Fact Check

Is Disney Building a Massive $6.5 Billion Resort in Toronto Islands?

An April Fool's Day joke was the source of a rumor about a new Disney location.

Published April 3, 2018

 (chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
Disney is opening a new resort and park in the Toronto Islands.

On 1 April 2018, DailyHive.com — a web site dedicated to local Canadian news — posted a story that reported that Disney would be opening a multi-billion dollar resort in the Toronto Islands, just south of mainland Toronto.

The rather elaborate story reports:

The $6.5-billion attraction, known as "Toronto Disney Resort," centres on the construction of Canada’s very own Disneyland theme park – Toronto Disneyland – on the site of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

Other public spaces on the islands beyond the airport site will be maintained as accessible park space and improved through a new parks lands management partnership with Disney.

There will also be hotels on the island, next to Disneyland, and improved transportation links between the island and downtown.

To the disappointment of many Toronto residents, there won't be a Disneyland park nearby. The story is labeled at the bottom as an April Fool's Day prank, which many sharing the story seem to have missed:

A "Toronto Disneyland" link at the bottom also takes readers not to a site featuring the new "Happiest Place on Earth" location, but to the PortsToronto web site.

Sources

McKenna, Meghan. "The Most Disappointing April Fools’ Jokes of 2018."   Fashion. 2 April 2018.

Bastoli, Mike. "Why Disney Should Build Its Next Park in Toronto."   TheDisneyBlog.com. 20 August 2012.

Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who has been working in the news industry since 2006.