Niagara Falls Review

We have arrived back home after what seemed like a whirlwind road trip...oh wait...it was.  I was amazed at how well my five children did with so many hours of driving!  I found Redbox to be a life saver (after watching all of our library movies) for everyone!

Niagara Falls was amazing and well worth the drive up for the day.  As noted by friends, the Maid of the Mist was a MUST.  We avoided the "ticket dealers" trying to get us to buy expensive "saving" packages that would give you tours and tickets to all of the various sites. If you did decide to do that, be sure to wait until you get closer to the actually falls.  We parked a block away (paying $10).  There we were greeted by a host of salespeople trying to get us to buy "fabulous packages" for $60 each. After saying no, we walked towards the falls and encountered tents set up selling similar packages for $33.  We decided to do each site, ala carte and were pleased we made that decision only spending around $60 for the 7 of us to take a ride on the Maid of Mist.

After paying $13.50 for adults (over 12) and $7.85 for kids (5-12...under 5 is free), we hopped in a quick moving line for the Maid of the Mist ride to the falls.  We all received cool blue rain ponchos and hopped aboard.  After getting the top deck (my kids were worried sick they would have to be on the lower level), we went on a 20 minute ride that took us all extremely close to the falls.

The kids didn't seem interested in doing the "Cave of the Winds" after our boat ride so we decided not to pay (thank goodness we didn't get the tour).

Instead we walked around Niagara Falls and looked for the Daredevil Museum. After walking way too long, we finally found it. And it was NOT worth the walk.  The souvenirs were old and gross. And my souvenir loving children didn't even want anything! The small museum (which was actually part of the shop) which contained some daredevil memorabilia, was slightly interesting but it by no means made it worth it.

We had been told the Canadian side was "better" and from what I could see...it looked much nicer.  The American side is run down, kind of embarrassing in a way.

But as far as the beauty of the falls goes, they delivered and were amazing!

If you are planning a few days at Niagara (we stayed for a few hours), I would reccomend you have your passport and head to Canada!