If you live around the Toronto area and want to get away for a quick family trip without the hassle of flying, here’s a few ideas.
We decided to go to Niagara Falls, ON. I’ve been MANY times, but I never stayed overnight. There is so much to do with your kids at Niagara Falls. It’s the perfect affordable getaway! We booked vacation in February so we could get a quick winter getaway without breaking the bank. Of course, ideally we go somewhere warm but it’s not the budget with three kids right now.
This is a great kids trip as they just want their parents undivided attention. So you don’t have to spend a lot of money. For reference, I had 3 kids under 10.
Where we stayed
We booked our first stay at Americana waterpark and resort. Here is my full review on the experience.
I bought a Groupon for Americana Resort at $147 a night plus $45 facility fee. I know the name is confusing, but it is on the Canadian side of the Falls. I have not been to the resort but I’ve heard mixed reviews so this is why I’m writing this post.
Driving from the GTA was really easy. In the winter, there is less traffic heading to Niagara Falls. Upon check-in, we were pleased to learn that the Groupon covered all the fees. The only fee that wasn’t was the parking which was $54 for two nights. I also put down an additional $200 deposit which is typical at all hotels.
I was concerned that they would make me pay an additional fee or make us upgrade because we have three kids, including a toddler. But there was no issues with having two queen beds and five people in the room. She asked if I wanted a pack and play, but I declined since my daughter is tall and will not fit.
She also provided us with five waterpark passes which were included in the Groupon (one pass for each individual). The passes are a coloured wristband. They are happy to replace your wristband if it comes off, but make sure you keep the wristband otherwise there is a replacement fee if you don’t have the wristband anymore.
When the receptionist asked me where I wanted to stay, I didn’t realize that all the main floor room actually has an exterior patio door. So initially we got a main floor room and as soon as I stepped into it and knew I didn’t want that. I’m just not comfortable for safety reasons. We went back to the front desk and they were really gracious. She let us switch to a second floor room.
What’s great is when you park at the facility they have multiple doors so you can bring your goods in through any of the closest doors. They also have an elevator at the main entrance. ‘
Even though the check in time was 4 PM, we were able to get a room at about 2 PM.
I was impressed by the cleanliness of the room. Everything was really clean from the carpets to the furniture to the bathroom. There were lots of towels and there was a mini mini fridge, microwave and a coffee machine.
If I knew that there would be a microwave and fridge, I would have packed a few more sandwiches from home. My son has an egg allergy, which makes it hard for us to eat out. We quickly had a snack and head down to the waterpark.
Family fun at the waterpark
The waterpark was perfect for my kids at this age. There are tons of lifejackets for all ages. THey provide towels at the waterpark, so there’s no need to bring additional towels in your luggage or from your room.
There was a big wave pool, and connected to that wave pool is another pool that has two basketball nets.
There’s also an area with two small waterslides that’s perfect for kids age 2 to 7. But my nine-year old and myself enjoyed it a lot. There’s a big water bucket that fills up and dumps all over you and it’s so fun! There’s also a really small pool for kids age 1 to 5.
There are two additional large waterslides that there is a height requirement for. Plus, two large tube slides which can be used with the water floats. Again, there is a high requirement, but my six-year-old could go on it as long as he wore a life jacket.
We brought all our clothes, and shampoo to shower at the pool. You can head to your room but for 5 of us, it was easier to shower at the waterpark and get changed there vs waiting in the room. A word of caution as there is no family change room with showers. There are family change rooms to simply change clothes.
Dining at Americana WaterPark
We spent about 3.5 hours in the pool. After we got out of the pool we cleaned up and headed to the Boston pizza that’s on site. I should’ve booked a reservation at Boston Pizza because I didn’t realize that the family section gets full. We had to set the bar side tables which was not ideal. It wasn’t busy, but the TV screens are massive and they’re very loud.
The food is standard American food like pizza and pasta. It was fine for the kids, but because we eat halal, the options for us were very limited. They didn’t even have grilled fish or shrimp on the menu. Americana is about a 10 minute drive from Clifton Hill which has more Halal options. But since we were enjoying the pool so much, we were famished so eating here was okay.
There is an on site morning breakfast brunch restaurant called Field. But we opted to skip it and we had cereal and Greek yoghurt in our room instead. Again with my son’s egg allergy, eating breakfast at restaurants is really hard.
The Best Arcade at Niagara Falls
On the second day, we headed up to the pool over about 2 1/2 hours. My kids were ready to do something else. So we went to Fun Zone in Niagara Falls. I got a Groupon voucher and I would just caution you to really carefully read the fine print because there is an additional $15 per person fee when we got there. Fun zone includes laser tag, haunted house, mini golf, mirror maze, in addition to the arcade. For my young kids it was really great. They really enjoyed it.
We also got 300 tokens at the arcade with the Groupon. My kids LOVED it. They played for hours. We didn’t even finish all our activities and tokens that day, so we went back the following day. Even my husband and I got to play a ton of arcade games. They collected tokens, and at the end of the 2 days, they won a stuffed animal.
Finding a healthy Halal meal
The second night we opted to go to Paramount, which is located inside the casino. It’s kind of odd going to a halal restaurant at the casino.
But my family loves Paramount. It is always reliable, good quality food. This paramount also has a play place inside of it, which kept my kids busy while we waited for the food.
They will validate your parking, but it’s actually done inside the casino. I have never been to a casino, so I had to do that for the free parking.
There is also a Burger Factory off of Clifton Hill that we love going to, but wanted a more wholesome meal this time.
My thoughts on a local Niagara Falls Getaway
My family really loved this quick getaway. It was so nice to be all in with the kids. We also went to a few thrift stores, and the thrifting was great!
We were hardly on our phones. When you get away from work, laundry and cooking, you realize you really are a fun parent! So if you’re looking for the connection with your family on a budget, I would definitely recommend heading to Niagara Falls.
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