Give me the low-down on Branson

[dhop]

I think just about every motel you stay at in Branson can get you the two day for the price of one deal. SDC themselves also offers a deal where if you come after 3:00 p.m., the next day is free.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think just about every motel you stay at in Branson can get you the two day for the price of one deal. SDC themselves also offers a deal where if you come after 3:00 p.m., the next day is free.

Whitewater has the same deal as they are owned by the same company as SDC. You can also do a discount combo ticket (Whitewater/SDC).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I'd second Lamburts; although, we always go to the one in Sikeston which I think is better. The hatchery is neat if you've never seen anything like it before but nothing special and doesn't take long to see. The Titanic is interesting if you've never done it before but very historical and museum like, not very hands on. I thought I'd really like it, but ended up getting a little bored with it. Silver Dollar City and College of the Ozarks are fun. There are also plenty of shows to see, my favorite was a Chinese acrobat show. Not sure if its still playing though as that was a few years ago that I saw it.

The Chinese Acrobats were showing dates through December, but not Janusrry when I looked recently (we thought about goin last week). Not sure if they're shutting down for Winter, or if their site is needing an update.

 

[jennc27]

We live one hour from Branson.

Silver Dollar City is a great place. They have a new ride called Outlaw Run that is one of the best roller coasters. My boys love the cave there.

If you are looking for a little adventure you could try the Adventure Zipline of Branson. They are just right around down the road from SDC. In September my DH, DS12, DS7, and I found a groupon and all four of us was able to go for around $80. I am afraid of heights and after the first line I did great!

Downtown Branson is pretty neat and they also have Branson Landing with shopping and restaurants.

We do not always go to White Water but this coming summer they will have a new slide where the bottom drops out as you are standing on it. My DS12 is dying to go on it.

The Hollywood Wax Museum is nice to go through as well.

At one point they had this Dinosaur Museum next to a haunted place. My youngest was into dinosaurs and loved it.

One of the best places in Branson to eat is Montana Mikes. I believe they have one right next to Titanic. They have this porterhouse steak that is like 24oz. It is a little pricey, but the best part is you can share the steak and for $5 more each person will get two sides each. My DH and I always split it.

We stayed a week at the Eagles Nest Resort and it was minutes from SDC. Great place to stay and very reasonable.

 

[way2tyred]

There are literally dozens and dozens of motels under a $60 pricepoint. We've stayed in several and never been unhappy, although we aren't picky.

 

[ZellyB]

You could also consider Shepherd of the Hills. There's a tour of the homestead, trail rides and the outdoor drama presentation of the story.

http://www.oldmatt.com/

 

[way2tyred]

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[kkandaj]

OP--DS also has food allergies (milk, egg, soy, pn, tn) and the throwing of the rolls is exactly why we won't go back to Lambert's. Terrifying to have food literally flying around that isn't safe for DS. They throw them from across the room--not just toss it from the table next to you. He doesn't eat restaurant food anyway (we always bring his food) but the thought of it terrifies me (and yes, I've been there so I know what it's like). We also don't take him to any hibachi style restaurants because of this same reason.

SDC has an allergy aware menu (info is on their website). We have never tried it before with DS. You can take you're own food into SDC, just like WDW.

 

[nighttowll]

OP--DS also has food allergies (milk, egg, soy, pn, tn) and the throwing of the rolls is exactly why we won't go back to Lambert's. Terrifying to have food literally flying around that isn't safe for DS. They throw them from across the room--not just toss it from the table next to you. He doesn't eat restaurant food anyway (we always bring his food) but the thought of it terrifies me (and yes, I've been there so I know what it's like). We also don't take him to any hibachi style restaurants because of this same reason.

SDC has an allergy aware menu (info is on their website). We have never tried it before with DS. You can take you're own food into SDC, just like WDW.

If food allergies are a concern, I'd definitely avoid Lambert's . I've known quiet a few people to get hit with a stray roll when someone else missed. It's part of the fun, but not so much I imagine if you are allergic. They really do fly all over the room, over tables, over people's heads, etc.

Also, even if a member of your party chooses not to eat due to allergies, you'd still be charged for the pass-alongs. If you order, they are included with your meal. If you don't order, you are charged for them, even if you don't actually eat any of them. I think it's like $6 a person. You might be able to speak to a manager in an allergy situation, but not sure.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

If food allergies are a concern, I'd definitely avoid Lambert's . I've known quiet a few people to get hit with a stray roll when someone else missed. It's part of the fun, but not so much I imagine if you are allergic. They really do fly all over the room, over tables, over people's heads, etc.

Also, even if a member of your party chooses not to eat due to allergies, you'd still be charged for the pass-alongs. If you order, they are included with your meal. If you don't order, you are charged for them, even if you don't actually eat any of them. I think it's like $6 a person. You might be able to speak to a manager in an allergy situation, but not sure.

That's the other "different" thing about Lamberts - no doggy bags. So, last firm we ordered 2 meals and 2 pass arounds. Wanna say the pass arounds were $8.95.

 

[nighttowll]

That's the other "different" thing about Lamberts - no doggy bags. So, last firm we ordered 2 meals and 2 pass arounds. Wanna say the pass arounds were $8.95.

They always say no doggy bags, but I've never not left without 2 or 3 to go boxes filled full. I've even had them offer them to us before filled with just pass alongs or with rolls. We didn't even ask. It's part of what I love about going there. I can usually eat off the leftovers for days. This is in Sikeston, though, so not sure if the policy is actually enforced at the other two locations or not.

 

[jedijill]

They always say no doggy bags, but I've never not left without 2 or 3 to go boxes filled full. I've even had them offer them to us before filled with just pass alongs or with rolls. We didn't even ask. It's part of what I love about going there. I can usually eat off the leftovers for days. This is in Sikeston, though, so not sure if the policy is actually enforced at the other two locations or not.

I've always taken the leftovers too....I get the ham and eat on it for 3-4 meals!

Jill in CO

 

[MissouriPrincess]

We live a couple of hours from Branson and go several times a year.

I've never stayed in a condo near there, but I have stayed at several motels, especially on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway that are reasonably priced. Recently, we've been partial to AmazInn. Southern Oaks has an indoor and outdoor pool. It's nice to be out of the sun sometimes. Whispering Hills has cookies, cobbler, and ice cream in the evenings. There are also plenty of chain places to stay.

Check 1branson.com for message boards for the area. Also, I've used the 2 for 1 (the no bull one) once, and it was fine.

Silver Dollar City is great. It's not Disney, but we love it. We also like to stroll down by the Branson Landing. There are several places to eat that overlook Lake Taneycomo.

My two favorite shows would be the Haygoods and Six if you'd like to see a show. This November I took my youngest to the Dixie Stampede dinner and show. It was really fun. You get to see live animals during the show. There are plenty of others.

Lambert's isn't my favorite place since I really don't care for the pass-arounds. For the money, I'd rather have a nice steak in Branson.

There's a Disney outlet store at the Tanger shopping center if you're interested.

White Water is fun if you are into water parks, but we haven't been there in several years. I agree that the fish hatchery can be fun. There is also plenty of mini-golf and go-kart tracks.

We love to just go to get away from real life from time to time. Feel free to ask me anything!

 

[Chelley00]

We spent a week there in October with all 4 kids. We had a great time.

I did a lot of research on 1branson dot com. I got most of our tickets from ReserveBranson and we had GREAT seats. Here's the mini trip report I did.




We traveled with our 3 sons ages 20, 17 and 8 and our daughter 11. It was hard trying to balance activities to match up with everyone's interest but in the end, the kids all decided they had a good time (and so did the parents!)

We stayed at Wyndham Mt Vista in a 3 bedroom condo and had tons of room and everything we needed. It was a nice resort with a lot of things for the kids to do: indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs, tiny basketball court, workout center, playgrounds and rec center with arcade games and pool tables, air hockey and foosball. The rec center didn't have any kids activities but we could have gone to Wyndham Meadows to do theirs, we just ran out of time! We spent a lot of downtime at the resort.(to add, we had breakfast in the condo every day, ate a few lunches out and a couple of dinners out but ate a lot of meals in the condo. It was an easy trip to the grocery store and all of the "colored routes" so we avoided a lot of traffic)

Dixie Stampede Everyone enjoyed it, but the older ones were a little weirded out when Dolly came on screen to sing at the end The food was much better than I expected it to be.

Ripley's Believe it or Not: all thumbs up (had kids half price coupons)

Wax Museum: the younger ones didn't know many of the characters but liked getting their picture taken with the ones they did. The older ones were pretty bored honestly. (had coupons from Wyndham)

Butterfly Palace: we only took the smaller 2 since we had a groupon for 4 and they LOVED this place.

Fish Hatchery: We stayed long enough for the kids to blow through $2 in fish food. It was a fun free activity but with no tours going on it was pretty quiet.

Landry's Seafood: We have a Landry's card that had a reward on it so we had dinner here. The service was fantastic and the food was actually pretty good.

Haygoods: Fantastic show. All the kids enjoyed it. Thanks to those who suggested them when I asked about a show for all age groups!

Branson Track: We were a little disappointed that only Track 3 was open, and the sprint cars were closed. That only left 2 different gokart options and our kids had been looking forward to spending the day driving. We did play putt putt to finish off credits, but the course was really hilly and hard for the younger ones. (buy the Go-Card ahead of time online and you get more credits. There are quite a few different places to go)

Dick Clark's AB Grille: None of us were impressed with this one. It was pretty empty and still took a long time for mediocre food.

Chinese Acrobats: We only took our younger ones and they LOVED it. The acrobats are amazing, but they look miserable Even our youngest noted they looked sad. (we got our tickets from Wyndham activities desk at the last minute and were in the second row and paid less than half window price)

Silver Dollar City: We have friends who recently moved back to Springfield, so they joined us for a day at SDC. It wasn't too crowded and was a nice day. We enjoyed the craftsman all out and working and all the kids were happy to ride coasters.

We tried to back to SDC on Friday and the traffic on 76 was miserable. Our friends who were already there said it was really busy and they were having to wait for everything, so we opted to skip out and do other things. What a difference a day made! (it was the first day of Fall Break for a lot of the area and it got really busy)

Promised Land Zoo: We were interested in the drive through safari but were not wanting to drive the 45 minutes there. However, our kids loved the foot safari and live show. They got to pet animals they have never even seen before and the zookeepers were all very informative. (we had coupons from Wyndham so the kids were free)

Hard Luck Diner: I was unsure of this, but the food was great and we enjoyed the singers. The kids were extremely happy with chocolate sodas and milkshakes.

Branson Landing: We didn't spend much time here because it started raining, but enjoyed the fountain!

Branson Scenic Train: My husband and our youngest son opted to do this at the last minute and liked it. They wished they would have gotten there earlier to get a seat in the atrium area though

Grand Country Fun Spot: While the boys were doing the train, daughter asked to go the gokart place again, but it was starting to spit rain, so we went to Fun Spot instead. The bumper cars were way too expensive for a very short ride in a very small area, but we had fun at the glow in the dark golf and arcade.

 

[mommyto3girls]

We also went to Silver Dollar City and it was fun, but my kids actually liked the waterpark better. I don't remember the name but it was right on the main strip if i recall correctly. there are also several outlet malls if you like to shop and one had a Disney store when we were there. It was several years ago though.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We also went to Silver Dollar City and it was fun, but my kids actually liked the waterpark better. I don't remember the name but it was right on the main strip if i recall correctly. there are also several outlet malls if you like to shop and one had a Disney store when we were there. It was several years ago though.

Correct, Whitewater is right on the main drag.

 

[kkandaj]

One last thing , if you were married or born in 1976, you can get a free season pass this year to SDC.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

One last thing , if you were married or born in 1976, you can get a free season pass this year to SDC.

My parents got free admission in 2010 - the year of their 50th anniversary. Thanks for reminding me of that. If its s milestone year for you, look into discounts

 

[rlu929s]

We live about 30 minutes away from Branson, so we are there all the time.

If not mentioned yet here are a few things that are close.

National Tiger Sanctuary - In Saddlebrook on the way to Branson. Here is a link to a Groupon that expires in March. https://www.groupon.com/deals/national-tiger-sanctuary-1

Drive through the SaddleBrooke Housing area....very pretty!!!

Dogwood Canyon - Awesome park with much to do. Owned by Bass Pro Shops. http://www.dogwoodcanyon.org/

Best Place to stay (Keeter Center) - You get free turn down, fresh milk cookies and breakfast(in-room) with most stays. All food comes from the farm on the College of the Ozarks campus. http://www.keetercenter.edu/

Trout Hatchery - http://mdc.mo.gov/regions/southwest/shepherd-hills-fish-hatchery

Branson Landing, Dixie Stampede, Tanger Oulet, SDC or (Steal your Dollar City) as we call it around here, White Water, Ride the Ducks, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Hollywood Wax Museum etc are all really cool.

There is also the new Promise Land Zoo. http://www.plzoo.com/

 

[Narnia_girl]

We've been to Branson many times and love Silver Dollar City for its family atmosphere. The artisans and exhibits are a big part of the day--be sure to go in the glassblowers shop and watch them work!

Definitely stop by College of the Ozarks if you can, and walk down to their lookout point after you see the museum.

Dixie Stampede is fun (bit pricey) but you get a good meal.

I have never been, but friends rave about the Shoji Tobuchi show.

A bit out of the way, but the home where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her books is northeast of Branson. Rocky Ridge Farm and museum has Pa's fiddle and Mary's quilt. It's worth the trip if you are into Little House on the Prairie.

And Bass Pro Shops in Springfield--free to gawk all you want.

Once there, definitely follow the colored detour routes--(yellow and blue I think?) The are roads that were designed to bypass the terrible traffic on Route 76 and are great if you are just moving from one end to another.