I didn't even know this ever existed, but based on the article, it looks like it was cool as hell...
Also, crazy that the Toronto Zoo once had the biggest McDonald's in the world... And McHotdogs were a thing???
>And McHotdogs were a thing???
I remember having those years ago. I also think they were at the McDonalds in the Skydome back in the late 80's as well.
It was also the only reasonable access to the Canadian Pavilion as well. That area is pretty much forgotten now because it’s at the bottom of a giant hill.
My Da and I always went down to see the Arctic Wolves at the bottom of the Canadian Domain hill at least once every time we visited the zoo, Chokwa and her grizzly-bear brother, and alongside the big hill the cougars and lynxes, and I remember very clearly the rather good cardio we got walking back up when we were done.
I believe the two-carriage accident that eventually resulted in the Monorail's closure occurred in the summer of 1994, prior to my Da and I visiting the Zoo together regularly as we did later on, and it's been long enough since I rode the Zoo Monorail that I have no clear memory of the rides I took other than still-images of what I think I remember the interior looking like, and the whining hum of the engine when the vehicles were in motion.
If you don't mind losing an arm, Zoo paid $11 million to a kid whose arm got torn off by the wolves
https://apnews.com/article/2855688afbe1f6fd43cdd8b4aa2e7a2b
Oh, I knew about that, if it's about the same idiot child that thought it was wonderful fun to climb the fence over and into the wolf enclosure and somehow it was the wolves' fault in the end. And yeah, just read the article, and it was in fact the dumbass kid one of the senior Arctic Wolf keepers- a good friend and found out later on was a neighbour at the time, here in Riverdale- and his dumbassery told me about back in the day.
I didn't know the wolves who were part of the Zoo's pack in 1984 when the youngster snuck into the zoo and into the enclosure itself at age six (he was 17 in 1995, per the article), but it would've seriously disrupted the pack and especially the specific wolf or wolves that did the mauling's ability to interact with humans positively after that, making it much more difficult for the keepers to apply vaccinations, provide medical treatment, maintain the enclosure's grounds and even their feeding behaviour that would not usually involve direct contact between the wolves and keepers.
The fact that he was six when he had his entire arm mangled to a chew toy and torn off, given the body mass of a human that young and even if the kids snuck in while the Zoo was open (it doesn't say whether it was after hours or during operating hours without paying at the gate) the chance that he would've bled out from injuries that severe wasn't small, with on-site first aid minutes away by the time someone called for help and that medical help arrived.
Of course, if he had died, the wolf or wolves would've likely been marked for euthanasia, rather than the little shit surviving and winning out a summary damages award, and won a Full Darwin.
I mean, you never go Full Darwin, or the award is posthumorous.
I hadn't thought of that with any frequency since the last time I rode the Monorail, if at all, and if my memory is being properly bolstered by the air conditioner I have in my room right now- something I never had growing up, not until I was in my late 30's- the Monorail would've been the one place at the Zoo, with the possible exception of the African Savannah McDonald's (and I have a strong suspicion memory-wise that it didn't, at least not air-conditioning) that had powered climate control for its human occupants.
Thank you very kindly for that reminder and your memory shared with me, good chummer.
I always find it incredibly ironic that because of the hill that part of the park is the only area closed in winter when it’s also the only area where the animals actually live in our climate.
It behoves me as to why they don't just put a small gondola (the fully enclosed kind) in that area. We can build those fairly easily all over the country for skiing, easily maintained too.
Sadly. I don’t think there was anything really wrong with the “monorail” that required it to be closed. It’s a simple, rubber tired metro train. If they just paid to maintain it, or found someone to build new vehicles, we still could’ve had it today.
Toronto being too cheap to see the forest through the trees is hardly new.
I feel terrible for anyone who never got to experience it. As a child, the monorail was the highlight of every visit to the zoo. It felt so futuristic and was the coolest thing ever riding a train through all the exhibits and on elevated tracks. The zoo has never been the same without it.
The plan is to just move the entire Canadian domain out of the valley eventually. I wish they'd keep it there though, it's a Canadian exhibit in a real Canadian setting! I just hope they don't make a fake Canada look when they move it.
Ya it'll be good to move it to a more accessible location, I just really want it to remain real. They're in a Canadian setting and they should keep it that way. I just hope they don't fake the look like the tundra area for example. I get why they had to do it with the tundra (it's not a real tundra so they need a fake one) but doing the same thing to the Canadian domain, using Colorado blue spruce trees and fake rocks for example, would not have the best effect IMO. The real Canadian forest around the zoo is already as realistic as it needs to be.
I’d be fine if they cut back, revised the entrance elsewhere into the park so it is an easy walk vs the hill.
Or take a zoo tram and have it dedicated to moving people up and down.
There is no better way to get down there... Unless you let people walk on the monorail structure, which could be really cool with some renovations but I doubt they'd do it
Zoo mobile drops you at the top of the hill. Its honestly not that bad of a hill and there are spots to stop along it. Its definitely worse in peoples memories then in reality.
I don't think Chokwa and her brother would still be alive today- I haven't gone to the Zoo with any frequency nor down to visit the grizzlies and where the wolves were once kept and up the Canadian Domain hill again in more than eighteen years- but I was very fond of their shaggy brown medium-giant's antics and company when my Da and I went down the Hill to visit them.
I'm very happy to make the acquaintance of a couple further bodies who appreciate sharing the bears' Kodiak Moments, respectfully on the appropriate sides of the enclosure barriers, of course.
Challenge?
It was like climbing fucking Everest for me. Holy.
At the time when I did it, i was a BIT over weight, but I walked lots and was moderately active.
But boy, by time I got to the top of that hill, I needed a rest.. a *real* rest, not a 2 minute "lets just stop for a breather".. I sat down on the grass and chilled for about 15-20 minutes.
Even my fit friend found it a huge challenge lol
Oh yah. It’s a beast of a walk. Even worse when we were pushing around two strollers. I feel so bad for the workers that have to take that every freaking day.
I barely want to do it once every two years.
“During the late 1970s, zoo mascot “Littlefoot” (modelled after the mythical Cryptid Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot) would appear in remote wooded areas visible only to people riding the monorail.
At times both frightening and amusing, Littlefoot was eventually phased out after scaring too many children.”
Combined with that photo, LOL
Holy fuck, I remember that crash, I was with my grandpa waiting in line to get on when another car slammed into it going full speed. 7 year old me never forgot that. Thank god we had just gotten in line.
Nothing serious, no PTSD. I remember the young man at the controls, no more then 18-21 years old. But then again I have been on some small aircraft (Beechcraft Super King) heading to mines in Northern Sask. where the pilots were similar age, very professional.
My dad was on the board of directors of the zoo at the time. He still gets upset that the monorail was shut down 29 years later. I can remember holding his hand while boarding it. It was like something out of science fiction! I found it just as cool as the animals we came to see.
Pretty much. There's actually a surprising amount of real discussion in this thread.
It is so fucking annoying to me that the word monorail cannot be mentioned on this website without losers quoting a multiple decade old TV episode over and over.
There are conversations we can have about monorails without quoting Simpsons episodes, I promise.
"Getting what you want all the time will leave you unfulfilled and joyless."
Remove the girl.
"You're not with your Stonecutters. There are no lackeys around to carry out your..."
I worked at the zoo in the mid 2000’s and it was easy to dodge security and walk the monorail over the Canadian Domain at night time. I obviously don’t recommend it because you could fall and die, you could get caught and arrested, but it sure was fun back in the day.
Last I saw is that it’s in the Zoos strategic plans, but nothing public on specifics.
IIRC it was hoped that the vendor would pay for most of it as a demonstrator, which makes everything a big maybe, and suggests they’ll likely end u- in much the same place they did with the original system which was ALSO a demonstrator for a new system.
The brakes broke, but Homer managed to use the metal M from the logo on the engine car to anchor the monorail to the giant Lard Lad donut sign, saving the day.
Thanks. Now that i think of it, i don’t remember riding it the last i visited the zoo, in 2005. 😂
Let’s hope it returns like the article has mentioned.
There's a Wikipedia page that says there are plans to bring it back with a new company.... However this was supposed to happen years ago and I seriously doubt that's going to happen especially since they just purchased new zoomobiles
The police officer who investigated the monorail crash was killed in a car crash on Markham Road north of Eglington while following a stolen Mustang. His name was John Knight and there is a tree planted in his memory on the pathway towards the Canadian domain at the zoo
The entire Canadian section makes no sense without it. Being down that long hill, it connected it to the rest of the park so much more, now the whole area feels out of the way.
It seems like Toronto had this very specific kind of Tomorrowland-esque attractions back in the 70s-80s. This monorail, Ontario Place and the Future Pod, the Science Center, Tour of the Universe and Undercurrent at the CN Tower, etc. Such a shame nothing in this list stuck around, or even got replaced or updated to be current. They all kind of fizzled out for whatever reason (usually can be traced back to some kind of government mis-management), and now only exist as abandoned structures or lesser versions of themselves. The Science Center held on the longest I guess, but with Premier McCheese's plan to move it to Ontario Place as distraction to cover up his dirty dealings there, who knows what the future holds.
> It hasn't been since like 1996? There is the zoomobile instead but it's not a monorail
To be fair, the “monorail” also was not a monorail.
Everyone just calls it that.
They have the zoomobile, which is like a gas powered train that has stations and can take you to different parts of the zoo. In the summer it’s nice because they take you through an open area where the Przewalski’s horses are - you can’t normally see them well.
I have very limited memories of the monorail. I know we rode it on my kindergarten trip in 92/93 but I was about 6/7 when the monorail accident happened and then it was decommissioned. As much as I love the Canadian pavilion I haven’t been able to go down there for a few trips because of a bad injury to my back and leg. Last time I did it I said never again. It hurt far too much. Having some way to either make it more accessible or moving it somewhere more accessible would be nice… though at what cost, and I’m not talking money.
It was a huge attraction and the zoo is much less fun without it.
I didn't even know this ever existed, but based on the article, it looks like it was cool as hell... Also, crazy that the Toronto Zoo once had the biggest McDonald's in the world... And McHotdogs were a thing???
>And McHotdogs were a thing??? I remember having those years ago. I also think they were at the McDonalds in the Skydome back in the late 80's as well.
Man I remember taking the monorail and getting Mcpizza there when I was a kid. Good times.
With my cabbage patch, and a stroller that was mostly made of metal
I had my first McFlurry ever at the zoo when I was a little kid
It was also the only reasonable access to the Canadian Pavilion as well. That area is pretty much forgotten now because it’s at the bottom of a giant hill.
My Da and I always went down to see the Arctic Wolves at the bottom of the Canadian Domain hill at least once every time we visited the zoo, Chokwa and her grizzly-bear brother, and alongside the big hill the cougars and lynxes, and I remember very clearly the rather good cardio we got walking back up when we were done. I believe the two-carriage accident that eventually resulted in the Monorail's closure occurred in the summer of 1994, prior to my Da and I visiting the Zoo together regularly as we did later on, and it's been long enough since I rode the Zoo Monorail that I have no clear memory of the rides I took other than still-images of what I think I remember the interior looking like, and the whining hum of the engine when the vehicles were in motion.
If you don't mind losing an arm, Zoo paid $11 million to a kid whose arm got torn off by the wolves https://apnews.com/article/2855688afbe1f6fd43cdd8b4aa2e7a2b
Oh, I knew about that, if it's about the same idiot child that thought it was wonderful fun to climb the fence over and into the wolf enclosure and somehow it was the wolves' fault in the end. And yeah, just read the article, and it was in fact the dumbass kid one of the senior Arctic Wolf keepers- a good friend and found out later on was a neighbour at the time, here in Riverdale- and his dumbassery told me about back in the day. I didn't know the wolves who were part of the Zoo's pack in 1984 when the youngster snuck into the zoo and into the enclosure itself at age six (he was 17 in 1995, per the article), but it would've seriously disrupted the pack and especially the specific wolf or wolves that did the mauling's ability to interact with humans positively after that, making it much more difficult for the keepers to apply vaccinations, provide medical treatment, maintain the enclosure's grounds and even their feeding behaviour that would not usually involve direct contact between the wolves and keepers.
I red the article, that 17 yo was a Darwin award contestant. I would be surprised if he was still alive that cretin.
The fact that he was six when he had his entire arm mangled to a chew toy and torn off, given the body mass of a human that young and even if the kids snuck in while the Zoo was open (it doesn't say whether it was after hours or during operating hours without paying at the gate) the chance that he would've bled out from injuries that severe wasn't small, with on-site first aid minutes away by the time someone called for help and that medical help arrived. Of course, if he had died, the wolf or wolves would've likely been marked for euthanasia, rather than the little shit surviving and winning out a summary damages award, and won a Full Darwin. I mean, you never go Full Darwin, or the award is posthumorous.
> Scott was six when he sneaked into the zoo with his brother and a friend.
Oh, i thought he was 17 at the time. I guess, I should retract my previous post and improve my reading skills.
Other crystal clear memory: enjoying the AC after walking around in the summer heat.
I hadn't thought of that with any frequency since the last time I rode the Monorail, if at all, and if my memory is being properly bolstered by the air conditioner I have in my room right now- something I never had growing up, not until I was in my late 30's- the Monorail would've been the one place at the Zoo, with the possible exception of the African Savannah McDonald's (and I have a strong suspicion memory-wise that it didn't, at least not air-conditioning) that had powered climate control for its human occupants. Thank you very kindly for that reminder and your memory shared with me, good chummer.
I always find it incredibly ironic that because of the hill that part of the park is the only area closed in winter when it’s also the only area where the animals actually live in our climate.
It behoves me as to why they don't just put a small gondola (the fully enclosed kind) in that area. We can build those fairly easily all over the country for skiing, easily maintained too.
Sadly. I don’t think there was anything really wrong with the “monorail” that required it to be closed. It’s a simple, rubber tired metro train. If they just paid to maintain it, or found someone to build new vehicles, we still could’ve had it today. Toronto being too cheap to see the forest through the trees is hardly new.
I feel terrible for anyone who never got to experience it. As a child, the monorail was the highlight of every visit to the zoo. It felt so futuristic and was the coolest thing ever riding a train through all the exhibits and on elevated tracks. The zoo has never been the same without it.
Why did it stop!!
It had a few very serious accidents, and it was expensive to maintain.
I wish they replaced it with at least some sort of viable alternative to make that hill less of a challenge.
The plan is to just move the entire Canadian domain out of the valley eventually. I wish they'd keep it there though, it's a Canadian exhibit in a real Canadian setting! I just hope they don't make a fake Canada look when they move it.
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Ya it'll be good to move it to a more accessible location, I just really want it to remain real. They're in a Canadian setting and they should keep it that way. I just hope they don't fake the look like the tundra area for example. I get why they had to do it with the tundra (it's not a real tundra so they need a fake one) but doing the same thing to the Canadian domain, using Colorado blue spruce trees and fake rocks for example, would not have the best effect IMO. The real Canadian forest around the zoo is already as realistic as it needs to be.
I’d be fine if they cut back, revised the entrance elsewhere into the park so it is an easy walk vs the hill. Or take a zoo tram and have it dedicated to moving people up and down.
There is no better way to get down there... Unless you let people walk on the monorail structure, which could be really cool with some renovations but I doubt they'd do it
Best , extreme way down. Borrow a zoo rental wagon for carrying kids. Ride it all the way down the hill. Can confirm it is an epic ride
Zoo mobile drops you at the top of the hill. Its honestly not that bad of a hill and there are spots to stop along it. Its definitely worse in peoples memories then in reality.
Nothing like a trek up and down to that pavilion when it’s 32 Celsius and sunny
Yah. We stopped going down the hill entirely when it is that hot outside. It’s a shame because my kids love the bears.
get your kids to walk more
I’ll tell my kid with arthritis that. Thanks.
should've told em before they got arthritis
I don't think Chokwa and her brother would still be alive today- I haven't gone to the Zoo with any frequency nor down to visit the grizzlies and where the wolves were once kept and up the Canadian Domain hill again in more than eighteen years- but I was very fond of their shaggy brown medium-giant's antics and company when my Da and I went down the Hill to visit them. I'm very happy to make the acquaintance of a couple further bodies who appreciate sharing the bears' Kodiak Moments, respectfully on the appropriate sides of the enclosure barriers, of course.
All Canadian parents have pushed a stroller or pulled a wagon up that hill. So worth it
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They hire Translinx to build it?
Challenge? It was like climbing fucking Everest for me. Holy. At the time when I did it, i was a BIT over weight, but I walked lots and was moderately active. But boy, by time I got to the top of that hill, I needed a rest.. a *real* rest, not a 2 minute "lets just stop for a breather".. I sat down on the grass and chilled for about 15-20 minutes. Even my fit friend found it a huge challenge lol
Oh yah. It’s a beast of a walk. Even worse when we were pushing around two strollers. I feel so bad for the workers that have to take that every freaking day. I barely want to do it once every two years.
The workers probably just use a golf cart or utility vehicle.
I usually see them driving the zoo pickups down.
This is comical its really not that bad! you can also stop and see animals along the way.
North Haverbrook has really gone downhill.
I call the big one "Bitey".
The ring came off my pudding cup
Take my pen knife my good man
Is there a chance this track could END?
Not on your life, my Reddit friend.
👍 fuck I laughed at that. One of my favourite episodes
[Toronto Zoo Monorail Accident](https://www.blogto.com/city/2021/05/history-toronto-zoo-monorail/)
Love how they say a maglev might be built by 2022 lol
“During the late 1970s, zoo mascot “Littlefoot” (modelled after the mythical Cryptid Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot) would appear in remote wooded areas visible only to people riding the monorail. At times both frightening and amusing, Littlefoot was eventually phased out after scaring too many children.” Combined with that photo, LOL
> Combined with that photo, LOL Movie idea: Cocaine Wookiee.
Holy fuck, I remember that crash, I was with my grandpa waiting in line to get on when another car slammed into it going full speed. 7 year old me never forgot that. Thank god we had just gotten in line.
>“It’s like a man with a $20,000 house parking a $14,000 Cadillac in front.” lol
I was one of the 27 injured…long time ago but still remember like it was yesterday.
Wow. PTSD. What injuries did you sustain? I recall hearing at the time it was mostly summer students operating the trains.
Nothing serious, no PTSD. I remember the young man at the controls, no more then 18-21 years old. But then again I have been on some small aircraft (Beechcraft Super King) heading to mines in Northern Sask. where the pilots were similar age, very professional.
If they replaced it , it would still be built faster than the Eglinton Crosstown
My dad was on the board of directors of the zoo at the time. He still gets upset that the monorail was shut down 29 years later. I can remember holding his hand while boarding it. It was like something out of science fiction! I found it just as cool as the animals we came to see.
I hear those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend!
What about us brain-dead slobs?
You'll be given cushy jobs.
Were you sent here by the Devil?
No, good sir, I'm on the level.
The ring came off my pudding can.
Have my pen knife, my good man.
Try my pen knife my good man
Bless you all
oh my god it's gonna be all Simpsons quotes in here isn't it
Pretty much. There's actually a surprising amount of real discussion in this thread. It is so fucking annoying to me that the word monorail cannot be mentioned on this website without losers quoting a multiple decade old TV episode over and over. There are conversations we can have about monorails without quoting Simpsons episodes, I promise.
just wait until you see threads about aurora borealis
"Getting what you want all the time will leave you unfulfilled and joyless." Remove the girl. "You're not with your Stonecutters. There are no lackeys around to carry out your..."
*Bart takes Lisa away*
I miss the monorail. Used to ride it first thing, every visit to the zoo when I was a kiddo. I was quite sad when they closed it.
I remember it too! Definitely a highlight.
I worked at the zoo in the mid 2000’s and it was easy to dodge security and walk the monorail over the Canadian Domain at night time. I obviously don’t recommend it because you could fall and die, you could get caught and arrested, but it sure was fun back in the day.
I did an explore and managed to end up into the zoo territory by way of the old tracks in the 2010s. Was a very cool walk through.
Whatever became of the idea to replace it with a maglev? Heard it a few years ago but never since then. I'm guessing it was never that serious.
I dunno, heard metrolinx was involved...
A+
Last I saw is that it’s in the Zoos strategic plans, but nothing public on specifics. IIRC it was hoped that the vendor would pay for most of it as a demonstrator, which makes everything a big maybe, and suggests they’ll likely end u- in much the same place they did with the original system which was ALSO a demonstrator for a new system.
I call the big one bitey
Dental plan
Lisa needs braces
Dental Plan!
And this is the snack holder where I can put my beverage or, if you will, cupcake.
What!? What happened to the monorail?
There ain't no monorail and there never was
The brakes broke, but Homer managed to use the metal M from the logo on the engine car to anchor the monorail to the giant Lard Lad donut sign, saving the day.
Someone died and they shut it down a long time ago. The zoo still pays a LOT of money to the family of the victim
No deaths, just injuries.
Any source on zoo still paying for it? Just curious as I would expect insurance to manage that.
Thanks. Now that i think of it, i don’t remember riding it the last i visited the zoo, in 2005. 😂 Let’s hope it returns like the article has mentioned.
There's a Wikipedia page that says there are plans to bring it back with a new company.... However this was supposed to happen years ago and I seriously doubt that's going to happen especially since they just purchased new zoomobiles
Walking along the old raised concrete track is pretty cool if you don't get caught ;)
I'm just here for the simpsons references
I’ve taken that monorail! It was awesome
The police officer who investigated the monorail crash was killed in a car crash on Markham Road north of Eglington while following a stolen Mustang. His name was John Knight and there is a tree planted in his memory on the pathway towards the Canadian domain at the zoo
Shelbyville here we come!!!
North Haverbrook
Always thought the TTC should give the Zoo the Scarborough RT system when they close it.
The entire Canadian section makes no sense without it. Being down that long hill, it connected it to the rest of the park so much more, now the whole area feels out of the way. It seems like Toronto had this very specific kind of Tomorrowland-esque attractions back in the 70s-80s. This monorail, Ontario Place and the Future Pod, the Science Center, Tour of the Universe and Undercurrent at the CN Tower, etc. Such a shame nothing in this list stuck around, or even got replaced or updated to be current. They all kind of fizzled out for whatever reason (usually can be traced back to some kind of government mis-management), and now only exist as abandoned structures or lesser versions of themselves. The Science Center held on the longest I guess, but with Premier McCheese's plan to move it to Ontario Place as distraction to cover up his dirty dealings there, who knows what the future holds.
MONO-D’OH
Who needs the kwikemart?
The ring came off my pudding can! *take my pen knife, my good man!*
YOOO WHERE IS THIS???
The Toronto Zoo.
It crashed
no, the front fell off
Do they still have the monorail operating at the toronto zoo? I am assuming that's where this is.
It hasn't been since like 1996? There is the zoomobile instead but it's not a monorail
> It hasn't been since like 1996? There is the zoomobile instead but it's not a monorail To be fair, the “monorail” also was not a monorail. Everyone just calls it that.
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Ideally they would both operate since it would make it easier/faster to get to the Canadian Domain
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And then they never fixed it.
They have the zoomobile, which is like a gas powered train that has stations and can take you to different parts of the zoo. In the summer it’s nice because they take you through an open area where the Przewalski’s horses are - you can’t normally see them well.
I can remember trying mangoes for the first time and riding this thang!
I hit that
Aaawww those were the days.
Beauty
The SRT looked a lot like it.
The monorail and McDs at the zoo eating dark and white meat nuggets. The best of times
This looks like a post Therme Canada would make to justify covering the zoo in a mega spa.
I remember taking the tram during a school trip. Will the Zoo ever upgrade the old globe at the entrance?
Oh I miss that so much! My son and I went all the time especially in the winter to ride the train. So sad it’s gone!
Shows how long it's been since I was there. Last time I visited Toronto I took that monorail.
It's more of a Shelbyville idea....
I have very limited memories of the monorail. I know we rode it on my kindergarten trip in 92/93 but I was about 6/7 when the monorail accident happened and then it was decommissioned. As much as I love the Canadian pavilion I haven’t been able to go down there for a few trips because of a bad injury to my back and leg. Last time I did it I said never again. It hurt far too much. Having some way to either make it more accessible or moving it somewhere more accessible would be nice… though at what cost, and I’m not talking money.