Blue Mountain Collingwood and Plunge!

Blue Mountain Collingwood is a spot I haven't visited since I was maybe 12 years old. When the opportunity came up to check out Blue Mountain this past weekend we were curious to see how things had changed. With my Lay's Chip Trips once again, we were able to save a few bucks on this trip. In total a day for four at Plunge is about $42. We saved on one free child's admission. It was a lovely treat to stay in Weider Lodge at the base of Blue Mountain and Plunge was a hoot. I'd very much recommend this venue for kids even younger than ours. Plunge is an aquatic area with a plunge pool, a couple of water features indoors and pools outside. There are numerous hot tubs for all ages and, as you can see in the video, even spouses can enjoy the rope swing into the deep end. Modelled after old style boathouses, Plunge is quaint and picturesque. There are many Plunge! packages that come with a stay here. I would say this water park is more suited to children even younger than ours. It's like a starter water park.

The village at the base of Blue Mountain is amazing. Excellent and unique shops include Hatley's Scoops, an ice cream parlour with Hatley's merchandise. We timed it so that the gorgeous children's wear and adult's equestrain  - themed items were on sale half price. That was unexpected and a lovely little highlight. Picked up cute little horse rainboats for my daughter who does therapeutic riding programs and loves horses. Restaurants here are pricey. Luckily the drive to town is very short and many restaurants are affordable there. Also many rooms come with kitchenettes.  Before we left town we were able to take the gondola up the mountains ($20) for four of us and hike throughout the moutains up top. This was a lot more fun that I thought it would be, but bring proper hiking shoes for kids if you plan to do this.

More big chairs or Holy Smokes the kids shrank again!

Hiking at the top of Blue Mountain: An unexpected treat, but leave your Crocs at home.

We arrived on Saturday and there were horse-drawn carriage rides being offered. Also there is rock climbing and mountain biking and an endless array of activities for all ages. Weider Lodge was affordable for a two-night stay (under $500 for the four of us in a bachelor suite with fully stocked kitchen.) It was a chalet style room and quite nice, but the beds were hard and kids slept on a pullout sofabed. Before we left Collingwood, we visited the Westin Trillium House, a newer building that is cleaner and simply a lot nicer. The rooms were spacious and much more modern with TVs in every room. Next time I would choose a stay here instead - even if that meant paying a bit more. Blue Mountain Resorts, owned by Intrawest, are clustered around the village. One building is Weider Lodge in Blue Mountain Inn and the rest of the buildings have other names. Westin Trillium House is about a two-minute walk from Weider Lodge. For kids there is a playground, a pool at every lodging resort building, and scheduled events if you time it right. We just missed the outdoor movie night, but I am plotting for next year already. The town square has a cute fountain that's essentially a very small splash pad. There is something to do every season at Blue Mountain. In the fall there are numerous festivals. There are some truly lovely opportunities to enjoy Collingwood throughout September and October. The Apple Festival is one highlight I would head back for if money were unlimited here at my house. In the winter of course Collingwood is well known to skiers. I highly recommend this venue and will come back.

$$$$$ out of $$$$$ thriftymommas rating. For more about Lay's Chip Trips visit http://tiny.cc/7hud0
For more about Blue Mountain visit http://www/.bluemountain.ca/

I am participating in the Lay's Chip Trips program by Mom Central on behalf of Frito Lay Canada. I received Lay's Chip Trips and a gift card to offset my trip costs to facilitate this post. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Ripley's Museum - Niagara Falls

Where can you read about the tallest man ever recorded to have lived? Where can you see the biggest prehistoric shark teeth? Where can you spy a model of the chair a man flew threw the air in a la the movie Up!? A portrait made from dryer lint? Replicas of the strangest grave stones ever and the weird rhymes engraved on them? Why Ripley's __ Believe it or Not! Museum, of course, in Niagara Falls. Located right on the main strip of crazy spectacles dubbed Clifton Hill in the downtown Falls area, this museum can't be missed. The outside is an optical illusion of sorts, built to appear as if the building is tipped sideways (and tricky to photograph) and the inside is a history of the bizarre. For whatever reason, my children are obsessed with the crazy, bizarre, odd trivia contained in Guinness World Books and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Some of it makes me sick to my stomach over breakfast, usually when they are reading and perusing the garish photographs in said books, but truly if you asked my child what was the name of the tallest person ever, well she would kind of freakishly regurgitate that information. (I think if TV trivia shows are around when she is older like Jeopardy, she may earn her keep yet.) Anyways as my faithful readers know we recently travelled to the Falls for a fun graduation/ end of school vacation weekend at Great Wolf Lodge and Waterpark. We had never been to the Ripley's Museum, and so we decided that we would pay it a visit too. Thanks to Lay's Chip Trips, which I have been blogging about here all summer, we got a discounted deal.

                                          

One free child's admission was good to save us about $7. It was a once, or twice, in a lifetime kind of visit, so it was a fun diversion one night. The place was packed and the line up was very large to get in, so if you visit I might be tempted to do so during the daylight hours on a weekday. The cashier was clearly overwhelmed. For more information on how to get chip trips discounts visit Lays.ca or http://tiny.cc/7hudO The prices of admission vary depending on your age and also the number of Ripley's features you visit. The more Ripley's landmarks that you tour, the lower the amount per entry per person. We only did the one museum, because it was all we had time for that day. The cost of admission per adult there was $13.99 and children were $6.99. Some ages were cheaper. Thriftymommas review $$$ out of $$$$$ (Fun and freakish. To see it, is to believe it. But a bit pricey. Thanks to Lay's Chip Trips for making this one affordable for us. Also note if you are staying at a nearby motel pick up some tourist information that gives you coupons for freebies. We had one with us good for one free wax hand souvenir.)

I am participating in the Lay's Chip Trips program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Frito Lay Canada. I received Lays Chip Trip points and a gift card to off-set the costs incurred to facilitate this post. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Welcome Wednesday and Waterpark Love

I am bringing Welcome Wednesday here with hopes of introducing more readers to my well received travel blog. Follow http://www.takeitfrom-me.blogspot.com/  for more information about Welcome Wednesday. Also today I am including my water park roundup...As some of you know, I blog for Mom Central Canada and have been promoting Lay's Chip Trips. I posted my review of Great Wolf Lodge, Niagara Falls recently on main blog at http://www.thriftymommastips.blogspot.com/ There are many worthy family-friendly locations at the falls and this one was totally worth the drive. I am a big fan on family water park fun and we have visited a few of these excellent spots. Americana in Niagara Falls is a great one to start with and gets a solid 3-4 stars for price and cleanliness. (Excellent deals on now, also you can get park passes with Lay's Chip Trips. Great Wolf was a blast. I rated that one mostly four and five stars. Amazing catering to families. Storytime was excellent and the rooms adorable. This is a picture of the pool below. Lay's Chip Trips can be used here too. Last year we visited Fort Rapids in Columbus, Ohio and it was a solid 3-4 stars too. The water park was the highlight of that adventure. Rooms left a little to be desired in terms of cleanliness.
 

Kalahari remains on my list of not yet reviewed or visited...but I hear good things. Do you hear that Kalahari? PR welcome here.

Niagara Falls - Americana Review

Three years ago we decided to take our young family to the falls for a fun birthday/graduation celebration. Great Wolf Lodge was fairly new and we were novices at waterparks anyways. Truly, we weren't sure how a little girl with SPD (sensory processing disorder) and a variety of other diagnoses would manage all that input at three-years-old. So we opted for an affordable spot called the Americana Waterpark Resort. Well, we loved it. We stayed there for two nights under $250 a night and visited Marineland for the first time and just really truly created lovely memories. Americana sends thriftymommastips periodic notices of deals and events and one arrived this week so I thought I would share with you. I give this water park a solid 4 out of 5 for affordability and fun. It's not Kalahari or Great Wolf or Detroit or Ohio worthy excitement. But it sure is affordable and it's a really good place to start. I would definitely go back. Rooms are clean and spacious. Waterslides are fun, a bit smaller and maybe geared more to young children, not preteens or teens. There is a splash area and for tots who like water a very nice toddler waterslide assortment. Food was yummy and location is not bad. Central to everything. So here's the deal. Stay, play and eat for $259 a night. Breakfast, a pizza party and an all included family feast is included with the price. This is a very good deal! Call 1-866-707-0030 to reserve at Americana. Also Americana day passes are available with Lay's chip trips reward points.
For more information on that visit Lay's ca or http://tiny.cc/7hudO
Americana Conference Resort & Spa - 8444 Lundy's Lane Niagara Falls, ON L2H1H4

Niagara Falls for Family

There are so many awesome ways to fill the days in the summer when the kids are home from school. But this year, for sure one of our adventures will lead us back to Niagara Falls. The Falls are remarkable entirely on their own and I still have vivid memories of visiting this well known tourist attraction and natural wonder from when I was a school-aged child. Many years in a row we would drive to the falls from Guelph and stay over at a family-friendly cheap motel then on to Marineland - one of the other best things about this place. When my oldest daughter turned six we drove for the first time as a family of four to the falls and stayed for the weekend at Americana WaterPark, a spot I adored for its lovely rooms and its excellent prices. The cost was quite affordable and our weekend was a blast as we played much of the day and night at the indoor waterslides inside the very exciting Waves Waterpark, with retractable roof, and then enjoyed dinner on the premises at Jack Tanner's. It was memorable for a couple of reasons. We had a great birthday celebration for my six-year-old and she ate so much she threw up later that evening. Televisions at each table and a make your own Sundae bar were incredible and a really great treat. Thankfully she awakened ready to rock and roll the next morning and we spent a fantastic day at Marineland riding rides. My kids loved the whales, especially the Belugas. While Marineland's prices have increased considerably from the time I was a child, there are ways to save money at the park. Bring your own water and snacks. Even if you have to leave a cooler full of them in the car you will still be able to get back into the park with a stamp or some other proof you've been there. Also Attractions Ontario every year produces a great booklet filled with coupons. We always clip these coupons and I think we saved close to $20 off our admissions with that. I would eagerly return to Americana. Rooms were clean and affordable and the driving from London was not bad. This year we will be able to stay at Great Wolf Lodge thanks to Lay's Chip Trips and Mom Central Canada. With 50 points from chip trips we were able to get a voucher for 50 % off our second night stay at Great Wolf. We have a free child pass for Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum ( which our children were too little for last time around, but will be reallykeen on this time.) The free pass also came courtesy of the Chip Trips promo from Lay's. Other options are: Marriott motel stays in the area at a greatly reduced price and Americana Waterpark vouchers.  I can't wait to create lasting memories again with our family. For more information on Lay's Chip trips or to sign up see here: http://tiny.cc/7hudo  For more information about Great Wolf Lodge see here http://www.greatwolf.com/
and for more on Americana Conference Resort and Spa with Waves indoor waterpark see here http://www.americananiagara.com/. If you go to Niagara Falls for the Canada Day weekend as we did one year make sure to pack some lawn chairs or blankets and head down to the falls for the amazing fireworks display. It is the best display I've ever seen and something to witness at least once.

I am participating in the Lay's Chip Trips promotion on behalf of Frito-Lay and Mom Central Canada. I received points to redeem for the trips I blog about and a gift card to offset costs. The opinions on the blog show nere are all my own.