The following trip report was posted on the 1Branson.com’s Branson Other Forum by ThunderHockyFan recently. It is, warts and all, an excellent first person overview of a trip to Branson and a good review of their experiences with many shows and restaurants they ate in while visiting Branson. Editors comments if any will be in [between brackets.]
Saturday May 12th – We arrived in Branson at 10:00 pm. We headed to the Alpenrose Inn on Green Mountain Drive. We stayed here last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. All the rooms are non-smoking which was the reason we decided to try it. We stayed in their king mini suite again this year. It has a king bed, recliner, small fridge and a microwave. They do have a small breakfast in the morning which is included in your price but I am not able to tell you anything about it because we went for donuts every morning. Also we enjoyed being right next door to Pirates Cove. In the evenings we could just walk over there and play a round of golf.
Sunday May 13th – Got up early and headed to Silver Dollar City. It was the 2nd day of the Bluegrass and BBQ Festival. We enjoyed going around and listening to all the music being played. It was a very warm and humid day so we were trying to stay in the shade.
We didn’t take in very many rides on this day because we were coming back in a couple of days and decided we would concentrate on rides then. We did see the new show in the Saloon. It was pretty good. I think I prefer the old show over the new one. For lunch we ate at Mary’s Springhouse I had the spaghetti and my husband had a calzone. Both were really good and a very large portion.
We went to the magic shop where we got to meet Professor Piper. He introduced us to Fooey Chop Suey, The Japanesse Chef and showed us a magic trick (how did you do that anyway?) We came back later and watched his magic show which he does a great job at. [Fooey Chop Suey is his puppet side kick. The Professor is an accomplished ventriloquist in addtion to being a magician.]
After SDC we headed back to the motel and cleaned up a bit. Then we went to eat at Billy Bob’s because I had heard so much about it here on the boards. We get there and they are closed! Are they normally closed on Sundays? [Yes] They did not have any hours posted. So we head on down the strip to Cakes and Creams. We both had their special which was a double cheeseburger, fries and a drink. The hamburger was huge!!! I asked the girl before I ordered how big it was because I normally don’t get a double burger and she said it wasn’t that big at all…….I should have stuck with a single! It was really good though.
Now we are both stuffed so we have to go do something to work off dinner. So it is off to Professor’s Hackers mini golf. Played on round of 18 and I won!!!! OK, I am really excited about that because I hardly ever win (husband is not too happy about losing). Well it is still pretty early in the evening so we head back to the hotel and walk over to Pirates Cove. My luck is over and things are back to normal and my husband wins this game. He also got a hole in one on the correct hole so he wins a free game.
Monday May 14th – Since our usual breakfast place Dunkin Donuts was closed on Monday and Tuesday we went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Their light was on inside and they still gave us a free donut. I know there was a thread on here about them stopping that in Branson. Sorry but I still prefer Dunkin Donuts though. After eating breakfast we headed to Ride the Ducks. We wanted to get that done early in the morning before it got to hot. They had a lot of tour groups coming that morning so even though we were the first to buy tickets that day we had to wait and get on the 3rd duck to go out. We had a great driver as always but this driver went really fast into Table Rock and I got wet!!! Usually they tease you about going in fast and then don’t but this guy did.
After we got back from the Ducks we went around and picked up all our show tickets for this trip and our upcoming trip in October and had no problems except for with the Baldknobbers. We are seeing them in October and she would not give us our tickets. They told us it is because we might lose them. OK, if I am paying for them isn’t it my responsibility to not lose them and then if I do it is my fault? I even went back to the hotel and called and talked to someone else but they still would not give them to me.
Another little problem I had was with the Branson Brothers. We are also seeing them this fall. I had down the price they quoted me on the phone when I ordered the tickets but when I picked them up they were now $10.00 higher. The guy said they had a price increase. I should have stayed there and argued a little bit but I didn’t. I think they should not change the price after you have already ordered them.
For lunch we went to Hard Luck Diner. It is our favorite place to eat. It was not busy at all which was kind of strange to see. I had chicken strips and a chocolate Coke and my husband had a chili burger and a vanilla Coke.
After lunch we downtown and went to Dicks 5 & 10. There were a lot of people down there as usual. When we got done shopping there we headed to Grand Country and looked around the shops there and then played some indoor mini golf. We decided we are going to wait and check out the Landing when we are there in October and have a few more days to work with.
That evening we went to the Presley’s. We had not been to their show since 1999. Don’t know why we waited so long to go back. It was a great show. We had front row seats in the center section. It was a large crowd. We bought the live DVD of the show so I will be watching it again soon! After the show I wondered if I made a mistake putting that show the first night. I was afraid after seeing their show and how great it was we might be disappointed on the rest of the ones we would see that week. We won’t be waiting another 8 years this time to go back.
Tuesday May 15th – We got around way to early this morning and had time to kill before our 10:00 am show so we went back to Grand Country and played two more rounds of mini golf. I don’t remember but I think I lost both of them.
We had front row seats for Clay Cooper. This show I was unsure about going into it. I had heard good things but was still wondering if I made a mistake seeing the Presley’s show first. There was not a huge crowd. We were very pleased with this show and will be going back in the future. He is a very good singer and so is everyone with the show including his 3 year old son. He picked someone off the front row to sing to (luckily it wasn’t me!). We again purchased the live DVD of the show. Afterwards Clay was in the lobby talking to everyone.
It was raining pretty good when we left the show so any outdoor activities we had planned had to be changed. We headed down the strip to get a Fried Pie since I had heard so much about them on here. I ordered a chocolate pie and my husband got a apple and cream pie. They made his fresh so we waited on that. We got them to go and headed back to the hotel so we could change. Mine was just OK but he really liked his.
Since it was raining we decided to go to the Hollywood Wax Museum. We went through this back in 1998 so it had been awhile. We had a pretty good time. It isn’t something I would spend the money on every year to do though. After that we went back to Grand Country and played another round of golf and then had lunch (3:00 pm) at Grand Country Buffet. We had not eaten there since 1998 either and I don’t know why we haven’t. It was really good and of course had a huge selection. We got in when it was still the lunch buffet pricing and with the SDC discount made it a really inexpensive meal. My husband said to add that the blueberry muffins were excellent!!
After eating it had stopped raining for a while so we headed to the Dinosaur mini golf and played one round – I won again!!!
That evening we had front row seats for Pierce Arrow. The theater was nearly full and we all got a great show. After several recommendations and reviews from this board we decided to try this show for the first time. The show contained a wide variety of music types from gospel to current pop hits. As good as the musicians and vocalists were, the comedian Jarrett Dougherty stole the show. We laughed so hard we were almost in tears, and that was just during the pre intermission sales pitch of “flashy things”. Those of you who have seen the show know what we are talking about. They didn’t have a live show DVD but we had to buy Jarrett’s comedy DVD.
Since we ate dinner in the middle of the afternoon we headed off to Andy’s Frozen Custard for an after show snack. I had a chocolate and peanut butter concrete and my husband had a chocolate concrete with cookie dough. Very good!
Wednesday May 16th – Silver Dollar City was our destination after our pre-requisite Dunkin Donut breakfast. The weather was outstanding this day compared earlier in the week. We started the day off with a tour of Marvel Cave. The tour guide was not the best we have had but he still did an OK job. I don’t think he was ready to be out of bed yet.
We were able to ride Wildfire and Thunderation but Powder Keg was out of commission at the time we were in that area. There were numerous school class trips visiting the park that day so there were kids everywhere. We felt old when we kept seeing the kids wearing “class of 2015” t-shirts. For lunch we went back to Mary’s Springhouse and I had the fried ravioli and my husband had the spaghetti. The server apparently wanted to empty the serving dish because he loaded my husbands bread bowl with a lot more than one serving of spaghetti. No complaints though! Tasted great but we really wanted to try Riverside Rib House. The line to the Rib House though was extremely long.
After lunch we rode the train. Alfie J. Bolen was the only train robber today but he did a fine job. Remembered all his lines and kept his gun from falling apart. Later that afternoon we encountered Deputy Birdy. I introduced myself and we visited a while. He is every bit the nice guy you expect him to be. He had no limit of people wanting to talk to him so we didn’t keep him too long.
That night we went to Dockers for dinner and here is what my husband had to say:
“Maybe because the evening rush had come and gone, but the buffet was far less than spectacular. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a bad steak until now. Dry, tough and not particularly flavorful sums those pieces of beef up. Of the other items on the buffet, the corn was completely without flavor, the scalloped potatoes were dried out and the mashed potatoes, well, they were OK. However, the apple cobbler and ice cream tasted terrific! I suppose it’s good that I liked the apple cobbler, as the other two varieties were gone, save for some residue in the pans. It’s safe to say that in the future, our buffet meals will be eaten at Grand Country or the Plantation. I will add that the seafood selections (and I use that term loosely) were not much more than what you expect to find at Long John Silvers.
To end the evening we went back to Pirates Cove to play another round of golf and yes I lost yet again.
Thursday May 17th – This was our last morning in town so we had to check out of the hotel before we went to our show. I really hate the last day I always get so depressed. Anyway, we headed off to breakfast and then on to our last show. We saved our favorite for last, Yakov. When you enter the theater they take your picture in front of a piece of the painting he did for 9/11. We had front row seats in the center section and the theater was pretty full. There were many bus tours there. Yakov is still great but I sure do miss Slim Chance. He has a couple of new comedians since Slim left. He added a couple of new skits to the show this year so that was a nice change.
While we were waiting on the show to start we decided that we could add a day to our trip in October and stay 7 nights. This would make it the longest we have ever stayed. So after the show we hurried back to the hotel to see if they could add a night onto our reservation. I had already made reservations for our October trip when we were there last May. It was no problem adding the night.
After that we headed back to Hard Luck Diner for lunch. It was busier this day than it was on Monday but we still got right in. I had the mushroom swiss burger and my husband had a regular cheeseburger. They were huge and very good! Now it was time to head home but not before stopping at Maggie Moo’s for some ice cream (thanks to Teacherkim’s trip report we had to stop in and try it). It will now be a regular stop for us. I had chocolate with Twix mixed in and my husband had the chocolate better batter with cookie dough. They were wonderful. Then we were on the highway heading home.
It was sad to leave but knowing we will be going back on September 29th for 7 nights helps. Only four more months! For that trip we will be seeing Baldknobbers, Yakov, Branson Brothers, Hamner and Barber, Smoke on the Mountain, Mickey Gilley and Shepherd of the Hills (weather permitting).
For further information or to purchase tickets by phone or on line, call 1-800-451-3791 or click here.