Gray Line Niagara Falls/Buffalo — Local services in City of Niagara Falls

Update from original review: I contacted Gray Line via email and they ended up refunding my tour in FULL, and they've sent me an extensive apology email with an offer for a Free tour of Niagara next time we are there. So, they did end up handling the situation as they should so I'll give them that. Should be ZERO stars. We had booked the 'Niagara Falls at Night: Illuminations and Fireworks Tour' for July 4th to specifically see the fireworks show while on that boat at night on the water. Our tour guide/driver was 2 HOURS LATE to pick us up. He then proceeded to ask us if we were notified that we weren't going to be able to 'see the fireworks while out on the boat, because that had been sold out for over a month now?' We were NOT NOTIFIED of this when we booked this tour just the day previous! Everyone on this tour was VERY UNHAPPY with this news. Our driver still had to pick up people at hotels and our tour did not officially start for 2.5-3 hours after it should have. Our driver 'Fabio?' was telling us that we weren't going to miss a thing still?! We ended up being ushered onto the boat that goes into the mist first (instead of at the end at night for the fireworks as was on itinerary). Fabio had split our tour into two groups of people initially so some people were taken to the Skylon Center while we got on the boat. Then, by the time he took us to the Skylon Center it was too crowded to get up to the tower to view fireworks show from there, so we all agreed for him to drop us off down by the Falls to watch the fireworks. ALL We got from this was the boat ride and seeing fireworks. The itinerary we PAID for was extensive with: Horseshoe Falls American Falls Bridal Veil Falls Upper Niagara River and Rapids Whirlpool and Gorge Niagara City Cruises Fireworks Cruise to the Falls Panoramic and colorful Illumination view atop Skylon Tower with FREE Return pass Power Plants, Control Dams and Water Intakes Table Rock Complex Floral Clock and School of Horticulture History and stories of the Niagara Region Trained and licensed Tour Guide Rest stop for Souvenir Shopping and/or Snacks Complimentary Maple Syrup & Fudge Tasting (We only saw the falls from the boat and fireworks. The rest of it did not happen!) The company gave most of us a 25% refund for our bad experience, but I'm still wanting a full refund at this point, which no one from the company is responding to my request for. This was absolutely the WORST tour experience I've ever had. Stay away from this tour line like...

I would not recommend this company or their tours to most people. First off, our tour guide was 1 hour late in picking us up from our pick-up location. We were supposed to be picked up at 12:45 and were not until 1:45. Repeated calls to their customer service informed us that the driver was late due to the traffic from the eclipse, which is totally understandable, but frustrating all the same. All of their tours have multiple possible pickup locations so it seems like it might be a problem more frequently than not. We were given a partial refund for this inconvenience which we are grateful for.

When it came to the tour itself, however, if you have a car there is really no need to book this. Niagara State Park in NY is a pretty small place so it is quite easy to walk from one end of the park to the other. All the places we stopped at were basically just viewing points of the falls at various places along the park. Again, the park is small enough (and mostly flat) that you could start on one end and take all the time you wanted at each place. There is also a trolley to take you around the park for 3$. Our guide mostly just dropped us off at places, said to be back at a certain time, and then sent us on our way to look at things by ourselves.

We were part of the winter tour, which only included the admission for Cave of the Winds, which is an elevator down to see part of the falls up close. Maid of the Mist is where you can take a boat ride to the falls themselves. That tour on their website is about 60 dollars more than the tour that only includes Cave of the Winds. Here again I would recommend doing these two attractions by yourself, as Cave of the Wind is only 14$ per person and Maid of the Mist about 28$ for adults. Unfortunately when it comes down to it, including the cost of parking at the park (20$ in the lot we were in), you save more than half by exploring the park by yourself. The whirlpool is a drive down the road, and no cost of parking. Not sure about the power plant as our guide did not take us to the visitor part, but to a fishing spot below it on the river.

We did not end up getting dropped off until about 6pm, which impacted the rest of our day as our tour was supposed to start sooner. It would have been much easier, and more enjoyable to spend the day in the park on our own time. If you have a car, I would strongly recommend doing it yourself, and not taking this tour. If you don't have a car/a way to get to the park, this might be good for you. Hopefully the info above helps people make the right...

The “tour” provided is definitely not worth the money. My husband spent $250 on this tour for just him and me. We were told we would get tickets to the major tourist things at the falls (maid of the mist, cave of the winds, etc), a stop for lunch, and opportunity for some shopping at gift shops.

We spent maybe 5 minutes at a single overlook point on Three Sisters Islands. The point was like 20 feet from the parking lot. No other exploration of the area which was probably beautiful. We did do cave of the winds which was great but had no time to do anything but that. Hardly even time to stop in the bathrooms without our tour guide getting annoyed before we were off to the next thing. Same situation at 2 other scenic stops during the tour.

Lunch was a random burger/hotdog stand on a corner. No other restaurants around and when some girls found a place around the corner to eat at they were spoken at like it wasn’t allowed for them to go. The stand was touted as a “cheap” option for food but we spent $20 on a burger, a hotdog, and 2 bottles of water. We even passed by a new international food court like a block later and our guide spent a few minutes telling us all about it. Why wouldn’t we have stopped there? I’m also upset that for the price we paid we weren’t even given vouchers for lunch or anything. All paid out of pocket. It seemed as if the stand was there specifically for the gray line tours - at least 2 other busses let off while we were there.

After lunch was a stop at the power plant. Which is a FREE thing that’s aimed at children. There was a Girl Scout troop leaving as we arrived. It’s more of an educational hands-on thing, no tour of the plant itself which would’ve been cool. An absolute waste of time. We were led to believe it would be a tour of the power plant when in reality we walked around the building to overlook the river and then went inside to watch some childish movie/presentation about electricity.

Overall, I’m glad my husband and I ran out of cash by the end of the tour (mainly due to lunch) because I did NOT want to tip our guide. He was all talk about how he runs his tours to get the most activities in them but half he tour is a waste of time. We would have had a much better day if we had just gone to do those activities on our own. We would’ve spent a lot less money too and maybe been able to actually get...