On Thursday, August 3, 2006 I went on the Maid of the Mist with my wife, a couple of friends, and my two sons. I know that I’ve been on it before, but it was so long ago I have no recollection of it at all. I’m glad I went, as it is an unbelievable way to see the Falls!
The Maid of the Mist has a nice plaza/courtyard area at the bottom of Clifton Hill. There are snacks and souvenirs available. Of course there are also the ticket booths for the ride. I had arranged beforehand for some tickets, but I still had to stand in line to pick them up. There was a steady flow of people, but I didn’t really have to wait at all for my tickets. We then headed down the ramp to the elevators. There were a lot of people in line, but everything moved pretty quickly. There were 3 elevators that were taking people up and down the gorge. On the way to the elevators, there was some photography equipment setup. They hurried people up against a green screen and took your picture and off you went.
The elevator ride down only takes a minute, and then there is a long walk to the boat ramp. There is a lot of walking, but it is all ramps, so it is definitely wheelchair accessible. We got our free raincoat, used the restrooms, and then boarded the boat.
The Maid of the Mist VII is a very large boat that holds 600 people. We were going to go to the upper level, but there were too many people, so we stayed below. They don’t wait to fill the boat. The boats run every 15 minutes or so, and they try to keep on that schedule. Once it’s time, off they go as they have to be gone before the other boat(s) come back.
The view of the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls are fantastic. There isn’t much mist that is generated from them, so you get close to them and can get some great pictures. You get a good look at the rocks at the bottom of the Falls, and see how close the people are when they go on the Cave of the Winds walk.
One thing I’ve noticed before from looking at the Falls from Table Rock, is that there are a lot of seagulls. But they’ve always been around, so it’s hard to avoid them.
As you come up on the Horseshoe Falls, you get a great view of the water going over the edge at Terrapin Point. You really get a sense of the volume of water that is going over the Falls every minute.
As you get close to the Horseshoe Falls, the mist gets quite intense, essentially becoming a rain. The raincoats do a good job of keeping you dry. I took my 2-year-old son to the front of the boat. Neither of us had our hoods on, and our hair got soaked. It was great!
The boat stays in generally the same place for several minutes right near the base of the Horseshoe Falls. I ran up the stairs to see what the view was like from the top. You felt like you could reach out and touch the water falling. Fantastic!
After a few minutes the boat turns around and heads back to the dock for another load of visitors. Unloading was quick, but the wait for the elevator back up was fairly lengthy. It took us 15-20 minutes or so to finally get up to the gift shop, and then we were on our way back home.
If you’ve come to Niagara Falls to see the Falls, then you have to go on Maid of the Mist. It is reasonably priced and gets you a view you just can’t get any other way.
Read more of our series on Maid of the Mist, or learn more from other sites:
- Niagara Falls Blog – Maid of the Mist – Observations
- Niagara Falls Blog – Maid of the Mist – The Ride
- Niagara Falls Blog – Maid of the Mist – History
- Official Maid of the Mist web site (uses Adobe Flash, click here for no flash version)
- View a Adobe Flash-based video on the Maid of the Mist experience (it’s quite good)
- View pictures from my visit in the Maid of the Mist section of the Niagara Falls Image Gallery
- Read the Wikipedia entry on Maid of the Mist