The first thing we need to do is arrive on time for our 2:00PM lunch reservation at the top of the Skylon Tower. The 520' tall tower places you 775' above the bottom of the waterfalls.
We paid $10 CAD ($7.36) for the "All Day Parking" near the base of the tower.
I made these reservations just yesterday and put in a special request for a window seat, with no expectations they would actually be able to accommodate my request. Were we surprised when they showed us to our table!
If the restaurant were completely empty, and I could have choosen any table I wanted, I would have picked the table they seated us at. Kudos to the staff for reserving us the best seat in the house and at no extra charge.
Skylon Tower has three different levels to view the falls from.
The first level is their "Revolving Dining Room" that makes one complete revolution every hour. It's a little bit pricey, but everyone eventually gets a wonderful view of the falls if they stay seated long enough.
The second level is their "Summit Suite Buffet", which is where we chose to have lunch. The "All You Can Eat" buffet menu included a full salad bar, various entrées and even a few kid friendly choices. There was also a very nice desert bar. The price? $39 CAD which is only $28.70 USD and is quite the bargain if you factor in it also includes time on the top level of the tower.
The third level is the "Observation Deck" where you can walk around the entire tower. There are two options here, view from inside of the glass on cold wintery days, or on the outside open air deck like we did today. The price? $15 CAD which is only $11.03 USD.
While our buffet food was all quite good, the views we had were outstanding!
SKYLON TOWER
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Our "Yellow Bug" elevator car takes us to the top of the tower in just 52 seconds.
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The Skylon Tower dominates the skyline and can be seen from just about anywhere in town.
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This was the view from our "1st Class" dining room table. Not bad huh?
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Not only did we have a view of the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls on the U.S. side...
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...but we had a "full frontal" view of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls as a bonus.
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We didn't spend much time out here on the observation deck after our dining room views.
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The "backside" of the tower's observation deck was practically empty.|
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OK! Now that we've been fed it's time to start doing some "closer to ground level" sightseeing.
When making our dining reservations yesterday I also went to the Niagara Parks website and purchased tickets for two of their 2-day park's attractions packages. By purchasing this $84 CAD ($61.80 USD) package we saved 41% over buying all the tickets separately.
The first thing we need to do is locate one of the numerous Niagara Parks Welcome Centers to pick up our lanyards and Park Pass ID Cards. The 2-day pass includes 5 of the major attractions and unlimited 2-day transportation onboard all of their WEGO Buss routes.
The "Green Line" route travels north/south along 9-miles of the Niagara River shoreline and has stops at all of the major attractions along that distance. It is a "Hop On/Hop Off" service and drops you right at each one of the attractions.
We were currently located near the southern end of the route and decided to first ride the bus towards the northern end where we disembark for our 1st of 5 attractions.
Yesterday we watched this attraction from the U.S. side of the river and thought it looked like a lot of fun, so today we're back to find out for ourselves.
It's called the Whirlpool Aero Car and has been in operation since 1916, making it one of the oldest attractions here at Niagara Falls.
During the winter of 2023 the Aero Car was removed from the cables and sent out for a complete refurbishment. The upper pulley system (yellow part) was completely remade to look like the original and the floor in the aero car basket was reinforced and covered with a nonslip surface.
In other words, the Aero Car has never been safer to ride in it's 108-year history as it was today. I don't know about you, but I feel a whole lot better about riding on it while knowing that.
WHIRLPOOL AERO CAR
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As we're standing in line we see the group before us head out on their adventure.
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The ride is 3500' across the Niagara Gorge and is 200' above the 125' deep waters.Although the ride goes from Canada to Canada you are briefly over the United States.
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Time for us to load up and take our turn on the Aero Car.
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Looking upriver you can see the Class 6 rapids of the Niagara River.
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On the other side of the car you can see the Whirlpool swirling around.
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This was a great ride, but to "feel the power" of the water we'll need to get a bit closer.|
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That was a fun 1st attraction, but it's time to board the WEGO bus and head right back down to where we just came from.
The Table Rock Centre stop is located right by the Horeseshoe Falls. There are a lot of things to do at this stop and consequently there are a lot of people in the immediate area.
We intentionally try to take photos without a lot of people in them and instead focus on the attraction itself.
It's the first of four vehicular bridges located downstream from the Falls.
The 2nd of 5 attractions included with our Parks Pass is called Journey Behind the Falls.
Here you'll take a 125' elevator ride down and then walk through a 130-year old tunnel to emerge at the base of Horseshoe Falls. The second thing to do while you're down here is to take an optional tunnel to a location about ¼ of the way around behind Horseshoe Falls and peer through an opening at the backside of the falls.
JOURNEY BEHIND THE FALLS
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Left goes out to the Observation Deck and right goes to the opening behind the falls.
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Obviously we went left!
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There is a smaller upper deck and a much larger lower deck to view the Horseshoe Falls from.
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I somewhat vaguely remember this scene from 40+ years ago.
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This is the much longer tunnel that goes behind the falls.
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Once you make it around a 90° bend you'll see the opening.
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Finally, we got our turn to pose in front of the Journey Behind the Falls opening.I didn't think the wet floor pylon was necessary.
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An unobstructed view from behind the falls.|
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It's starting to get dark and I hate driving in the dark, plus we still have to make our way back to where ROVER is parked at the base of Skylon Tower.
Earlier today we walked "down the hill" to get to the attractions on the river's edge. Now, at the end of the day, walking back "up the hill" doesn't sound so pleasurable. But we have options!
The WEGO bus also has a BLUE LINE that continuously travels in a counterclockwise loop around the southern end of the GREEN LINE and it also goes up and down the hill with stops at most of the major hotels and restaurants, including the Skylon Tower.
The Skylon Tower bus stop is a mere 250' from where ROVER is parked. I'll be able to see ROVER from the bus stop and that sounds perfect to me!
It's 7:15PM as we cross over the Rainbow Bridge, the vehicular one and not the pet friendly one, as we head back to our campsite that's still 15-miles north of here. Our day started with breakfast at 8:00AM at Sangers Farm & Bakery, and I know it's not terribly late, but I am pretty tired, although it's a good tired. I don't suspect I'll have any trouble falling asleep tonight.
See what I mean about the Skylon Tower dominating the skyline?
I know you've all been seeing a huge white balloon up in the sky in some of the photos. I thought I'd share this photo of where the balloon is tethered about ¼-mile inland from where the Rainbow Bridge connects to the U.S.
A 15-minute ride 400' into the air will cost you $50 USD.
Yesterday we "learned" a few things about sightseeing Niagara Falls here in Canada. First off, parking prices have a wide range here in Niagara Falls, Ontario. We paid $10 CAD for All Day parking "up on the hill" near Skylon Tower. That was fairly inexpensive, but mildly inconveniently located.
Most of the major attractions that everyone visits have their own little parking lots, but they are $8 CAD per hour, designed to have you park for 1-hour to see the attraction and then move your car out of the lot. You can also buy an all day pass for about $30 if you want to leave your car in one of these location all day.
Yesterday we noticed during our visit that the parking lot at the Whirlpool Aero Car was FREE. This morning we parked there and boarded the WEGO bus that delivered us to our 3rd of 5 attractions included in our Parks Pass.
The White Water Walk is a ¼-mile round-trip boardwalk along the shoreline with the Class 6 rapids of the Niagara River. Here you can really "feel" and "hear" the power the water possesses while roaring down through the gorge.
WHITE WATER WALK
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As with almost every attraction it starts off with an elevator ride and walk through a tunnel.
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The tunnel delivers you right to the waters edge.
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I'm glad we did this in the afternoon while the boardwalk is shaded.
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Looking upriver you can see the Amtrak Train bridge over the river.
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Looking down river there's a location where some daredevil could slip into the water.
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But you better be carefull because you're being watched.
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I don't know why anyone would want to do that anyway...but I guess it's safer than going over the falls in a barrel.
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This is the end of the walk where the old platform with it's rusted out railings is closed offand a new platform exists with new railings where it is safe to enjoy.
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Walking back to the start you'll notice things you didn't see on the way down.
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Like another off limits area near the water, but this one had no camera.
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In case the elevator breaks down this is your only way out.|
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Time to hop back on the bus and head towards the 4th of 5 attractions included in our Parks Pass, the Butterfly Conservatory.
With over 2000 butterflies in flight at any given time there surely will be plenty to see. I won't even try to pretend to know what variety of butterfly these are so I'll just share Tricia's photos.
This stop was more for Tricia's enjoyment and while I did take a cursory walk though the entire attraction I spent my time at the nearby café enjoying the ice cream. SHUSH, don't tell Tricia!
BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY
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This is one of the largest glass-enclosed butterfly conservatories in North America.
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Time to reboard the bus and ride it back down to the Whirlpool Aero Car stop to pick up ROVER. We then drove down to southern end at Table Rock Centre to begin our search for a parking space. After two failed attempts we just "bit the bullet" and paid $35 CAD to park for the rest of the day (we're going to be here for another 4½-hours) in the convenient and secure parking lot across the street from Table Rock Centre.
It's now after 6:00PM and most of the attractions are closed for the day, but this one is open until late in the evening.
It's the Niagara Parks Incline Railway. It's also part of the transportation options included in our Parks Pass package. Let's go ride it, it's FREE for us to try.
We just found it a fun way to spend a little time while there was still daylight left. We rode it up to the top and watched it go up and down a few times, took a few photos, and then returned down to walk the pedestrian overpass to cross the road to Table Rock Centre.
and now you can see a better photo of the "Yellow Bug" elevator car with all the windows.
We've got quite a bit of time to kill before our next scheduled attraction at 8:00PM so we started thinking about dinner. At the Table Rock Centre there are several options for food.
The first is the mildly expensive Table Rock House Restaurant with it's second floor views of the falls from your table.
Secondly is the Table Rock Bistro + Wine Bar with a limited menu in more of an upscale bar setting.
The Table Rock Market features four different menus like you'd find in an upscale mall food court. That's where we ate and I had a mediocre tasting cheeseburger with fries, but Tricia had a delicious tasting personal sized pizza. I should have got the pizza!
After finishing our meals we sat around the "not so busy" food court area until they kicked everyone out at 7:00PM when they closed for the night.
We then sat outside in the patio area of the food court, but with all the mist in the air from the falls we were soon feeling quite wet and with the sun going down it was getting a little chilly when the breeze blew. So we got up, crossed the street and sat inside of ROVER for about 30-minutes to "get out of the rain" until 7:45PM when we walked the short distance to our 5th and final attraction of our visit to Niagara Falls in Canada.
The Niagara Parks Power Station + Tunnel is the newest (and we both felt the best) attraction on the Canadian side of the falls.
The abandoned first major power station on the Canadian side of Niagara has been brought back to life with a one-of-kind interactive light show that is not to be missed. The thing is, during the day it's just a plain old self-guided tour of the power station and a walk down the tunnel to the observation deck, but between 7:00PM and 9:00PM each day the place comes alive with lights.
They present a 30-minute light show that runs continuously without an obvious beginning and end so pay attention to the time. It begins and ends roughly on the hour and ½-hour.
I'm going to share photos of the light show and tunnel, but it won't nearly do the experience any justice. We have some video, but I'm so far behind in getting this blogpost created that I won't have time to include them in this post.
I'll try very hard to get a "SPECIAL EDITION" post out in the next few days with ALL the videos from the entire 6-day visit here at Niagara Falls.
NIAGARA PARKS POWER STATION + TUNNEL
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Projected on an imaginary ceiling is what looks like the river rapids outside.
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Everywhere there was plenty of signage and displays telling the history of the power plant.
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On the buildings actual windows were projections of the early 1900s outdoors.
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In the middle of the plant is where all the action is, along with all the people.
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There were 3D projections on the walls and floor of the plant.
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After a 180' ride down in a glass-paneled elevator we explored the 2200' long tunnel.
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About 200' down the tunnel the rolling rainbow-like show began.
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This continued the full length of the tunnel.
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At 2200' the tunnel opened up to a view of the LED laser lighted falls.
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The color projected onto the falls was constantly changing.
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Even the American and Bridal Veil Falls can be seen from this observation deck.
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Looking up overhead you can see the light as it heads towards the falls.
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Time to head back in and travel slightly uphill for 2200' back to the elevator.
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To be honest with everyone, I only made it 1200' down the tunnel before taking a seat on a bench.
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But I still felt like it was the best thing I've seen on this side of the falls.|
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After returning from the tunnel we once again watched the entire 30-minute light show in the plant before we exited to the outside where the fireworks show was to begin at 10:00PM.
It's now 10:30PM on a Tuesday night and we're driving towards the Rainbow Bridge to exit Canada as we pass through the area of Niagara Falls known as Clinton Hill. It seems to be very much alive and doing well compared to all the other areas of the city we passed through.
As if the night couldn't get any better. When we arrived back at the campsite we looked up into the sky and saw the tail end of a beautiful full super-moon in partial eclipse.
Just to let you know what I'm dealing with this week, the final count during our 6-night visit here at Niagara Falls is 834 photos and 147 videos, but here are a couple short unedited teaser video clips of what's to come in the next few days.
with "the show" following their movements around the floor.
HOW COOL IS THAT!
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