I may post more about our trip to Niagara Falls on later days, but here are some of the thoughts that went into planning it.
Transit
Selecting an airline isn’t usually difficult; Southwest is my preferred airline if it services an airport in the right area. Even when we fly carry-on only, like we did for our Philadelphia trip, I like the option of checking bags for free. The pricing is almost always comparable to the other airlines, so it comes down to selecting times I like for direct flights. (Chicago to Buffalo is just over an hour, an indirect flight doesn’t really make sense.)
I researched options for getting from the Buffalo airport to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Quickly dismissed was the Greyhound option; that’s from downtown Buffalo, and only at set times, so it would have required too many transfers. The airport shuttle was more appealing until I realized that I could rent a car for less than it would cost for both our fares one-way. Our lodging included free parking, so renting a car turned out to be a no-brainer.
On the other hand, I didn’t want to drive around all weekend, or bother to pay for parking multiple times in the Fallsview area. We picked up 48-hour WeGo passes, parked the rental car by our cabin, and rode the bus into the downtown area multiple times. When I returned the rental car, they thought I had filled the gas tank because I had driven it so little.
Lodging
I’ve had a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) membership since 2013, when we went on a 13-day road trip; two-thirds of our nights were at KOA sites. On a whim, I checked to see if there was a KOA in the Niagara Falls area. As it turns out, there’s one on each side of the Falls. Having never visited Canada before, I was set at staying on the Canadian side. I didn’t really want to pack a tent (even with free baggage), so I booked a cabin… well, a Kamping Kabin. Because it’s at a Kampground.
Camping cabins are minimalist in nature. There’s a roof over your head, a door that locks, beds (one double and a bunk bed), and a table with a chair. There’s also a picnic table and seating on the deck. You bring your own linens or sleeping bags, which was most of our luggage needs for this trip. You also have to walk outside to get to the bathroom and the shower stalls. (Pack your own towels too.) In good weather, this works out nicely… and we had amazing weather at Niagara Falls last weekend.
Activities
Other than “see the Falls,” I had no idea what we would be doing in the area for two and a half days. I reached out to a friend in Toronto who mentioned that there’s a wax museum with movie stars in the area. Actually, there are two. And a rock stars one. While researching the museum, I discovered that they offered a Fun Pass that combined the museum, the SkyWheel (2 rides if you buy online!), some virtual rides, and a choice of indoor (wizards) or outdoor (dinosaurs) mini-golf. The pass allows you to do each activitiy once, any time within a year from when you activate it. Since we have no immediate plans to return to the area, we did them all Friday and Saturday.
Everything else we did was based on what we found when we got there. We ate at a mix of local (Tim Horton’s, Queen Victoria Place Restaurant) and speciality chain restaurants (Margaritaville and Hard
Rock), watched the nightly fireworks over the Falls, spent some time at the local Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, and spent Sunday morning at Bird Kingdom. We did some shopping, and then visited the Falls from the U.S. side Sunday afternoon before flying home.