So, have you ever been to Niagara Falls?

I had big expectations for Niagara Falls - BIG mistake! I have never been more disappointed in a place before. And, of course, once I was grumpy, EVERYTHING went wrong. First of all, we got on our train and left the station on time (!), but then spent more than an hour waiting at various spots on the track for freight trains to pass us. What should have been a short hour and 20 min. trip took closer to 2 and a half hours. When a train is late that you've been on for days, it doesn't seem to matter, but when you're so close to where you're going and you just sit, and sit, and sit, it can be the thing that puts you right over the edge. Finally, we arrive at the station and walk through the grimiest station I've been in yet, and we emerge into an equally dirty and very yucky street. There are about 20 different cabs circling the people like vultures, and they don't take "no" for an answer easily. The bus depot is across the street from the station, so we make our way there, confident that we will be at the Falls in no time. I go up to the ticket counter to ask for basic information (bus schedule, costs, locations, etc) and the man behind the counter sort of shrugs at me and I think, mumbles "I dunno". I persist and try to get some intelligent information from the man behind the desk clearly marked "INFORMATION", but to no avail, and it's a fellow tourist who helps out. It turns out I need to go to the 'other' bus depot for the info I want. No problem. We head out to the 'other' bus depot to try our luck again. Have I mentioned that it is probably about 75 degrees out and incredibly windy? There is lots of garbage, dirt and guck flying into our faces, no matter how we try to shield ourselves or walk. Oh, and Dylan is NOT happy. Anyhow, back to the story...
We make our way to the 'other' bus depot and happen upon the only helpful, kind and well spoken person in all of Niagara Falls (ok, maybe she's one of two or three). My hopes are restored as we leave armed with all the information we need, schedules written out for us and a bus pass in hand. We catch the next bus to where we need to be and we settle in for the short (and I assume, scenic) ride. The bus goes through what used to be the hub of Niagara Falls' downtown, but what is now a broken, desolate, shell of a city that is inhabited by every homeless, unstable, drug shooting, alcoholic, unable to work person in perhaps, all of Ontario. Eventually, the driver calls us up for the next stop and I think things must be about to get better. Maybe we're going to turn the next corner and everything will be ok. NOT. We get let off the bus at the top of Clifton Hill (tourist mecca) and the driver points to his left and says "Walk till you see the falls, then you're there." (Did I mention he was a delightful man?) We walk around the corner of the building and I am absolutely floored by what's in front of me. The road we are about to walk down looks like a very bad Las Vegas strip. There is every kind of Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Wax Museum, Torture Chamber Museum, restaurants with people on the street handing out flyers (we had about 30 by the time we got to the bottom of the hill - the kids wanted to collect them). There were rides, mini golf, and flashing lights everywhere - and, it was LOUD. All around this street were hotels with huge casinos attached to them and more gimmicks to attract the kids (and old people, it seemed). (If I was able to insert a picutre, I have the perfect one, but you'll have to wait.) I informed the kids we weren't stopping at anything until we got to the bottom of the hill and the falls were in sight. So, heads down, we walked until we reached the end. Finally, what we had come to see was within sight. The boys loved looking at the falls and taking pictures and then we found a bench to sit on and have some lunch. I finally started to relax and enjoy our time. We walked all along the walkway to the end where Journey behind the Falls was located and we found our way to the entrance, paid for our entry and headed in (again with great expectations). We were all saddened by what we had paid to see. We thought we were going to actually get to walk behind the Falls (as the website says), but instead, we went down an elevator, walked through a tunnel with some posters taped (yes, taped) to the walls and looked out a window that was behind the Falls. Then we went down stairs and stood on a viewing platform beside the Falls. The whole thing took us about 10 minutes.
Ok, I'll skip the details of the trip back up the hill, the ice creams that cost $18, onto the bus and then the second bus, the very drunk woman who was dropped off at the local tavern by our bus driver who was apparently named "Baby", and finally being dropped off within sight of The Great Wolf Lodge.
The Great Wolf Lodge is the real reason we were actually in Niagara Falls. A large, themed hotel, with the largest indoor waterpark in North America. We walked in to the lobby and it was amazing! The people were friendly and helpful, there were no long line ups to check in and they let us in to our room early. The boys were thrilled with our room - they got to sleep in a wolf den, on bunk beds with their own tv - and the rest of the room was equally great. There was a big bed, a couch, microwave, fridge, big bathroom, private patio, and lots of space. The boys put their bathing suits on and we were off to the water park for a couple of hours.
The water park was pretty incredible and pretty HOT. It's kept at a constant 84 degrees in there! Great if you're in the water and running around in your swim suit, not so much if you're in your jeans and long sleeve t-shirt. This was the point in the day when I bought a beer (don't tell the kids). I found someone to talk to and I watched and waved at the appropriate times. (If you're wondering why I wasn't on the slides with the kids, we were going out for a big dinner show, there wasn't going to be a lot of time and I really didn't want to bother getting undressed and redressed).
Fast forward to leaving for our dinner show (the Oh Canada, Eh! dinner show). It's raining and we need to walk for about 10 minutes to get our bus that will take us as close as we're going to get. The same type of bus stories happened during this trip, but we arrived at our destination, no worse for the wear. Dylan has been on the edge of unhappiness since he was pulled from the waterpark and he's not thrilled at the prospect of a musical dinner show. We walked in to the building at the exact time we were to arrive and it is packed in there (with old people - not middle old people, but actual old people). I reassure us all that everything will be fine and we're going to have FUN! We were seated at our table by Will and our table turned out to be the one right at the front and center of the stage (that's when I started praying - I think, in retrospect, I should have started a lot sooner). The lights went down, people started singing and the food started coming. I think everything happened so fast, Dylan didn't really have time to process and react, so he sat with his head on the table and did his best to pretend he wasn't there. About 15 minutes into the show, I looked over at Dylan and he was eating French Canadian Split Pea soup and was singing along! It turned out to be a great show, highlighting Canadian music from the 1800's to present day and the kids were excited when they could sing along to most of it. And the food was amazing! There was food from the different provinces including beef, chicken, fish, potatoes, veggies, and some kind of cake that Dylan thought was the best he'd ever eaten. Oh ya, Brendan had a great time too! The show ended and I went to ask for Will to call us a cab and I specifically asked for a cab that accepted credit cards (I was down to my last $10 in cash). Our cab came and he took us back to our hotel, at which point I went to pay and was informed that he was not set up to take credit cards. Hmmmm.... the cab ride was $15 and I had $10 and the driver really wasn't happy. He let us out and took my $10 and said he was going back to where he had picked us up to sort it all out.
The next day saw us spend the whole day together in the water park, having a great time until it was time to leave for the train ride back to Toronto. We had to check out of our room at 11am, but we were able to put our stuff in lockers until we were ready to leave at 5pm.
We made it back to our Toronto home base with little difficulty and were welcomed home with a BBQ steak dinner.
I have to say, of all the places I've ever been in the world, Niagara Falls was the one place I haven't felt safe with my kids and I really just wanted to get out there.
Sorry this post was so long, but I imagine there are quite a few of you who have just had a good laugh! If that's the worse that happens, then that's ok.
We're off to find dinner somewhere in Montreal - any suggestions?