New $60M GTA theme park in the works
Posted March 18, 2014 10:50 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new theme park that promises a taste of summer all year long could be coming to the Greater Toronto Area.
While there’s no exact location for the $60-million complex – the company behind the project is considering three possible spots in Mississauga and Toronto – construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2015.
The indoor and outdoor water park will open in the fall of 2016, MarbleLIVE, the developer group behind the project, said Tuesday.
“If you spend time in the GTA – and I was born and raised here – there’s a lack of things to do,” John Barrack, managing partner and co-CEO of the project, told CityNews.
“You look around and say, ‘what’s next?’”
Barrack said that cities of a comparable size, like Chicago, have similar year-round theme parks and it’s time to bring one to the GTA.
The 100,000-square-foot park would offer a retractable roof, sandy beaches, wave pools, cabanas, restaurants, a lazy river, vendors, and live entertainment.
Mark Bishop, the co-CEO of Marblemedia said the attraction “will be far from your typical water park.”
“We are going to bring our company’s expertise in digital media and storytelling to create a purpose-built digital media experience that will be the first attraction of its kind,” Bishop said in a statement.
The developers said they’re in talks with officials in Mississauga and Toronto about potential sites. They’ve also discussed the attraction with Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
“We’ve had supportive conversations with staff in both cities – we’re not a casino, so we’re quite well received,” Barrack joked.
The GTA is already home to Wonderland in Vaughan, and the Great Wolf Lodge is just a few hours away in Niagara Falls. Barrack said the proposed theme park would offer something else.
“It’s different from the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel experience. You don’t have to be a guest of the hotel to come here. It’s open to local people as well as tourists,” he said.
As for Wonderland, the entire park is outdoors.
“Really, that’s just three months of the year. We have a retractable roof so we can bring people outside when it’s beautiful and inside when it’s not,” Barrack said.
The venue is flexible in other ways, he said. There are plans for the site to be a “kids and family” water park during the day, and a concert or performance event at night.
The as-yet-unnamed park would have a digital component as well, so visitors can have a “before, during and after” experience. Barrack explained that before going to the park, you can plan and map out your day and later record it.
According to marbleLIVE, the theme park will employ 230 people full-time, and it expects over half a million visitors to visit the facility within its first year of operation.
As for the cost, there are no hard figures, but Barrack said season’s passes will be offered and the goal is to be affordable for both locals and tourists.
Watch a video of the proposed theme park below:
Would you visit? Let us know in the comments.
