Looking for tips regarding Niagara Falls/Toronto get away

[Bob O]

On August 3 we are leaving for a getaway and will be spending several days in Toronto and then Niagara Falls. Will also be spending a day ay Canada's Wonderland Theme park.

Any tips/info/ideas on what too see in the area and about the theme park, we will also be going to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but are uncertain what else we will be doing.

Also how is the exchange rate and how easy will it be to use US dollars or will we have to get canadian money if we will be primarily in tourist area's. Do most of the tourist area's except US dollars/charge cards etc.

We have never been to this area before so any advice anyone has will be greatly appreciated.

Any advice on a hotel, we are a family of 5 with 3 adults and 3 kids.

 

[damo]

Make sure you all have passports. You can't get back into the US without them. I would exchange your money at the exchange centre since you will get ripped off by using US currency at retail outlets. You can easily use your credit card as well.

A good, central hotel for a family would be Sheraton on Dundas or the Hilton on Dundas. Also the Hyatt Regency on King is very nice.

Here are some other things to do:

Go up the CN tower.
Watch a baseball game...tickets are easy to get
Visit the museum
Visit the art gallery
Go see The Sound of Music...it is wonderful
Go to the Science Centre
Go to the Toronto Zoo
Go to the Bata Shoe Museum
Go shopping at the Eaton Centre
Ontario Place

 

[merryweather20]

They accept U.S. money and charge cards in both Toronto and Niagara Falls. The individual stores take the bank rate then pad it so you are better off exchanging some money.

Alot of people have mentioned doing a package deal for some of the Niagara Falls activities (Maid of the Mist, Spanish Aero car), and to check both sides of the border for packages.

In Niagara Falls I recommend eating at the Flying Saucer (head up Clifton Hill then keep to the left when you reach the top). 99 cent breakfast and it looks cool

In Toronto I recommend the Science Centre and eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The Hockey Hall of Fame is great! You can definitely spend just a whole day there. The Skydome is really impressive

Casa Loma is also pretty cool We also have a great zoo in Toronto (but its way North of the city) Ontario Place is okay, but it might not work for your kids depending on age. There is quite a nice waterpark, as well as a log flume ride and bumper boats and an Imax theatre. This would work best if you thought you'd use the water-park http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/index.html

In Toronto we are just coming to the end of a garbage strike. They have done a good job keeping the tourist areas clean, you shouldn't notice a thing

Canada's Wonderland gets very busy so try to go on a week-day for sure.

 

[Shutterbug]

lot of threads about this recently, everyone must be a sudden urge for to head north

Maybe we need another subsection..lol

Here are the links I just posted on klaits thread just posted 30 min ago

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2235108

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2224216

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2194485

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=223332

 

[NHdisneylover]

we always buy a citypass when we visit Toronto. It is about 50 dollars and gets you in to about 100 dollars worth of places. It includes the CN Tower, the Zoo, Casa Loma, The Royal Ontario Museum, and the Science Center. All are great places to go.

 

[manning]

Many years ago if we paid in us dollars they would do a conversion and give us change back in canadian money.

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

You may want to post on the Canadian board as well.

 

[eeyoremum]

In Niagara Falls I would stay at a hotel that offers tickets to the indoor water park. Not Great Wolf Lodge they are way too expensive. Try the Skyline it is nice and you get water park tickets. It is a wonderful park.

http://www.fallsviewwaterpark.com/index.php

You can buy passes for a number of Niagara Parks Attractions. It works out to be much cheaper.

http://www.niagaraparks.com/nfgg/discountpass.php

I don't often go to Toronto it is way to busy for my liking. We did go to the Royal Ontario Museum this summer though. The Dead Sea Scrolls are on display there.

Canada's Wonderland is way over rated (and I have been going for 20 years.) They tend to over sell the park so the lines are huge beyond huge. I have had shorter waits at WDW at Christmas time.

Get there early and ride the big rides early.

 

[Bob O]

Im a major roller coaster fan, so we will be going on a week day and hopefully I will be able to ride all the coasters once and my favorites several times like Behometh.

Thnaks for the very helpful advice, Ive never dealt with currency exchange so that is something that will be new to deal with. And we all got passports for the first time to take care of any issues, dont know if we need proof of car insurance and to bring car title along with us??

Thanks for all the help!!!

 

[twokids0204]

Make sure you go to Tim Horton's.

When at the Hockey Hall of Fame try a restaurant called Marche. The Hockey Hall of Fame is on the basement floor, and Marche is on the Main Floor. Really good / fresh food. Will remind you of a Belle's town from Beauty and The Beast.

Zoo is actually East of TO - but if you are into Zoo's it's actually a really nice one, a lot more spacious then any US zoo's I've been to (Miami, Philadelphia).

Wonderland - that's quite north of the City. If you can do it on a weekday you will find the crowds are very light, weekends a whole different story. Wonderland has a large water park as well, if you are into that plan accordingly. Depending how many days you are going to go to Wonderland you may want to get a season pass. Daily admission is about $40+, and a Season's pass is $69.99. If you go twice (one day Water Park one Day rides) it may pay for itself (then you can even go a third time).

Across the road from Wonderland is a really big outlet mall called VAUGHAN MILLS. They do have a Disney Outlet there, that usually has T-shirts for about $5 - $10. (The store is moving to a different location in the mall so hopefully they will be open when you are there - not in transition).

Have fun... We Canadians are very freindly, eh...

Oh, and we don't actually have a restaurant called Le'Cellier, but try The Keg!