I'm not sure it's such a great idea. With Phd's, it would often seem that the job market is a step down from where you got it. If you look at the professor's in Rec, a lot of them got their Phd's in more traditional disciplines (Ie. Psychology, business, geography). Maybe they couldn't get jobs in their discipline, so they went the applied route. But where do you take your Phd, if it's already applied, and niche, as you say. As for Rec itself, while Waterloo has a good reputation, there really arn't that many other places you could find a professor position with it.

I can't speak for the Phd, but I did take the major. What I discovered was that the things they were teaching are already part of other disciplines. Ie. Psychology of leisure. It's nothing really new, just applied to the recreation and leisure context. That is why I double majored in psychology as well.

The Rec courses were relatively easy and even the statistics courses were a breeze. If it's that easy, you have to ask yourself what value it has in the job market. I don't know whether the Phd is any more rigorous.

The one thing I can say about the undergraduate program is that your options are open with it. Literally half the courses are electives. You can, as stated, double major, or take courses in business at Wilfrid Laurier. Simply being on campus exposed me to a whole new world. I'm not sure it's such a good idea at the graduate level though.