This past Tuesday the IMAX Theatre in Niagara Falls had a “hospitality” night. I was able to go with my two sons to see the film Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia. The theatre of course will still be showing the Niagara Falls IMAX film a dozen times a day, but there are a few showings of this film as well.
The movie itself was well done, as could be expected. There were some awesome aerial shots of the area of Argentina that the movie is about. However, given all of the information that is out there about dinosaurs, the content of the movie was kind of boring. It seemed to be a Discovery channel documentary put on a big screen. My sons kept asking me when it was going to be over. Again, I emphasize that the sounds and image quality were fantastic. It’s just not a very exciting movie. I’m a big fan of IMAX movies, so I still enjoyed the movie, but I’m sure there were many there who were disappointed.
I should note that I think the movie is supposed to be in 3D, whereas the theatre is only setup for 2D. The movie may be much better when seen in 3D.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Niagara’s convention centre is borrowing a page from 7-Up. The soft drink company marketed itself once upon a time as the “un-cola” to separate itself from its competition.
Now the Niagara Convention and Civic Centre will promote itself as “unconentional,” putting an emphasis on delivering “unconventional experiences” to thousands of annual delegates.
“We are going to make sure the world knows Niagara Falls has a convention centre,” manager Kerry Painter said at a reception Wednesday to unveil the logo and slogan she’ll use to drum up business.
I emailed Ann Marie Rondinelli at Marineland asking if there was anything new this year. I was disappointed to not hear back from Anne Marie directly. Someone else emailed me what seemed to be a stock reply (telling me some things I already knew):
Thank you for your email and interest in Marineland!
Marineland is open for operation on May 17, 2008. General Admission is as follows:
Regular (Ages 10-59) $39.95 plus tax
Child/Senior (Ages 5-9 & 60 +) $32.95 plus tax
Ages 4 and under FREE
The newest attraction at the park is the new Topple Tower Ride. The new, dipping, swirling, head-spinning Topple Tower takes 40 passengers in a circular gondola close to 70 feet skyward and then tilts back and forth at 60 degrees while the vehicle rotates giving riders a feeling of toppling over. A large replica of a walrus sits atop the central tower section of the ride making for a ride that is 82 feet high.
I replied again confirming the season’s pass and got the following response:
we do still have the Season’s Pass for $5.00 plus tax additional per person.
So, the bottom line is that there was nothing changed over this winter, and the prices have remained the same.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Niagara’s tourism operators hope Greg Sorbara’s got some inside information about the upcoming tourist season.
The Liberal MPP for Vaughn, who is touring Ontario while undertaking a tourism competitiveness study, told Niagara winemakers Tuesday while the number of visitors from near-border markets may be on the decline, “we’re doing things in this region and elsewhere in Ontario that are attracting people from farther away.”
Visitors from farther away - northern or eastern Ontario or another country - stay longer and spend more on meals, attractions, accommodations and souvenirs than those who make a day trip to Niagara Falls.
An increase in long-haul visitors can’t replace the dwindling numbers of Americans from the nearby rubber-tire market, but they can help bolster a flagging number of U.S. visitors, said Wayne Thomson, president of Niagara Falls Tourism.
“I think there’s definitely some merit in what he says,” Thomson said. “I’m cautiously optimistic for this season.”
Here are a couple of other things I should have included in the last update:
The former Domino’s on Clifton Hill is now a “House of Cuban Cigars & Mini Mart”
They built the “tower” for Al Macs on the ground, and I originally thought they were gazebos. I know some of you think this is going to be an IHOP, but there still aren’t any signs, so I think it is just an Al Macs renovation.
This morning I received the latest newsletter from NiagaraFallsBestHotels.com:
To subscribe, fill out the form to join the Best Hotels Mailing List.
I recently came across an old TravBuddy post from almost 2 years ago:
There are additional pictures from random Niagara Falls visits including one long weekend where we went there for the day. I don’t have Canadian holidays off because of my work (oh the irony) so when the usually crowds head out of the city to enjoy camping and frolicking around for the long weekend I drove down with some to enjoy the weather. The tourist districts of Clifton Hill, Lundy’s Lane, Fallsview and Queen Victoria Park are always crowded with people walking up and down enjoying the beautiful sights. There are all kinds of haunted houses, carnival type games and rides, great restaurants, casinos and bars. We decided to go on the Maid of the Mist, yes my first time taking the little white boat and putting on this blue plastic poncho (what a sight) and venturing out into the falls. Let me just say SO MUCH FUN!!
On Friday I received the latest newsletter from the Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview & Spa. They are promoting a spa getaway that could be used as a Mother’s Day gift.
You can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking on the Special Email Offers link on the side of the Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview & Spa main page.
I’m sure we’ve all seen some tacky, useless, or otherwise dumb souvenirs in our time. The manager of the Canada Trading Company was getting rid of some samples she had received and she gave them to me. Most of them weren’t Niagara Falls related, but here is one worth sharing:
A few questions:
- How do they know the wood went over Niagara Falls? (There are trees all along the gorge)
- Does ending up cut into pieces and sold count as surviving?
- Who buys this stuff?
Lastly, hopefully this post will inspire you and bring some things back to your remembrance. Share with us some of the tacky/useless and otherwise dumb souvenirs you’ve seen, and let us know which (if any) you’ve purchased.
Last Fall the city did some work at the intersection at the top of Clifton Hill (at Victoria Ave). Last week they raised the utility covers and today they are putting the final coat of pavement down.
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