Niagara Falls, Ontario

[Ngwira]

They refused to remove it. Nick at GWL said its a mandatory government tax not the tourism tax. But this tax is the only one that came up at every single gift store etc. Its listed as HST Harmonized Sales Tax. I found article saying it is suppose to be removed if requested.

I thought the TIF(Tourism Improvement fee) was non mandatory. We just paid it! We saw many people arguing about it and lots of places refused to remove.

 

[Ngwira]

Whats interesting about the Adventure Plus Pass is you get 48 hours Wego bus. Its suppose to be 48 hours from the first use. For us that was Sunday June 26 around 10AM. But the Wego bus scanner says they expire June 29 at 3AM.

I tried giving away our 6 passes, 6 Hornblower tickets, 6 Flower house tickets but everyone I asked at hotel said they were leaving. Several said they never heard of Hornblower boat. Stopped by the Aero car but everyone there said they had tickets (different color adventure pass lanyards from ours. We had the plus.).


The only extra we did to the adventure pass was the carriage ride at Butterfly Conservatory School of Agriculture. SIL has difficulty walking so we opt'd for the carriage tour to see the property. The tour guide was very informative.

I bought the pre-paid (discounted) meal coupons for GWL when I made reservations. The only place outside of hotel we ate was Queenston Heights Resturaunt which was fabulous. We did get popcorn, drinks, and some candy at different stops during the day.

We do not like the tourist resturants like Rainforest Cafe. Living so close to Orlando we feel its overprice food that is slightly below average food quality.

We also had no interest in Clifton Hill tourist traps. We did take the incline railway up to the Casino Hotel and Galleria to look in the shops. But other than that only saw Clifton Hill when we drove through once for curiosity.

GWL resturants close early by 8, 9, 10 depending on the night and season. I would say a benefit of Clifton Hill is maybe restaurants stay open later?

I wish we had tried Queenston Heights Restaurant. We had a fabulous but expensive meal at The KEG in the Embassy Suites on Falls view blvd.

 

[NinaBella]

I wish we had tried Queenston Heights Restaurant. We had a fabulous but expensive meal at The KEG in the Embassy Suites on Falls view blvd.

A lady in the laundry room at GWL said she ate there. Seems like a popular place.

 

[NinaBella]

I thought the TIF(Tourism Improvement fee) was non mandatory. We just paid it! We saw many people arguing about it and lots of places refused to remove.

TIF and HST are not the same. HST goes to the government. TIF stays with the business. Nick at GWL says they do not charge tourism tax. HST is 13%.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Any particular concerns about tourist crime at Niagara Falls? I expect to be careful as usual, but I know some tourist locations are much worse when it comes to pickpockets, etc... friends just returned from Paris where thieves have Houdini-like skills!

Also, anyone visit Niagara on the Lake? It sounds amazing--and looks like WDW Main Street from the photos.

 

[sk8jdgca]

Niagara on the Lake is beautiful! Last time we were there there was a Peach Festival going on. Lots of quaint little shops!
We didn't really notice any bad areas. My daughter and her friends ( age 12-17) were out in a big group until 1 am on Clifton hill

 

[Eureka]

Niagara on the Lake is beautiful! Last time we were there there was a Peach Festival going on. Lots of quaint little shops!
We didn't really notice any bad areas. My daughter and her friends ( age 12-17) were out in a big group until 1 am on Clifton hill

We are actually staying at Niagara on the Lake instead of right by the falls. We have theater tickets for our first night there. Looking forward to it, the town looks cute.

 

[Ngwira]

We drove past Niagara on the lake on our way to Toronto.

 

[Ngwira]

A lady in the laundry room at GWL said she ate there. Seems like a popular place.

If you are talking about the keg..yeah their filet and lobster tail was so bomb.

 

[Ngwira]

TIF and HST are not the same. HST hoes to the government. TIF stays with the business. Nick at GWL says they do not cgarge tourism tax. HST is 13%.

Are you home yet? Highlight of your trip?

 

[NinaBella]

Are you home yet? Highlight of your trip?

We are in D.C. for a few days. So not "home" yet. Our highlight was the white water walk. It's a very short walk, but the gate/stairs were open to go down close to the water. We picked a 6:20PM departure since that was the last hour and evening hours we thought wouldn't be as hot and crowded.

Surprisingly Niagara's Fury was cute and everyone enjoyed it. Journey behind the fall was a let down. Just an observation deck that was quite crowded was nice for pictures, the tunnel was not much to speak of. The Butterfly Conservatory was nice but also crowded.

I would not do the Firework cruise again. I think it would be more enjoyable sitting on a blanket in the grass overlooking the falls. I thought it was going to be better than it was. We got soaked, which I didn't realize they went that close to the falls at night. They advertised the live music and food beforehand but that was just a tent and small band. They only had wine and beer beforehand. There is a bar on the boat but I drink slowly and with the water spraying up, who wants that nasty water mixed in your drink... not me. I would opt for the day boat instead for the boat experience.

The carriage ride at the butterfly conservatory (botanical gardens) was nice as well. I like carriage rides and I was very impressed with the driver's knowledge and pointed out every type of tree and told of the history of the property.
http://www.niagaraparks.com/niagara-falls-attractions/horse-and-carriage-rides.html

Research nice places to eat. There is no need to waste money on bad food at tourist chain locations. Across from the Casino mall area, I saw several nice restaurants that I would have liked to try if I was there longer. But we consider Rainforest Cafe, Hard Rock, etc. to be tourist places to eat with average to poor food that is overpriced.

 

[CarlisleMom]

Leaving in 4 weeks so the planning is in full force. There is DH, DD14 and myself. We are staying at the Holiday Inn at the Falls - free parking. I plan on buying the Adventure Pass at AAA before going and using WEGO. A couple of questions.

We will have 2 full days.

Has anyone gone who has Sprint has their cell phone carrier. Just wondering if I need to add an international plan or not. Wasn't sure if we cold pick up the NY towers or not just over the border. We will definitely need texting as we tend to separate to do some touring things with DD.

Is OH Canada dinner show worth the price? I was looking at dinner and show it is around 50 or 60 per ticket.

DD is interested in the history musuems, world record museum, Ripley's, etc.. Is there anything that should be on our must do?

On the way home to Central PA we are stopping at Corning NY for Corning Glass, anything else in the are to do?

 

[Tiggerette]

We have Sprint, and immediately after crossing the border at the Rainbow bridge our phones were inoperable. I have international calling, but couldn't use it in Canada because my flip-phone didn't have whatever hardware was needed to actually use the Canadian system. DH has a "smartphone" but didn't have international calling, and since he set up his plan to have to be in person at a store to make changes, he couldn't add the plan while we were in Canada. This was after a few hours of using the hotel phone to call Sprint to try to find a work-around. (We weren't able to get to a store during their open hours.) I was also charged for text messages because Sprint texted me right at the border.

So the lesson is: Make sure your phone has the hardware to be able to work in the country you're visiting, and if so, add international calling in advance.

 

[NinaBella]

Leaving in 4 weeks so the planning is in full force. There is DH, DD14 and myself. We are staying at the Holiday Inn at the Falls - free parking. I plan on buying the Adventure Pass at AAA before going and using WEGO. A couple of questions.

We will have 2 full days.

Has anyone gone who has Sprint has their cell phone carrier. Just wondering if I need to add an international plan or not. Wasn't sure if we cold pick up the NY towers or not just over the border. We will definitely need texting as we tend to separate to do some touring things with DD.

Is OH Canada dinner show worth the price? I was looking at dinner and show it is around 50 or 60 per ticket.

DD is interested in the history musuems, world record museum, Ripley's, etc.. Is there anything that should be on our must do?

On the way home to Central PA we are stopping at Corning NY for Corning Glass, anything else in the are to do?

I have Verizon. We have a travel plan where we are only charged $2 per phone per 24 hours while outside the U.S. it took about 3-5 minutes for our phones to switch over and work in Canada. We got the auto text messages saying our travel plan $2 fee were activated. After that text, our phones worked fine.

Garmin GPS - ours stopped working at the border. Canada was not on the list if available countries but Cayman Islands was. LOL.

So from the border to the hotel we used Google map GPS.

 

[Ngwira]

We are in D.C. for a few days. So not "home" yet. Our highlight was the white water walk. It's a very short walk, but the gate/stairs were open to go down close to the water. We picked a 6:20PM departure since that was the last hour and evening hours we thought wouldn't be as hot and crowded.

Surprisingly Niagara's Fury was cute and everyone enjoyed it. Journey behind the fall was a let down. Just an observation deck that was quite crowded was nice for pictures, the tunnel was not much to speak of. The Butterfly Conservatory was nice but also crowded.

I would not do the Firework cruise again. I think it would be more enjoyable sitting on a blanket in the grass overlooking the falls. I thought it was going to be better than it was. We got soaked, which I didn't realize they went that close to the falls at night. They advertised the live music and food beforehand but that was just a tent and small band. They only had wine and beer beforehand. There is a bar on the boat but I drink slowly and with the water spraying up, who wants that nasty water mixed in your drink... not me. I would opt for the day boat instead for the boat experience.

The carriage ride at the butterfly conservatory (botanical gardens) was nice as well. I like carriage rides and I was very impressed with the driver's knowledge and pointed out every type of tree and told of the history of the property.
http://www.niagaraparks.com/niagara-falls-attractions/horse-and-carriage-rides.html

Research nice places to eat. There is no need to waste money on bad food at tourist chain locations. Across from the Casino mall area, I saw several nice restaurants that I would have liked to try if I was there longer. But we consider Rainforest Cafe, Hard Rock, etc. to be tourist places to eat with average to poor food that is overpriced.

I agree with the research on eating options part. I spent so much time researching other options but not food. Big mistake. I just assumed that we would have lots of options.

 

[Ngwira]

Leaving in 4 weeks so the planning is in full force. There is DH, DD14 and myself. We are staying at the Holiday Inn at the Falls - free parking. I plan on buying the Adventure Pass at AAA before going and using WEGO. A couple of questions.

We will have 2 full days.

Has anyone gone who has Sprint has their cell phone carrier. Just wondering if I need to add an international plan or not. Wasn't sure if we cold pick up the NY towers or not just over the border. We will definitely need texting as we tend to separate to do some touring things with DD.

Is OH Canada dinner show worth the price? I was looking at dinner and show it is around 50 or 60 per ticket.

DD is interested in the history musuems, world record museum, Ripley's, etc.. Is there anything that should be on our must do?

On the way home to Central PA we are stopping at Corning NY for Corning Glass, anything else in the are to do?

We have prepaid straight talk. Unlimited for $45 a month. Our phones worked in Niagara Falls but not in Toronto.

 

[Ngwira]

I have Verizon. We have a travel plan where we are only charged $2 per phone per 24 hours while outside the U.S. it took about 3-5 minutes for our phones to switch over and work in Canada. We got the auto text messages saying our travel plan $2 fee were activated. After that text, our phones worked fine.

Garmin GPS - ours stopped working at the border. Canada was not on the list if available countries but Cayman Islands was. LOL.

So from the border to the hotel we used Google map GPS.

Very strange, we have garmin too but it worked in Canada.

 

[Narnia_girl]

I sure hope my Garmin works. I was planning to use it since the cell coverage/costs are so high.

 

[Eureka]

I'm assuming Waze works in Canada but maybe I shouldn't assume....

 

[sk8jdgca]

I use Waze in Canada but it will be using your data.
A great place to eat is The Syndocate on Lundy's Lane. There is also a UFO restaurant in Lundy's Lane that is good for breakfast.