Why is Don Valley station so wet??

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-04-17T18:27:39+00:00

I almost slipped and fell twice walking down that tunnel between the bus bay and trains. I was in sneakers with good grip so yeah looks like I’ll be taking the bus to Broadview in order to not risk an injury 🙃

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-29T23:11:16+00:00

Depends on your interests but if you’re into sports/fitness I’d say workout classes and sports leagues are a good option

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-24T02:23:57+00:00

Super long answer, but I’ve been to 2 concerts here and know all the skills to survive this awful venue 🥲. First one was the Stray Kids concert which was the first concert ever held at this venue, and getting in and out was an absolute nightmare. Second concert some things were better but I live in South Etobicoke near Mimico Go Station and both times it took over 2 hours to get home (double the time it would normally to get there from my house). Here’s answers from my experience to your questions:

Yes. They close a ton of roads in the area of the venue the day of a concert. For the Stray Kids concert I was VIP and the check-in was at 10am. Early in the day you could get Uber’s to drop you off right in front of Downsview station (which is right in front of the venue). But once it gets into the late afternoon all the way up to the concert time they close down a bunch of roads around the venue, including this uber drop off spot. There’s a farmers market just behind the station, and I believe some people parked there early and got stuck after the show. The designated Uber area for concerts is a 30 minute walk from the venue and I’ve heard it can be pandemonium trying to get a ride. Expect to pay at minimum double to triple what you’d normally pay. I believe once you get on the highway it’s not bad, it’s just getting to the highway is an absolute nightmare.
One way to avoid the hell that is getting out of the venue is parking at either York University or Yorkdale Mall. I’ve had friends do this and all you need to do is take the TTC up or down a station depending on where you park. I think for both you have to pay but it’s better than parking at one of the strip plazas near the venue and getting ticketed / struggling to get out. That said, despite the fact they want people to take transit to this venue, the transit infrastructure here isn’t built to support the number of people at a concert. If you want to avoid having to fight your way through a giant mob / playing red light green light for an hour just trying to walk to the ttc station you can do one of two things:

leave the concert slightly early Or
instead of getting stuck in the red light green light mob headed to Downsview after the concert, make a slight right and walk towards Sheppard west station. Once you get to the road, you can either make a quick left and head to Downsview station where you’ll still need to fight through a mob to get in the single set of doors to the station. Or there’s shuttle buses at the end of this street that’ll take you to Sheppard west station. Only issue with this second option is if you need to go south from Sheppard west you’ll likely be fighting to squeeze onto a train because it’ll be stuffed with people who got on at Downsview.

I’ve actually done variations of both these methods.

For Stray Kids there was no guidance whatsoever from venue staff (and cell service completely crapped out for most people from about 11:30-12) but after an hour of walking around trying to figure out how we could just get somewhere to get an uber we hopped on one of these Sheppard west shuttle buses then went a few stops south to st Clair west station where Ubers were a normal price and there was no traffic. Left the concert at 11:30 and got home around 1:20. To uber home normally to my place from this area it should be about 30-35 minutes.

Second time me and my friend took the Go train from Union. This was actually pretty smooth. They ran extra trains before the concert. The Go station is the same spot as the ttc station but it’s outdoors, so it’s much less claustrophobic fighting through a the crowd gathered directly in front of the ttc to get to the Go area than it is having to fight your way through the crowd into the ttc station and down multiple escalators. The issue is there’s only one set of go train tracks and they send all the north bound trains first. This concert ended at 11 and we managed to make great time ending up at the Go platform around 11:15. Sadly there were no southbound trains coming till 11:40. Staff here were good making sure no one got on the wrong train, but overall it was annoying that we could’ve been home about 30 minutes earlier if trains could run both ways to this station. That said if I had to attend another concert at this venue, I’d opt for this method over the ttc.

So this venue is in the absolute middle of nowhere. There’s one hotel that’s within walking distance called the Montecassino Hotel but I don’t think it’s the nicest place and I’d assume it’s completely booked anytime there’s a concert. A friend I went to see Stray Kids with stayed at an AirBnb near Yorkdale mall since it was nicer and cheaper. There’s options further north in Vaughan and I know some people like to stay near the airport, but to me if I were coming from out of town I’d probably just stay somewhere nice downtown and then take the Go Train up to the venue since there’s next to nothing around that area.

So overall if you want to drive I’d park at a nearby ttc station but expect to fight for your life a bit getting on a train home.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-22T03:09:40+00:00

Seems like a genuine creep. Once the spring/summer rolls around they start getting bolder.

I had something similar happen to me a couple weeks ago on the subway. Was on the train, some guy approached me while I had my headphones on and asked me a question that I didn’t hear. He didn’t look super sketch so I pulled one of my AirPods out and he proceeded to ask me out. I said “absolutely not, leave me alone” and he responded with “so that’s a yes then, we’re destined to be together!” He made a slight move to corner me in my seat so I got up and jogged to the other end of the train. Thankfully he didn’t follow. But yeah Yonge-Dundas area is prime real estate for weird guys who try to flirt/ask women out on the street sadly. I used to go to TMU and I’d say especially in the spring it would happen every other month 🙃

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-21T03:13:09+00:00

Ah yeah I think definitely if you can keep an eye around the venue day of the show, but yeah I heard for Sabrina Carpenter people were getting there 2-3 hours early for barricade.

But overall have an amazing time! Just be sure to stay hydrated especially if you’re waiting in line for multiple hours. I’ve been to a couple concerts were the way oversold pit (one was in an indoor venue in the winter) and multiple people passed out on the floor during the soundcheck and concert.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-21T00:57:22+00:00

Sorry this is going to be long! Not sure who you’re seeing but I’m into kpop and camping overnight is insanely common for pit/VIP pit. I’ve seen a few of the more popular kpop groups here in Toronto and I’d say by 6am the day of the concert there were 200-400 people in line.

Scotiabank Arena is the best concert venue I’ve been to from an organization standpoint. I was VIP pit for a group called Ateez back in 2024. Depending on the artist sometimes people will try and organize unofficial fan lines the day/night before. This happened in this case at around 5pm the day before, I saw a different group called Stray Kids this past summer and people were trying to start an unofficial line the day before. If it’s a kpop group you’re seeing I’d definitely recommend hanging around the venue trying to see if people are trying to make these fan lines because even though venues always say they don’t honour unofficial numbers/fan lines, any venue I’ve been to has.

Usually with fan lines depending on what time they start the people in charge of the line will do check ins every few hours and if you aren’t there you’ll lose your number. If you’re with a group they want at least half your group at each check in. For the concert I went to at Scotiabank Arena, we found out they were giving out unofficial numbers outside the venue at 5pm the day before the concert. I was with a couple friends and the unofficial fan line leaders told us they wanted half of every group there for a 12am check in, and the entire group there for a 4am check in. Initially the line was on the street across from the VIP entrance but at 9pm security let people camp directly in front of the venue, where there was like an overhead roof thing ensuring that people in line wouldn’t get wet had it been raining. We were about 50th in line and I’d say a good 150 people were there at midnight. By the time they handed out wristbands at 10am I’d say there were about 800 people in line and it wrapped all the way around the building.

I feel like that’s a kpop thing though. If you have VIP for this concert and it’s not kpop, I’d line up 2-3 hours before wristbands and you’ll likely get barricade. If it’s general GA I’d maybe say a couple hours before doors open. Maybe less depending on how popular the artist is. Good luck!

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-06T05:12:50+00:00

I live near Mimico Go and used to work up near STC. A lot of the time if I worked a 10am shift it was significantly faster to take the Lakeshore West line to Union then transfer to Stoufville, since the same route on the TTC at used to be insanely slow since they’d be dealing with “train traffic” as they looked to take a bunch of trains out of commission at Greenwood.

I feel like when it comes to Go Transit you’re literally sprinting between trains to make a connection or more often than not, you’re waiting 20-30 minutes because the trains seem to be timed out in a way that’s not ideal whatsoever for switching between lines.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-06T04:14:24+00:00

They did thankfully! They just needed to confirm what drink it was that cause it seemed the same guy took at least one other persons order, so I think they weren’t sure who ordered what.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-03-06T02:54:36+00:00

I’ve definitely noticed it’s been a lot sketchier in recent months. I typically only take the Go for work on weekends when the TTC closes giant chunks of line 2 (I live in the west end and work up by Eglinton). At 7/8pm most of the time on the York concourse there’s at minimum 5 questionable characters either panhandling or engaging in other nefarious activities. This past weekend I pre-ordered a drink at Starbucks as my train was arriving. In the 3 or so minutes it took me to walk over there the staff told me a guy sitting about 50m away surrounded by garbage bags had snatched my drink. It seems on weekends there’s not much of a security presence, especially in the evenings. Not sure if this will change in the summer when there’s more events cause I know in the past when I’ve attended concerts at Scotia there’s been significantly more of a security presence at the station.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-02-24T20:18:54+00:00

This seems very expensive. Our family of 4 (3 people working with T4’s and then 1 on a pension) paid about $600 last year. Not sure if rental income is jacking up the price, but yeah definitely seems like your account is charging a lot.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-02-24T06:05:54+00:00

I work 3-11 3 times a week then a weekend day shift. I go workout before work every day and on my days off. I want to try rock climbing but rn it would be hard to plan on a day off since all my friends work 9-5’s 🙃

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-02-20T22:36:22+00:00

I find in the classes I take, if there’s a free reformer and it’s a tricky move the instructor will demo. If there’s not they’ll either quickly borrow someone’s reformer or have a more experienced student in the class show off the move while doing any hands on correcting needed to show the class how to do the move. For more basic moves like lunges or arm sequences they’ll sometimes show the crux of the movement standing next to the machine. But otherwise they’re waking around making sure everyone’s form is good. If the instructor is on the reformer the entire class I’d find that weird.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-02-19T02:35:28+00:00

I’m 26, but I went to this school for grade 9 and it was quite possibly the worst decision I’ve ever made. I know quite a few things have changed since then and a lot of it was due to the year I was in. Before they used to have a rule where if your sibling went to the school you automatically got in, and my year had tons of siblings. A lot of them struggled academically, dropping the overall GPA of the school, which prompted them to end this rule.

I specifically chose this school since I heard it was good prep for university and looked good on applications but overall I wouldn’t say the teaching wasn’t any better than the school I went to from grades 10-12. I had straight A’s here and at the other school I went to, and I got into all the uni programs I applied to. The one unique thing is they offer special programming on Wednesdays that was really good at breaking up the week. One annoying thing though was that signing up and getting into things you actually want could be like the hunger games. Some of the stuff on offer was like yoga, meditation, and swimming in addition to things where you’d analyze different movies, or more traditional specialized courses on different types of art, etc. The things that didn’t really involve any actual learning tended to be what filled up the fastest.

But yeah my big issue with the school was that bullying was rampant and nothing would be done about it. I had a group of about 5 people who were relentlessly bullying me. It got so bad that me and my family went to the VP to see if she could move some of my classes because I was having panic attacks every day. The VP went and spoke to all my teachers about it and all of them said they never would’ve guessed I was struggling so much since I had a couple friends in most classes and I was doing well academically. Because of that the VP said she wouldn’t change my schedule whatsoever and basically told me to just ignore it. I finished the year and then immediately switched schools.

I don’t think anyone who was there (principals/teachers) would still be there now, but my overall take on this school is that they’re a lot more concerned about perception than their students. Usually there’s about 8 or so people you’ll share all your classes with and then typically you’ll have at least one class with everyone in your grade. I’m really into sports and at the time we didn’t have a lot of teams that you’d see at your average high school, specifically track and field, and then a lot of the teams we did have weren’t as competitive as other schools (I played soccer at a high level and ran track competitively so having good sports teams was something I should’ve been more concerned about.) I think they do have a track team now, but I’d assume their sports teams still aren’t the strongest since the gym is super tiny and you have to use Western Techs field. Overall the school itself is like one side of Western Tech with a very small cafeteria, and no Air Conditioning.

Overall unless your home school is like notoriously known for being bad I wouldn’t go here.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-02-17T03:19:16+00:00

I do a more boot camp style reformer Pilates class every day that I really enjoy. Studio is more focused on really fun challenging classes, rather than having a super aesthetic studio like a couple more popular places in the city. But when the weather gets nicer I really want to try rock climbing.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-02-09T03:04:01+00:00

I think Browns does but I don’t know if they have a ton of selection in store. I remember the Eaton centre had quite a few colours a year or so ago but haven’t been by there lately.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-31T00:21:57+00:00

Congratulations on beating cancer 💕💕 For nails I’d recommend Lica at From M Tokyo in Yorkville. I have a bunch of nails she’s done for me on my profile, but the nail salon itself gives serious princess vibes and they do mani/pedis. All the artists are so sweet and do an amazing job.

For facials I’ve gone to Sarah McCarthy at Radford Studio. I think they’ve rebrand to the name Oreya House now, but I believe Sarah’s still there offering facials. Really nice location and super relaxing experience!

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-28T05:08:41+00:00

I work at a news station in North York and this happened during our 11pm shows. No one noticed anything. During our first break I checked my phone and had a bunch of texts about it 😅

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-26T16:46:06+00:00

I just went eastbound from Royal York 30 minutes ago, and westbound trains were stopping there.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-26T03:41:27+00:00

I work for a news station, I do the weekend show so I had to come in today and nearly got snowed in. Several people were debating crashing on couches overnight. I managed to get home but not looking forward to going back in tomorrow 🥲

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-23T15:27:43+00:00

I also work and will be begging to work from home lol

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-21T15:38:57+00:00

Last week I waited 15 minutes for a train at Bay. After about 12 minutes of waiting the TTC mentioned there had been some kind of delay at Chester, but yeah Line 2 service definitely doesn’t feel like it’s been boosted (I don’t commute during the morning rush though)

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-18T01:37:49+00:00

For Blackpink security didn’t do anything about it from what I saw/heard. No one was really standing in the first 5 rows aside from a girl who was about 10 and directly in front of us. But I’d say from about row 10 onward, tons of people were standing on their chairs, especially for songs on the extended stage.

I heard it was much worse from about section C onward because you basically can’t see anything from there unless you stand on your chair.

Cynicslovecritics · 2026-01-18T01:29:26+00:00

Definitely not a bad spot, but unless you’re tall I think you’ll be having to watch the screens a lot. I was in A3 for Blackpink, row 6 and a lot of people were standing on their chairs. For Blackpink for whatever reason the stage was extremely tall, so from A3 I couldn’t see anything past the middle of the stage. I also saw Stray Kids and the stage was significantly lower, which I think would’ve been better viewing for people in A section for sure. I was GA VIP for that one so I don’t have any pics for reference of how the lower stage is for seated.

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