When Jason Chitty was asked what he would like to do whilst in Toronto, he replied 'whatever you guys want to do and maybe Niagara.' Enough said. Tim and I were busy researching best ways to get there, and what to see in the time available to us. You see Tim and I just love Niagara, it is a contradiction in appearance, natural beauty and man made vegas all in one or as Lawry put it Niagara on drugs! Yes Lawry came with us, of course. We had such a ball the four of us at Medieval Times that it was only logical to repeat it for a whole day out at Niagara.
So we planned to cram as much in as we could, knowing that the last time Tim and I went we only covered an 1/8th of adventures to be had in this place. So we were up bright and early, about 6am. Annoyingly Tim gets chatty when he is excited and Jase and I were good grunters in response. We met Lawry at the bus terminal and she too was an exceptional early morning grunter. Jase and I were good to go as soon as we had caffeine surging through our veins and Lawry shortly after.
In our research we had big plans of course to start with the falls and then move on up to the main strip, Clifton Hill. As you walk towards this street you can see the skywheel and a big WWF Tower but you actually have no clue as to the extravagance this place offers. We reached the bottom of the Hill and their were gasps and other such words from our newcomers as to the sights they were beholding. Looking up the hill it looked like a giant rainbow flavoured ice cream bath with toys floating all over the place on top.
We decided to sit on the grassy hill and have some lunch that was prepared ealrier by Lawry. While eating lunch we laughed at how the USA side of Niagara is so crap compared to Canada and how the Canadians must really love to throw that in their face. Note to self; if ever you want to see Niagara Falls don't view it from the States side, nothing to see here folks!
But now it was time to head to Niagara Vegas!
I knew from last time that I really wanted to go to the Hollywood wax museum and I had read about this crazy haunted house that I wanted to visit as well. There were some things like Marine Land (which has Killer Whales) which was closed due to the summer season finishing, so we couldn't do everything. But we discovered through out the day was that there is no possibility of completing every thing in one day!
We decided to walk up the strip and just take it all in before deciding what our first stop was going to be. As we walked we oohhed and aahhed and took lots of snaps. Tim and I did not even know the extent of this place and were just blown away and so excited we didn't know where to start. So we discovered that there was just not one of something, there were like 4 of everything; 4 wax museums, 4 haunted houses, 4 kids fun houses, 4 mazes and 4 mini golf places.
We settled on the Haunted House first up. Jase, Tim and I were psyched for this as we had looked at the pictures of a particular haunted house's pictures and they were so funny. It looked very scary and most people do not last the whole way through. Unfortunately it was not wheelchair accessible (as we found out, Niagara is not the most accessible place) and Lawry, well she just was not into it or too scared, so she kept Tim company. Jase and I made our way inside to purchase our tickets when these two girls, sisters I think, asked if they could come with us as they had already been through but didn't make it and wanted to give it another go. So Jase led us all through the entrance. It was completely black, you could not see anything, so naturally you held on to each other for dear life. Jase led us the whole way through and he was a strong leader, stopping and checking in on us girls to see if we were still alive and breathing and coping with the hands that come out of a door and touch your face or drape across your back, or feeling the insects crawl all over your face (well at least you think they are insects as it is pitch black, you have no idea). If ever I was in a terrifying situation, I would want Jase by my side! Having said this Jase was just as much a girl as the rest of us screaming at everything he came into contact with and then checking on us, as we would scream just because he had. They took photos of us in the haunted house and funnily enough the photo depicted Jase crouching and screaming like a girl and me laughing hysterically. But then again that is how I deal with shock, by laughing as Tim and my very best friend Karen can attest too!
Jase and I left the haunted house with our heads held high, yet our hearts beating a million miles an hour and in need of a break, so we stopped for refreshments. We then headed off to the Hollywood wax museum. Now there are 4 types of wax museums here; musical figures, hollywood figures, sporting figures and famous criminals (not sure if that museum does well or not). The Hollywood museum was the only accessible one so off we went. It was rather disappointing as you can see by the photos, not much resemblance to the actual person. Every now and then they would get it pretty close. But what they did have in there was a section that was a mirror maze which was cool yet really frightening as you just can't see where you can go next, so you feel trapped with reflections of you all around. It ended with a section of a minor haunted house. Lawry got to the first scary installment and she was out of there. Tim and Roxy however lived it up as he was not able to get his fix from the other one. It did a pretty good job on the scare factor, no way near the previous experience of what was had at the haunted house, but it left Tim with a fast heart beat and a fit of giggles and Jase on the electric chair as you can see.
Next was the skywheel which was a great way to see the falls from up high and the rest of Niagara. A bit of down time.
Then we played glow in the dark mini golf. Now this was embarrassing for me, as my family know I am usually very good at mini golf and bragged about it so to my fellow competitors, but this game I lost badly! I am going to blame it on the iridescent colours from the strobe lights but I did not do very good at all. Of course Jase had it all scientifically worked out but played it cool and pretended every shot was a pure fluke! Roxy however loved the course and played with all the objects on each hole and we had to keep moving things back after she would run off with them or move them.
It was getting towards dinner time so we headed to Hard Rock for dinner and then took a stroll around Niagara at night as they are lit up by different colours. The it was time for the boys to hit the casino.
It was a great and long day. We worked out we spent 11 hours in Niagara and still only completed a very small section of the town. But we had the best time with our friends, lots of laughs and memories made! Thanks to Jase and Lawry!
