We got up this morning and ate our breakfast and headed for the Maid of the Mist attraction while it was still early, before it got so crowded. We didn't have much of a wait, and were the first ones on our boat so got prime real estate right up front.
This was a very cool ride, taking us close past the American Falls, and right up into the Horseshoe Falls. Also loud, wet, and exciting!
After this we headed back to the hotel to pack up and checkout and move to the Country Inn & Suites across town.
We got the to CI&S early, but our rooms were already ready and we were able to move on into our rooms.
Later we had a terrible lunch at...I guess it was inside the Niagara Casino at Clifton Hill...and then walked across Rainbow Bridge to New York. Stopped and took pictures at the Int'l Boundry line, with half us in one country, the other in the other. Pretty funny.
New York Niagara State Park is pretty, with plenty of scenic views of the falls, lots of greenspace, picnic and play areas.
We walked across a bridge to Goat Island and decided to do the Cave of the Winds attraction.
Back at home reading about the attractions at Niagara, I hadn't even planned us doing Cave of the Winds. For one thing, there is no cave anymore. It caved in.
I assumed that it was alot similar to Journey Behind the Falls, except that you can still go behind the Falls in Journey, so Cave of the Winds would be redundant, and not even as fun.
WRONG!
I think this attraction turned out to be our favorite one of all. You walk on wooden decks that actually go up under and into the Falls.
At the top there is the Hurricane Deck, where you can stand and the water thunders down onto your head.
It was really, really cool!
We returned to the hotel to dry off and rest a bit. My sister's family went off to eat somewhere, and we went and found an A&P grocery store and bought some groceries to be able to eat more in the room; sandwiches and snacks.
The A&P store still looks like they did when they used to have them down here. I don't think the sign has changed a bit. Nostalgic.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Niagara Falls, Canada Day 2
This morning we got up and headed to the hotel restaurant for a delicious hot, free breakfast. There were eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, toast, fruit, pretty much every breakfast food.
After breakfast we walked down the hill and got our first real look at the Niagara Falls. Took the first of all the necessary, obligatory "Pose in front of the Falls" pictures.
We bought our Adventure Passes, and made our way to the Tablerock Center where we started our adventure visiting the "Niagara's Fury" show/ride.
I had read several reviews about this attraction, most of which were bad and down-putting, but we liked it.
First you put on a free, recyclable rain-poncho they give you and go into a theater where you stand and watch a cute little cartoon story talking about how Niagara's Falls were formed. It was interesting and the story was cute.
Next you go into a 4-D theater and grab a post and hang on. Along with telling you how, this story shows you how Niagara Falls was formed. Including rain and storms and avalanches. Exciting!
Next we visited the Journey Behind the Falls. They give you another free rain-poncho and then you go down many feet in an elevator to some tunnels in behind the falls.
Go to the right and you can see some portals open behind the Horseshoe falls. The water thundering down is amazing.
Down the other tunnel, you go out onto a viewing deck right beside the falls. It looks like you can get within just a few feet of the side of the falls. Loud and wet and exciting!
After JBtF we returned to the hotel room and decided to go out and find something for lunch and look for a Walmart. We always like to locate the local Walmarts in case we need anything.
We were using a Nuvi navigator to locate places, but for some reason it didn't show a close-by Walmart, and we ended up going back into New York to go to what we thought was the closest Walmart.
We tried to stop at a Dairy Queen for lunch, not knowing what an "Orange Julius" DQ is/was. Turns out the only food type food they have is hot dogs. No burgers, bbq, chicken, etc.
We ended up stopping at a Taco Bell, where everyone was amused to see they had Taco Bell french fries. Our Taco Bells here don't have fries.
We tried to visit the New York Niagara State Park, but there was a $10 parking fee we didn't want to pay, since we could walk over for nothing (actually there was a .50 toll when you leave Canada).
Later we went back down to the Falls area and rode the People Mover bus out to the bus terminal and back up to the Clifton Hill area, where we would be staying next.
We walked along that area, checking out some stores, taking some pics, and making our way back to the Falls area. The rainbows come out in the evenings so we took rainbow(s)/falls pictures.
Later we got Pizza Hut pizzas and returned to the hotel and ate and the boys went swimming.
There was another fireworks show that night. John walked down to see them from the ground and listen to the band and check out the night-happenings.
After breakfast we walked down the hill and got our first real look at the Niagara Falls. Took the first of all the necessary, obligatory "Pose in front of the Falls" pictures.
We bought our Adventure Passes, and made our way to the Tablerock Center where we started our adventure visiting the "Niagara's Fury" show/ride.
I had read several reviews about this attraction, most of which were bad and down-putting, but we liked it.
First you put on a free, recyclable rain-poncho they give you and go into a theater where you stand and watch a cute little cartoon story talking about how Niagara's Falls were formed. It was interesting and the story was cute.
Next you go into a 4-D theater and grab a post and hang on. Along with telling you how, this story shows you how Niagara Falls was formed. Including rain and storms and avalanches. Exciting!
Next we visited the Journey Behind the Falls. They give you another free rain-poncho and then you go down many feet in an elevator to some tunnels in behind the falls.
Go to the right and you can see some portals open behind the Horseshoe falls. The water thundering down is amazing.
Down the other tunnel, you go out onto a viewing deck right beside the falls. It looks like you can get within just a few feet of the side of the falls. Loud and wet and exciting!
After JBtF we returned to the hotel room and decided to go out and find something for lunch and look for a Walmart. We always like to locate the local Walmarts in case we need anything.
We were using a Nuvi navigator to locate places, but for some reason it didn't show a close-by Walmart, and we ended up going back into New York to go to what we thought was the closest Walmart.
We tried to stop at a Dairy Queen for lunch, not knowing what an "Orange Julius" DQ is/was. Turns out the only food type food they have is hot dogs. No burgers, bbq, chicken, etc.
We ended up stopping at a Taco Bell, where everyone was amused to see they had Taco Bell french fries. Our Taco Bells here don't have fries.
We tried to visit the New York Niagara State Park, but there was a $10 parking fee we didn't want to pay, since we could walk over for nothing (actually there was a .50 toll when you leave Canada).
Later we went back down to the Falls area and rode the People Mover bus out to the bus terminal and back up to the Clifton Hill area, where we would be staying next.
We walked along that area, checking out some stores, taking some pics, and making our way back to the Falls area. The rainbows come out in the evenings so we took rainbow(s)/falls pictures.
Later we got Pizza Hut pizzas and returned to the hotel and ate and the boys went swimming.
There was another fireworks show that night. John walked down to see them from the ground and listen to the band and check out the night-happenings.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Niagara Falls, Canada Day 1
Up and on our way early this morning. Aunt drove us to the airport. We arrived about 7:00am, which gave us time to check our suitcase, get through security, and grab some breakfast. We were boarding the plane before we knew it.
The flight was smooth and not too long. We landed in Buffalo, NY about 11:16am. My sister and family arrived about 30 minutes behind us.
We boarded the shuttle to the rental car place, and were given twin blue Camry's, although we'd rented Chargers (or similar)(I don't see Camry's and Charger's as similar, but Ryan preferred the Camry anyway, so oh well).
Since we were in town pretty early, we decided to do our Buffalo tour day. We started by visiting the Anchor Bar for lunch, to eat authentic, original Buffalo Wings.
The restaurant was interestingly decorated, but we were seated in a small enclosed-looking porch area of some sort that was crowded with the nine of us stuck into a corner. A bus-person had left a cleaning rag laid on the window ledge and it smelled bad. Later a fellow came and got the rag (leaning over me without so much as an "excuse me") and we saw him cleaning other tables with the smelly rag.
We got our menus and started deciding what we'd eat...I'd already pre-planned on a bucket of Buffalo Wings. Then we noticed that for drinks they served Pint size drinks, with no refills. A place that sells hotwings and doesn't offer drink refills? WTH?
The menu also stated "No Separate Checks", and that an automatic tip of 15% was added to parties of 8 or more.
As a result of this place's greed, we all ordered water to drink, and the waitress got a less of a tip by force than we would have tipped voluntarily.
The food was allright, but the wings were swimming in grease.
Next we visited the Market Arcade building, which we were standing in front of and didn't recognize, the place looked so bad. I was expecting a better kept building advertised as a tourist destination, with the Official Visitor's Center inside.
The Visitor's Center was closed.
Then we tried to visit the City Hall, which looked interesting from the outside, but was also closed.
We found Buffalo dirty and run down and not worth visiting.
We then proceeded on to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and checked into the Embassy Suites hotel.
We opted for the $20/day Valet parking, which wasn't the pain-in-the-neck other travelers complained it to be.
When we booked the room, my brother-in-law and I requested close rooms, and we were put in rooms 3606 and 3608, with a connecting door, which was great. We just left the door open and were able to go back and forth with ease.
Our room had great views of both the falls and the city of Niagara Falls in the bedroom.
The bedroom was nice, with two queen beds, that weren't all that comfortable to me. Husband didn't complain, though, so maybe it was just me.
We had a jacuzzi tub, with shutters that opened so you could look out and see the falls (if you were standing in the tub or very tall).
There was microwave and a small refridgerator. The other room was the livingroom, which was more as a bedroom for us. We spent all our time in the room in the bedroom where we could enjoy the view out the window.
We had arrrived in time for the Managers Reception so we headed off to that. It was in the atrium on the 9th floor. We had tickets for 2 free drinks; 1 per person of a couple. I don't drink so my hubby got 2 drinks. We enjoyed snacks of chips and salsa, carrots/veggies/ranch dip, dried fruit, cheetos, candies, etc.
There was an arcade on this floor, but the games were expensive at $1.00 (or a Looney) each to play.
We explored the indoor pool, and walked outside to a deck/patio area and enoyed some sun for a little while. (We found it rather chilly in Canada, after the temps we're used to in Georgia and Florida.)
Later I took the middle boys to the pool for a swim while the others relaxed in the rooms.
As we were going to bed, all of a sudden we hear a BOOM! and look outside and they are having a fireworks display.
We never did figure out why they had it on Saturday night. The schedule is Fridays, Sundays, and Holidays. Unless they were celebrating Flag Day, a day early, all we could figure was that they planned a special fireworks display just for us! lol.
The flight was smooth and not too long. We landed in Buffalo, NY about 11:16am. My sister and family arrived about 30 minutes behind us.
We boarded the shuttle to the rental car place, and were given twin blue Camry's, although we'd rented Chargers (or similar)(I don't see Camry's and Charger's as similar, but Ryan preferred the Camry anyway, so oh well).
Since we were in town pretty early, we decided to do our Buffalo tour day. We started by visiting the Anchor Bar for lunch, to eat authentic, original Buffalo Wings.
The restaurant was interestingly decorated, but we were seated in a small enclosed-looking porch area of some sort that was crowded with the nine of us stuck into a corner. A bus-person had left a cleaning rag laid on the window ledge and it smelled bad. Later a fellow came and got the rag (leaning over me without so much as an "excuse me") and we saw him cleaning other tables with the smelly rag.
We got our menus and started deciding what we'd eat...I'd already pre-planned on a bucket of Buffalo Wings. Then we noticed that for drinks they served Pint size drinks, with no refills. A place that sells hotwings and doesn't offer drink refills? WTH?
The menu also stated "No Separate Checks", and that an automatic tip of 15% was added to parties of 8 or more.
As a result of this place's greed, we all ordered water to drink, and the waitress got a less of a tip by force than we would have tipped voluntarily.
The food was allright, but the wings were swimming in grease.
Next we visited the Market Arcade building, which we were standing in front of and didn't recognize, the place looked so bad. I was expecting a better kept building advertised as a tourist destination, with the Official Visitor's Center inside.
The Visitor's Center was closed.
Then we tried to visit the City Hall, which looked interesting from the outside, but was also closed.
We found Buffalo dirty and run down and not worth visiting.
We then proceeded on to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and checked into the Embassy Suites hotel.
We opted for the $20/day Valet parking, which wasn't the pain-in-the-neck other travelers complained it to be.
When we booked the room, my brother-in-law and I requested close rooms, and we were put in rooms 3606 and 3608, with a connecting door, which was great. We just left the door open and were able to go back and forth with ease.
Our room had great views of both the falls and the city of Niagara Falls in the bedroom.
The bedroom was nice, with two queen beds, that weren't all that comfortable to me. Husband didn't complain, though, so maybe it was just me.
We had a jacuzzi tub, with shutters that opened so you could look out and see the falls (if you were standing in the tub or very tall).
There was microwave and a small refridgerator. The other room was the livingroom, which was more as a bedroom for us. We spent all our time in the room in the bedroom where we could enjoy the view out the window.
We had arrrived in time for the Managers Reception so we headed off to that. It was in the atrium on the 9th floor. We had tickets for 2 free drinks; 1 per person of a couple. I don't drink so my hubby got 2 drinks. We enjoyed snacks of chips and salsa, carrots/veggies/ranch dip, dried fruit, cheetos, candies, etc.
There was an arcade on this floor, but the games were expensive at $1.00 (or a Looney) each to play.
We explored the indoor pool, and walked outside to a deck/patio area and enoyed some sun for a little while. (We found it rather chilly in Canada, after the temps we're used to in Georgia and Florida.)
Later I took the middle boys to the pool for a swim while the others relaxed in the rooms.
As we were going to bed, all of a sudden we hear a BOOM! and look outside and they are having a fireworks display.
We never did figure out why they had it on Saturday night. The schedule is Fridays, Sundays, and Holidays. Unless they were celebrating Flag Day, a day early, all we could figure was that they planned a special fireworks display just for us! lol.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Flashback
Looking through some pictures of past trips, I came across this cute video clip of the boys dancing to "Hey, Baby" by DJ Otzi on our 2007 Thanksgiving cruise:
I am sooo ready for another cruise. Come on, November.....
I am sooo ready for another cruise. Come on, November.....
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Hotel Rates Came Down Yay!
Checked the rates at Embassy Suites and they had come down from $315.00/$255.00 to $295.00/$205.00, so I called and they adjusted those for me. Called my Brother-in-Law to tell him to call, and he did, and he got even cheaper rates. So I checked again, and yes, they have come down to $275.00/$175.00 now, so I called and got that adjustment. (That is the Canadian price, so even cheaper for the US Dollar.)
Anyway, that's a savings of about $120.00 total, which is great! I've never had that happen before.
When I checked the other day, the Country Inn & Suites was the same price as when I'd booked, but, just for the heck of it I checked again today and that price has also came down. The same room I had booked was about $10.00 night cheaper, but they have the same room with a Sweet Deal that makes the room about $24 per night cheaper. So I called and got the adjustment, and viola', another approx. $120.00 savings. Wow!
PS, the plane tickets did come down cheaper after I bought ours, but they don't give refunds. I emailed and asked anyway, just for the heck of it, and got an email back saying they give price differences in the form of credits on future reservations, and something about charging a fee for changes to reservations, and at any rate, they don't price compare with other websites, only their own, and they didn't show any price reductions on their website. Ohhhh liarrrrrr.
Anyway, that's a savings of about $120.00 total, which is great! I've never had that happen before.
When I checked the other day, the Country Inn & Suites was the same price as when I'd booked, but, just for the heck of it I checked again today and that price has also came down. The same room I had booked was about $10.00 night cheaper, but they have the same room with a Sweet Deal that makes the room about $24 per night cheaper. So I called and got the adjustment, and viola', another approx. $120.00 savings. Wow!
PS, the plane tickets did come down cheaper after I bought ours, but they don't give refunds. I emailed and asked anyway, just for the heck of it, and got an email back saying they give price differences in the form of credits on future reservations, and something about charging a fee for changes to reservations, and at any rate, they don't price compare with other websites, only their own, and they didn't show any price reductions on their website. Ohhhh liarrrrrr.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)