I went to college there...it's not really a touristy type place, you won't find anything Disney-like. Just standard hotel options. There's a cool boutique hotel downtown. The zoo is cute but small, Fantastic Caverns is great, and I haven't been to the drive thru safari in close to 30 years. Bass Pro is a family favorite, even if you're not an outdoorsy person - there's so much to look at inside, aquarium displays, waterfall installation, alligators, ducks, and more. There's also a children's museum downtown that's ok, a small art museum, and you can check out the college and the performing arts center for shows and concerts. We're driving up in June after we get home from California for a James Taylor concert, and they have Broadway series shows in town on a pretty regular basis, too. (We live about 2 hours away from Springfield.)
If you go to Branson instead, there are some resort type hotels, and a couple of hotels with indoor water parks, plus an actual water park (White Water) and my favorite non-Disney theme park (Silver Dollar City). Those are sister properties, so you can get tickets that include both attractions. Lots of fun activities there, too - mini golf, wax museum, Titanic museum, go-carts, music shows, lakes, ziplines, etc...
