Toronto – May 19, 2011 – On Saturday, May 21 Ontario Place launches its biggest, longest and best season ever. In 2011 Ontario Place is offering FREE admission to the grounds, providing over 2,000 live shows, opening the park’s first-ever, ‘child-friendly’ roller coaster and closing later on November 13, 2011.

 

“As we open the park this weekend, I feel extremely excited about what Ontario Place has to offer for its 40th anniversary,” said John Tevlin, General Manager of Ontario Place. “This season will be like no other and I look forward to welcoming returning visitors and new guests to Ontario Place this year to enjoy several new and exciting additions to the park.”

 

Free admission to the grounds is presented by CTV, the official television sponsor of Ontario Place. Free admission includes an array of live entertainment including jugglers, magicians, acrobats, stuntmen, clowns, and musicians and over 2,000 spectacular live shows throughout the summer, such as:

 

• Through the Decades, a celebration of popular culture over the past four decades. Live concerts and shows will highlight the best music, movies, and fashion of each decade on weekend evenings in July and August.

• The Slam Jam Air Team, which combines gymnastics and basketball, makes for an exciting and fast-paced display of aerial flips, twists and slam dunks.

• Earth Rangers’ Wild Experience Show is a powerful and inspiring 22-minute multi-media presentation that features Earth Rangers’ live Animal Ambassadors and takes the audience on a trip around the world to meet and celebrate some of the planet’s most amazing creatures

• Pipeworks, a new acrobatics show that will take you on a journey into a world where fire and water are no longer limited by gravity.

• Treehouse Live! features favourite characters such as Barney, Thomas & Friends and Bob the Builder as they sing and dance all season long.

 

The park’s best season also features new attractions such as:

• Cinesphere, the world’s first permanent IMAX® theatre, now offers one of the best cinematic experiences in North America. The iconic theatre now houses the latest and best in film technology – IMAX® 3D. A new six-storey-high screen combined with a new 30,000-watt surround sound system delivers a surreal 3D viewing experience. In addition to its usual line-up of popular daytime documentaries such as Hubble 3D, Cinesphere is now presenting Hollywood feature films on weekend evenings, beginning with James Cameron’s Academy Award Winning Avatar.

• The park’s first roller coaster, Wacky Worm. This new ‘child-friendly’ coaster opens this weekend and is included with the purchase of a Toronto Star Play All Day Pass.

• Included in grounds admission is the new Eco-Learning Centre that features educational and interactive exhibits by environmental leaders such as Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Parks Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Humane Society, Earth Rangers, Toronto Wildlife Center, World Wildlife Fund and the Ministry of Natural Resources.

 

Improved access to Toronto’s premiere waterfront park, Ontario Place, is now available. Ontario Place has partnered with the Waterfront BIA to offer a FREE Waterfront Bus Shuttle from Union subway station to Ontario Place. It runs every hour between 10 am and 7pm, seven days a week until Thanksgiving Day.

 

Details about even more new rides, pricing, attractions and special events can be found at www.ontarioplace.com

 

About Ontario Place

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 including the newly renovated Cinesphere, now in IMAX® 3D. In July, the Froster™ Soak City waterpark will add Topsy Turvy dual waterslides, plus a new 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.