2019 Branson trip report

Here's my report on our most recent trip to Branson.

Monday, July 1
It was travel day.  Traffic on Hwy. 270 and Hwy. 44 was fairly light.  We stopped at Steak 'n Shake in Lebanon for lunch.  The service was great and the food was very good.   I even got my shake before the meal.

We arrived in Branson around 1:30 PM. We stopped at Branson Tourism Center to pick up our Haygood vouchers and our Runaway Mountain Coaster vouchers from a Groupon deal.  We got talked into a timeshare presentation at Wyndham for the next morning (the temptation of $160 in cash and a $25 certificate to a local restaurant was too great to pass up). We then went to Clay Cooper Theater to pick up the Haygoods tickets. We then went to Walmart to pick up supplies.

This year, we splurged and rented a condo at The Suites at Fall Creek through a TripAdvisor listing.  We arrived at the condo at 3:30 PM. The owner assigned us a code to use to unlock the door. The condo was very nice, with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a living room/kitchen combo and a screened-in back porch that faced a pond, where we enjoyed watching some beavers during our stay.

We unpacked, fixed dinner, and relaxed.  I went up to the clubhouse to check out some of the amenities. The Falls has a nice game room and an indoor pool and hot tub. It also has a mini-golf course.

Tuesday, July 2
We went to the timeshare presentation at Wyndham, which was across the street.  It lasted for 2 1/2 hours.  The property was nice, but I would rather not pay that much every month for something I would only use once or twice a year.  I thought used car salesmen were pushy, but timeshare salesmen are worse.  We went back to Branson Tourism Center after lunch at the condo to collect our $160.00 and our gift certificate. The guy at BTC tried talking us into taking the Welk timeshare tour (for $200 in cash) but we said no and left.  If you go through BTC for anything, just say no when they ask you about taking a timeshare tour and be firm about it. We went across the street to Books-A-Million, where I bought myself the new Brad Thor book and my son a Stephen King book as a reward for wasting 2 1/2 hours of our vacation time. As we were leaving Books-A-Million, it started pouring down rain. 

We ate at Montana Mike's (with an OzarksDeal.com voucher) for dinner.  The food was great and the service was excellent.  Since we had time to kill before the Haygoods show, we went to the Tracks location by the Ferris Wheel and wasted some money.  We then went to Andy's Frozen Custard for their wonderful, yummy frozen custard.

The Haygoods' show was great as always.  They up their game every year with new songs and new technology. They have a couple songs that they always perform, like "Dancing on the Ceiling" and "Cotton Eye Joe" but all the other songs are new. The Haygoods show is such a high energy show, it's no wonder they only have a few shows a week.  If we visit Branson during the Christmas season this year, I think I'd like to see the Haygoods' Christmas show.

After the show, we then went back to the condo.  The Cardinals, our favorite baseball team, were playing on the West Coast that week, so we got to watch some of the game before retiring for the evening.

Wednesday, July 3
Our first stop on Wednesday was at the Andy Williams Performing Arts Center to pick up our tickets for the Rick Thomas show that evening (another Groupon deal).

We had a Groupon deal for Greatest Adventures Mini Golf, so we played the two courses that morning.  Even though it was in the morning, it was still boiling hot.  There is a nice little restaurant at Greatest Adventures, so we sat in there and cooled off before playing the second course. I won the first round and hubby won the second round. After the second round, we went back inside and had a soda to cool off.

We went back to the condo for lunch and to relax before going out to dinner.  The couple who owns the condo we rented also owns the condo above ours. Mike, the condo owner, texted me and asked if there was a water leak in the kitchen area because the dishwasher in the condo above us was leaking.  I texted him back and told him we didn't have a leak.

We went to Florentina's Italian Ristorante (with another OzarksDeal.com voucher) for dinner that evening.  We always enjoy going to Florentina's - the food tastes great (better than Olive Garden) and the service is excellent. I enjoyed my lasagna and I had enough to take home for lunch the next day.

We attended the Rick Thomas: Mansion of Dreams show on Wednesday night.  I think Rick's show is the best magic show in Branson.  This year's show was even better than Rick's show two years ago.  Rick is very personable and has a great rapport with the audience.  His illusions are fantastic and his Great Pyrenees dogs are beautiful.  You can pet the dogs in the lobby after the show and they obviously love all the attention.

After the show, we went back to the condo and watched the Cards game until we were tired enough to go to bed.

Thursday, July 4
Our first stop this morning was at Yakov Smirnoff's theater to use our Groupon deal to pick up tickets.  On the way back, we stopped by the Runaway Mountain Coaster to use our vouchers before the temperatures got too hot. The ride up the hill wasn't too bad.  I had a difficult time maneuvering the mountain coaster, however.  If I went too slow, I had a hard time making the turns and if I went too fast, it felt like I was going to fall out of the coaster.  I think this might just be a young person's ride, for my son really enjoyed it.  We went back to the condo to relax and have lunch before attending the Yakov show that afternoon.

We have visited Branson for many years, but we have never seen Yakov's show.  I thought it would be an appropriate show to see on Independence Day, considering the fact that Yakov emigrated to this country from Russia and our ancestors emigrated to America too.  The most enjoyable part of Yakov's show was when he spoke about when he lived in Russia and then emigrated to America.  I think the show started to drag when he started talking about earning his doctorate degree.  We did buy a DVD/book combo so we could laugh some more at home.

We went back to the condo and fixed dinner.  After dinner, we drove over to the clubhouse and checked out clubs and golf balls to try out the complex's mini-golf course.  Even though it was evening, it was still very warm.  The mini-golf course needs some work - the felt is wrinkled and missing in places.  There was a sign in the game room that stated that a new mini-golf course was coming in 2019.  Maybe it will be remodeled in the fall?

We drove back up to the clubhouse parking lot later to see if we could see the fireworks display at Chateau at the Lake. Not seeing much of anything, we went back to the condo and sat in the screened-in porch.  Suddenly, we started seeing the fireworks display. After it was over, we went back inside and watched the news until we were sleepy enough to go to bed.

Friday, July 5
This was our last full day in Branson and it was time for our visit to Branson Landing.  We got to Branson Landing at 9:30, so we were lucky enough to get a very close parking spot at Belk. We saw that the Paula Deen restaurant was still under construction.  If we visit Branson during the Christmas season, maybe by then it'll be open.  We visited the Five and Dime store until it was time for Bass Pro to open.  Hubby bought himself two new pairs of cargo shorts that were on sale and the son bought a mug.  I didn't find anything I wanted, though.

We wanted to visit the Cardinals Clubhouse store, but when we got there, we discovered that another store was there.  I was sad - I knew I could have found something in there to buy. We walked up and down the Landing until it was time for lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ.

We got to Famous Dave's BBQ right when they opened at 11:00 AM. (Hubby likes to eat lunch early.)  The decor was great, the food was tasty and reasonably priced, but our waitress had an attitude like she really didn't want to be there.  Maybe it had to do with the gift certificate that I had put on the table - perhaps she thought she wasn't going to get a good tip. 

We left Famous Dave's after lunch and left the Landing to go back to the condo before that afternoon's activities.  And it's a good thing we did.  I went to put my purse on the kitchen counter and noticed there was water on the counter and on the kitchen floor. Water was dripping from the ceiling in the kitchen.  I texted Mike and told him that there was water dripping from the ceiling. He immediately called me.  Phil said that there was water coming from around the air conditioning vent and the light fixture in the second bathroom. There was also water leaking from the AC vent in the second bedroom. Mike texted me and said he was trying to reach his maintenance guy.  He offered to get us another room for the night, either another condo at the Falls or a hotel room. The maintenance guy came and showed me a photo of what had happened - the toilet in the condo above us had sprung a leak.  He went upstairs and shut the water off to the toilet.  Eventually, the dripping stopped.  We took the bath towels and mopped up the water on the floor of the second bathroom.  I texted Mike and told him not to worry about getting us another room since we were headed home the next day and we didn't want to pack everything up and pack it up again to go home the next day.

We then went to the IMAX to see the latest Spiderman movie.  During the movie, I got a notice on my Apple watch that Branson was under a severe thunderstorm warning. When we got out of the movie, we noticed it was pouring down rain. We then went to McFarland's Family Restaurant (another OzarksDeals.com voucher) for dinner.  We had to wait a little while to even be seated - evidently, the hostess didn't want to seat us and she kept looking for a waitress to seat us.  I wasn't really all that hungry - I was still full from all the popcorn we ate during the movie. But I ordered dinner anyway.  It took forever to get our food and our waitress wasn't very friendly or helpful. Poor service twice in one day!  There must have been a full moon. 

After dinner, we went back to the condo and starting packing up to go home.  Despite the water incident, I did enjoy our stay at the condo and we'd rent it again.  I enjoyed the screened-in porch, where I would drink my coffee and read my Bible in the mornings.  Here is the link to the TripAdvisor listing for the condo, in case you're interested in renting it:  https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g44160-d10233414-Relaxing_family_escape_w_pools_wifi_patio_more-Branson_Missouri.html#. 

Saturday, July 6
Sadly, it was time to leave Branson and go back home.  I'm counting down the years until I can retire and move to the Ozarks permanently.  We had a great time this year and I can't wait to go back!

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane