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| In Branson, even the Titanic wears a mask! |
We arrived in Branson on a Friday. For those wondering about masks, yes, masks are required everywhere in Branson. You must wear them unless you're eating or drinking, or at your seat during a show. There are large signs (like the ones on the highway that warn of detours) that state "FACE MASKS REQUIRED."
Our first stop when we got to Branson was at the Walmart on Branson Hills Parkway. It was packed. We got to the condo (the same one where we stayed for our June trip) and unpacked all our stuff. We went to Montana Mike's for dinner. We were seated on the bar side and there was a guitarist playing and singing. He was very good and he took requests. The waiter told us he was one of the performers from the tribute shows at the IMAX. It made for a very enjoyable meal.
After dinner, we went to the "Let There be Lights" drive-thru tour at the Promised Land Zoo. We had purchased the OzarksDeals.com voucher, but it would be worth the full price. There are lots of beautiful light displays. At the end of the tour, you can park your car and go to the gift shop to enjoy free hot chocolate and see Santa. You can purchase items at the gift shop. I purchased a "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" long-sleeved T-shirt. We saw a reindeer. I kept calling him all the names of Santa's reindeer until he finally stood still and allowed me to take his photo. |
| On Dasher, on Donder, on Comet - oh, just what is your name? |
It rained for most of the day on Saturday. I went to the Tanger Outlet Mall in the morning. I wanted to go to Bath & Body Works and the Vera Bradley factory outlet store. I had to wait a bit to get into B&BW. They were only letting in so many people at a time. I had no problem finding parking at B&BW, but when I tried to get a parking spot near Vera Bradley, I had no luck. I circled the parking lot for 20 minutes. I guess everyone figured that since they couldn't do outdoor stuff, they may as well go shopping. I gave up and went back to the condo.
We went to Wonderworks Saturday afternoon. We had a Groupon for the VIP package, which is no longer available. If we hadn't had the Groupons, I wouldn't have gotten the VIP package. All the VIP package is an activity book where you find the answers to the questions and when you complete the answers, you take the book to the cafe on the first floor. for a prize - it's just a bag of popcorn. There are 10% off coupons in the book for the cafe and the gift shop. You could probably purchase the VIP tickets for the kids so they could do the activity book and the regular tickets for the adults. There were also lockers you could rent so that you could dump your coat. We enjoyed Wonderworks, although we old folks didn't even attempt the rides. There was a booth where you could test your pitching skills. I discovered that I would never make it as a major league pitcher. It was crowded, although everyone wore their masks. there was a photographer who took photos, although there was no pressure to purchase the photos. There are cafes on the first and fourth floors.
We went to Florentina's Italian Ristorante on Saturday evening. It was excellent, as always. The menus were paper rather than regular menus, and the tables were socially distanced. I had my Florentina's favorite, the lasagne. That evening, we saw the Hughes Brothers Christmas show and it was fantastic. Unlike most of the other Branson Christmas shows (half regular/half Christmas), the Hughes Brothers show is all Christmas (except for a rendition of "Simple Gifts" in the second half - I never thought that was a Christmas song). The first half of the show was secular (non-religious) Christmas music, and the second half of the show was sacred (religious) Christmas music. I loved the second half of the show where Santa talks about teaching the children that Christmas is about Christ and it wouldn't be Christmas without Him. Santa also spoke about the colors of Christmas and what they stood for. If you weren't in the Christmas spirit after leaving the show, you surely are related to Ebenezer Scrooge. No bah humbugs here, just lots of Christmas cheer!
The activity on Sunday was Silver Dollar City. We took advantage of the $45 flash sale that SDC held earlier in November. We usually park in Lot C, but we couldn't choose where to park - we either had to park in the paid parking lot or the lot where you were directed to park (which turned out to be a problem later). We couldn't find the tram stop, so we walked all the way up to the park entrance. We had to wait in line to get our temperature taken before we could enter the park. We were issued wristbands if we passed the temperature test.
There were no indoor shows - they were in all the existing outdoor theaters, except for the saloon show, which was in an outdoor area called the Plaza Stage, which was behind the Red Gold building. The show was shorter than what we were used to seeing, although that was good because it was mighty cold sitting back there. There were very few trees to block the wind.
We wandered around the park and visited various stores and craftsman demonstrations in order to keep warm. You could use your refillable mugs, although you were given a cardboard cup and paper straw, and you had to pour it in the refillable mug. The paper straw wasn't very sturdy and fell apart if you didn't drink your soda fast enough.
We went to the Rivertown Smokehouse for dinner. There was a wait to get to the counter to order but you got your food as soon as you ordered it. The BBQ meat was very good, but the side dishes weren't very big.
We wandered around some more until it was close to the time for the tree lighting at 5:30 PM. There were boxes painted on the asphalt on the parade route that showed you where you couldn't stand, for social distancing. Unfortunately, people crowded along the length of the parade route and ignored the signage. The SDC folks should really patrol the parade route and tell people who are in the boxes they're not supposed to be in to move out of them.
The tree lighting was spectacular. The animatronics were just gorgeous and the music was perfect. There were lots of oohs and ahs from the crowd. The tree lighting was only about 15 minutes, and we waited for the parade. It was the same parade that we had seen a couple of years ago, but we enjoyed it anyway.
After the parade, there was a mass exodus (including us) out of the park. I wanted to stop for a souvenir (I wanted a 60th-anniversary magnet), but hubby was tired, so we trudged out to the area where the trams were waiting. An employee asked where we were parked. I told her that we were directed to the left to park, so she told us to go to tram 5. The trams are socially distanced (every other row) and cleaned after every trip.
We got off of the tram at what we thought was our stop. We walked around for 20 minutes trying to find our vehicle. I remembered that the Maps app on my Apple phone has a function called Parked Car. I pulled it up to show my husband. "This blue dot is where we are. The blue dot with the car on it is where the car is." It was across the road, about 100 ft. away. We went back to the tram stop and talked to the driver. He took us to the parking lot where our car was and dropped us off. We drove back to the condo, tired from a long day.
Monday was our last day in Branson, and it was shopping day. I went to Walmart on Green Mountain Drive to pick up something to make for dinner Monday night and something quick for breakfast on Tuesday morning. I also bought heel cushions for my shoes as my left heel was killing me after our hike through SDC and the parking lot the day before.
Our first stop was Grand Village. We enjoy looking through the boutique stores. Hubby bought another Branson sweatshirt. I bought a perpetual desk calendar at the Thomas Kinkade store. There were some beautiful trifold Christmas cards at the Kinkade store that I really wanted, but they were $20 and hubby thought they were too expensive. I found a Christmas themed mask at the Peter Engler store. And we always enjoy browsing at the retro toy shop and the Kringles Christmas store.
We had an OzarksDeals.com voucher for Mel's Hard Luck Diner at Grand Village (no longer available), so we went there for lunch. Sarah Joy was our waitress. She was very sweet and attentive. We ordered the onion rings for an appetizer and they were the best onion rings I've ever had - crunchy and firm on the outside and tender on the inside, and just the right temperature. I had a bacon BBQ cheeseburger and fries. The waiters and waitresses sang and our waitress had a very lovely voice. We left her a nice tip.
Our next stop was Branson Landing. Bass Pro Shop had a Black Friday week sale. We parked in the Bass Pro Shop parking lot, but we had to park a far distance from the side door. Two of the Black Monday specials were $10 hooded sweatshirts (hubby and I both got one) and $10 fleece jackets (hubby got one). We walked to the town square to look at the huge Christmas tree there and watched the fountain show. We had a coupon from our St. Louis Cardinals calendar for BOGO free for Andy's Frozen Custard, so we stopped there on our way back to the condo.
After we finished our sundaes, I decided it was early enough in the afternoon to go back to Tanger Outlet Mall to see if I could find a parking spot so that I could go to the Vera Bradley store. I had to wait outside in line to get in - they were only letting so many in at a time. I had a 25% off birthday coupon and I had birthday money from the attorneys I work for, so I wanted to use it. I found a tote bag, a mask with polar bears on it, and I got a free ID card case for my birthday present. I then walked over to the Reebok store next door, where the whole store was 60% off. I got a new pair of comfy shoes to wear. It's really hard to find size 8W athletic shoes and I got this same pair of Reeboks during my Christmas trip last year.
That night, we saw Dean Z's Rockin' Christmas Show at the Clay Cooper Theater. It was Dean's first Christmas show of the season because of his and his wife's bout with COVID. We enjoyed this show very much. It was high energy, the band was hot and tight, and Dean has Elvis' moves down to a T. It was not a first half regular music/second half Christmas music like a lot of the Branson shows - the non-Christmas music was interspersed in between the Christmas songs.
Dean's back-up band has a 4 man brass section, a keyboardist, a guy playing string bass, a guitarist (Dean's brother), a drummer (who turned out to be Matt Gumm - he has a show at Clay's theater) and 3 backup singers called the Deltatones (one of whom was Dean's wife). I really liked how he kept acknowledging the band and asking us to applaud for them. That's a sign of a classy performer. Not only did Dean have Elvis' moves down pat, but he also did a great Mick Jagger imitation, lip and all. Dean didn't forget the true meaning of Christmas - he and the Deltatones did a beautiful acapella rendition of "Silent Night." I now want to see Dean's Elvis show next summer when we return to Branson.
