Hi Dawn, I was just wondering your opinion on your Falls trip you took a few years ago. I tried to find your post about it but I can't. I wish this search engine allowed you to choose an original poster of a thread AND the subject. Anyway, we stayed at the Brock Plaza Hotel, where did you stay? I didn't like the carnival atmosphere with all those haunted houses and wax museums and Ripley's Believe It or Not stuff, etc. The overload of noise and color and chaos was just such a turn off! The street the Falls are on is kept pretty decently with just nice buildings and hotels and well manicured gardens, but behind that, ACK!!

Brock Plaza was nice, but it's 75 years old and the elevators took forever and a day! The bathrooms don't have fans and it's evident they fight mold issues, yuck! But it was very elegantly decorated and furnished. We had a standard room but luckily we could view the Falls from our window anyway! Mostly a big building was our view, but off to the side and easily seen were the American Falls. The indoor waterpark didn't interest my kids much but I had already bought tickets. The parking and traffic was bad. PERKINS was a DISASTER!!! What is with that place?? We waited about an hour for food, and there were only FOUR other families there!! This happened TWICE during the late evenings!

The only Falls stuff we did was Maid of the Mist and we ate at the Skylon Tower. I didn't even see the Falls lit up at night except thru my window, altho my husband and younger DD went out to view them personally. DD 11 and I were too tired. I was also surprised at how chilly it was there.

We went to Marineland for four days straight, which was really wonderful. We've been many times before, but never overnight and Marineland has added four new rides and a new show, so there are 16 rides (GOOD rides, too!), three shows, several underwater viewing areas, bears, bison, and deer. It's huge though...a LOT of walking. I think I walked more there than at Disney... We bought season passes so we'll be heading back at least once in August, September, and October. Did you do Marineland??

Anyway, just wondering your thoughts!

By Dawnk777 on Monday, July 23, 2007 - 03:56 am:

We didn't have a view of the falls, from our room. We stayed in an Econolodge on Stanley Ave, which was okay. It was nice that it had a fridge in the room, but the beds weren't that comfortable. We were about 3 blocks away from the falls.

I wouldn't want to stay in a hotel on Clifton Hill, where all the wax museums and other stuff is. It wasn't bad to walk there, but it was much quieter by our hotel.

We bought an activity pass and did the Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, the Whitewater Walk and the Butterfly Conservatory. That was fun to do all those activities.
Niagara Falls Adventure Pass

We never did go up the Skylon Tower, although we regret that now and we didn't get to Marineland, either. We did see The Glens and Niagara-on-the-Lake. It is farther down the river, from the falls. In NOTL, we got to see the Toronto skyline, across Lake Erie.

I did get to see the falls at night and one night, we did see the fireworks. I remember being sooo tired, because it seemed we walked EVERYWHERE! LOL!

By Bellajoe on Monday, July 23, 2007 - 07:23 am:

We went to Niagara Falls not long after Dawn did, although we only stayed one night.

We did stay on Clifton Hill, just because the hotel was pretty cheap and we were only there one night.
I guess if you were expecting an elegant place and then saw Clifton Hill you'd think "ACK!" I was expecting it, and of course it's very TACKY but we just had a sense of humor about it and had some fun there. My friend's dh and I went thru the haunted house, we had a blast. We also went to the Rainforest Cafe where our dh's sample a lot of their shots. LOL Good thing we just had to walk back to the hotel. They didn't get stupid drunk....they just got tired.
My friend and I went to Casino Niagara for a while, and that was fun.
We did the Maid of the Mist which we all loved, the kids thought it was great.
I didn't like Marine Land at all. Thought it was a complete rip off that the advertise "you can pet a killer whale" and then when you get there it costs and extra $20 to do that! We did like the underwater viewing areas.
The deer petting place was so disgusting. The deer all looked like htey had diseases.
I would never go back there. It was not worth the money.
But then, I was used to Sea World (there used to be on about 1 hour from here) which is a lot nicer.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, July 23, 2007 - 09:39 am:

Maid of the Mist was my favorite thing! My kids and I stood right out in the front and got soaked!

By Bellajoe on Monday, July 23, 2007 - 03:00 pm:

oh yeah. We have pictures of Before and After. We were quite wet, those blue ponchos don't do much for ya! It was fun

I was secretly freaking out because the boat goes so close to the falls. I thought we were going to be sucked in! I just kept telling myself that they have been doing this for years and years and it's fine. LOL

By Kate on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 - 12:32 pm:

Interesting that you didn't like Marineland, Bellajoe!! My ELEVEN year old CRIED when we left! We'd spend FOUR days there in a row and she was teary throughout the last day, and crying sadly in the car as we left, and throughout the drive home. She adores the whales and keeps saying how much she misses them. She's considering marine biology as a career now.

The guide map said that in response to customer feedback, they no longer have touch and feed the killer whales, but instead let you watch (for free) training sessions with them which was really fun. You can pet and feed the Belugas but it's $8, not $20. Was it really $20 for the killer whales?? I don't agree with any extra charge for any of this, but the girls did enjoy it. We never ever EVER visit the deer or bison....I'm sure it's icky!

The four new rides added a lot to the park I feel. We all really like the place and have been going for years and years. But this may be our last year due to the impending passport regulation. I'm not spending a fortune on four passports just so we can drive an hour north to Marineland!! Guess we'll have to expand our Disney trips to include SeaWorld, but I don't think SeaWorld has the coveted Belugas...

BTW, neither of my girls can decide if they prefer Disney or Marineland, THAT'S how much they loved it!