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| The Titanic with its 4,000 flag display for the 4th of July. |
This is a review of our 2022 Branson summer trip. The links on the names of the activities will take you to any deal that we used on that activity. Please keep in mind that if you read this at a later date that the deals may no longer be available.
We left for Branson at 8:15 AM on July 2. I wanted to stop in Fenton to check out Wally’s, the new super gas station, but as usual, hubby was in a hurry and didn’t want to stop.
We usually stop somewhere on our way to Branson to grab a bit to eat to tide us over until lunch and on this trip, the stop was St. Louis Bread Company (known elsewhere as Panera Bread) in Eureka, Missouri. This Bread Co., however, was not the cleanest Bread Co. I have ever been in. There were gnats flitting around the soda machine, and some of the tables were dirty. Plus, it seemed to take forever to get the breakfast sandwiches we ordered. Hubby made a crack that perhaps the chicken had to lay the egg before they could cook it for our sandwiches. After we finally got our sandwiches, we had to wait for about a half hour for the rain to let up so we could continue on our trip. About three days later, I got an email from Bread Co. apologizing for how long it took to get our orders. If they had sent me a survey, I would have let them know about the Eureka store.
We stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel in St. Robert. After that, we made our usual stop at the rest stop outside of Conway. I looked for the Best Read Guide and the Sunny Day Guide so we could read the articles and look through the coupons, but apparently, neither of those guides are being printed anymore. There were plenty of other brochures and guides to pick up. If you stop there, be sure to pick up the cards to buy one entree and get one half off at McFarland’s, Florentina’s Ristorante Italiano, and Heroes Tastes and Taps (formerly Montana Mike’s). The Travelhost brochures are still being printed.
We rented a condo this summer at the Suites at Fall Creek. One of the reasons I selected this condo is that it would allow us to check in at 3 PM rather than 4 PM. It was a ground-level condo; however, it did have a flight of stairs going down to the front door. Hubby has bad knees and I try to find a condo with no stairs, but sometimes, it's hard to find one. I started looking this January for our July trip and the condo we rented last year for our July trip was already booked. People really want to travel this year.
We got everything into the condo from the car and I started unpacking our bathroom supplies. I noticed there was no toilet paper on the roll by the toilet. There were no spare rolls under the sink, so I looked in the second bathroom but there were no spare rolls there either. I searched all of the drawers, closets, and cabinets but couldn't find any spare rolls of toilet paper. So I called the condo owner. Apparently, the previous renter of the condo had taken all the toilet paper and the housekeeper was supposed to refill it but forgot. So the head housekeeper brought over some toilet paper. I looked in the cabinet to check out the coffee. The container was there, but the coffee was not. The previous renter must have stolen that too.
We turned on the TV to discover that we didn't have Bally Sports Midwest or ESPN to watch our beloved St. Louis Cardinals. I spoke to the condo owner. I didn't ask her to, but she went above and beyond the call of duty to have a tier added to the cable package so that we could watch baseball. That really elevated our experience.
On Saturday night, we went to the Baldknobbers show at the Branson Famous Theater. We had seen the Baldknobbers years ago at their original theater, which was torn down (along with the hotel) for the WonderWorks attraction. We were disappointed in this version of the show, however. The vocalists and musicians were good, but the comedy was flat. Droopy Drawers was very much missed. It rained while we were in the theater; it was the only time it rained while we were there. It was very warm while we were in Branson, which made it difficult to do many outdoor activities.
On Sunday morning, we watched our church's live streaming service on my laptop. After lunch, we went to Grand Village to look around the stores that were open. Some of the stores at Grand Village don't open until Tuesday. We then went to Walmart and Price Chopper on the Strip for supplies, and then went back to the condo to make supper. We relaxed at the condo the rest of the evening.
Dean Z is an excellent Elvis impersonator. He has the moves and voice down pat. He is very personable and interacts very well with the crowd. Dean has an excellent live band and there are no accompaniment tracks. Before the show, a video played and Dean explained that he would be performing with a live band and that he wouldn't be performing to tracks. His all-girl backup vocalists, the Deltatones, were also very good and one of the Deltatones is Dean's wife. Matt Gumm, who you may know from other shows at the Clay Cooper Theater, was the drummer and he was great. We enjoyed this performance so much that we bought the DVD of the show. There was a long line after the show to get Dean's autograph and have your photo taken with him.
We left the theater and decided what to do for supper. We saw that the parking lot at Florentina's was unusually empty, so we decided to go there. Our waiter was very attentive, as always. I got my usual, the lasagna. We used the buy one entree get one half-price card I referenced earlier. We then went back to the condo to relax. Our condo was located on a pond and there was a beaver that walked into the yard area and ate the grass. We went up to the parking lot at the main building of The Suites at Fall Creek to attempt to watch the fireworks at Chateau at the Lake. We saw where people were parking at the Wyndham sales building across the road - we may try that next year.
On Tuesday, July 5, we went to Coral Reef Mini Golf to play mini-golf. There was some remodeling since the last time we were there that made the facility look nicer, and the air conditioning was working correctly - it wasn't as humid as it usually is. It was crowded that day. Everyone must have had the same idea.
After we were done playing mini-golf, we went to Beyond the Lens. We waited in line to get our tickets and make our reservation for the FlyRide movie experience. This is an interactive experience with video games to play, photo opportunities, and lots of learning experiences. We enjoyed our visit. The FlyRide movie experience was really awesome. There are shelves for you to put your belongings in before you strap into your seat. You need to hold on tight, for your seat moves up and down and back and forth. You will get a whiff of various smells, one of which I think was lavender. The landmarks were glorious. That movie is the closest I will get to many of those landmarks.
After the FlyRide movie, we went to the gift store and I purchased my usual refrigerator magnets. We also purchased the photo package, which included 2 8" X 10" photos, smaller photos to be cut to size, and placed in the clear magnet and key chain which were included. The photo package included a link to the photographs taken by the cameras in each exhibit. You waved a special card in front of the scanner below the camera and the camera would take your photo. This attraction, I believe, would be better for kids above the age of 5.
After our Beyond the Lens experience, we visited Andy's Famous Custard for sundaes. However, it was so hot that we had to eat our sundaes in our air-conditioned vehicle. We then went back to the condo and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
On Wednesday morning, we visited the Creation Experience Museum. I have been wanting to visit this museum for years, and hubby finally said we could go. No vouchers are needed for this activity; it's free, but you do have to make a reservation to take the tour. Love offerings are welcome. The link is for the museum's website. This is the back of the sign, but a dinosaur welcomes you to the museum. The current museum is small, but there are plans for a bigger facility once enough funds are raised.
We were supposed to be there by 10:15 AM for the 10:30 AM tour, but we got there at 10:00 AM and there just happened to be 3 slots left for the 10:00 AM tour. Our tour guide's name was Drake and he was very knowledgeable and personable. There was a little boy who kept touching things he wasn't supposed to and Drake was very patient with him. Drake started with the beginning of the universe in the book of Genesis and took us all the way through the crucifixion of Christ. There were lots of artifacts and displays to look at. Here is a photo of a cutaway of Noah's Ark:
There was a movie about crocodiles at the end of the tour. After that, we went into the bookstore. I purchased the usual refrigerator magnet and I signed up for the newsletter. Warning: if you do not believe in the Biblical view of creation, this museum may not be for you. We enjoyed the tour very much and would visit again.
We were hungry, so we went to Pizza Ranch on Hwy. 248 for lunch. There is a buffet with pizza (of course), breadsticks, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and a nice little salad bar. Soda was included with the buffet, which is better than Golden Corral since you have to pay extra for soda there. There was also a soft serve ice cream machine.
After we stuffed ourselves at Pizza Ranch, we headed to Branson Landing. We always go to Bass Pro Shops to buy t-shirts and/or other clothing. It was busy, so we had to park a ways away from the store. But there was a little shuttle that took us a little closer to the store. It was free, but tips were requested. Bass Pro was the only store we went to since it was too hot to walk around much. We then went back to the condo to relax before we went to Danna's BBQ for dinner. I got a Piggy Melt, which is pulled pork on rye bread with cheddar cheese and onions, and an order of French fries.
After dinner, we got a phone call from my sister-in-law, who had gone to our house to check on our cat Sox. She found that Sox had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Sox had been sick for a while so it wasn't totally unexpected, but it was so sad that he had to die alone.
Some observations: The Jim Stafford Theater and the Caravelle Theater have been torn down. The sign for the Jim Stafford Theater remains, however. The St. Louis Bread Company building that is being built across from Dolly Parton's Stampede is still not finished. The Branson Center Stage restaurant is closed.
Despite the heat and our cat dying, we had a nice trip and I can't wait until November for our Christmas season trip to Branson.
Thanks for reading! See you next time!
