonderland mini golf. It also had a marina village with shops and an arcade and an outdoor good Court with fountain. Another main draw was the large amphitheatre that many famous groups played at.

Here are some commercials along with footage of the clock

https://youtu.be/0NwnGt2fejY

https://youtu.be/wEzq9TuWvqg

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xseozo_ontario-place-future-pod-1983_tv

https://youtu.be/kj5x1vEmtQg

In 1985, the west side of island that was parkland and picnic area became "Canada North", an area dedicated to Canada's heritage in the north west. This area included an arcade that later became an FX theatre, a new mini golf in the woods (the old one was replaced with more water park), silo's connected by walkways that contained a fun house, and a log flume ride called the"Wilderness Adventure". The log ride featured the most Animatronic figures in a single attraction in all of Canada at the time, and showed scenes of hillbillies, miners, lumberjacks and animals. The Animatronics were mostly in the outside portion of the ride, and built to be weather proof. Some however, were in the lift, or "miner's shack". There was also one in a small shack outside the entrance to the ride and some in cave you walked through to shortcut to the ride from the park entrance.

Here is a commercial and a ride through. At the time the ride through was taken, the bots were in poor condition, and didn't work to the Disney quality they do in the commercial.

https://youtu.be/cqBF3-Esl1E

https://youtu.be/-eSgp-rW_B4

In 2010, the park celebrated it's 40th anniversary, but due to declining attendance, the park was shut down. Since, the government of Ontario owners the park, no one was paying for the land, so there was no need to instantly revamp it into something new. The park was left, and after a year of being closed, was declared abandoned. But it wasn't like they prepared the park for it. It was as if the employees just got up and left one day, planning to come back the next morning, let alone season, or eternity. Ketchup packages were left in the hot dog stands to be eaten by rats, good left in the fridges to go mouldy, the pods and cinesphere left to rust, the silo's to crumble. The water park that had replaced the playground was left full if chlorinated water, first aid kits full if supplies. The FX theatre and go karts were left with $1000s worth if equipment in them, and the paddle boats were sidelined. The creepiest though, was the log flume.


Here are some photos of the park (not the flume though):

http://i.imgur.com/rIPN70w.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b6/3a/c1/b63ac1d5790845c4f7dff922ae2b2dda.jpg

http://i.cbc.ca/1.1580913.1379054649!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/hi-ontario-place-852.jpg

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18756303268/in/set-72157654343383459/

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18943554415/in/set-72157654343383459/

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18938214082/in/set-72157654343383459/

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18320841704/in/set-72157654343383459/

There are rumors that the clock is still in a pod, but no one has ever got in...
Edited by PTT, Jun 8 2016, 02:15 PM.
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PaulKTF
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Ah, govornment efficiency at work...
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PTT
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@paulKTF That's not the end of it. The log ride is the creepiest of all. The Animatronics were left outside, and with no maintenance, started to rot. They faced harsh Canadian winters and lake side winds. The photos spark missed emotions as someone who enjoyed the ride when everything worked in all its glory. The feeling of fear because of the sheer creepiness of it all, conflicting with the sadness as you see a deer's decapitated head lying in the dirt. The happiness that it is still there, not torn down, mixed with you wanting them to tear it down just to put it out of it's misery. Here are the pictures:
The entrance to the ride, the cave walkthrough entrance is to the right of the photographer:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18943889475/in/set-72157654343383459/
this is the shack the single miner Animatronic was in just outside the entrance. You can't tell from this image, but his severed torso and a deer's decapitated head are in the bottom, under the counter:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18320968894/in/set-72157654343383459/
Entrance:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18938545812/in/set-72157654343383459/
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18756101150/in/set-72157654343383459/
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18756174398/in/set-72157654343383459/
Ticket booths:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18946685261/in/set-72157654343383459/


https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18943791245/in/set-72157654343383459/
Lineup:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18756003740/in/set-72157654343383459/

Station:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18757523449/in/set-72157654343383459/
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18323109623/in/set-72157654343383459/
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18322946953/in/set-72157654343383459/
Just after leaving the station:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18322984183/in/set-72157654343383459/

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18756061970/in/set-72157654343383459/
A small cave (this one never contained anything):
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18323056543/in/set-72157654343383459/

This hillbilly built a fire, his arms moved up and down rubbing two sticks together, while his partner (just to the left of the photographer) stacked wood. the background is a log two men sawed with a two man saw, their bodies are elsewhere in the bush now:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18755823358/in/set-72157654343383459/
Not photographed was a man chopping wood who was next in the ride
This one held a shotgun. When a boat passes he raised his gun and water shot out while his friend (just off the left of the photo) yelled "there e' is!"
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18938102392/in/set-72157654343383459/
This photo is facing the trough. The men in the foreground are bodies of lumberjacks who loaded a canoe later in the ride. In the background is a thick bush. The moose family's antlers can just be seen poking out. The tower is an area employees that monitored the ride: https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18755843228/in/set-72157654343383459/
The canoe the lumberjacks I mentioned earlier loaded:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18320956804/in/set-72157654343383459/
This hillbilly put a checkered vest on a clothes line, moving his arm up and down and head left and right. Someone has put the old bumper boats from the other side of the park in the old trough:

http://i.imgur.com/jujsj9c.webp
The little ditch in the center of the image beside the trough had a beaver pop out of it. Not sure if it's still down there:
http://i.imgur.com/9O12qfO.jpg
Facing north towards a walking bridge: http://m.imgur.com/a/eCVLb#0
Facing south from the bridge:
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18917205596/in/set-72157654343383459/
Facing north from the bridge, towards the lift/miner's cave entrance:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18938606312/in/set-72157654343383459/
Edited by PTT, Jun 8 2016, 04:21 PM.
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MrsEclipse
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This is soooo creepy! I love the imagery of abandoned amusement centers... never seen a whole amusement park just get up and abandoned like this. It looks almost post-apocalyptic. Like Fallout: Ontario Place, with less radroaches.
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PTT
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One of the men who used the two man saw:

http://www.kathleenhearn.com/the-location-project--ongoing-?image#7
Facing south, looking out of the mine lift towards the bridge:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7311/8907686173_b29d17650f_b.jpg
The lift hill mine cave. Notice the miners at the edges are still there. About twenty were in this scene:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisanoflyzone/8907685801/
After the drop, pulling back into the station. The concrete pad was once full of water, so water was on either side of the trough. To the left of the photographer was a waterfall you stood at the top of while in line: https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/18943607065/in/set-72157654343383459/
More abandoned photos and vids:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/martinreis/sets/72157654343383459/
http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread_archive.asp?fid=1&threadid=109702
http://thechive.com/2016/01/13/the-sad-condition-of-the-abandoned-ontario-place-41-photos/
https://youtu.be/1WzXSVTUmkg
Ontario place was recently used as the grounds for the Mac n cheese festival (yes that's a thing in Canada). The water park, pods, marina village and cinesphere were off limits, but the food court was cleaned up, and vendors set up where the stores once were. The fountain was drained. The loading dock, lift cave, rapids area (where the clothes line redneck was) and walkthrough cave are still there, although the Animatronics have been removed from the walkthrough. Im not sure if they are still in the lift or rest of the ride. The ticket booth and small miner shack is gone, along with the slow portion of the ride. This area (the one in the photo with lumberjack bodies in the foreground, moose hidden in the background) is gone. The trough was removed so they were just dirt troughs, filled in, the Animatronics removed from this area, and the bushes replaced with gravel. A few trees that once lined the ride are the only marker it was once part of the ride, except for the two spots the trough starts again on either side. I have photos of the empty walkthrough scene and the gravel section, but don't know how to upload them. I hope you enjoyed. If you ever visited Ontario place please say so!
Edited by PTT, Jun 8 2016, 09:05 PM.
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TRANSTAR LEXINGTON
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SAVE THEM!
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BigCheesefan134
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A Pizza-Timer
yea...
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PTT
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TRANSTAR LEXINGTON
Jun 9 2016, 12:18 PM
SAVE THEM!
I don't suggest anyone try to"save them". For many reasons:
1. They are beyond repair
2. Like I said, about half have been removed
3. It is government property. Unless you have tickets to a festival on grounds, don't try to sneak into this place. The government owns the land. And even when you go to a festival, don't expect to see anything. The areas that will be open are cleaned up areas. It will most likely be kept to the food court, with vendors where the shops were. The pods, waterpark, cinesphere, FX theatre, silo's and log ride will be closed off. Trust me. At the festival I went to the security guards watched the fences across the pathways to these areas like Hawks. Almost like they have something to hide (and let's face it they do).
Oh, and it is on an island remember. That means there is only one way in/out if the park. So bottom line: getting in would require some sort of James bond thinking.
Here it is from above:

https://ajreiffdesign.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/ontarioplacesat.png?w=880&h=425
You may hear things online that the park is set to re open in 2017, but if you look at publish dates you'll realize that these articles were written five or six years ago, when the government still promised the park would reopen. Now however, it has been forgotten. The only remaining documents of what it once was exists in old vhs tape commercials accidentally recorded, or home movies of 80's families marvelling at the technology of Animatronics and architecture. This is because Ontario place's last years (1995-2010) were in between vhs camcorders and smartphones, leaving little documentation of those last 15 years.
Edited by PTT, Jun 9 2016, 04:03 PM.
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BigCheesefan134
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A Pizza-Timer
yea im with PTT they dont look repairable. and sneaking it would just cause more problems i think.
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