We made our annual trip to Branson recently. This was our fifteenth yearly visit to Branson. We did some familiar things and tried some new things. As usual, we had a great vacation. My summary of our trip is below. If you click on the links, you will be taken to the website in a new window.
We left for Branson on Sunday morning. The traffic on Hwy. 44 was fairly light. Everyone was already out of town for the 4th of July weekend. We ate lunch at Hardees' at the truck stop in Strafford this trip since we were running really early. We usually stop in Lebanon for lunch.
The Groupon lodging deal we purchased was administrated by Branson Travel Group, so before we could go to the hotel, we had to go to BTG to pick up the voucher to take to the hotel. The Groupon deal also included 2 tickets to any show at the Jim Stafford Theater. We selected the Billy Dean and Steel Horses show since we had seen the other two shows playing at Jim Stafford last year.
The building also contained an indoor miniature golf course. The gentleman who took care of us at Branson Travel Group was very nice. He asked if we needed any other tickets and we said no. He wasn't pushy, which was nice.
Our lodging was at
Stone Castle Hotel & Conference Center. We arrived at the hotel around 1:00 PM. We discovered, however, that check-in didn't start until 3 PM. We offered to just hang out in the lobby until 3 PM, but the front desk clerks did some juggling and found us an open room. The room was in Building 2, which was the building with the breakfast room, and the breakfast room was even on the same floor where our room was. Score! There was also an indoor pool and a hot tub as well as a small video arcade on the first floor of Building 2. Stone Castle is huge - there are 3 buildings in the complex. The breakfast is awesome - there was plenty of variety with the food and the staff was very nice and friendly. The coffee is very strong though - whoa!
We went to
Florentina's Restaurant for dinner Sunday evening. We had a certificate from Half Price Ozarks/KY3 to help with the cost (which is no longer available). The food was great and the location was only a couple blocks from the hotel. The decor is beautiful - the restaurant looks like your Italian grandma's house. Florentina's is now on our list of favorite Branson restaurants.
The show we went to Sunday evening was
Billy Dean and the Steel Horses.We had another Groupon deal for my son's ticket, It was a very nice show. Billy is a talented singer and songwriter and he was very entertaining. His daughter played keyboards for him. The theater was about half full, which is good for a Sunday evening. I recognized several of the songs. Billy has aged well - here's a photo of Billy with my son:
On Monday morning, we drove down to the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery. We took the plastic cups from the hotel room because the fish food is smelly. We enjoyed all of the exhibits, but our favorite part is feeding the fish. We enjoy seeing all those little fish coming up to the surface with their mouths open looking for food.
We then took a drive over the spillway and went to the Dewey Short Center. We had not been there since it opened. The beach that was once there is now gone. All of the exhibits that we had seen previously were still there. It was a nice place to get out of the heat for a while, though. We went back to the hotel to eat lunch. After lunch, my son and I went down to the pool and the hot tub to cool off for a while.
That evening's agenda was a trip to Branson Landing for dinner and to nose around in the stores. We were then going to stay for the concert and fireworks display. We got to the Landing around 4 PM and it was packed - we had to park about half a mile away, behind the strip mall north of the Landing.
It had been a while since we had eaten at Garfield's. We had a certificate that ended up covering all of the cost of dinner - that's really nice when that happens (this certificate is still available - click
here to purchase). Garfield's has an Applebee's type menu, so if you like Applebee's, you'll like Garfield's. They are located across the "street" from Bass Pro Shops so you can park in their lot if you don't want to walk too far.
We walked around and visited some of the stores, but when hubby saw crowded it was going to be for the concert and fireworks, he decided we should go back to the hotel. He doesn't do well with crowds. The son and I went to the pool/hot tub for a while until bedtime.
On Tuesday morning, we woke up and it was raining. We decided that it was a good time to use our Groupon (no longer available) for the Wildwood Miniature Golf Course that we saw on Sunday. This is a fun little 18 hole golf course. There were a few challenging holes. It took the three of us about an hour and a half to complete the course. We then went back to the hotel for lunch.
On Tuesday afternoon, we went to the
Janice Martin Cirque Show. Janice used to perform on the Showboat Branson Belle. She now has her own show at the Americana Theater. She is known for playing the violin while hanging on the curtains and while that in itself would make a great show, that's not the entire show. Janice performs as various characters and showcases her many talents. She plays many different instruments and even performs some magic. We really enjoyed this show. We had Groupons for tickets to this show. Kids are free at the Americana so this would be a great show for the family.
We then went to McFarlain's Restaurant for dinner. We had a certificate from Half Price Ozarks/KY3, which is no longer available. The food and the service were good as always. We then nosed around some of the shops in the IMAX complex before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the evening's show.
That evening, we went to see the
Haygoods. We have seen them at the Americana, the RFD Theater, and now at the Clay Cooper Theater. This year is the Haygoods' 25th anniversary (and me and my husband's 25th wedding anniversary as well), so we wanted to celebrate with them. This was by far the best show we saw this trip. The Haygoods are so musically talented it would take more than a blog post to describe their show. The show has great music, great lighting effects, and great music. We bought the DVD of this show so we can watch it in the winter when we miss Branson. We bought our vouchers for this show at
Branson 2 for 1 Tickets.
When we got to the parking lot, we discovered that some beautiful fireworks were being shot off across the street from the theater. We stood there and watched them for a while and then went back to the hotel, where we could still see the fireworks from our hotel room window.
On Wednesday morning, we visited the
National Tiger Sanctuary for the first time. I had wanted to visit the NTS for a long time, but couldn't find a good deal until I won an auction on the
KKOZ website (no longer available).I have always wanted to see the big kitties. NTS is located in Saddlebrooke, Missouri, which is about a half hour north of Branson.
There are 3 types of tours offered, with different prices: the Awareness tour, the Feeding tour and the You Feed tour. Our voucher was for the Feeding tour. There are other, more expensive tours offered as well. Ryan was our guide and he knew all sorts of information about every cat he fed and what their habits were. He was very good at answering any question posed to him. The tour ran for about an hour and a half. Here's some photos of the big kitties:
On Wednesday afternoon, we hung out at the hotel and went swimming. I found a 2 for $20 deal for Lone Star Restaurant like the one at Applebee's for dinner that evening. The food and the service was fine and it was close to the hotel. On Wednesday evening, we went to Andy's for frozen custard and we played a few games at the Tracks.
On Thursday morning, we went to Branson 2 for 1. We were going to get tickets for Raiding the Rock Vault, which was opening that night. When we discovered that the price for 3 tickets was going to be $91.00, we decided to pass. We wanted to see another show since it was our last night in Branson, so we got tickets for Rick Thomas.
We then went to visit
Promised Land Zoo. We had a voucher from Half Price Ozarks/KY3 for buy one get one free (no longer available, but check Groupon for a similar deal). There are VIP activities available if you want to pay extra. We have been to PLZ before and enjoyed it, so we decided to visit again. We enjoy seeing all of the animals and attending the show. PLZ is expanding and will open a drive-thru section of the park later this month. We will have to visit next year to enjoy that part of the park. We then went to Cici's Pizza for lunch and enjoyed their buffet.
We went to Danna's BBQ for dinner on Thursday evening. The food and the service was excellent, as always.
We then went to see
Rick Thomas, who was performing at the Andy Williams Performing Arts Center. We really enjoyed this show. Not only is Rick a great magician, he has a comic touch as well. His beautiful Great Pyrenees dogs were brought out to the lobby after the show for everyone to pet. If you want to see an illusionist on your Branson trip, I highly recommend seeing Rick's show.
We left on Friday morning to go home. I always hate going home. Someday, I want to move to Branson permanently. Now that my husband has retired, we may be able to visit Branson during the Christmas season to see the shows and visit Silver Dollar City.
Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!
Diane
