Day 3: Niagara Falls and Toronto Road Trip

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Whirlpool Aero Car, Hornblower Boat Tour, White Water Walk, Butterfly Conservatory, Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls Illumination

American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls illuminated in various colors during the Niagara Falls Illumination, Niagara Falls, Canada

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Hornblower Boat Tour • White Water Walk • Butterfly Conservatory • Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens • Queen Victoria Park • Niagara Falls Illumination

WHIRLPOOL AERO CAR

We started the day by driving to Whirlpool Aero Car; this was included in our Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus. We would not have done this if it wasn’t included in our pass, but I enjoyed it a lot, so I’m glad it was included in the pass.

For this attraction you ride in a Cable Car that takes you 3,500 feet across the area where the Niagara River bends. The bend in the river is what causes, I assume, the Niagara Whirlpool. The waters heading toward the bend, and at the bend, are class 6 rapids. (Later in the day we did the White Water Walk and walked close to those rapids. I loved it!)

The cable car takes “you across the international border between Canada and the United States a total of four times due to the way the river elbows. No passport required!” As you ride the cable car an employee shares interesting information about the Whirlpool and the area, and lets you know each time you cross borders.

When you reach the other side of the Niagara Gorge, the employee stops the cable car and has everyone walk counter clockwise so that everyone switches sides so that everyone gets to see the opposite side on their ride back that they initially saw.

The whirlpool was not as exciting looking as I was expecting it to be, but the whole experience was fun for me. My husband enjoyed it as well, but not as much as I did. It took about twelve minutes to ride from the time we got on to the time we got off. I don’t think it would be worth what they’re charging outside of one of the Niagara Parks passes that include a number of attractions, but if it’s included with a pass it’s worth doing, IMO.

We were told that the parking was free if you were riding the Aero Car, but when we got there they said it’s no longer free for anyone. The parking was by the hour, if I remember correctly.

From Whirlpool Aero Car we drove to our car and took WEGO to Victoria Ave to get lunch at Popeye’s. The WEGO bus stop was in front of the Niagara Falls History Museum.

I had originally planned on us eating at Soups and Things for lunch, which has great reviews, but the previous day I noticed they had Loaded Buffalo Poutine at Popeyes, which has popcorn chicken (I like their popcorn chicken), buffalo sauce (Popeye’s has a great buffalo sauce, IMO), french fries (I like Popeye’s french fries too) and cheese curds (I love cheese curds). The entire combo sounded delicious and something that’s not offered where we live, so we opted to eat at Popeyes for lunch. It was OK. I enjoyed it, but it was nowhere near as good as I expected it to be. My husband was disappointed because he ordered the three piece chicken, but the way they cut the chicken there you end up getting less chicken than we get at Popeye’s in the states.

HORNBLOWER BOAT TOUR (NIAGARA CITY CRUISES)

After lunch we walked over to Niagara City Cruises to ride the Hornblower. There was a heavy downpour when we got there so we waited for the rain to start before we got in line for the boat.

As we waited in the covered area we put our rain suits and rubber shoe covers on. They provide plastic ponchos, but we could tell later on from looking at everyone around us on the boat that the rain ponchos they hand out don’t provide much protection from the waters of the falls. It’s not just a mist that gets on you – waves of water splash up onto you if you’re on the first level of the boat. But more on that fun in a little bit!

I had read ahead of time that if you ride the Hornblower the best location to be on the boat (which takes you closest to all of the falls) is the front right area on the lower deck. They were correct! You feel like you are soooo much closer than you are from that spot. You will have water splashing you like crazy, but it’s a blast! And not just a blast of water! We were cracking up because it was so crazy and so much fun!

Waves of water kept splashing us from different directions all the way up to our heads. And with the low, dark rain clouds in the not so far distance from the rainstorm earlier it felt like we were in a storm at sea. I had tied the rain suit tightly around my face and a little water still managed to get in the rain suit from the tiny gaps around my face and run down onto and under my clothes. All of the people around us had the small ponchos on that are handed out for free and all of them were soaked – the water was gushing underneath the ponchos.

I don’t know how wet or dry people on the other sections of the boat were, but it looked like even the people on the upper section were getting wet. We probably were the least wet people on the boat, and not getting soaked made us enjoy the experience so much more than if we were getting soaked. The teenage girls around us didn’t seem too happy about their hair getting soaked.

My husband put his phone away, so I was the one who was taking photos and taking videos. I had to be extra careful to not drop my phone because my hands were wet and the boat was very bouncy. Unfortunately water was getting into my phone and I didn’t realize it until later in the day when my phone warned my that it had to dry. (My husband dried it out overnight so it was ready for the next day.)

Without a doubt the Hornblower was our favorite thing we did in Niagara Falls. We actually had considered not doing it because we figured we would get great views of the falls from the other things we were doing, but I’m glad we did it. It takes you to the falls in a way none of the other experiences take you, and it’s a lot of fun. There’s nothing like being there in the water that close to Horseshoe falls with the water splashing on you and the boat bouncing around. The boats take you close to the other falls as well, but Horseshoe Falls was the one that was the blast.

The Hornblower boat tour took about forty minutes from the time we got on the boat until the time we got off of it.

After getting our rain suits and rubber shoe covers off we took WEGO to our next experience – White Water Walk, which was included in our Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus. From the time we waited for the WEGO bus to pick us up to the time we got dropped off at the White Water Walk it took about twenty minutes.

WHITEWATER WALK

I was really looking forward to doing the White Water Walk, my husband wasn’t excited about it at all. It met my high expectations and my husband enjoyed it more than he thought he would.

After taking an elevator down, you walk through a tunnel that leads you to a beautiful outdoor walkway next to the Niagara River with class 6 whitewater rapids – “some of the wildest in North America.” Along the walkway are a few viewing platforms that provide great views of the rapids. There are also several signs along the path that tell of interesting facts about this area of Niagara.

When we were on the final viewing platform, which is located close to the river, a big wave of water hit me and got me pretty wet from about the waist down. Fortunately the temperature was warming up so I wasn’t freezing, but I wasn’t expecting that to happen. We saw it happen to a couple of other people as we were walking back to the tunnel to get to the elevator, so expect that to happen if you decide to walk onto the viewing platforms near the river. There’s no warning that it’s about to happen because the rapids are just splashing up water rapidly and spontaneously.

I’m sharing a lot of photos below from the White Water Walk because I think it’s so beautiful! I hope you enjoy the photos.

We spent about half an hour from the time we exited the elevator to the time we got back on it.

There’s a small gift shop that you are taken through before and after the experience, and there are a few parking spaces nearby. The WEGO stops at this attraction.

Next we waited for the WEGO bus and then road it to the Butterfly Conservatory. It took a little less than thirty minutes to get from the White Water Walk to the Butterfly Conservatory, and that included waiting for the bus.

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY

The area leading up to and around the Butterfly Conservatory is nice looking. We checked it out and took a few photos.

The Butterfly Conservatory was included in our Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus and it was very enjoyable. You have to be very careful when you’re walking and pay attention so that you don’t step on any butterflies. There were a couple of butterflies on the ground that had been stepped on.

Before you enter the conservatory there’s a large display on the wall that shows which butterflies are in the conservatory during your visit. We saw lots and lots of butterflies and many types of butterflies.

Some of the butterflies landed on people and stayed on them for awhile. I had read that wearing bright colors attracts the butterflies to you; I don’t know if this is true or not, but I wore a grass green colored shirt just in case it would help. One butterfly stayed on me for a long time as I walked around.

We spent about thirty five minutes in the Butterfly Conservatory.

NIAGARA PARKS BOTANICAL GARDENS

Adjacent to the Butterfly Conservatory is Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens. This is free to visit.

The flowers weren’t fully in bloom yet when we visited (as you can see in the photos below), so there were a lot of areas that weren’t as lovely as I’m sure they are in the summer, but we still enjoyed exploring the different gardens. There was hardly anyone else there, and most of the time we couldn’t see or hear anyone but each other. It was getting warmer as the day went on and the sun was shining brightly as we toured the gardens.

After touring the gardens we waited for the WEGO bus to take us back to the falls area. We stopped close to Clifton Hill so that we could get dinner. It took about half an hour from the time we waited for the bus until the time we got dropped off near Clifton Hill.

We decided to walk around Clifton Hill and eat dinner at whatever place interested us. We decided on Tim Hortons. We had only eaten at Tim Hortons once before, and that was several years ago. We didn’t like it the first time, but we decided to give it a second chance. We had the same impression as we did the first time we ate there – the savory food is meh and the donuts aren’t great.

My husband ordered pepperoni pizza and I ordered a sandwich that I think was roast beef as the meat. The pizza was like bad frozen pizza and the sandwich was bland. At least we got to rest in an air conditioned building for a little while.

Then we walked around Clifton Hill a bit to see if anything else caught our attention, and something did catch our attention! Clifton Hill Family Restaurant had a sign outside for Dole Soft Serve in Mango flavor and Pineapple flavor. I’ve been loving Dole pineapple whips from Disneyland since I was young, ever since they started serving it, and my husband has loved it since his first taste of it. They offer two sizes at Clifton Hill Family Restaurant, and we stupidly ordered the smaller size. It was so yummy and so refreshing on that warm, sunny evening.

QUEEN VICTORIA PARK

Next we walked over to Queen Victoria Park, which is free to visit. It was starting to cool down by the time we started walking over there, so we enjoyed a nice, leisurely stroll wandering around checking out the different sections of this long park that runs parallel to the falls. In all we spent about forty five minutes wandering through the park.

We checked out Queen Victoria Place Restaurant, and though we felt underdressed, we wished we had eaten there. They said our clothing was fine to eat there. They had a 3 course prix fixe menu for $65 – see image below for what was offered.

The restaurant has excellent views of the falls. They also have a bar in the restaurant that we considered getting a drink from that also has nice views of the falls.

NIAGARA FALLS ILLUMINATION

Then we found a bench to relax on in front of Queen Victoria Place Restaurant as we waited for the falls to be lit up at night (Niagara Falls Illumination.) It was a long wait of over an hour because the colored lights shining on the falls don’t start standing out until a bit after sunset, but it was worth the wait. The illumination of the falls is so beautiful. They do different colors with each lasting long enough for you to get plenty of photos of each color display.

We took our time walking along the area next to the falls, heading toward Clifton Hill as we walked.

We spent about fifty minutes admiring the color display before ending up at the funnel cake place in Clifton Hill that we had eaten at the night before. We just couldn’t resist getting another funnel cake with strawberries, powdered sugar and whipped cream to end our day! And it was just as good as the night before!

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