Niagara Falls

Mistakes We Made On Our One Day Trip

Niagara Falls, Canada

Niagara Falls is one of those destinations that many aspire to cross off their bucket list. Over the years I have heard so many people talk about going and how “you MUST see the Canadian side.” It actually hadn’t even been on my radar to plan a trip until I realized this could be an opportunity to finally go to Canada and see something new (As a child I had always wanted visit Canada). Little did I know how close the falls were to Ohio. From Cincinnati it’s a little over a 7 hour drive. Lucky for me, it’s only about a three and a half hour drive from my husbands parents in Northern Ohio. So we visited our family the day before, threw our passports in our day bag, and went out for an adventure to Niagara Falls.

After the drive from Ohio we finally arrived in Ontario, Canada. Now, I had been to other countries before, but I had never been to Canada. The line to get across the border was pretty long, but it didn’t take any longer than 30 minutes. It was kind of an intimidating experience, but extremely cool. I really loved seeing the Canadian flags as we approached the booth to hand over our passports. They ask you a few questions like “ why are you visiting,” “how many people are traveling with you,” and of course they ask to see everyone’s passports. As soon as you cross the border the road signs change from miles to kilometers. The drive from the border to Niagara Falls wasn’t that long, we arrived around 1 PM. We quickly learned that Niagara Falls is not a place you take a quick day trip to. There is so much to see, so much to do, and plenty to explore.

There were so many different places to park, we found a location fairly close to the falls. As soon as we found our parking spot we knew we were going to be in over our heads because this place was MASSIVE. First, we took a quick stroll by the falls and purchased an Adventure Pass for the day. (Pro tip: to save a little bit of money on an adventure pass I highly recommend purchasing this in advance online before your trip.) We had a little bit of time to burn before our first excursion so we all agreed that we should get some food. We were pretty hungry so we went to the closest restaurant in sight, The Table Rock House Restaurant, which overlooked the falls. We sat down and glanced over the menu. I decided to order the signature burger, this had Canadian Beef, smoked back bacon, cheddar cheese, onions, a mustard mayo, on an artisan bun at the price of 20 Canadian Dollars, this did not include fries, fries were an extra 5 dollars. (Keep in mine when visiting the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, the prices you see are in Canadian Dollars not US dollars, many places accept the US dollar) At first I was a little hesitant spending 20 dollars on a burger, but boy was I amazed. This burger was absolutely delicious, it tasted like steak on a bun, maybe this is just what Canadian Beef taste like. I don’t really know. Another shocking revelation is that the “Smoked Back Bacon” ended up being what we refer to as “Canadian Bacon” on the burger instead of “American Bacon.” All in all this place was a great lunch option, pricey, but the food was good and the views were wonderful.

Lunch had taken a little bit longer than we expected, time for our first excursion quickly approached. First stop was at the White Water Walk. This is where we ran into our first HUGE mistake. We thought we could walk to this excursion instead of taking the bus system that was included with our adventure pass. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WALK. This was no mistake but our own, the map even read “ not to scale.” (This is why it pays to do your research before visiting Niagara Falls, we thought everything was in walking distance.) We walked for a good 45 minutes and still hadn’t reached our destination, this is when we finally decided we should probably hop on a bus to get the rest of the way there. Of course we arrived late , like super late, and somehow they still allowed us in. The White Water Walk was super neat. It’s a short path alongside the rapids where you can learn some interesting facts along the way. One of the most interesting facts I learned is that the rapids are so fast that it is actually illegal to water water raft on them. It’s really surreal being so close to water moving that fast. It was a really quick excursion, so I would only recommend doing this if it’s on your adventure pass.

Our next excursion was the Horn Blower, which was all the way towards the beginning of the Falls. This time we decided it would be best to take the bus. There was no time given for this attraction, I think this is because there is no telling how long you’ll have to wait in line. The line appeared to be super long, but for what I consider one of the top attractions at Niagara Falls, it moved extremely fast. We were given red ponchos and got packed on to the boat. I was a little nervous because once you are that close to the falls you really feel so tiny. I expected to get soaked, but from where we were standing only our faces got wet. It was a really neat experience being right in the center of the falls, the water is just so powerful. This is a MUST DO attraction.

Next up was the Fury, my first impression was that this show would be similar to the “Oh Canada” show in the Canada Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World. This show was so much cooler than that, honestly, I don’t know if I should spoil it. If you want to know what this attraction is like read the next paragraph…. skip if you’d like to find out on your own.

**************Spoiler**************

You are lead into a room after a short informational cartoon video providing a brief explanation of the creation of the falls. The room has a huge 360 screen and you stand in the middle of the room. The room then starts to come to life. First, it starts snowing, showing you what Niagara Falls may have looked like before it was formed. Next, the snow melts down shaking the entire room. Then, a huge storm rolls in showing you all the erosion that took place creating the waterfalls. Surprise! You get wet, not soaked, but thank goodness they provided guest with ponchos. I had pretty low expectations for this show, in fact we almost wanted to skip it, but it ended up being pretty neat .

**************************************

Finally, we did our last excursion of the day, Journey Behind the Falls. Maybe we were exhausted from all the walking, but this was my least favorite attraction of the day. It was cool because you got to go down behind the falls through these tunnels and see what Disney fans refer to as “the back side of water.” You also could read some cool facts about the falls as you were waiting in line, but really this was below average attraction and kind of made me feel uneasy. The sound of the rushing water, knowing we were right under the water, stuck in these tight tunnels, and the amount of people down there with you, I felt a bit claustrophobic.

Before we left we wanted to quickly check out this place called Clifton Hill. This reminded me of a mixture of Gatlinburg and Orlando. There were restaurants, go carts, a Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, mini golf, just about every tourist trap you could think of, it was much more than I imagined. We didn’t even know where to begin. Sadly, we didn’t have a lot of time, we ate dinner, and took a bus back to our car. By the time we got back to the parking lot, the falls were starting to light up. (I had no idea this was a thing) Then, fireworks started going off! WHAT! Honestly, I was blown away with everything that was Niagara Falls.

We made so many mistakes, but we learned so much from our day trip to Niagara Falls. There were so many things that we didn’t get to do, but we plan to go back as soon as we can. Our next trip will be thoroughly planned and much longer. The thing about Niagara Falls is that I underestimated the amount of fun that could be had there, the amount of things that could be done, and of course the amount of days needed to truly see the falls. I can say without a doubt add Niagara Falls to your bucket list.