Niagara Falls Clifton Hill 6-Attraction Fun Pass

Clifton Hill, the street of fun in Niagara Falls

Clifton Hill is the short, steep street that runs from the Niagara Parkway, opposite the American Falls, up to Victoria Avenue. For more than a century it has been the entertainment heart of Niagara Falls, Canada, lined with arcades, themed restaurants, haunted houses, wax museums and the giant observation wheel that dominates the skyline. After dark the whole hill lights up, and because the falls are only a few minutes' walk away, most visitors combine Clifton Hill attractions with the evening illumination of the Horseshoe Falls.

The fun pass covers six of the attractions on the hill, all within a few hundred metres of each other, so there is no transport to arrange. The ticket booth at 4960 Clifton Hill, near the top of the street beside the SkyWheel, is where you collect the printed pass. Clifton Hill opening hours are long, generally from 10:00 AM until late evening, and the attractions operate year-round, with longer hours in summer.

Niagara SkyWheel

The Niagara SkyWheel is the tallest observation wheel in Canada at about 53 metres, and it is the attraction most travellers buy the pass for. Its enclosed gondolas are heated in winter and air-conditioned in summer, so the ride is comfortable in any weather, and each turn lasts long enough for several rotations and plenty of photographs. From the top you look straight down the hill to the American Falls, across to the Horseshoe Falls and the Skylon Tower, and over the river to Niagara Falls, New York.

Niagara SkyWheel tickets are included in the pass as one ride; many visitors choose to go up twice, once in daylight and once after dark when the falls are lit in colour, and the second ride can be bought separately on site. The queue is shortest in the morning and late evening. A ride of roughly ten minutes with the family in a private gondola is the highlight of Clifton Hill for most children.

Movieland Wax Museum and Creepy Castle

Movieland Wax Museum sits at the lower end of the hill and displays life-size wax figures in themed sets, from classic screen scenes to superheroes and horror characters. It is a self-guided walk-through, so you spend as long as you like posing for photos; most families take twenty to thirty minutes. The museum is indoors and fully accessible, which makes it a useful stop when the weather turns.

Creepy Castle is the haunted house of the pass: a dark walk-through with animated figures, sound effects and live scares in the corridors of a mock medieval fortress. It takes about ten minutes and is designed for teenagers and adults; younger children can be frightened, so parents often split up, with one adult taking small children to the mini golf while the others brave the castle. Both attractions are open daily during Clifton Hill opening hours.

Dinosaur Adventure Golf and Wizards Golf

Dinosaur Adventure Golf is a large outdoor mini golf park at the top of Clifton Hill with two 18-hole courses winding past life-size animatronic dinosaurs, waterfalls, a swamp and a volcano that erupts with smoke and sound at the final hole. The pass covers one round, which takes about forty-five minutes for a family of four, and clubs and balls are provided at the counter. The courses are outdoors, so they operate in the warmer months and in dry weather.

If it is raining, cold or you simply prefer indoors, use the same entitlement for Wizards Golf, an 18-hole glow-in-the-dark course inside with black-light wizard and dragon scenes. Children aged 3 and up can play, and the holes are short enough for small kids. Anyone searching for dinosaur mini golf in Niagara Falls will find this the easiest way to include it in a day on the hill.

Ghostblaster's Dark Ride and the 4D rides

Ghostblaster's Dark Ride is an interactive ride in which you sit in a two-seat car with a laser blaster and shoot at glowing targets in a haunted mansion, racking up a score shown at the end of the track. It is a competition rather than a scare, which makes it popular with families; the ride lasts a few minutes and there is a minimum height for riders, so very small children ride with an adult.

The pass also includes one of two motion rides. The Toy Store 4D Ride is a short animated film in a theatre with moving seats, wind, water spray and other effects, suitable for young children. Carnival Chaos is the alternative, a similar 4D experience with a funfair theme and slightly stronger effects. Both last about ten minutes, run continuously through the day and are indoors, so they are easy to fit between the wax museum and the SkyWheel.

Using the pass and what is nearby

Go to the ticket booth at 4960 Clifton Hill, show your booking and collect the printed pass; each attraction stamps or scans it as you enter, so keep it with you. There is no fixed order and no timed entry, which lets you plan around queues: SkyWheel first in the morning, indoor attractions in the afternoon heat, golf before dusk. Allow about three hours in total, more if you want to linger over the dinosaurs or go back for photos.

Clifton Hill is five minutes on foot from the Rainbow Bridge, the Niagara Parkway and the boat landing, and about fifteen minutes from the Table Rock Centre at the Horseshoe Falls, so the pass works well before or after a falls tour. Public parking lots are spread along Victoria Avenue and the parkway, and most hotels in the Fallsview and Clifton Hill districts are within walking distance; food is not included, but the street has every kind of restaurant.