What does a city do with an amazing Olympic facility after the games? Well that’s something we wanted to find out while in London.
We decided to visit the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which is by the Stratford tube station and close to the house where we are living. I was really impressed with how they have redesigned the property post 2012 and given it back to the people. It was a beautiful sunny day and the place was packed with families.
The London Aquatics Centre has a number of different swim classes that are open to the public, so we all really want to try it out. One class in particular the kids would like to do is the Extreme Aqua Splash which looks a lot like Wipeout with an amazing inflatable obstacle course. It’s also great to see the focus on the environment, as many of the venues are using “green roofs” for heating and cooling.
We were also able to go into the Velopark and watch teams of cyclists work together and move around the track – it was awesome! It turns out you can try the experience if you’re interested. The bikes and helmets can be rented and there are different track experiences you can participate in depending on your level of cycling expertise.
Along the path of the Olympic property, there are mini attractions and ways to keep keep the walk fun and interactive. There was a beautiful focus on the ParaOlympic games throughout– something we haven’t really followed – but should start doing.
There were some great parks for the kids that were different from the usual. One that really captured my attention was a mini wading/water park area for small kids – the difference was it was total experiential – I was thinking, this would be great for full day kindergarten!
There were hand water pumps all over the area and if the kids wanted water to wade in – they had to first pump it and then release the lock/dam. Furthermore, through the placement of rocks and other barriers after the dam, they could divert the water flow to the area they wanted to fill. It was a great way to teach about engineering in a fun play based way!
The girls also had the opportunity to try out some climbing walls with varying degrees of difficulty. Overall, it’s a great facility that’s wonderful for families of all ages. If you go to the Information Centre there is an Olympic course program and map that will take you through the park and connect you to highlights of the 2012 games – it was really neat!
There is no cost to enter the park, but if you want to take tours, or enter some of the buildings, there are admission charges. In London, one thing I have learned is to ask about “off peak” costs. If you go after prime time hours, you can get into attractions for a reduced price.
This park is a definite “must see” place in London. It was great to observe so may people making excellent use of the facility…I’m hopeful Toronto’s Pan Am committee will look to London to see how to manage the handover to the community after the Pan Am games in 2015; I sure hope it will be as positive!
Comments
11 responses to “Olympic Update!”
Kat,
Have been enjoying all your blogs so far. This one was particularly interesting as we were there while everything was being built in 2011. Nice to see what they have done after the games. You are right, hopeful that Toronto will make good use of what they are building here for the Pan Am games next summer. Maybe it will make up for Bob’s traffic headaches. Keep up the blogging it is so, so interesting.
Cathie & Bob
Great to hear from you Cathie – it’s neat to hear about the before and after the games perspective. Like you said – we hope Toronto gets it right as there is so much potential to do great things!
Cheers and take care,
Kat:)
That is very cool, one can always hope Toronto gets it right….
Ditto!
K:)
Love the idea for the water park with directing waterways. I wonder about the buildings at UTSC that they are building for the Games in Toronto.
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/07/tower-of-london-poppies/
Katina, thought you would find it interesting.
Hi Iniyal,
Yes – we have seen this display and it’s absolutely inspiring. We were there the first day they started putting in the poppies and there was a solider playing the trumpet while it happened -totally gave us goose bumps. Mikhaila will be writing about it later this week.
Thanks for sharing the link – their pictures are way better than ours!
Kat:)
Kat, I am so glad you got to see the Olympic Park. I loved seeing the pictures…it’s a lot less crowded now! There won’t be a Pan Am Park in Toronto with as many facilities clustered together like there was in London. But Toronto will have some great legacy facilities as a result. The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre is expected to be ready this September and will be a really great facility for Scarborough. Enjoy England! I look forward to reading all about it.
Thanks for the comment and info Judy – it will be great to have a world class facility in Scarborough!
It’s funny you mentioned about the crowds…as we were walking through the park, the program we kept referring to, asked to the kids to pretend it was the 2012 games with tonnes of athletes going up and down the walk ways. There’s even a speaker you can press to hear a roaring crowd as you pretend to cross the finish line! It was all great fun!
Take care,
Kat:)
Hi,
We really enjoyed all of the above info, especially the water park! You are right — the kindergarten would benefit from this! Mom and Dad
Hi, Katina, today is my “reading day” I enjoyed reading about the Olympic sites and the photos. It’s so nice to see the places and buildings without the masses of people, that were around during the games when we watched on TV. Lucky you. Take care