Does the GTA Need A Year-Round Summer Theme Park?
By Penny on Mar 24, 2014
Image via marbleLIVE YouTube video
TGIS! Thank goodness it’s spring (even though it doesn’t feel like it). After such a long and frigid winter, it’s what we’re all thinking, including Toronto Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly who says that a theme park designed to offer summer 365 days a year is a “terrific” idea.
How terrific? This 9,300-square-metre MarbleLive project would be complete with all of summer’s best offerings, like sandy beaches, wave pools, cabanas, restaurants, lazy rivers, vendors and live entertainment… Every single day of the year (best Christmas gift ever!). Don’t cancel that one-way trip to Jamaica yet though, developers who are backing this $60-million indoor-outdoor project are still trying to overcome many obstacles in terms of finding the perfect location for this little piece of paradise.
As Kelly mentioned, a place like this would require a “considerable amount of land,” the obvious suggestions are Exhibition Place or Ontario Place, but Kelly said he doesn’t think the Exhibition Place is big enough, and Live Nation has the lease on Ontario Place, therefore, a deal would have to be reached with them before plans could be brought to the city or province for approval. Developers are hopeful to have the complex open for business by of fall 2016, but Kelly’s comments weren’t exactly reassuring when he referred to the project as just an idea, for now.
On a more optimistic note, developers of the MarbleLive project said they are exploring options with officials in Mississauga and Toronto, bearing in mind that the ideal location will facilitate access to the park for tourists and locals. "We're trying to build a crown jewel so the location really matters," said Toronto entrepreneur John Barrack, a managing partner of MarbleLive. The developers were quick to argue that the GTA is past due for a project like this considering that the last time an attraction of this scale was 30 years ago, when Canada’s Wonderland opened.
Mark Bishop, a co-CEO at MarbleLive, said that research indicates that Canadians are looking for more activities for their backyards: "After you go through the winter that we just went through you realize that you really need to give people of all ages something to do in the winter," said Bishop. "The challenge we face as people who live in this area (GTA) is that there really isn't a lot to do.” They predict that the project would create approximately 230 full-time personnel and attract over 500,000 visitors within the first year of operation.
We definitely agree with Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, in fact, terrific could even be an understatement. If it does open, you certainly know where you can find us during lunch. Hopefully this week’s bitter cold will help this dream become a reality.
What do you think? Would you want to see a summer theme park in the GTA?
