Mammoth family attractions aren’t a new phenomenon in Niagara Falls, but keeping them free of mammoth crowds is certainly a novel concept in this tourist-crammed border city. Such is the appeal of the Great Wolf Lodge’s 103,000-square foot indoor/outdoor water park, open exclusively to guests staying in any of the property’s 400-plus rooms (from $199 per night).

Having established their brand in a handful of Continental U.S. locations (from Grapevine, Texas, to Grand Mound, Washington), Great Wolf Lodge’s first foray north of the border in early 2006 also brought the chain’s other established trappings—an imposing prefab log mansion, storytelling mechanical animals that hibernate in the lobby and pre-adolescent time-killers like mini golf and arcade games. But the Lodge’s signature remains the aquatic fortress tucked inside—in this case, a four-story tree house wrapped by multi-coloured tentacles, 90 feet tall from floor to ceiling, and surrounded by moats in every direction (or, a combination of swimming, wading, wave and floating pools)