Last weekend I stopped by Ontario Place with no intention to do a review, but armed with a point and shoot camera I decided to take some pics and share some thoughts with you. Caribana, dubbed the largest street festival in North America moves the festivities to Ontario Place on the Sunday and Monday following the street parade on Saturday so we decided to take in some of the vibes from the islands. Speaking with vendors and other attendees who had been there the day before, we learned that the Sunday event was much bigger and even included a food symposium by “Grace Foods”, highlighting the cuisine of the Caribbean.
The Caribana event was not as large as I hoped, but there was still the opportunity to enjoy in the cuisine, live music and cultural vibe of the islands. As a son of the islands I was beaming with pride as I witnessed one of the best sounding steel pan bands perform, who were on tour from Trinidad and Tobago. Where else in North America can you drink a cold coconut, taste fresh sugar cane and if you’re really hungry, devour a hot chicken roti all in one place? If you’ve not experienced Caribana yet, make next year’s event as a must do on your calendar.
Since I didn’t go with the intention to do an actual review I didn’t take notes or pay much attention to my surrounding, however I did take some pictures:
After enjoying some of the live music I decided to take a walk through the lovely grounds of Ontario Place, since I had never been here before. Overall a lovely place to spend time with your family, but it did seem a bit dated and could really do with a little sprucing up. Seems the two hot spots this day were the area designated for the Caribana events and the water park “Foster’s Soak City”. With it’s massive water slide and other water activities, on this hot day it was a hit with kids cooling down.
Here’s a quick run-through of what you can expect when you visit Ontario Place, however you may have to check their website for additional charges for some of the activities…
Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Atlantis
Cinesphere
Current entry prices: http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/03_prices/pas.html
Rides (general family)
4D ONTARIO
H2O GENERATION STATION
THE ATOM BLASTER
FIRST FLIGHT
FREE FALL
SUPER SLIDE
PEDAL BOAT ADVENTURE
MINI GREENS
COOL HOOPS
WILD WORLD OF WEATHER
ARCADE
Rides (Thrill)
WILDERNESS ADVENTURE RIDE
BUMPER BOATS
F/X Adventure Theatre
There’s ample space on the garden-like greens for having a picnic overlooking Lake Ontario if you decide to take in food and there’s also the option of a few food stalls if you prefer to eat there (burger, fries, pizza etc). But be prepared to pay “park” prices.
To contact Ontario Place:
Automated Information Line 416-314-9900
Outside the GTA, call toll-free 1-866-ONE-4-FUN
Mailing Address
955 Lake Shore Blvd. West
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
M6K 3B9
BTW, if you’d like to save on the entry fee to Ontario Place, check the facebook group (see image/link below) as we have a coupon we found online that you can use.
