More on Branson

I didn't take many pictures in Branson so I just downloaded a few of some of the attractions we saw and things we did! I don't know what's gotten in to me! I used to be so good about taking pictures.

The first two days there we went to Silver Dollar City. I had gotten the three day-two park Splash and Play ticket that got you in to Silver Dollar City and Whitewater water park on three days during a five day period so we would have some flexibility. Most say you really only need one day at SDC but this was a good value and we were going to be in Branson a whole week so I thought it would be nice not to have to rush around the park trying to get everything in in one day. We loved SDC and had a great time there! The kids are a bit skittish about the big roller coasters and even Mallory who rode all of those type rides last year at Disney wouldn't get on them this year. But there are plenty of other rides and our favorite was the Lost River of the Ozarks. It's the raft type ride where you get wet!



Speaking of getting wet, on the third day of our trip we went to Whitewater. We all had a great time. We got Michael on the slides after much coaxing and he loved them! There is so much to do there and we were there from about noon to 7 but could have easily stayed longer. This was our family's first time to a water park and we plan to do more of those in the future!
Mallory and Paul did the mat racers ride you see in the picture. Michael didn't want to do it so I waited with him at the bottom.

One morning it was raining so we visited the Titanic Museum. The kids were begging to go and though we had heard it was a lot of reading we consented. It was neat for Paul and me but I really wouldn't recommend it for small kids. Costs us 68 bucks to get in there and the kids were just buzzing thru each exhibit room. The boat looks so cool from the road and it is neat but to really appreciate it all you have to read each of the placards at every display and the kids just weren't going to do that. Their favorites were feeling the water that was the temperature of the water that night and trying to walk on the mock decks that were slanted to show how it would have been as the boat was sinking.

Branson Landing is a neat development right on Lake Taneycomo and touts a 7.5 million dollar light, fountain, fire and music show every hour on the hour. We caught in one night right at 9 and went back the next day to see another one but it was the same song, Kung Fu Fighting! Ha! There are lots of shops and restaurants along the Landing and we enjoyed just walking around.

My mom treated us to Shoji Tabuchi. He is the famous Japanese violinist who has a theatre there. He's in his 25th year. He was born and raised in Japan and saw Roy Acuff in concert in Japan when he was a child and decided he wanted to be a country fiddle player! He came to the US and was actually in Louisiana for about 11 years and Paul's best friend, Billy's brother Tillman helped Shoji get his start. Tillman was a music promoter in Louisiana and worked with many famous musicians including Hank Williams. The show was awesome. Kids loved it too.

We went to see Joseph at the Sight and Sound Theatre. This is a Christian theatre company that does huge Bible themed shows like Noah and Daniel and the Lions Den etc. Next year they will be doing Jonah. We hope to go back to see it. The kids loved Joseph. We did too. My mother and Lothar and my brother joined us for this one. They use live animals in their productions which is always great.

 

I have already mentioned how much we loved the Showboat Branson Belle. Well worth the money at 49 per person. Thankfully we got our tickets for 30 since we had gotten those Splash and Play tickets. A steal at 30 really.

Before we left town we went to The Track and rode go-karts courtesy of my cousins who gave us some credits before they left. It was a fun way to end our trip. Michael wanted to ride the Heavy Metal highrise pictured below. Daddy drove of course! Mallory and I rode on the classic track!

On Sunday morning while we were there we went to a local church to worship. We saw the guy who played Joseph and the featured pianist from the Branson Belle at church that morning!

Go to Branson! There is so much to do we didn't even scratch the surface!
We hope to see the Dixie Stampede and ride the Ducks next time.