The Amell Family Blog

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This post is a little late getting published, but better late than never right?! I have been working on this post for a couple years now, but it keeps getting put to the back burner. This was such an awesome experience that I do not want to trash the post. We FINALLY took a vacation! August 2023, we wanted to take the kids for a little trip to Toronto since we hadn’t been on a vacation since I was 36 weeks pregnant with Joseph! At that time, we had taken Joshua and Jonathan to Ripley’s Aquarium and the Toronto Zoo and it was a blast for them. Josh had intended to do something similar. . . . I apparently had other plans!

I figured since we were going to Toronto, why not take a quick stroll to Niagara and show the kids what Niagara Falls looks like. Well, since we are in Niagara, we should definitely do some sight-seeing while we’re there right? Get your money’s worth! Oh, and did you know they have this whole street of attractions, so we definitely have to check that out too! Needless to say, Josh’s suggestion of a small trip to Toronto exploded into a week’s long vacation in my mind, full of sight-seeing trips, some amusement park rides, and some good ol’ fun! It took some convincing and some selling (thank you Foot Locker for the sales skills), but in the end, I succeeded!

We departed early on a Thursday morning and drove straight to Niagara, luckily missing pretty much all of the Toronto traffic. We headed straight to Fort Erie since I had purchased the Adventure Plus Package which included a full tour of Fort Erie. This was awesome because the kids are so fascinated with soldiers, forts and battles, so they were able to see what life was like in a real fort. I fully recommend checking out Fort Erie or a local fort near you. You can really feel the history of these sites and it’s a fun and engaging way to learn about history.

I also really recommend these Adventure Passes because you can get a lot of value in the passes. When compared to paying separately for the attractions, you save quite a bit of money! I would not suggest trying to do the Adventure Plus Package in a few days like we did. This definitely is something that will take at least 4 days to complete in a semi-leisurely way, taking into account “lazy days” and bad weather days. After we were done at Fort Erie, we headed to Niagara. We didn’t tell the kids about Niagara Falls. Instead, we just took the parkway from Fort Erie to the Falls and surprised the kids. That parkway is an absolutely beautiful drive and I highly recommend. Then we headed to our hotel.

We stayed at the Americana Hotel and Waterpark and it was amazing! We stayed in a pirate-themed room which was a total surprise to the kids. Check out the video at the end of the post for a little tour and some of the reactions from the kids. As the name implies, there was a waterpark in the hotel as well. I did this so that if there was a day that we wanted to relax or it was raining, we could just stay at the hotel and hit the waterpark. The kids were so excited! This was the first waterpark hotel in the area so it may not be as exciting as other hotels in the area, but we also were not paying the price of those other hotels in our impromptu vacation. After we were unpacked, we hit the waterpark and ordered pizza (which was delivered through our hotel window!) and enjoyed our evening.

When it comes to food, the breakfast restaurant in the hotel was decent as well albeit pricey. I would recommend going to the Flying Saucer which was a cool experience! We even went to iHop (I’m not sure I’ve ever been there before) which was not the best. I think I prefer Denny’s. We also ate at Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse which is an awesome experience. Yes, 100%, we brought ALL the kids there (LOL!) and the restaurant was slightly pleased with this fact. The kids loved it though!

The one place I would recommend staying FAR away from is the Marketplace at the Falls. You’re paying $25 for a McDonalds style burger with a side of old and cold poutine for another $15. We spent more at the Marketplace than almost any other restaurant for subpar food compared to the other restaurants. So, if your crew can wait, just get out of the vicinity of the Falls and grab food there for a fraction of the price.

We did a lot of things on the Friday which was our first full day in Niagara. The Adventure Plus Pass includes a two-day We-Go bus pass for each pass purchased. We left the van parked at the hotel and took the bus down to the Falls and then over to the Water Walk attraction where you can walk down to see the rapids in the ravine of the Falls. The sheer power of the water was amazing to see. We then took the bus to the AeroCar & Whirlpool attraction which was fun and gave some unique sight-seeing opportunities. The Adventure Plus Pass also comes with a little tour of Niagara-on-the-Lake. The pass does include entrance to 4 historic sites around Niagara, but we ran out of time to enjoy some of these sites. We decided to take the bus as a tour around Niagara-on-the-Lake to enjoy the sites from the bus, and then went back to the Falls for food. This is where we overpaid for moderately decent hamburgers. After dinner, we went to Clifton Hill to enjoy the attractions. I purchased the Clifton Hill Fun Pass where you can enjoy 6 attractions on Clifton Hill for a low price. Again, the price compared to paying separately is much less when purchasing the passes so if you have time to enjoy all the attractions, then consider purchasing the pass. There are other passes available for purchase for Clifton Hill, but I do not know much about them so you could check those out as well. We also ran out of time to enjoy all 6 attractions on the pass. This is why I suggest spending at least 4 days in Niagara if you are purchasing these two passes. I suggested to Josh that he, Joshua, and Jonathan ride the Speedway which is North America’s largest elevated go-kart track. It reminded me of Mario Kart. I figured the Speedway would have been a blast, but apparently Joshua was terrified (OOPS!). The boys did get to see the fireworks while in line. Once they were done at the Speedway, he headed home for the night.

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Saturday was our second and last full day in Niagara. We had breakfast at the Flying Saucer restaurant. It was a very unique and cool experience with delicious food and huge portions for a great price! We then drove to the Monastery Cellars to get a few bottles of wine for dinner on Sunday with Uncle Paul and Aunt Carolina. The Monastery Cellars are attached to the Monastery of Mount Carmel Spiritual Retreat and Conference Centre which is such a beautiful building and property. I love checking out historic buildings, plus this was such a peaceful area in the busy and hectic Niagara area. The kids and I spent a while playing tag and hide-and-seek while Josh was in the Monastery Cellars. Next time, I would definitely like to go to Mass here! We went back to the hotel to finish the food I had packed for the drive up to Niagara, so it would not go to waste. Then Josh took Joshua and Jonathan to the waterpark while the younger 3 and I took a nap and watched a movie in the hotel room. I don’t know about you but water and little kids gives me massive anxiety, so the first time we took the kids to the waterpark, it was fun, but also mixed with a lot of anxiety of watching 5 kids near water. That’s why I encouraged Josh to take the older two kids to the waterpark so they could let loose and have fun.

After the naps, waterpark, and movie, we took the kids to the Niagara Power Station and Tunnel. This was the last day with our WeGo bus pass so we took the bus down to the Falls and walked over to the Power Station. This was a fun experience and the tunnel is a nice walk and a great way for the kids to run off some extra energy. You get a great view of the falls here and the gift shop has fantastic books about energy and inventors. After this, the kids were getting hungry so we decided to take the Incline Railway to the upper street where we found Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse to take the family to. This is not the best “family oriented restaurant”, but if you have ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse, you cannot pass up the opportunity. It is such a delicious and unique experience. I feel like they definitely did not enjoy this family of 7 walking up to get a table on a Saturday evening. They put us in a side room at the back and ignored us half the time. We also were definitely not dressed for the fancy occasion, but the food was utterly delicious! We realized it was almost 10:00pm and this was our last night in Niagara. We quickly took off to the Incline Railway and to the Falls to watch the fireworks. They have fireworks every evening at 10:00pm during the summer and they certainly put on a great show! The Falls are also so beautiful at night because they shine lights on them that change colours. What we did not know is that on Saturday nights during the summer, the town shuts down the Parkway and there are no buses running from the Falls bus station. You have to go up to Clifton Hill to catch the bus. Once we realized that there were no buses running (and we were not the only ones to discover this) we all took off to catch the last bus of the evening. It was almost midnight and we had a good 20 minute walk ahead of us to find the bus stop to catch the bus. We waited for about 40 minutes. It was packed and busy and the bus was just not coming. Another bus stopped and let us know that our bus had broken down. He decided that he would take everyone with him, finish his route and finish the route of the broken down bus. What an amazing man! He worked extra to help out so many people and we were certainly so thankful for this man! Trying to get a taxi would have taken forever and there were 7 of us and a double stroller. We would have had to take 2 cars. It definitely made for such an exciting night that Joshua fell asleep on the sidewalk waiting for the bus (LOL!).

The Sunday morning, we woke up and decided to go to iHop for breakfast before heading to Toronto. This was the second half of our trip and Josh’s Uncle Paul and Aunt Carolina live near Toronto. They invited us to dinner and Josh’s Mom and Step-Dad had also driven to Toronto and were joining us for dinner. The kids had a blast in Uncle Paul’s pool and they are always such gracious hosts. They should definitely write a book on hosting guests because they never disappoint. They always have a fully stocked fridge for beverages of every kind, appetizers and munchy snacks, and then when dinner comes, you definitely need to drill a new hole in your belt by the time your done or just take the dang thing off! Then come the coffee and desserts! They are always so fun to visit with and I love listening to their stories of how they met and their lives in general. Great conversation and food are symbols of a great host for me. After we finished visiting and it was nearing bedtime and we headed off to our hotel. We stayed at the Sandman Hotel in Toronto which has a waterslide in it, but unfortunately it was broken. We were to stay in Toronto from Sunday until Wednesday and I was hoping that any rainy days could be spent in the pool.

Our first full day in Toronto was Monday where I had planned for us to go to Casa Loma and a huge surprise for the kids in the afternoon! Casa Loma was AMAZING! It is a real castle which is absolutely beautiful on the inside. It has been in many movies and the one I recognized it in was X-Men. There are secret passages in the castle and a HUGE library. There is also a tunnel that leads to the carriage house across the street which is right up my alley in things I want to visit. This is also the time that we discovered that we had picked up something awful, somewhere along our journeys. Joseph had been sick on the Sunday night, but seemed to be doing okay on the Monday morning until we arrived at Casa Loma. He was not okay! He passed out in the van with Josh while we all visited Casa Loma. I wish we had more time there because I did not get to read all the infographics along the way in the castle. I easily could have spent the day here learning about the history of Casa Loma, but we had a special event to go to that afternoon for dinner.

We surprised the kids with Medieval Times for dinner. We did the 4:30pm show so we could get to bed at a decent time. I have wanted to go here since I was a kid and it did not disappoint. Jordanna even received a rose from one of the knights! This is such a good time and I would highly recommend this! (I had purchased the Toronto City Pass which allowed us to visit 4 sites for a fraction of the price it would cost to visit them all and pay regular entrance fees. The options are also very reasonable and places/things we would want to do, so I definitely recommend this pass as well.) Joseph was NOT feeling well during Medieval Times but he pushed through, drank his soup and enjoyed the show. The clean up crew gave the kids all the leftover merchandise that families had forgotten which was cool and we even got to take a picture with a knight! When we got back to the hotel, everyone was exhausted. We watched a movie and went to bed…..for a few hours. This is when Jordanna and Jonah started to get sick. Now 3 kids were down with a stomach flu and our impromptu vacation was starting to come to an end.

Tuesday was supposed to be the CN Tower and the Science Centre. I told Josh to take the boys to the CN Tower and they definitely enjoyed that! I wish I could have gone, but I stayed at the hotel with the 3 sick kids, who all seemed to perk up by the afternoon. We grabbed some meds and headed to the Science Centre. Everyone seemed fine during the Science Centre, but looking back on it, the two kids in the stroller and Jonah in the baby carrier all took naps while touring the museum. This is definitely another place I could have spent the day exploring, but it closes at 5:00pm and we did not get there until about 2:00pm. We rushed through exhibits and some things were closed. The museum was also undergoing construction and the layout is a tad confusing, but all-in-all it was a fun. The kids were enthralled with this marble exhibit that is like a Rube Goldberg machine with many places to roll the marbles to start the machine. There was a Denny’s in our hotel which is where we had most of our meals. We decided to just stay in the hotel and go to bed early since the next day was to be our City Boat Cruise and when we visited the Toronto Zoo before heading home……our bodies had other ideas.

We awoke at 3:00am to nearly everyone being sick at this point. We decided to leave Toronto NOW and just get home so at least we could be sick in our own home and in our own beds. Luckily Josh was not sick yet and drove most of the way. Four of us were sick to our stomachs with no stores open to find buckets or anything. Josh decided to go to Shoppers and buy milk jugs and plastic bags in case anyone was sick in the car. We gave the sick kids Gravol and headed home. This was THE LONGEST 3.5 hour drive of my ENTIRE life. I was sick every few minutes and we were pulling into every On Route for bathroom stops for everyone. We left at 4:00am and finally made it home by 8:30am because of all the stops. I even had to drive for the last hour and a bit because Josh was so tired at this point he needed to sleep, but I could NOT be on the road anymore. I just wanted my bed. When we got home, we all got into our beds and slept, and were sick, and slept some more, for the rest of the day.

Everyone but Joshua was sick on and off for the next week. So, it was a sad end to a great impromptu vacation. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely be going back to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake and the attractions we wanted to see there, and to take the kids to the Toronto Zoo. I definitely highly recommend looking into the Toronto City Pass and the Niagara Parks Adventure Plus Pass because they gave us a lot of value for the money we paid. However, these passes can get updated on what they offer so always do the research and decide if it is still worth the money. The great thing about the Adventure Plus Pass is that you have 365 days to use it. So, we can still go back before August 2024 and use the portions of the pass we were unable to use this time! How amazing is that?! I cannot do that with the City Pass though. You have 9 days to use the pass or you lose the benefits of the pass. I still don’t consider it a waste though. With the money we saved as a family of 7, we received 2 free attractions with the City Pass versus paying regular admission for everything, so the only thing we lost were the “free” attractions. We definitely plan on going back though, so please let me know where your favourite places to go are in Toronto and Niagara!

Check out the video! Coming Soon!

Thank you for reading!