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Wilderness Adventure Ride - Ontario, Canada


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Its been years since I have gone on the wilderness adventure ride at Ontario place. Its a great ride, not too wet and some decent theming. The rapids section before the lift is quite fun.

 

I wouldnt make a trip to ontario place specifically for it, but if you were planning on going to the park already then its a must ride attraction, along with the large mazes they have.

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That's a great ride, it's got a decent length to it and never a long line.

The theming is also actually pretty good for not being at an overly expensive chain kind of park.

 

Ontario Place is an awesome place to spend a day and kill some time. Two very nice mini-putt courses, free paddle boats, good water slides, and a few other rides that make the day worth it.

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It's a great themed flume, but it's the only themed attraction in the 'park' so doesn't warrant a special visit. That said, you can pay-per-ride so it's not too costly to visit just for that.

 

I will never go on that ride again, though. Four years ago, we were riding it (during our annual company picnic) and shortly out of the station, our log starting taking on water, fast. I knew quite quickly that it wasn't right, and the others in the boat (father and two little kids) also realized this. We screamed at the tower that we were passing, but there were no gates in this section to stop us. We kept taking on water. Perhaps 10 inches across the bottom by now. When we starting turning, the entire log would roll. We tried frantically to stop it, but really, what could we do? I was very, very concerned it would roll over entirely - it felt like it would. The father and I were trying to get the kids out when it slowed down, but I believe only one got out. We finally got to a gate that they closed, but then the built up water behind us starting rolling it. We had to jump out of the boat by ourselves - kids first, then the adults. No staff anywhere. The water, at that point, was at the seats. We were soaked and completely shaken. One of the little girls slipped trying to get out and had a few bruises.

 

Ontario Place staff handled the incident terribly. They had no idea what to do, other than shut the ride down. We weren't offered anything - we had to ask for them to supply new clothes to replace our soaked ones. And that took nearly an hour. Terrible experience which I don't think I could ever forget.

 

The lesson learned? Never let a government operate a theme park.

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  • 9 years later...

How's the rest of Ontario Place been? Their plans back in 2014-15 were pretty ambitious but I haven't really heard much since then.

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Nothing done at all to what was Ontario Place - all the buildings are there and most are locked up. The park grounds only opened back up to the public a few weeks ago. They did turn what was the old employee parking lot into a beautiful new park, which was in the plans. But that's all that has been done so far. The other 90% sits and rots.

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  • 6 months later...

Went to the 'reopened' Ontario Place this weekend. They put in a fake skating rink (plastic) and reopened the world's first Imax theatre.

 

What I don't think was clear from Vistaway's great pics and post is that the government has legally reopened an abandoned themepark and encouraged urban exploring of the once great log flume. No trespassing, no fence jumping, they even made certain parts a little bit safer like turning the load station into a viewing platform and added public art along the old route.

 

It was a surreal and depressing experience. This was a major attraction in the North America's fourth largest city. Youtube POVs confirm an above-average log flume with somewhat decent theming. A true icon for any kid growing up in Toronto. Now available to watch decay in real time.

 

I was able to take my kids through it and while it saddens they could ever get the chance to ride it in its former glory, I hope that Robb will get a kick out of the fact that my five year starting randomly breaking into "we are IN a log flume" as we walked and climbed through the old track.

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What was the purpose of filling it in with dirt? Is a hiking trail now?

 

I wouldn't call it a hiking trail and the purpose is very unclear. Just our state government being a state government and making strange choices. Probably cost more to fill than refurbish.

 

Ostensibly, the former theme park is public land that should be open to all and they made things safer by removing parts of the ride. But... they left a lot alone include the queues and the barren empty nature of the unsupervised park makes feel like true urban exploring. We went at dusk and it was surreal. It felt like we were sneaking around.

 

I have always wanted to urban explore an old theme park or ride but don't want to trespass or get arrested. This was a risk-free experience. Hell they sell parking. Highly recommend giving it a tour if in the area.

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This and the remains of Opryland are examples of a neat way to make a positive out of the negative situation that is the closure and decay of former attractions. I love that the local government managed to turn this into a public space without taking much away from the history of the space (to the point of leaving much of former ride path intact). This is something that I would definitely go out of my way to visit when in Ontario!

 

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

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