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Branson MO questions and recommendations


CoachTex

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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. 

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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.

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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
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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
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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

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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.

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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.

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