The Royal Canadian Henley Regatta was in St. Catharines recently, which brought some extra tourists to Niagara Falls. One of those posted about their trip on their Blogger blog:
Now, Niagara Falls is a *huge* tourist trap. Everything here is expensive, and is tailored for tourism. Everything has a charge associated with it, from horrible exchange rates (85 cents CDN for each USD exchanged), to parking in near empty lots. Food is atrocious – dinner for 3 at TGI Fridays runs $100! A half liter bottle of water runs $2. In the past, this was still not too bad, but with the weak dollar these days, we are not getting a favorable exchange, so when put in dollars, everything is 5% more expensive than the price in CDN. But, at least everything is within walking distance here. So, we set off for Clifton Hill (the main tourist area), and the falls (lighted at night).