A visit to Niagara Falls is wonderful, no matter the season. However, in the summer, the temperatures are often colder than people bargain for, whether you’re visiting the falls from the US or Canadian side.
Enjoying a vacation here is a lot easier, thanks to the prevalence of indoor water parks. The temperature is always just right, the water is always warm, and the atmosphere is always inviting, whether you visit in June or December.
Join me as I review my favorite indoor water parks near Niagara Falls.
1. Great Wolf Lodge Water Park Resort
As one of the premier names in indoor water parks, Great Wolf Lodge’s Niagara Falls location sets high expectations. This Ontario resort is an all-in-one vacation, as your stay includes access to daily events and the water park.
The Water Park
Great Wolf Lodge Ontario opens its water park daily from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. during summer hours. The hours may vary during other times of the year, so check the website before planning your day. However, you can expect operation seven days a week.
What are you in the mood to ride? Chipmunk Cove is a toddler and young child zone with a kiddie pool, smaller water slides, and water features. The water is never too deep here for inexperienced swimmers.
Otter Lake is a tame pool for children and teens with water basketball and floats. Frog Pond has floating lily pads for kids to jump across.
Rainbow Lake begins as a zero-depth pool and deepens to five feet. It’s a wave pool with lots of fun. Crystal River is the resort’s lazy river.
Fort Mackenzie is great for kids of almost all ages, as it’s a four-story water fort treehouse with moderate tube slides, water features, and plenty of splashes without high thrills.
Maybe you’re craving slides? You should expect the best at Great Wolf Lodge. The triple tube slide Grizzly, Eagle and Bobcat Falls promises a different experience no matter which tube you ride, and the Wooly Mammoth is a wide tube slide with room for the entire family on the inner tube.
Canada Vortex drops riders 40 feet, and the body slide Wolf Tail is nearly a straight drop. Tweens and teens looking for thrills at this water park will undoubtedly scream the entire way down!
You can also experience the relaxing side of Great Wolf Lodge with indoor whirlpool hot spas. They’re a great way to relax before you head back to your room.
Dining
When your pack works up a fearsome appetite, satiate it with dining options across the lodge.
Canoe Coffee and Bear Claw Café have drool-worthy cupcakes and sweets for the kiddos. There’s also coffee, so Mom and Dad have enough energy to get through an exciting day.
You have countless options when you want to fill up on something more substantial. Camp Critter Bar & Grille serves lunch food like salads and sandwiches, the Antler Shanty has all-day buffet-style dining, and Northwoods Pizza offers sandwiches, pizza, salads, and wings.
You can also grab a bite and a drink at the Crazy Loon or The Watering Hole. Barnwood serves a great drink selection and large plates designed for sharing.
Lodging
You’ll have suite dreams staying at Great Wolf Lodge’s Niagara Falls resort.
The standard hotel rooms and suites include a Family Suite for up to six people. The accommodations offer a full bathroom, a living area, two queen-sized beds, and sleeper sofas. The Family Fireplace Suite adds a gas fireplace.
The themed suites like KidKamp and WolfDen add rustic camping and woodland creature décor at every turn. You’ll also find bunk beds in some suites.
The premium family suites with space for four to eight offer more luxurious accommodations, from a private patio or balcony to a gas fireplace, double bunk beds, and a breakfast bar. The upscale décor and plush furniture make for a fine lodging opportunity.
You can also stay in a cottage suite if you have a larger group of up to 10 people. The cottage boasts a full kitchen, a four-person sleeper loft, a stone fireplace, one queen-sized and one king-sized bed, and a full sleeper sofa.
Other Entertainment
Planning a family vacation around your stay at Great Wolf Lodge is simple. Besides the indoor water park, the resort offers several outdoor slides and spas.
Your stay also comes with fun events like yoga, character meet and greets, arts and crafts, kids’ dance parties, a magic show, and the Forest Friends mural show.
2. Fallsview Indoor Water Park
The three-acre Fallsview Indoor Water Park in Ontario takes minutes to reach on foot from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
This all-in-one water park and lodging option has received the Travellers’ Choice Award on TripAdvisor for Amusement Parks & Water Parks for six years in a row.
The Water Park
Fallsview’s indoor water park is 125,000 square feet with 15+ water slides, water rides, and features for the whole family. The water park opens from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Toob Tower offers four water slides in one. Ride tandem on a double inner tube down a colorful enclosed slide and get ready for twists, turns, and amazing curves.
Race down on your belly on the Extreme Racing Slide or sit on a tube on the oversized, spherical Canadian Plunge.
Fallsview Beach makes it summertime anytime with a pool, faux palm trees, and a relaxing, balmy atmosphere.
Beach House is the premier attraction at Fallsview, with eight slides, a rain fortress, a rope ladder, a play area, and the Niagara Tipping Bucket that dumps 1,000 gallons of water.
The young ones will have a ball at the Tiny Tots Splash Park, a kid area with soakers, child-appropriate slides, water pods, and water streams.
Dining
How about a meal at the Rainforest Café or the Hard Rock Café? Fallsview has both.
You can also explore unique dining options like the Fallsview Restaurant. The oversized windows and heart-pumping views of Niagara Falls will make this a meal to remember.
Prime Steakhouse and Massimo’s Italian Restaurant are upscale dining options for the whole family. You can also eat casually at the health food establishment Freshii or try Perkins, which has breakfasts and tantalizing desserts.
Need to grab something fast? The Terrace Food Court includes a Nashville Chicken, Pizza Hut, Great Canadian Burger, and Subway.
Lodging
Fallsview Resort partners with four hotels in the area so you can catch some Zzz’s and be ready for another day of fun tomorrow.
The Clifton Victoria Inn, Skyline Hotel & Waterpark, Crowne Plaza Fallsview, or Sheraton Fallsview are your options.
You can book a comfy room whether you have a small group or you’ve brought the entire family.
Other Entertainment
Treat the kids to something sweet at the Always Refreshing Soda Shop or Sweet Jesus, which makes soft-serve ice cream on steroids. Seriously, have you ever had an ice cream cone with cotton candy protruding out every which way?
The kids will enjoy seeing films in a brand-new way at the 4D motion theater, which incorporates air blasters, water jets, and 3D motion for lifelike effects.
A trip to Hershey’s Chocolate World within the resort will certainly make your Niagara Falls vacation that much sweeter. This shop is 7,000 square feet and the largest of its kind in the area. It’s the ideal place for souvenir shopping.
Adventure City has amusements aplenty, from the Traffic Slam Bumper Cars to the jungle-themed Friends Funhouse, Tour Bus Swat Team game, and Wild Safari Mini Putt.
3. Waves Indoor Water Park
The Waves Indoor Water Park is nestled within Ontario’s Americana Conference Resort Spa & Waterpark. It’s a 25,000-square-foot park open to day pass ticket holders and hotel guests looking for summery fun no matter the season.
The Water Park
Waves opens for fun at 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily in the summer and may have rides open on a rotating basis during off-peak season.
Rent a cabana for some privacy and relax in the 16-person hot spa. The activity pool also keeps things low-key.
The young ones will enjoy the kiddie pool with toddler slides so they don’t get jealous of the fun their older siblings have.
It will feel like a beach day anytime at the beach entry wave pool, which simulates real waves but without the salt water.
Older kids shouldn’t miss the interactive water play structure, complete with a tipping bucket. Of course, you can expect slides aplenty, such as three-story tube slides for one or two riders and two-story body slides.
Dining
The Oasis Pizza & Snack Bar on the water park grounds has a tantalizing menu the kids will go gaga over.
You can nosh on burgers and fries, chicken fingers or chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, snack wraps, nachos, wings, hot dogs, onion rings, salads, and pizza piping hot from the oven.
Save some room for snacks and dessert, as Oasis also serves popcorn, soft pretzels, candy and chocolate, ice cream, funnel cake, mini donuts, and churros.
The Americana has two more restaurants to choose from within the hotel. Fields Bistro has a dine-in buffet breakfast every day and opens from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. It includes a cereal station, toast station, hash browns, eggs, fresh fruit, breakfast pastries, and so much more.
Although the name Boston Pizza might make it sound like there’s only one thing on the menu, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. You and the family can also chow down on pasta, sandwiches, and succulent desserts like oversized brownies or cheesecake.
Lodging
Guest rooms at the Americana are sizable, with single-room or double-room suites available.
The two-bedroom suite includes six unlimited water park passes, a sitting area, two flat-screen TVs, a queen-sized bed in one room, and two queen-sized beds in the other. It’s designed for groups of six.
The Family Kiddie Suite is another lodging option I highly recommend. It has a fun, child-appropriate nautical theme throughout and has room for up to six people. The space includes two TVs, two bunk beds, a queen-sized bed, and six passes to the waterpark.
Other Entertainment
Keeping the kids entertained when you finish with the waterpark is easy during your stay at the Americana. Check the event calendar, as there’s always something fun going on.
For instance, sometimes you can check out exhibits, such as interactive exhibits on ocean creatures. Character meet and greets with your kid’s favorites from Paw Patrol and other shows are frequently available as the capper on your vacation.