Branson Holidays 2006, COMPLETE as of 8-23 - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Christie - I've just read your report "cover to cover" and it is wonderful! My grandmother used to love to go to Branson -- thanks for sharing your report!
What a great evening! How nice of your parents to take Joshua for a little while, so you & Jay could enjoy some alone time. That cave looked . I liked Joshua's bumblebee too!
I tried to post this a minute ago but lost my connection ... here goes again ...
My favorite part about the cave tour is that the admission is included in the regular admission to Silver Dollar City, so you don't have to pay anything extra. Also, the cave entrance room is much larger than it appears in the picture. In fact, our souvenir book states it is the largest cave entrance room in the US. The book also has pictures of hot-air balloon flights inside the 20-story room.
And the bumblebee picture ... while it's cute, I was hoping Joshua would have picked one of the holiday-themed pictures, like the reindeer or the angel, but this is the one he wanted, so there it is!
Okay, so here's the boring and depressing day: time to load the vehicle and head home. We had started organizing last night so it wasn't too hard, and we were soon checked out and leaving the resort. Sadly, there are no pictures for today's installment and as I'm sitting here, I really can't remember much about the drive back. I believe we stopped for a restroom break in Harrison, Arkansas. And I know we stopped for gas in Conway. In the past we have eaten lunch at the Cracker Barrel and the McDonald's here, but I can't remember which we ate at this trip. I guess this is what happens when you go on a trip without PassPockets to keep track of everything!
Making our way down the interstate we finally reached Pine Bluff, where we had to get back on mostly 2-lane highways through all the small towns along the way. I am glad to see that they are slowly but surely expanding several sections of the highway to be 4-lane, so each trip we take it gets a little better! We stopped at the rest area just before coming into Lake Village, and then it was straight back to our house in Clinton. We tried to unload our things quickly as my parents still had about another hour to go until they would be home. I knew my mom was tired of riding! After a few minutes to say our goodbyes, they left and we started cleaning up and putting things away.
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I was really looking forward to this trip, especially after we had such a great time in Branson over Thanksgiving weekend last year. This would also be the first time we had traveled with my parents (I'm not counting the time we met up with them from time to time during our same-dates-but-different-resorts 2000 WDW trip). So I was a little nervous about whether they would enjoy the trip, or if they would think it was too much trouble, or not like Branson itself, or any number of other possibilities. However, as usual, once I started planning I got more and more excited about it.
We had really enjoyed staying in the large cabin at Big Cedar last year, but knew that it would be so much more convenient to stay in town at Falls Village. There would be much less driving involved, and the rooms would be larger than at Big Cedar. After we saw that we were in one of the newer buildings (and away from the noise of the clubhouse/pool), I really enjoyed it. And I think that everybody else liked the accommodations. If you'll remember our last visit to Branson in May, only Joshua and I were able to go, so we were the only ones who had stayed at this resort before. It would have been nice to have a room on the entry level instead of climbing up and down the stairs, but that seems to be a minor point.
What new things did we experience this trip? This was our first trip when the Branson Landing shopping center was completely open, so it was nice to see how that development had turned out. At Silver Dollar City there was a whole new section of the park open, and it was our first time to tour Marvel Cave. It was also nice to have two days to tour the park and not feel so rushed. Other than that, everything was a repeat of previous trips, but it was nice to be able to show some of our favorite things to my parents for the first time. I had hoped they might like it well enough to go back, but they haven't mentioned it again ...
What did we still miss? Plenty! There are lots of attractions in town that we haven't toured yet, most notably the Titanic. And even though I had mentioned it to my parents, we just didn't want to take the time to drive up to Springfield to see the main Bass Pro Shops. We still missed a lot of the entertainment at Silver Dollar City. I'm hoping that next time we go back during the holidays (yes, check out my countdown timer - we're making it a threepeat! ), Joshua won't mind sitting still for an hour to see the Dickens Christmas Carol stage show. It is their most popular show and I'd really like to see it. Who knows how much longer we will be able to keep going back every holiday season. I'd still like to check out some other things in the area, such as the Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, the scenic train ride that departs from the downtown depot, and the Butterfly Palace.
What would we do differently next time? Not much! The main thing I'm hoping for is to be to go earlier in the week, since Joshua has the whole week off from school. That would enable us to miss the majority of the traffic, which is the only negative aspect I see about Branson. At least they offer a good map with several alternate routes.
It's been fun sharing this with you, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Since this trip report was so long in the making, I'll soon be ready to start on the trip report from our next family outing, which was to ... Branson (yes, again!) . We went back up there the week after Joshua finished Preschool in May. Now I'm off to decide which pictures I want to include in the report so I can make sure Jay gets them resized. Maybe he'll move a little faster this time, so you won't have to read about it 6 months after the fact! Thanks for sticking with me through all this!
Next up: Look for my Springing Back to Branson trip report - I'm picking out pictures for resizing as we speak!
for sharing your TR!! I have enjoyed reading it. If you do get a chance to visit the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, you will it. It is absolutely amazing!! I lived in Lebanon, MO for a brief time 6/94-3/95 and we made the trip to Springfield once just to see the shop, which is more like a museum!! There are lots of game that have been 'stuffed' They even had a lion cub, that was found soon after its death. I want to say there were a few water features inside too, as well as a restaurant. (It's been a long time, so I could be wrong or it could have changed) Well worth the time, if you can fit it in!! again for sharing with us! Can't wait to hear about your next adventure!!
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. I liked Joshua's bumblebee too!
We had started organizing last night so it wasn't too hard, and we were soon checked out and leaving the resort. Sadly, there are no pictures for today's installment and as I'm sitting here, I really can't remember much about the drive back. I believe we stopped for a restroom break in Harrison, Arkansas. And I know we stopped for gas in Conway. In the past we have eaten lunch at the Cracker Barrel and the McDonald's here, but I can't remember which we ate at this trip. 
I guess this is what happens when you go on a trip without PassPockets to keep track of everything! 
We stopped at the rest area just before coming into Lake Village, and then it was straight back to our house in Clinton. We tried to unload our things quickly as my parents still had about another hour to go until they would be home. I knew my mom was tired of riding! 
After a few minutes to say our goodbyes, they left and we started cleaning up and putting things away. 
that your trip has come to an end, but I'm glad you made it home safely! Can't wait to hear your final thoughts
. We went back up there the week after Joshua finished Preschool in May. Now I'm off to decide which pictures I want to include in the report so I can make sure Jay gets them resized. Maybe he'll move a little faster this time, so you won't have to read about it 6 months after the fact! Thanks for sticking with me through all this! 
Thanks for sharing your report with us, and I'm looking forward to the next one 
for sharing your TR!! I have enjoyed reading it. If you do get a chance to visit the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, you will 
it. It is absolutely amazing!! I lived in Lebanon, MO for a brief time 6/94-3/95 and we made the trip to Springfield once just to see the shop, which is more like a museum!! There are lots of game that have been 'stuffed' They even had a lion cub, that was found soon after its death. I want to say there were a few water features inside too, as well as a restaurant. (It's been a long time, so I could be wrong or it could have changed) Well worth the time, if you can fit it in!! 
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