Large Attractions?
 

It seems Ottawa's tourism is dominated by architecture and museums. Ottawa has much too many museums, and unfortunately it's all we have. Which begs the question: How come Ottawa doesn't have any of the large attractions nearly all other large cities have, such as a zoo, and aquarium or an amusement park. Calypso was a nice development (although Cascade already existed) but it is quite a ways from the city.

Were there, at some point in time projects such as a zoo (BTW Papanack is a sad excuse for a zoo an hour away from the city), an aquarium, or an amusement park? Or are such projects planned?

It would be great if they moved the animals from Papanack inside the city, with new, high quality, enclosures. It would be a low cost way of getting this going and developing a world class attraction for the capital. It could then be developed like marine land, for example, to include rides, etc, to making a large, multi-purpose, amusement park that you can realistically spend whole days there,

Youre missing the nationally significant green space and the Rideau Carleton Raceway!

Aquaria are great attractions when they are located next to, and showcase, an area's own natural marine, estuarine or freshwater environments and their native creatures. This makes them unique and worthy of visiting, has obvious local ties to the community, and also encourages the protection of these local environments. Who wants to come to Ottawa to see reef fish and sharks... you can do that elsewhere and it would be totally out of place here.

That said, creating a small aquarium in the unloved Canada and the World Pavilion would be a great use of space, but what would it feature? Perch, northern pike, and muskrats have a limited appeal.

Perhaps it's best to leave aquaria to cities with deep pockets and more charismatic local fauna.

^Sometimes that is the whole point; to see something "out of the ordinary". Why does everything need to be regional?

Like the Omega Park in Montebello, QC. It's super fun and great to bring tourists from out of the country who want to see canadian wildlife, but for residents around, you can see a lot of those animals on your drive out to Montebello in the first place. So, where does one go to see Lions and Dolphins and Toucans? I went to the Ripley's Aquarium downtown Toronto last summer and loved it. Amazing venue and the electric moving walkways through the glass tanks with the sharks swimming around was an amazing experience!

I totally agree. I also visited the Toronto aquarium and I was amazed. It is a wonderful tourist attraction and the location is great.

We need to think world class if we are considering building new attractions or rebuilding existing ones.

I think what we did with the National Gallery, the Museum of Civilization and the War Museum has achieved that for those institutions.

We should be doing the same when we replace our Central Library. Think big and be creative in finding ways to fund it.

Ottawa is a world capital and we need to start thinking in those terms. We have many things going for us. We just need to keep adding to it.

When I was in Berlin, I went to the Sony Centre. It is totally commercial, but was designed as a public meeting place with interesting restaurants, a public square with patios, fountain and a light show over the square at night. Ultra modern but also very inviting.

It seems to me that what makes the most sense is to relocate and expand Papanack zoo to the city and call it something like the Ottawa metropolitan zoo, or something like that. It would not only be good for the city but would also be good for that private business since, let's be honest, more people would go if it wasn't in Wendover. A lot of money would be required to get good enclosures though, but why not get the city or the federal governmetn involved.

I've always been a huge advocate for a theme park. I think it was Preston Manning who proposed a Confederation themed amusement park in Ottawa. Kettle Island (where we once had such a park) would be a great spot for it.

We desperately need a portrait gallery in this town.

As well, I recall reading on these pages maybe a decade or more ago, that there once was an amusement park located on an island in the Ottawa River near the present-day Bayshore.

Turn of the century, there was an amusement park in Britannia, where the street car line ended, maybe that's what you're thinking of?

There was also Queen's Park, which was at the end of the Hull Electric Streetcar line west of Aylmer. It had a famous water slide into the Ottawa River and steamboat excursions. It didn't last that long and declined into a picnic area by the 20s and closed in 1930. There was a full blown amusement park called Luna Park that was built in the 20s and lasted only a few years. Someone tried to resurrect it during the war years but I think it only lasted one summer. It is now called Parc Moussette along the Ottawa River on the Quebec side.

I don't think anything can be done on Kettle Island as it is now a conservation area. Everything that was there was removed some time ago.

A zoo would only make sense in the Greenbelt. Today's standards require substantial enclosures for animals to give the animals a good quality of life.

^Actually, there are a few spaces in the central part of Ottawa which could probbaly fit a zoo..

• Lebreton
• Bayview
• Hurdman
• Experimental Farm

I agree you want to give the animal space and such but who says it has to be 1 level? I'm sure there would be ways to create a 4-5 story modern urban zoo, with large enough enclosured for the animals and such but stacked on several levels; that way, it doesnt need to take up the space of 10 football fields...

Ottawa really lacks in really central attractions (other than most of the museums). I work in a hotel and many tourists and travellers have asked me about concert/game at CTC, casino, zoo, waterpark, etc... All for which I had to explain that these were all in the outskirts of town and that they were either served with poor (or no) transit options, or it would at least take them 45min to 1h to get there in the first place... Why do we keep building everything in the boonies? :hell:

I fully agree. I hope a new arena gets built at Lebreton Flats. It's all because of the god damn green belt. Calypso, the zoo, etc. should all be in the wasted land known as the green belt.

Large attraction = Mike Duffy :D

Something like the Fluvarium in St John's would be nice. Maybe we get to see what a "pimisi" looks like. It's amazing how little people know about the Ottawa River and its ecology.

I haven't heard much from Flora 2017 recently, but their idea of thematic gardens and a legacy of a Botanical Garden would be a great addition to the city.

But what about the 'historical landscape' that would be lost?

I could not believe the nonsense opposition that arose with the Botanical Garden proposal 15 years ago. Some people just seem to be programmed to fight tooth and nail to oppose anything good for the city.

And then there was the slap in the face we gave the Dutch people when activists could not accept the eye sore of a Dutch windmill. Heaven forbid if we might need 6 parking places next to it. Save the children!!!!

you could probably put a zoo at the current pineview municipal golf course location - would have pretty easy access to LRT at blair.

Could that Dutch windmill still be built?

It would be really interesting to see a Dutch windmill in Ottawa. I can see it having some tourism there. I can image it a the Dows Lake area.

Would look nice in vicinity of Dows Lake...maybe former site of Sir John Carling Building?

Doesn't the Central Experimental Farm's agricultural museum count for something?

The same people from the Glebe who needed to protect the 'historic landscape' of the Experimental Farm from a 'Disneyland' Botanical Gardens, also objected to a windmill near Dow's Lake as an eyesore.

They then tried to locate the windmill near Mooney's Bay but local residents complained that all the extra traffic would be a hazard to all the children in the neighbourhood.

The last time I heard about the windmill around 15 years ago, they needed to hide the proposed location to minimize NIMBY activity. The original idea was to have it open for the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Holland in 1995. I expect it is now a dead idea. As far as I know, it was going to require no tax money.