Jump to content

Branson MO questions and recommendations

CoachTex

By CoachTex
in Food and Travel

 Share

Recommended Posts

CoachTex

CoachTex 2629

Posted
Posted

Researching a summer trip to Branson MO.  Kids love Rollercoasters so want to hit up silver dollar city.  Any recommendations for cheap lodging or other cool shit to do with a 16 and 13 year old. Trying to put this together on the cheap but not crappy. Looking to spend 3 days there with 1 dedicated to SDC. Thanks in advance. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14599

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, C-Man said:

I hear the golf is spectacular in Branson. I don't anticipate myself ever going there for anything other than that -- and probably not for that either.

Top of the Rock is good but the rest of Branson is a black hole of old fat Midwestern women in capri pants going to graft fairs and shows of way over the hill country singers while eating fried chicken or something.  Worst place on earth.  Agree with the post about being dead in Orlando than alive in Branson and I hate them both.

Your teenage kids will hate Branson.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46001

Posted
Posted (edited)

I grew up 2 hours northeast of there.  Branson is gross.  It's really gross.  It's like Las Vegas w/o any class, if you can imagine such a thing, and I'm surprised I just typed it.

However, that part of the northern Ozarks is actually beautiful.  I would strongly recommend some day trips to different state parks, etc.  Someone mentioned a trout hatchery, that is definitely a thing in Missouri.  Roaring River is the closest major hatchery to Branson by my recollection.  You could also float one of the rivers in a rental canoe, it's actually worth the effort.

I haven't been to Silver Dollar City in 30 years or more, so I wouldn't know what it's like now.  Back then, it was sort of a redneck Six Flags, lower budget, less expensive, basic roller coasters and hillbilly shows.  If you really want to watch someone make soap or salt water taffy, OK, go for it.  (The soap is probably the same as the taffy.)

Or, rent a ski boat on Tablerock Lake.  That actually doesn't suck.

Godspeed.  Bring alcohol.

Edited by jimmyjazz
  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Drool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
VABuckeye

VABuckeye 2472

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, CoachTex said:

Researching a summer trip to Branson MO.  Kids love Rollercoasters so want to hit up silver dollar city.  Any recommendations for cheap lodging or other cool shit to do with a 16 and 13 year old. Trying to put this together on the cheap but not crappy. Looking to spend 3 days there with 1 dedicated to SDC. Thanks in advance. 

If you want roller coasters then go to Sandusky, OH and Cedar Point.  Greatest collection of roller coasters in the world and second is a distant second.

Cedar Point

Edited by VABuckeye
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10958

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

If you want roller coasters then go to Sandusky, OH and Cedar Point.  Greatest collection of roller coasters in the world and second is a distant second.

Cedar Point

I'd put Cedar Point at #1, but Magic Mountain is pretty close as a pure rollercoaster park and when you leave the park you're close to LA instead of close to Cleveland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12473

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Top of the Rock is good but the rest of Branson is a black hole of old fat Midwestern women in capri pants going to graft fairs and shows of way over the hill country singers while eating fried chicken or something.  Worst place on earth.  Agree with the post about being dead in Orlando than alive in Branson and I hate them both.

Your teenage kids will hate Branson.

Yeah, I spent the night in Branson en route to NW Arkansas a few years back.  We got there at like 10PM and went straight to bed (planned to hike early the next day in Buffalo River wilderness) and the town itself seemed absolutely awful.

The Ozarks are absolutely beautiful though.  Just stay out of the tourist trap shit.  Much like the Black Hills.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
TexasHooch

TexasHooch 5122

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Yeah, I spent the night in Branson en route to NW Arkansas a few years back.  We got there at like 10PM and went straight to bed (planned to hike early the next day in Buffalo River wilderness) and the town itself seemed absolutely awful.

The Ozarks are absolutely beautiful though.  Just stay out of the tourist trap shit.  Much like the Black Hills.

If Deadwood is wrong I don't want to be right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12473

Posted
Posted
Just now, TexasHooch said:

If Deadwood is wrong I don't want to be right.

I was less referring to Deadwood and more to stuff like the strip in Keystone, or Wall Drug (not exactly in the Hills but part of the general experience).

But I did think one night out in Deadwood was enough.  Not a casino guy.  I enjoy Hill City and Spearfish more.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
closetojumping

closetojumping 62765

Posted
Posted

It’s not exactly the Branson experience that I think is being hated on here, but we stayed a few days at Big Cedar Lodge last summer on a long road trip across the heartland. I expected to hate it. It was great. The golf near there is great, the restaurants were great at the resort, and the shit to do during the day was fun for our kids. We’d go back if circumstances made it convenient. 

On that same road trip, since it came up, we were in South Dakota and “glamped” next to Mount Rushmore for a few days. Went and visited Deadwood for an afternoon. Went into The Badlands for a morning on our way out of SD going downward on the map. All of that stuff was terrific. My wife keeps insisting that she wants to buy a ranch in South Dakota now. I’m assuming that’s going to fade - hopefully. 

A lot of snobs on this thread though. If you can ignore the hillbillies and stay at the nice place away from gaudy, kitschy crap, you can have fun around there for a few days. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46001

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

A lot of snobs on this thread though. If you can ignore the hillbillies and stay at the nice place away from gaudy, kitschy crap, 

Seems kinda snobbish.

I grew up not far from there.  I know that part of the state.  It's full of beautiful scenery and Branson sucks, newer nicer resorts notwithstanding  The end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
closetojumping

closetojumping 62765

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Seems kinda snobbish.

I grew up not far from there.  I know that part of the state.  It's full of beautiful scenery and Branson sucks, newer nicer resorts notwithstanding  The end.

Shit, jimmy, I have known you were from that area for at least a decade. My post wasn’t directed at you and that part of it is tinged in silly paradox. Laugh a little, don’t be such an engineer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
baboso

baboso 6056

Posted
Posted
On 1/26/2023 at 5:43 PM, closetojumping said:

It’s not exactly the Branson experience that I think is being hated on here, but we stayed a few days at Big Cedar Lodge last summer on a long road trip across the heartland. I expected to hate it. It was great. The golf near there is great, the restaurants were great at the resort, and the shit to do during the day was fun for our kids. We’d go back if circumstances made it convenient. 

On that same road trip, since it came up, we were in South Dakota and “glamped” next to Mount Rushmore for a few days. Went and visited Deadwood for an afternoon. Went into The Badlands for a morning on our way out of SD going downward on the map. All of that stuff was terrific. My wife keeps insisting that she wants to buy a ranch in South Dakota now. I’m assuming that’s going to fade - hopefully. 

A lot of snobs on this thread though. If you can ignore the hillbillies and stay at the nice place away from gaudy, kitschy crap, you can have fun around there for a few days. 

'Cause there ain't much between the Pole and South Dakota
And barbed wire won't stop the wind
You won't get nothin' here but broke and older
If I was you I might re-up again

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12473

Posted
Posted
On 1/26/2023 at 9:43 AM, Gene Parmesan said:

Dolly Parton's Stampede ftw.

Let's put it this way, the best part about my spring break family vacation to Branson a few years back, was walking into Walmart and seeing liquor on the shelves.  That was pretty cool.

I think that's when you know you've left the South and entered the Midwest.

Well, except for Minnesota.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12473

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, baboso said:

'Cause there ain't much between the Pole and South Dakota
And barbed wire won't stop the wind
You won't get nothin' here but broke and older
If I was you I might re-up again

I always thought the line was "there ain't much between the poles in South Dakota" as a reference to telephone lines.  But this line makes a lot of sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 year later...
Hmbre97

Hmbre97 6327

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thread bump as I just spent this last week up in Branson with my parents and my 8 and 13 yr old. They rented a nice condo out in Indian Point that was only a short 10 min car ride into town. 

All my kids wanted to do was live at the go kart tracks. I've inhaled so much small engine exhaust, it probably cut a few years off my lifespan. Well worth the money for them to have fun.

Rented a boat on Table Rock Lake - highly recommend

Top of the Rock: We did the golf cart tour early in the week when the heat index was 105+ and it was miserable as fuck. By the end, I was just ready to get back and get in some A/C. Would have been a lot nicer if we had done it later in the week after a front blew through and the high temp was 87. Also, the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Musuem tour comes with your ticket for the canyon tour. Their website description doesn't do this place justice. TONS of Indian artifacts, like a disgusting amount that left me wondering how the fuck they were able to collect all of it. It was an overwhelming amount. Also lots of cool civil war stuff. 

Titanic museum: This was better than I thought it would be. They give you a boarding pass with a passenger bio and you find out if you lived or died at the end of the tour. My boys got a big kick out of the fact that out of our group, I was the only one that died. I was obsessed with everything Titanic as a kid so I already knew a good bit of the history but my kids seemed to enjoy it and actually learned a few things. 

 

I'd like to come back someday to do more outdoor stuff like play golf, rent another boat and go fishing, etc. This trip was more for my boys to have fun so I spent the most time bouncing around the go kart tracks in town. Also doesn't help that my parents both have bad knees and I am nursing a sprained achilles and it seems everything out there is stairs and hills. I was supposed to come out here a couple years ago and stay at Big Cedar Lodge via a vendor I deal with at work but at the last minute, our new VP nixed it because said vendor was about to bid on a requisition we were putting out and he didn't like the optics of them bringing us out there. In the end, the req didn't even happen so I got fucked out of an all expenses paid trip. Still a little salty about it. 

Edited by Hmbre97
  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...