All things Niagara Falls tourism…
Last Thursday I received the latest newsletter from the Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview & Spa. They are promoting various packages.
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.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
If Grand Canyon visitors can ride donkeys down to the bank of the Colorado River, surely people in Niagara Falls can handle a 150-metre nature trail to walk down the escarpment. It was a surprise at Monday’s council meeting to hear disparaging comments about the Jolley Cut, the trail that extends from the east end of Robinson Street into Queen Victoria Park.
Architect Emilio Raimondo, working for Canadian Niagara Hotels, called the Jolley Cut an “inhospitable environment.”
Coun. Jim Didoati said it was “quite a challenge” to walk down the trail. Coun. Bart Maves called it “dangerous” and said it was in “bad shape.”
As an architect, Raimondo has an eye for esthetics. He does a lot of work for the hotel company and also designed the attractive A Young Garden on Stanley Avenue. But when it comes to the merits of the Jolley Cut, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
The Jolley Cut came up during a planning meeting for the Westin Fallsview, the 26-storey project Canadian Niagara Hotels plans to build atop the escarpment.
No one suggested reopening the always-controversial ownership issue, but the tone of the discussion would make you wonder if Canadian Niagara Hotels and some city councillors might like to see the rustic path upgraded to something a bit more hospitable. Paved walkway? Interlocking brick? Landscaping? Streetlights?
Canadian Niagara Hotels will invest $130 million to build Niagara’s first five-star hotel next door. It’s easy to see why the company might want to encourage a more refined walkway connecting Robinson Street, at the top of the escarpment, to the Niagara Parks Commission land below.
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Hoteliers Tony and Connie Zappitelli will be among those honoured next month at the Bi-national Star Awards ceremony.
The event, co-hosted by the Canadian Consul General in Buffalo and the U.S. Consul General in Toronto, will be held April 3 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Zappitellis are the former owners of the Sheraton Fallsview and Conference Centre.
MSNBC has a Budget Travel article about an Easter Canada tour that includes a visit to Niagara Falls:
The next morning, you’ll head south for a 90-minute bus ride along the shores of Lake Ontario to iconic Niagara Falls. Upon arrival, the group will board the Maid of the Mist for an hour-long boat ride to explore the dramatic falls from river level. For the adventure-inclined, an optional helicopter ride over the falls offers spectacular photo ops of dazzling sights that include Rainbow Bridge, the steel-arch bridge connecting Canada and the United States, as well as the 2,220-foot-wide crest of Horseshoe Falls.
The Niagara Falls Review has another article about Earth Hour. After several introductory paragraphs, they get into more details about local businesses:
So far, 18 businesses including Niagara Fallsview Casino, the Niagara Parks Commission and big hotels like the Brock Plaza, Hilton, Embassy Suites are on board, the city’s website says.
The Embassy Suites hotel was the first to join in.
“We are basically celebrating this day as the rest of Canada, the U.S. and the world is doing,” said Ralph Sabourin, the hotel’s general manager.
“What we’re going to do is dim our lights between eight and nine in the evening, a little bit in the lobby and the exterior of the building.”
Staff will inform guests about Earth Hour and encourage them to conserve energy in their rooms, Sabourin said.
Apparently the Fallsview Casino will NOT have their big red letters lit up. The article also has a list of businesses that are participating. I wonder if there will be any backlash/resentment towards companies that aren’t participating.
From Niagara This Week:
More off-site parking will mean less impact to a sensitive area of the escarpment overlooking the falls when a new, 26-storey hotel is built on the brink of Queen Victoria Park, proponents say.
Despite planning staff calling for no off-site parking for the project, council gave its blessing Monday night to allow more than 70 per cent of the parking for the 518-room Westin Hotel proposed for Robinson Street near the Skylon Tower in a lot on Stanley Avenue.
There used to be a Snack Bar at the Great Canadian Midway where they made mini-donuts, and eventually funnel cakes. HOCO has recently taken out the snack bar and moved all of their ticket counting machines over there and put up signs that say Ticket Center.
If you’re looking for information on Marineland, you should check out MLCC Slipstreams:
MLCC Slipstreams is your number one site on the net for information on the cetaceans (whales and dolphins) of Marineland located in Niagara Falls Ontario, Canada. Marineland is one of two Marine themed parks in Canada, the other being the Vancouver Aquarium. It is however the only marine park in Canada that holds captive Orcas (also known as Killer Whales).
The site has a lot information about the whales and dolphins, including where they came from and their age. There are also some nice pictures from “back in the day”.
For some reason, some of the pictures aren’t showing up correctly at the moment. The last time I visited the site, everything was fine, so the person who runs the site might be updating things.
The March issue of Canadian Geographic’s Travel magazine has an article about favourite public gardens. The Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls was on the list:
Maintained entirely by students at the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, the 40-hectare gardens are worth a visit for the phenomenal rose garden, featuring 54 rose beds, and the vegetable gardens, which have been designed to maximize production and aesthetics. The Butterfly Conservatory is an incredible addition.
First off, I need to tell you I’ve never seen this movie, so my summary depends on other sources…
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry is a movie from Universal Pictures about two friends (Adam Sandler and Kevin James) who come to Canada to get “married” so that they can get domestic partner benefits.
Niagara Falls is shown about 30 minutes into the movie. They are sitting in a taxi as they drive to the wedding chapel. As they drive through the city you see a lot of recognizable locations. Chris (my friend who occasionally posts here) says he remembers being on Clifton Hill the day that the film crew was driving around the city. Neither Adam Sandler or Kevin James were here, as the film crew was just filming some stock footage to be used later.
At the very end of the movie, you see a night scene of Niagara Falls, and some computer-generated effects fireworks go off.
Here are some screen captures from the movie. Note that the pictures have been cropped and adjusted, so things may look slightly different in the movie.
Nice shot of the Falls
This is the Niagara Parkway and a bus loading/unloading area just beside Table Rock Place
It’s kind of hard to see, but they are on Centre Street here. In the background you can see the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! sign as well as the oval Kelsey’s sign
Just behind Adam Sandler is a bus (looks like from the Marriott). Just above the bus is the top of the Great Canadian Midway sign (the maple leaf part that has the word “Great” on it)
You can see the Falls Avenue sign here at the bottom of Clifton Hill
Here you can actually see the street sign at the bottom of Clifton Hill
A couple of night shots of Niagara Falls and some CG fireworks
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