We headed to Branson for a long weekend and it was such a great trip! There is something so magical about this area. This was our family’s first time visiting here in the summer and it did not disappoint!
Table of Contents
Day 1
The Branson Landing
100 Branson Landing, Branson, MO 65616
We drove from St. Louis to Branson and made The Branson Landing our first stop. There are over 100 specialty shops and restaurants right along Lake Taneycomo. This is a pedestrian-only area, so it was very peaceful to walk through and not worry about any cars driving. There is a scenic and paved boardwalk that goes right along the lake, as well as the Flying Parakeet zipline experience. For this unique zipline, you are attached to a seat that slides up to the hill across Lake Taneycomo. Then, you zip fast across to The Landing! It was a great way to view this area.
For dinner, we ate at The Flaming Margaritas. There are two restaurant locations in Branson, each featuring a variety of food and drinks. The location we were at was right on The Branson Landing with views of the Flying Parakeet, which my kids loved to watch from the window! Flaming Margaritas is known for their huge margaritas that are delivered to the table while flaming! There are over 30 different flavors and you can make your own combo. They also have virgin margaritas that come with gummy bears and gummy worms! A fun addition was a cheese syringe that you can squirt into your burger or over your fries. Safe to say, this restaurant blew us away!
After dinner, we walked a few minutes down The Landing to an epic fire and water show! It was all synced to music. Geysers of water shoot up to 120 feet into the air! It is presented hourly on the hour starting at noon and the last show being at 10pm.
Day 2
White Water Water Park
3505 West Highway 76, Branson, MO 65616
Did you know that Silver Dollar City owns a water park in Branson? This was new to us and we loved this gem! This is Branson’s only outdoor water park. It is 13 acres in the heart of Branson, has 13 slides and has over 2 million gallons of fun. We stayed in a cabana for the day at Coconut Cove. Our cabana had reserved tubes, a personal locker, a table and chairs, a fan and a television. Our favorite areas were the Surf’s Up Wave Pool (10 minutes on, 10 minutes off) and the Aloha River (lazy river)! Our favorite family ride was Ohana Falls. We all could ride together on a large raft! We had the lightning passes, which I highly recommend, because we skipped so many lines throughout the day. Definitely worth it!
Throughout the summer, they have dive-in movie nights at the wave pool! We weren’t there for one, but this looked so fun.
Showboat Branson Belle
4800 Historic Hwy 165, Branson, MO 65616
My mom and I went on a sunset dinner cruise on the showboat Branson Belle! The Branson Belle is located on Table Rock Lake and is 112 feet tall. It has two twin paddle wheels and the ship can hold 700 passengers. It was launched from the shipyard on August 13, 1994 using two tons of bananas as a lubricant for the nine second slide into the water! The Branson Belle traveled 14 mph during the launch (her average speed on water is 6mph).
The evening started with an informational video on the Branson area, followed by comedy and a music variety show. During a break from the show, guests were invited to the top deck to watch the sunset and listen to live music. The dinner was incredible and I had to remind myself that we were on a boat–it didn’t feel like we were moving!
Day 3
Silver Dollar City
399 Silver Dollar City Pkwy, Branson, MO 65616
Now through August 3rd is Summer Celebrations at Silver Dollar City. From oversized games to summer-themed foods to new shows, it’s a great celebration. My favorite summer decorations were larger triangle banners lining the street! This was our 3rd time at Silver Dollar City (the first time was for the Harvest Celebration and the second time was for An Old Time Christmas). Each visit, my daughters start dancing to the live music. Now it’s become a bit of a tradition to dance when we first arrive! I just love how SDC is so family-friendly!
We loved using the Tasting Passport, which offers a variety of seasonal food from different vendors in the park. The passport is $37 and it includes 5 items. We loved the dippin’ dots, summer salad in a cup and the lemon blueberry funnel cake!
When visiting SDC, I recommend bringing swimsuits and a towel along! It was 96 and sunny when we were there, and there were many spots where we cooled off. My kids loved the splash pad at the Fire District! We also went on two water rides: Mystic River Falls and Tom and Huck’s RiverBlast. Mystic River Falls is a great water ride where you go through water rapids, and then are lifted on a raft elevator before sliding down a 45-foot drop! The RiverBlast ride is for all ages (even my 1.5 year old could ride). Your ship goes along a track and you can shoot water at targets and even spectators! Spectators can also aim water at you! We also cooled off at the Wild West Comedy Stunt Show, a new show this season. There is also the Silver Dollar Circus this season too! All shows are included with the ticket price. Our favorite areas for kids’ rides are the Grand Exposition and the Fire District. All four of my kids can find rides that work for them here!
You can bring in your own food and snacks and reusable water bottles. There are plenty of family restrooms and nursing stations too. Everything is accessible and stroller-friendly. It is a good workout for a stroller with some of the hills, but I highly recommend a stroller! Strollers are available for rent, so we had two of them for our 4 girls. It was great to have a place for them to rest as needed.
Shepherd of the Hills
5585 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO 65616
Next, we headed to Shepherd of the Hills, which is based on the famous novel The Shepherd of the Hills! This is 160 acres in Branson featuring live shows, an adventure park, a homestead and family-friendly activities. It also is home to the Inspiration Tower, the tallest building in Branson at 230ft. At the top of Inspiration Point, you can take off on the Vigilante Extreme Ziprider! This was my second time doing this and it was so much fun. It’s a great seated zipline with such a beautiful view. We also rode on the Copperhead Mountain Coaster here! You control the speed of the coaster and it winds 4,800 feet through the beautiful Ozark mountains. We also loved the TreeTop Sky Trail, where you walk on over 600ft of suspension bridges!
Danna’s Barbeque
963 Historic Hwy 165, Branson, MO 65616
We ate dinner at Danna’s Barbeque. You order at the counter and then your food is brought to you. Everything was super fast and so kid-friendly. The brisket was my favorite! It was a very decent price for the food too (around $10 for a large meal). Bring quarters for the rocking horse and the blue train mini-rides.
YOLO Rolled Ice Cream
2005 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO 65616
For dessert, we head to YOLO Rolls. This was such a unique experience! Rolled ice cream was invented by street vendors in Thailand. The homemade ice cream base, made fresh daily, is poured onto a -20 degree metal pan. After it is chopped up, it is rolled! Rolled ice cream has a remarkably low air content sitting at 0% and 1%, placing it in the Super Premium category of ice cream. We loved this experience and my kids loved the spoons that changed color with the cold temperature of the ice cream.
Day 4
Table Rock Lake
3443 Indian Point Rd, Branson, MO 65616
We started our 4th day exploring Table Rock Lake. Table Rock Lake is known for its 800 miles of shoreline and over 43,000 acres of surface area. It’s a man-made lake with a dam. Table Rock Lake has more shoreline than the state of California!
We ate breakfast at Indian Point Floating Cafe. This was a unique experience to eat at a floating restaurant! I’m still dreaming about their homemade biscuits!! They also sell $1 fish/turtle food. We counted 39 turtles!
Right next door to the Indian Point Floating Cafe is Indian Point Marina. We had a pontoon boat rental for two hours. We had a great time exploring the lake. It had many coved where you could drop the anchor and swim. We enjoyed driving around and listening to music (our boat had bluetooth). My favorite area was the eastern section of the lake. It’s more quieter and less developed than the western sections. This lake is just so gorgeous!
The Branson Tracks
2505 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO 65616
This area has many games and rides. We rode on the Ferris wheel! From 1995-2015, this ferris wheel was at Navy Pier! 17 million people rode it and it was part of Chicago’s skyline for 20 years. It moved to Branson in 2016! It is one full rotation every 7.5 minutes. It moves at a speed slow enough that it doesn’t stop as you load on or off! Next, we rode the go-karts! I loved that they were 2-person, so that I could take one of my kids with me. Of course, we had to grab ice cream from Andy’s Frozen Custard, which was right next to the go-karts!
Top of the Rock
150 Top of the Rock Rd, Ridgedale, MO 65739
Then, we head to my favorite: the Lost Canyon Cave and Nature Trail at Top of the Rock. This is a 2.5 mile self-guided ride in an electric golf cart. The max speed is 7mph and it takes about an hour to drive through, but could take longer if you wish to stop and take pictures! You even go through a 4-story cave where you can buy food and drinks from the Bat Bar! We loved viewing the waterfall inside the cave.
We then took the free shuttle from the golf cart tour up to the Osage Restaurant for dinner and the sunset ceremony. Osage Restaurant is amazing! It has views of both Table Rock Lake and the Chapel of the Ozarks. Highly recommend the salmon and the spinach artichoke dip here–they were phenomenal. As soon as the sun starts setting, there is a bagpiper to celebrate the sunset. Then, a cannonball is shot off from the Civil War cannon as people raise a glass to the sunset! I just can’t recommend this area enough. This was our first time experiencing this restaurant and sunset ceremony and it was unreal!
Day 5
Dogwood Canyon
2038 State Hwy 86, Lampe, MO 65681
Our last stop at Branson was Dogwood Canyon! Dogwood Canyon is a little south of Branson, but very worth the drive in my opinion. This has 6.5 miles of paved trails and 2 miles of unpaved trails. They offer tram tours, bike rentals and guided fishing too. My daughters absolutely loved the treehouse! The icing on the cake was eating lunch with views of the gorgeous waterfall!
Lodging
We stayed at a 2 bed and 2 bathroom condo through Rent Branson (the couch pulled out to a bed too). We were on the main floor and it was so easy to drive to all of our activities around Branson. There was also an included pool with pavilions. There was a great view of Table Rock Lake from the pavilion! Rent Branson has locations all around Branson. We had a great experience and I highly recommend checking them out!
Overall, we loved our experience in Branson. It is only a little under 4 hours to drive from St. Louis to Branson, making it ideal for a family getaway. I feel like we just scratched the surface of Branson. There are so many indoor and outdoor activities, hiking trails and tours. We are looking forward to returning again soon!
Thank you for partnering with our family, Explore Branson! Check out Explore Branson’s website for more ideas on Branson!
