Angel Inn - a heavenly place to stay

During our trip to Branson, we stayed at the Angel Inn, based on the great price we got on Travelocity with a gift card and the great reviews on TripAdvisor.  Sorry about the photo - it was taken from my car window.  That's the car antenna you see running through the photo on the right.

Angel Inn is located on Green Mountain Drive. You travel westbound on Hwy. 76 and turn left on to Green Mountain Drive. Angel Inn is the first motel on the left.  The exterior of the hotel is painted a pastel pink.  You can't miss it!  I liked this location - it was off the Strip but not very far from it.  When we stayed at Boxcar Willie Inn, I felt like we had to drive a long way to get anywhere in Branson. 

The lady at the front desk was very pleasant.  She gave us a folder with our room keys, which were the magnetic strip type.  I personally like these kinds of room keys - they are not as bulky to carry around.  The lobby had two overstuffed couches and there was a computer with a printer available for guest use.  The Best Read Guide, the Sunny Day Guide, and a map of Branson was available at the front desk. 

Angel Inn has an indoor pool which is about 12' long.  The depth ranges from 3' to 5'.  There is an above ground hot tub.  There are lots of windows in the pool/hot tub room.  The pool/hot tub room is located behind the office. Towels are provided. There are also show/attraction brochures. 


Angel Inn has 113 hotel rooms in 2 buildings.  The outdoor corridors have ice machines and vending machines. There is free WiFi throughout the property, although every time you got online, you had to register, which annoyed my son.  Oh well! 

Our room was located on the 5th floor, and at the very back of the hotel.  We had a nice view of the woods behind the motel. Our room was spotless.  It was large, with very nice decor. There was a small refrigerator and a microwave.  There was only a 2 drawer dresser, with a 32" TV on top of it.  There was 3 in our party and we could have used another dresser drawer.  There was a table with 2 chairs. There was also a lap desk in case you had a laptop, but I used the table for the laptop instead.  There was a Travelhost magazine on the dresser. 
 
The dressing area was very clean and there was an coffee maker that made individual cups of coffee, if you need coffee before breakfast. The tub/toilet area was spotless and there was a curved shower curtain rod.  The shower head had multiple settings on it, and there was great water pressure in the bathroom.  A blow dryer is provided, but I like to bring my own because it dries my hair faster.  There was also an iron and an ironing board.  At the last place we stayed at, I had to go to the office to get an iron and ironing board.  I liked this arrangement much better. 


Breakfast is served starting at 6:30 a.m., which was early compared to other Branson motels we've stayed at.  Most Branson motels serve breakfast starting at 7 a.m.  There is cereal and oatmeal, bagels, toast, hard boiled eggs, and fruit cocktail every morning.  Biscuits and gravy and French toast are served on alternative mornings.
The breakfast room also has apple and orange juice and a coffee machine.  The coffee was really good. Milk is available.  The breakfast room was large and it had about 10 tables. 

The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable.  Housekeeping did a great job cleaning our room, although I wondered why the liner for the dressing room trashcan was clipped on one of the hangers and not put in the trashcan.

Would we stay here again?  If we can get a good deal, probably.  For us and our limited finances, a great deal on a room is important. 

That's all for now!  Thanks for reading!  See you next time!

Diane

Back from Branson!

Our family went to Branson last week on vacation.  Here's a rundown of our activities. I will post reviews of the motel we stayed at as well as the shows we saw. 

Monday morning's breakfast consisted of donuts and milk in plastic bottles, so I wouldn't have to wash breakfast dishes.  We left around 8 AM.  We ran into road work on Hwy. 44.  The weather was fine until we ran into rainy weather right outside of Eureka. We didn't stop at the first rest stop because it was pouring down rain. By the time we got to Sullivan, it was only sprinkling, so we stopped at Jack in the Box so we could go the bathroom.  We were hungry (donuts only fill you up for so long), so we got a little breakfast.  I had a coupon for a buy one, get one free breakfast croissant, so we only spent about $5.00.  I was a little chilly since it was cool and rainy, so I bought a $1.00 coffee.

We got back on Hwy. 44.  We stopped in Lebanon for lunch around 11:15.  There are lots of fast food restaurants on Jefferson Avenue.  We ate at Taco Bell, even though I had no coupons.  Hubby wanted something different for lunch.

After lunch, we got back on the road.  We stopped at the next rest stop, which is a few miles outside of Lebanon.  This is the nicest rest stop on Hwy. 44. It has a Route 66 motif.  It has a playground and a nice  building with clean bathrooms and lots of bathroom stalls. There is a separate room with lots of Branson brochures and information on other Missouri attractions. The lady behind the desk perceived that we were going to visit Branson, so she gave me a card with directions to a place where I could get show tickets cheap. 

We stopped at the Casey's in Ozark to stretch our legs and use the bathroom.  It was still raining a bit as we were driving down Hwy. 65.  There were wispy clouds touching the tree tops. I thought it was fog until I looked a little closer.  There are two ongoing areas of road work on Hwy. 65 due to bridge construction, with only one lane open in each direction. 

We arrived in Branson around 1:15 PM.  We drove to Angel Inn, the motel we stayed at.  Thankfully, our room was ready for us, even though we got there before check-in time.  We unloaded our stuff, and then my son and I went swimming while hubby rested.

We went to Steak 'n Shake on Hwy. 365 (across from the old Celebration City) for dinner.  I had a S'nS e-club coupon for a buy one, get one free banana shake and a regular coupon for a free drink, so our bill was around $13.00.  We then went back to the hotel for the rest of the evening.

On Tuesday, we went Walmart to pick up a loaf of bread for lunch and a couple other items.  We then went to Branson 2 for 1 Tickets to purchase vouchers for the Haygoods show. We drove back down the Strip and viewed the damage from the Leap Day tornado that hadn't been cleaned up yet.  Hubby said it looked like a bomb had hit some of the damaged hotels.  We then went to the RFD-TV Theater to exchange our vouchers for tickets for that evening's show. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by Grand Village to look around.  We went into a store or two.  I tried to get our son to sit in the giant rocking chair so I could take his photo, but he didn't want to. :(

We went to Pizza World for dinner.  It has a great location - right next to one of the Track locations.  I had a coupon for a buy one, get one half price pizza and salad buffet.  My son and I made the mistake of not following my own advice and ordered soda, so our bill was around $23.00.  Sodas were about $2.00 a piece. We went to the Haygoods show on Tuesday evening.  I will post a review on the show later.

On Wednesday morning, we went to the Jim Stafford Theater to exchange my radio station vouchers for tickets to the show for that evening.  We stopped by the Presleys' theater so I could visit my friend Melanie, who posts on the 1Branson.com forums.  It was a nice visit.

On Wednesday afternoon, we visited the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.  This has been a favorite place to visit for us - it's free (except to buy fish food) and it's neat to see all the rainbow trout. There are lots of fish to feed.  There are special presentations by the rangers.

We left the hatchery and drove across Table Rock Dam to visit the new Dewey Short Visitors' Center.  We visited the original Visitors' Center several years ago, but it was torn down and the new center is very nice, with several interactive exhibits, one of which is pictured below:

We went really cheap for supper Wednesday night - we got a $10.00 pizza from Pizza Hut.  It was right down the street, so I didn't have to drive very far. Total cost (along with 2 sodas from the hotel vending machine) for supper was $12.50. We went to the Jim Stafford show that night and enjoyed it.  A review will be forthcoming. 

On Thursday morning, we went for a little walk. We saw a dead deer on a grassy area about half a block east of the motel.  I reported it to the front desk clerk so that she could call Animal Control or the city of Branson to have the dead deer removed.  I'm sure no tourist wants to see that.

After lunch, we drove to Branson Landing.  We had missed the fountains in past years because we didn't realize that they aren't turned on until after noon.  So we got there right around noon and I got a great photo of the fountains.  We nosed around in a couple of the stores and I got a new Bass Pro Shops t-shirt for $5.00 (my only souvenir).  We then hopped on the free shuttle (which was air conditioned!) and rode it to old downtown Branson.  We got off the trolley behind Dick's 5 & 10.  This store really packs in the merchandise.  Not only was there a lot of merchandise, there were a lot of people there as well.  So we left there and went to the Branson Centennial Museum.  There was no admittance fee and there were a lot of interesting old photos and great displays.  The guys were getting tired, so we hopped back aboard the trolley and went back to Branson Landing.  We drove to Dairy Queen and treated ourselves to some ice cream since it was a hot day.  I had coupons for Dairy Queen too. 

Since I got paid on Thursday, we spent a little bit more money for supper that night.  We went to McFarland's in the IMAX complex.  I did have a 10% off coupon, which took off a little bit off of the price.  We did follow my advice and all three of us had water.  The waitress gave us a strange look for ordering water, but oh well.  We saved about $6.00 by not ordering soda or tea. 

We had no shows planned for Thursday night, so we just went back to the motel and hung out.  The son and I went to the pool and hot tub and hubby relaxed by watching the ball game. 

We left for home on Friday morning. :(  I never want to come home when we go to Branson. We fueled up the Jeep at the station on the corner of Green Mountain Drive and Hwy. 165. We stopped at McDonald's in Sullivan for lunch.  This is our usual stop on the way home. 

I hope you enjoyed the recap of our trip!  See you next time!

Diane

Vacation on the ultra cheap

This has been a year of low funds for us.  My hubby only works part time (in retail, that’s generally all you get unless you’re management), and we haven’t been able to set aside money for vacation like we want due to high gasoline and food prices.  We reserved our hotel back in February when I got my bonus, however, so the hotel room is already paid for.

This year, we’re really going to be penny pinching.  Some would say, “Why even go on vacation if you don’t have a lot of money to spend?”   If you’ve ever been to Branson, you know the sense of peace that comes from visiting the Ozarks.  As soon as I see that first bald (right before you get to Eureka), my spirits start to lift and the tenseness that I’ve been feeling starts to dissipate.  Branson is my happy place, and I need that feeling of serenity this year more than ever. So I thought I’d pass along some tips to vacation on the ultra cheap.

Road trippin’

One of our biggest expenses will be gasoline.  We live in Illinois, which is one of the most expensive places to buy gas in the country.  We are going to put just enough in the tank to get us over the state line into Missouri and to a gas station off of Hwy. 44, then fill our tank for the rest of the trip.  Gas is .20 a gallon cheaper in Missouri.  We also drive a 4 cylinder vehicle, so we have great highway gas mileage.  We will probably top off the tank in Ozark, which is about halfway down Hwy. 65 from Springfield, and that will give us enough gas until we leave to go home. We will also use the air conditioning at highway speeds, since that’s more gas efficient than opening the windows.  Gasbuddy.com is a great place to look to see who has the cheapest prices on gas.

We will bring snacks, soda and water in a soft sided cooler for the road trip.  Snacks and sodas at rest stops or gas stations are expensive.  We will use fast food coupons for lunch and refill our sodas before we leave the restaurant.

Shows

Another big expense is going to shows.  I found a great deal for Jim Stafford for $16.00 a ticket on bigriverbargains.com. Big River Bargains also has ticket deals right now for most of the shows at Grand Country Music Hall as well as Kirby Van Burch and Doug Gabriel. When you have vouchers from Big River Bargains, radio stations or HalfOffDeals.com, you purchase the voucher, then call the theater to make your reservation.  You have to tell them that you have radio station vouchers.  You then exchange the vouchers at the ticket office for your tickets.  For the other shows we want to see, we will go to Branson 2 for 1 Tickets. You can purchase 2 tickets for the price of 1.  Since we will need 3 tickets, they will give us the third ticket for half price.  We will have to wait until we get to Branson to purchase our tickets, since they don’t do business over the phone or on the Internet.  You can view the available shows on their web site, however.

Some shows offer a family pass, which allows 2 adults and all or a certain number of children under age 18 for one price.  Check the web site of the show you want to attend to see if they offer this discount.  This is a great discount if you have more than one child in your family.  There are good show discounts in the Branson VIP coupon book and the Branson Guest Card as well.  

Some theaters will you give you discounts to another show at the same theater with your ticket stub.  They will announce this from the stage either before or after the show or during intermission. Some ticket stubs have discounts on the back, so take a look before you throw it away. Save money by not purchasing snacks or souvenirs at the show, no matter how much your kids beg you.  

Food, glorious food

Food is another big expense.  We are staying in a motel with a breakfast buffet, so that meal is covered.  We are saving up all of our fast food coupons to take with us, since Branson has a variety of fast food restaurants.  Our hotel room has a refrigerator, so we will bring lunch meat, cheese and buns to make sandwiches for lunch.  We will also bring a bag of chips.  For a special treat, we will probably purchase a $20.00 voucher (which will get us $40.00 of food) from HalfOffDeals.com for Montana Mike’s or Hard Luck Diner. Another tip – when visiting restaurants, get only water.  Some restaurants will charge up to $2.00 for a soda or tea.  If the water needs a kick, ask for a slice of lemon or lime. Water is better for you anyway. If you must have soda, keep some in the refrigerator in your hotel room.

ChC

Cheap fun in the summertime (or anytime)

I found activities for the daytime that are super cheap or free.  We will spend one day looking at the shops on Branson Landing.  We will then walk through old downtown Branson and look at all the stores.  The Branson Centennial Museum has free admission.  Another day will be the great outdoors day.  We will visit the new Dewey Short Visitors’ Center and the Shepherd of the Hills Trout Hatchery (the only cost there is to feed the fish), then maybe hike at Table Rock State Park and visit the Henning Scenic Overlook. We will take a drive down Indian Point Road to see Table Rock Lake.  

Miscellaneous tips

The AquaPlex at the Branson RecPlex is a cheaper alternative to White Water.  There may not be any water slides, but there’s lots of water and you can bring your own food.  Check out the racks in the lobby of your hotels for books such as the Sunny Day Guide, Best Read Guide, Travelhost and Taste of Branson.  Taste of Branson has some nice coupons for local restaurants.  Make sure you check the expiration dates of the coupons. 

Some of you are thinking, why go to all this trouble just to go on vacation?  To some people (like me), it’s a necessity to cut corners in order to go at all.  To some people, it’s a challenge to see how much money they can save.  But I think everyone needs that refreshing once-a-year break from our everyday activities.

That's all for now!  Than ks for reading! See you next time!

Diane