White-knuckling the falls is coming soon.
A $25 million, flying theater ride is set to take Niagara Falls visitors on a wild, sky-high thrill like no other.
Opening Aug. 29, the adrenaline-pumping attraction, Niagara Takes Flight, will catapult guests over more than 34 miles of breathtaking Niagara scenery — complete with wind, mist, motion, and a view that’ll take your breath away.
On the top floor of Table Rock Centre, perched right on the edge of the iconic Horseshoe Falls, the ride is part flight simulator, part history lesson and part full-body sensory overload.
Designed by Disney Imagineer Rick Rothschild — the man who created Disneyland’s “Soarin’ Over California” — and engineered by ride-industry juggernauts Brogent Technologies, Niagara Takes Flight offers an immersive experience.
Guests are buckled into gondola-style seats that lift and suspend them in midair, as a 23-foot domed screen wraps around their view.
Drone-shot footage across all four seasons fills the screen with swooping river views, lush forests, wine country, and iconic landmarks and moments, including a re-enactment of the battle of Old Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada.
With wind blowing in your hair, mist sprinkling in your face, and custom-crafted scents tickling your nose, riders get a multisensory onslaught.
Before the flight, the show begins on the ground with a four-room pre-show that packs in 13,000 years of Niagara history, from the region’s formation during the last Ice Age to the Indigenous stories of Turtle Island.
Visitors are surrounded by dynamic storytelling, projection-mapped art, and original Indigenous animations by Turtle Clan artist Sara General. Then, Niagara Falls’ most famous hometown kid, “Avatar” and “Titanic” filmmaker James Cameron, takes over with narration in the “Waterfall Room,” bringing the modern history of the region to life.
“It was a pleasure and honor to lend my voice to a project that celebrates the Falls and the city I grew up in,” Cameron said. “My first job at the age of 16 was working for the Niagara Parks Commission, so this closed that loop, 55 years later.”
Whether you’re coming to Niagara for the first time or the 15th, the ride is sure to offer a new view.
“You’re going to see it in a way that you’ve never seen it before,” Chris Giles, director of communications and marketing at Niagara Parks, told The Globe and Mail. “You can go stand next to the falls or go to Journey Behind the Falls and look up at it, but in this experience, you’re going to fly directly towards it and soar along the crest of Horseshoe Falls. That’s something you can only do on this ride.”
The ride packs in 12 unique scenes, filmed over many months and stitched together to deliver a cinematic journey that feels as if one is flying over the falls.
Tickets cost $29 for adults and $19 for children.
The project, funded entirely by Niagara Parks’ operating revenue, is a massive boost to the local tourism economy — and the kind of world-class attraction that can transform a tourist stop into a must-see destination.
“If it’s the first thing that [tourists] do on their visit, everything that they do after they’ll appreciate on a deeper level,” said Giles.
“It’s also a great way to see everything else that Niagara Parks has to offer while you’re here.”
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