From the Buffalo News:
A tethered helium balloon that floated on the city’s skyline during the last seven summers has been grounded for good, a Buffalo lawyer confirmed Tuesday.
The owners of the Flight of Angels balloon ride have decided not to reopen this year because of nearly $750,000 in repairs and new equipment that would have been needed to get the balloon back in service, attorney Dean M. Drew told The Buffalo News.
“They, of course, were sorry that it isn’t still working,” said Drew, who has represented the attraction’s owners. “From my perspective, it was one of the few bright spots on the U.S. side for things to do.”
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I wish NYS would get on the ball and do something. It is money waiting to be made. There is so much they can put there that would draw people. Waterpark, Amusement Park, Motion Rides, Is there even anything near the border that is a decent place to eat? I know before we go over the border there is a amusement park but that is Martin’s in Grand Island or Darien Lake both a distance away. I see somewhat of a waterpark but it looks lame and only a seasonal operation. A Great Wolf Lodge would be an excellent addition. The only think I might consider checking out is Aquarium of Niagara, Hard Rock, Seneca Casino and I guess that is about it.
Lisa, that waterpark has been closed for a couple of years and is scheduled to be (or already has been)demolished (along with several homes, former Pizza Hut and former Holiday Inn in that area) by the Seneca Casino for future expansion.
And don’t forget Cave of the Winds, it’s pretty good.
Wow I guess you can tell I do not check NF USA too much LOL. I know the Pizza Hut has been close awhile as that is where we turn to get on the Thruway. Cave of Winds is OK. But Again they really need to start doing more than expanding the casino. If they expect tourist they need to build stuff just over the border to get the walkers and families not wanting to go to Canada and would like to walk to everthing.
I agree totally Lisa, but I think they’re in a real catch 22 situation over there. They need attractions to draw people, but when good ones like the Balloon fail because of lack of business, it discourages others from trying, and the situation just worsens.
we’ve all been amazed by the popularity of the great wolf lodge (well..i have anyhow)..that’s what they could really use on the US side for tourists..it wouldn’t take away from ours at all..as i’ve said before..i am only able to stay in the falls on weekdays and every single time i have gone by there..the parking lot is filled to capacity
..
my son and i were actually dicussing the ball yesterday and i said that the only really nice thing that the US side has..is the view….
It is a really neat attraction but is such an eye sore.
So…. the guy that owns the Wintergarden building wants to demolish the building, but the city is getting ready to design “an $8 million project to rebuild a pedestrian walkway that runs from the Wintergarden to the entrance of the state park”.
Um…
why?
$8 million dollars?!?!?!
Am I missing something? An $8 million dollar walkway from ‘nothing’ surrounded by ‘nothing’ to the entrance of the NF State Park? We’ve made that little journey quite well using the sidewalks that were there. Perhaps using the $8 million to create ’something’, might be a better idea. I remember thinking that the walkway between the Wintergarden to the Casino was nice, but, uh, there was nothing else there either. I think they need more in the city than nice walkways. Fancy walkway to nothing? Or standard sidewalk to fun attractions?
Let me know if I am missing something.
You aren’t missing anything
That’s what the story of WNY is all about. Nothing to nothing in no-time costing taxpayers millions.
The wintergarden is indeed a stranglehold on the connection between one half of downtown & the other half. It’s a REAL major inconvience to find a way to get to the Falls when you are at the Casino… especially if the old wintergarden is closed, of which Smokin’ Joe did due to lack of popularity (ie: profits).
They spent millions to revitialize the street there as a cut-thru, and very few people will traffic it because there’s no reason to go through it, if you have to step over a few extra hoops to get to the Falls.
The whole Rainbow Centre mall should be destroyed… mall, wintergarden & all.
There are a few restaurants down there however I wouldn’t dare eat at them after smelling the trash down there one night, the street that we are all talking about here is the one I have referred to numerous times as smelling like trash and thats because it does. They are mostly tourist trap like places and nothing good though, basically only use them if you are really desperate and you need something to eat. The pizza hut is closed and as far as I know Niagara Splash Water park is already demolished.
Also if you know the Falls on the American side you know its a seedy, trashy area. The vendors that set up shop on that strip of land near the wintergarden do not help it either, and they make it feel like its a sort of extra seedy fleamarket. I am talking about the strip with the miniature golf place. The vendors I have seen were some guy breakdancing, an indian restaurant on a cart, people playing guitar with an open case, basically, all people who are begging for money. There are a few seedy museums and motion rides, but that is it.
The balloon attraction was kind of an eyesore, it was just a big white blob. It would have been cool if it was painted in bright colors and fixed up a little better.
They aren’t using the rainbow mall for anything, but it costs money to destroy a building. Yet as you say Rob, we are paying millions of dollars in taxes but have NOTHING for tourists in our downtown, then we wonder why they flock to the Canadian side. The rainbow mall/wintergarden is kind of a barrier to the falls, since you can’t really get past it without being inconvienienced. Its fine if you know the area and all, but our streets like many other areas are very poorly labeled and when you don’t know where your going in an area, it can be difficult to get around.
Attractions aren’t profitable here because 60-70% of the falls is on WELFARE. The people that live here cannot afford to be spending on overpriced tourist-type attractions, especially with the food and gas price crunch we are experiencing (3.64 for gasoline in the falls today and steadily rising). Note that our gas price is well above the national average for gasoline as well. The people that can afford to spend on attractions are going elsewhere than the falls, because these people don’t want to deal with the seedy atmosphere of the falls. No matter what opens up in downtown, it will be very hard to attract the locals to it because you cannot attract the welfare crowd that has no money, and the people that can afford to spend are just going elsewhere and are not even considering the falls for entertainment.
So the only other option is to market to the tourist, but even these people are looking for something better, they don’t want to go to a seedy fun center for their vacation that probably cost them thousands of dollars, they expect a nice clean area, and get everything but that, so they head over to the canadian side where they find everything they are looking for, and the tourist dollars get spent there.
well said!
NF, NY = DUMP
NF, ON = TOURISM
TOR, ON = LARGE + BUSY