Toronto is a large city with a population of over 5.5 million (and growing fast!) including suburbs (5,555,912 is the reading from the 2006 Census). It has the largest amount of high-rises under construction in the world, and has many buildings for you to film including the CN Tower, one of the world's tallest buildings (the elevators have a glass floor and go extremely fast, but you have to pay to get in)! I have compiled a list of landmarks and good places to film, despite the fact that I'm no elevator filmer.
Good Places to FilmMany major office buildings in downtown double as shopping centres (since they are connected to Toronto's underground city, called the PATH - it has many shops and is directly connected to Union Station (the main rail station) and the TTC subway (Toronto's subway network).), and as such have very little security during the day. DON'T GO AT NIGHT, there
will be security in the office buildings, and no stores are open in the PATH (although the PATH itself is open 24/7 (I believe), it's just really boring without the stores). Here are some good buildings to film, with the majority being in downtown and connected to the PATH:
Financial District (King St. and Bay St. area)All buildings in the Financial District are PATH-connected. If you are taking the subway get off at King, Union, or St. Andrew stations and proceed to the PATH. (A PATH map is available here.)
A good tip for subway users: During rush hours, St. Andrew station is good to use as it is not as crowded as King or Union.First Canadian Place - 72 storeys with Otis double-decker elevators! (You should go to 68, since it's the upper reception desk (it has a great view of downtown), although you could go to 72 (just warning you that I think it's private offices) if you wish.)
There is also Exchange Tower located right beside FCP, but it is much smaller (36 floors). TONS of elevators to film here!
Scotia Plaza - 68 storeys. Nice, fast elevators here.
Royal Bank Plaza - 2 towers, South Tower is 41 floors and North Tower is 26 floors. It has Otis elevators.
Brookfield Place - a nice office complex with 53 and 49 storey towers (TD Canada Trust Tower and Bay Wellington Tower respectively).
For you hockey fans out there, the Hockey Hall of Fame is in this building's lower level!Toronto-Dominion Centre - an office complex with several towers.
Commerce Court - 4 towers, the tallest one being 51 storeys (Commerce Court West), you will also find a 31-storey tower from the 1930's (Commerce Court North). The other two towers are small and boring.
Other AttractionsCN Tower - 3rd tallest freestanding structure in the world. You must pay to get in, but the elevators are REALLY fast. Indirectly PATH-connected (you must go outside). Right beside the Rogers Centre, see that entry for directions.
Ontario Science Centre - an excellent science centre, entertains people of all ages. You must pay to get in. It's kinda far from downtown and not connected to the subway or the PATH (although you could take a TTC bus there).
It is at Eglinton Ave. and Don Mills Ave. - two major streets - and near the Don Valley Parkway - a major freeway with major rush-hour congestion problems. On the DVP, there will be signs for the Science Centre - you will get off at either Wynford Drive (southbound) or Eglinton Ave. (northbound).
It does have a glass elevator near the main entrance, pretty long escalators, as well as a freight elevator that is sometimes used when the 2 main elevators get really crowded (happens a lot).
Some info about the elevators and escalators - there are 4 elevators (2 main, 1 freight and 1 near the main entrance), a small wheelchair lift on Level 6 (in the Weston Family Innovation Centre), and 7 escalators (6 Montgomery Globe and Parallelograms (3 in each direction) forming the main escalators, and 1 Thyssen escalator near the main entrance with GLASS SIDES so you can see inside the escalator!)
Royal Ontario Museum - a good museum, but you must pay to get in. There are a few elevators to film, including a HUGE one (the Rotunda Elevator). Right outside the aptly-named Museum subway station.
TTC subway stations - not all of them have elevators. A list of them that do can be found
here.
And some landmarks where you can't film or aren't good places to film (not many elevators), but are really nice to see/go to:Rogers Centre - in the summer, you can see the Toronto Blue Jays (an MLB baseball team) play here. As such, the food is really overpriced and you must pay to get in (it's rather cheap for the crappy upper-deck seats and gets more expensive the farther down you go). The stadium seats about 50,000 and has a retractable roof. Photography is strictly prohibited here. Indirectly PATH-connected, right beside the CN Tower. Take the subway to Union, follow the signs to the SkyWalk. You will have to go outside for a little bit.
Air Canada Centre - in the winter, you can see the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL hockey team) and the Toronto Raptors (NBA basketball team) play here. Again, the food is really overpriced AND the tickets are ridiculously expensive (especially for the Leafs) even for a crappy seat. Photography is strictly prohibited here also. PATH-connected. Take the subway to Union and follow the signs.
Canada's Wonderland - a nice amusement park. No elevators here, but has some nice rides. Quite far from downtown; however, it's right off Highway 400 (a major freeway).
I'll update this list quite a lot.
-Gooper1