Hundreds wait in massive line at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal

If you’re planning on going Easter egg hunting at Centre Island over the long weekend, be warned. Hundreds of customers waited in massive queues at Toronto’s ferry docks on Friday, all reportedly on their way to the event.

Centre Island staples Centreville Amusement Park and Far Enough Farm are hosting the weekend long egg hunt. There was no apparent limit on the number of tickets sold and timings for the event were simply listed as 11 a.m. to 4 p.m on the website. A specific schedule for the Easter egg hunt was not provided, however, staggered timings as per children’s ages were listed for another chocolate bunny hunt.

The crowd was reportedly so large that despite the “very cooperative ferry schedule” mentioned on the event site, service reportedly could not keep up with demand.

Matthew Cutler, spokesperson for Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation told CityNews that Friday is the first day of spring service on the Toronto island ferry and as of 2 p.m., a record 14,000 passengers were transported.

“For comparison, a busy summer day is 20,000 passengers.” he said.

To alleviate wait times, two extra boats were brought into service – one with a capacity of 900 passengers and the other with a capacity of 400 passengers. These were in addition to the 900 passenger boat already serving Centre Island. Trips were leaving every 15 minutes instead of the usual 30 minute intervals. A smaller boat that carries 200 passengers continued to serve Wards and Hanlons islands as per regular schedules.

“The ‘Eggstravaganza’ event hosted by Centreville, combined with great weather has brought thousands of Torontonians to the Park, and we’re all-hands-on-deck to get them to Toronto Island Park as quickly as possible,” said Cutler.

Cutler added that there are plans in place to replace the current ferries with larger vessels in the coming years. Over the next 18 months a management plan will also reportedly be developed to guide improvements at the island park.