We headed out from the hotel (not at 9am as the schedule had called for – yes, I opted to sleep in – actually Beth silenced her alarm and I never heard it) by 10am. We went down to the welcome center just outside of the hotel and bought our “Adventure Pass” (named by the Niagara Parks Commission, probably not in connection with our “Day of Adventure”). The pass includes the “Maid of the Mist”, “Journey Behind the Falls”, “White Water Walk”, “Butterfly Conservatory”, and an all-day pass for the People Mover.
We had thought about the Maid of the Mist first, but being the flagship attraction, it was crowded with long lines. We took the people-mover bus up to Table Rock where we went inside and got in line for the Journey Behind the Falls. The idea is that you get to walk through tunnels that are bored behind the falls. They have two “portals” where you can see out to the falling water, as well as an observation deck at the foot of the Horseshoe/Canadian falls.
Journey Behind the Falls sounds a lot better than it was. The two portals were just holes with white misty water – the water ran directly over the portals so you didn’t get the view of the space between the rock face and the falling water. The observation deck was the only redeeming quality – and it wasn’t all that great.
Leaving the sadness and disappointment behind us, we left Table Rock (again on the People-Mover) for our next stop. We had considered the Maid of the Mist, but again, the crowds discouraged us. Instead, we decided to go to the Sir Adam Beck hydroelectric plant (our “Adventure Pass” got us half-priced admission). We rode the people-mover all the way to the end at the Butterfly Conservatory. There, we got off and boarded a smaller people-mover bus that went to the power plant. We got off and the guide came rushing out from inside to tell us that the tours only run on the hour (online, it said they ran every half hour) and that one had just left 10 minutes ago.
We got back on the bus and went back to the Butterfly Conservatory. We had about a half hour to kill (just enough time not to be able to do anything) and tried to get in line to go into the butterfly thing (which I was EXTREMELY uninterested in). They said there were like 400 butterflys that fly around you (I picture the scene from Batman where Bruce Wayne is in the tunnel and the bats are flying past him). We got in line but our tour time was at exactly the time we needed to board the bus to get back to the power plant. At the point right after they rip your ticket, we jumped out of line and went back to get on the bus.
Riding the bus to the power plant got us a free second look at the Floral Clock (you had to hear the bus driver/guide pronounce it – kinda like “flurral clawk”) which is apparently some kind of big deal to some people.
The hydroelectric plant was neat (and Beth was such a trooper to go along – she even asked a question during one of the Q&A times). The tour was a bit of a bummer – you got to peek down into the plant floor, but other than that, it was two short videos. The tour guide was great though, both Beth and I felt like we knew him from somewhere (though we obviously didn’t – he must have reminded us both of the same person). On the way out, we saw that Ontario Power Generation operates 36 hydroelectric plants producing somewhere around 6,500MW of power. Their 3 nuclear plants produce over 7,000MW.
From the hydroelectric plant, we rode the people-mover back to the butterfly conservatory (only to change busses) and then on back into town. Before we got back, we decided to hop off at the “White Water Walk”. It looked like it wasn’t going to be too great (and with our Journey Behind the Falls experience still fresh in our minds, we couldn’t even force ourselves to be optimistic). We waited in line, rode down the elevator, and headed down a walkway to see the rapids.
The rapids were actually impressive! It’s amazing to see the way the water bounces all over the place. They had a rickety looking “boardwalk” (by this point, my calves hurt from walking all over Niagara) but the sights were worth the trip.
After the White Water Walk, we boarded the People Mover for what would be our final ride, and headed the rest of the way into town. We went and got our tickets for the Maid of the Mist (then got our stylish blue ponchos to wear on the boat.
Waiting until later in the afternoon/evening definitely paid off – there were so few people on the boat! We took our ride, just like millions have done before us, up the river to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. When we finally got up into the mist, the prerecorded narrator exclaims “Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS IS NIAGARA FALLS!”
We had decided ahead of time not to try to take too many pictures on the Maid of the Mist (as the camera got sufficiently wet at Journey Behind the Falls and we didn’t want to press our luck with our new camera).
After Maid of the Mist, with both of us aching from sore legs/feet, we went back to the hotel room to get dry clothes and get ready for dinner. Bethany wanted to check out the Rainforest Café, so we went there for dinner. It was an experience – the place is all decorated up inside and includes huge animatronic animals (Elephants, apes, snakes, frogs, etc). Every 22 minutes, they have a thunderstorm with very loud thunder and all of the lights flash. We were both disappointed with our food – it wasn’t horrible, but not even close to worth the cost.
After dinner, we went out for a walk along Clifton Hill (again). We have a coupon for 15% off at Dairy Queen, but we kept being to full from dinner to think about ice cream. We used our coupons for the Niagara Skywheel – a giant ferris wheel. Each gondola was individually air conditioned, had soft jazz music playing, and included switchable LED lighting inside. It was a fantastic ride! They said the thing was built in 2005 or 2006 (I forget which) – it definitely looked new and clean. The gondola doors closed tightly and did a great job of sealing out most of the sounds to make it a quiet and relaxing ride.
After the Wheel, we went to the gift shop to do some tourist shopping. Beth got a very nice red fleece and a Moose t-shirt (it says “In Canada, they call me ‘Moose’… Mr. Moose to you”). I looked and looked but couldn’t find any t-shirts that I liked. After shopping, we went back to the hotel and called it a night. We were planning on getting up before sunrise the next morning.
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