family travel

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 loyal 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.
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.

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

3 Comments

  • RoseBelle

    I’d love to take my kids to Ripley museum one day. I heard that thundering roar of the Niagra Fall coming down is super loud. The fall is very beautiful.

  • Menopausal New Mom

    Following here too 🙂

    It’s been a long time since I”ve been to Niagra Falls but I’ll never forget that mist that covers you the minute you step outside your car. I love that!

    I’ve been to the museum them too but so many years ago. Probably early 80’s.

    I think I need to go back!