Open for two additional months with several new events and attractions
Toronto – April 27, 2011 –Today, the Honourable Michael Chan, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, announced that in celebration of its 40th Anniversary in 2011, Ontario Place will offer FREE admission to the grounds in partnership with CTV, its official television sponsor.
Ontario Place’s 40th Anniversary season begins on Saturday, May 21 and is jampacked with exciting special events and a record number of over 2,000 live performances ranging from concerts to buskers and mariachi bands throughout the park all summer long. Ontario Place will also stay open for evenings throughout the summer. For the first time, the park will extend its season by two months until November 13 for special fall programming.
FREE admission to the grounds includes Canada Day fireworks and all daily events and live shows created for the 40th Anniversary season, excluding a small number of specially-ticketed major events. For free, guests can watch a variety of performances on one of the park’s three main stages or one of the season-long shows such as Pipeworks, a new acrobatics show, or returning favourites such as the Extreme Wake Series, Earth Rangers and Treehouse Live!
In addition to over 30 exhilarating rides and attractions, Ontario Place’s 2011 season will also feature the newly renovated Cinesphere, now with IMAX® 3D. For the first time, Cinesphere will present an evening line-up of regularly scheduled full-length Hollywood feature films such as Avatar and U2 360°. These feature films will accompany Cinesphere’s usual line-up of popular educational short film documentaries that include Hubble 3D and Bugs for 2011, all in IMAX® 3D.
The waterpark is expanding in July 2011. Soak City, Toronto’s only downtown waterpark will introduce Topsy Turvy, a new award-winning two-person tube ride from ProSlide of Ottawa, Ontario. Also added to the waterpark are a sand beach and lounge pool, plus a stage that will feature amazing live entertainment, all right at the water’s edge overlooking Lake Ontario.
On the entertainment front, Ontario Place will host Through the Decades on weekend evenings in July and August to celebrate popular culture over the last 40 years. Each week, Through the Decades will celebrate a different decade: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s with exciting events and entertainment highlighting the best music, movies and fashion of each decade.
CTV will commemorate its 50th Anniversary season at Ontario Place with a special CTV Day to be held in August 2011. A number of CTV’s popular CTV News personalities such as Tom Brown, Anwar Knight, Andria Case, Ken Shaw and Christine Bentley will come down to enjoy the sights and sounds while signing autographs and taking photographs with guests at the park. More information on CTV Day at Ontario Place will be announced in the coming months.
“It is a pleasure to help celebrate Ontario Place’s 40th Anniversary,” said Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism and Culture. “Free grounds admission gives us all an opportunity to participate in the exciting season ahead, so that we may discover and rediscover all that Ontario Place has to offer. With so much to see and do this summer, I encourage us all to stay and play in Ontario.”
“The whole Ontario Place team is eager to see the public come down to the waterfront and experience all the amazing performances and live shows that we have lined up for our 40th anniversary,” said John Tevlin, General Manager of Ontario Place. “It’s an exciting time for Ontario Place and there will be a lot more exciting news to share in the weeks ahead.”
“We are currently celebrating our 50th anniversary at CTV Toronto, so we know what a big deal it is to celebrate four decades as an institution in the GTA,” said Paul Rogers, Sr. Vice-President, CTV News. “We’re proud to partner with Ontario Place for this terrific initiative and we’re looking forward to many more years of summers by the lake.”
More exciting news about Ontario Place’s 40th Anniversary season will come in future media releases.
Ontario Place is a 96-acre premiere waterfront park located in downtown Toronto. Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2011, Ontario Place features over 30 exhilarating rides and attractions plus the newly renovated Cinesphere, now in IMAX® 3D and the expanded Soak City waterpark with its own lounge pool and sand beach right at the water’s edge overlooking Lake Ontario. For more information about Ontario Place please visit www.ontarioplace.com
Ontario Place is an agency of the Government of Ontario
-30-
For more information contact: Vanessa Somarriba, Media Relations Officer
Phone: (416) 314-9814 or E-mail: vanessa.somarriba@ontarioplace.com
