Branson or not?
I realize it's a matter of opinion, but just wondering about Branson. We will be passing through Missouri in April going home from the Southwest back to Michigan. Never been to Branson and might stop...
Forum Discussion
If you like the Wisconsin Dells, Gatlinburg, or Dollywood, you'll probably love Branson. Yes, is is touristy, busy, crowded most of the time. An area become theme area, and the theme is "country." More than just the one theme park (Silver Dollar City), other amusements, shopping and theater, have built up around it.
In that the natural attractions are lakes (flood control reservoirs, really) makes it more like the Dells than the mountain theme park towns, but it is like those in having the "country" theme.
What do you think of Frankenmuth as a destination? Branson is like Frankenmuth, only much bigger, and the theme is country rather than German, and the attraction is more than a Christmas ornament store.
I have friends who go to Branson several times a year. They usually go to stay on one of the lakes, knowing that they can drive on in to the amusement clusters one or two days or nights. I've been once, for me once is enough. I'm not into the country music shows, and I have better lake resorts much closer to home, all part of flood control for keeping the Arkansas River navigable to Tulsa.
There are cave tourist attractions, and jungle park attractions, in southern Missouri, which you pass taking I-44 going toward Michigan (a trip I've made more than 100 times over the past 33 years), but these are not part of the Branson complex. If you stay close to I-44, there is also the Precious Moments attraction and the Walnut Bowls attraction, and the big Bass Pro Shops store and nature museum in Springfield, all part of southern Missouri but not in Branson.
Branson tries to be a little, more family friendly, Las Vegas, but I'm also not into Las Vegas.
I like routing myself through Atchison, Saint Joseph, Hannibal, and the Springfield in Illinois, for a history fix, rather than theme parks and commercial attractions.
In that the natural attractions are lakes (flood control reservoirs, really) makes it more like the Dells than the mountain theme park towns, but it is like those in having the "country" theme.
What do you think of Frankenmuth as a destination? Branson is like Frankenmuth, only much bigger, and the theme is country rather than German, and the attraction is more than a Christmas ornament store.
I have friends who go to Branson several times a year. They usually go to stay on one of the lakes, knowing that they can drive on in to the amusement clusters one or two days or nights. I've been once, for me once is enough. I'm not into the country music shows, and I have better lake resorts much closer to home, all part of flood control for keeping the Arkansas River navigable to Tulsa.
There are cave tourist attractions, and jungle park attractions, in southern Missouri, which you pass taking I-44 going toward Michigan (a trip I've made more than 100 times over the past 33 years), but these are not part of the Branson complex. If you stay close to I-44, there is also the Precious Moments attraction and the Walnut Bowls attraction, and the big Bass Pro Shops store and nature museum in Springfield, all part of southern Missouri but not in Branson.
Branson tries to be a little, more family friendly, Las Vegas, but I'm also not into Las Vegas.
I like routing myself through Atchison, Saint Joseph, Hannibal, and the Springfield in Illinois, for a history fix, rather than theme parks and commercial attractions.
