A Branson Summer!

We headed to Branson for Memorial Day weekend and it was wonderful. This was our fourth visit to Branson as a family (second time in the summer) and there is just something so magical about this area. There are so many family-friendly activities, great food and beautiful Table Rock Lake.

Lodging

We stayed at the Trophy Buck cabin through Rent Branson. Rent Branson has many cabins throughout the Branson area to choose from. This cabin was unique in that it had a slide from the 2nd floor deck to the 1st floor! My kids must have gone down this slide close to 100 times throughout the weekend, ha! It was such a fun surprise for our kids. The cabin was located just south of Top of Rock, which was convenient for us. It was about 20-30 minutes to get to other Branson attractions on the main strip. Our cabin was next to others, but it still felt secluded, as it was tucked into the woods. There was one bedroom in the loft (with bunk beds) and a pull up couch in the bonus room (next to the foosball table. There were two bedrooms on the main floor just off of the kitchen. Overall, we had plenty of room for our family of 7! It was a lovely stay and we loved the wood cabin vibes.

Day 1

On our first day, we had the best homemade breakfast at Steamy Joe Cafe (3590 State Highway 265, Branson, MO 65616 ). This beautiful family-owned cafe has the most beautiful Ozark views. We ate in the atrium with glass walls overlooking a pavilion and a beautiful overlook. Highlights were the homemade scones, cinnamon rolls, ricotta pancakes, stuffed french toast and more.

Then we headed to Silver Dollar City (399 Silver Dollar City Pkwy, Branson, MO 65616 ), which is the most amazing 1880s theme park. There are attractions and rides for all ages! And they are celebrating America’s 250th Birthday Celebration all season long. Join in on the summer celebrations starting on June 6th! There will be rides into the night, Night Sky Drone & Fireworks Spectacular and dance parties in The Plaza. We enjoyed the bluegrass and barbeque while we were there! Marvel Cave is included with admission too, which is the reason SDC is there! Marvel Cave is a one hour tour and is amazing! There are about 600 stairs, a huge Cathedral Room (so big there have been hot air balloons inside!) and a cable car ride to bring you back to the surface! If you have the time to do this, I highly recommend it.

That evening, we headed to Dolly Parton’s Stampede (1525 W 76 Country Blvd , Branson, MO), which is the best dinner and horse show we’ve ever been to. My kids loved it. Make sure to arrive early so you can view the pre-show experience! You can even walk around and say hi to the horses beforehand. The show runs about 1.5 hours and has many stunts and friendly competition. There is a 4-course meal that we were served while watching the show, including a whole chicken!!

Day 2

On our second day, we visited Branson’s Aquarium on the Boardwalk (2700 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO 65616 ). This was our first time visiting and we were blown away. It opened in November 2020. First, we loved the Dancing Waters show at the entrance of the Aquarium! There are two fully choreographed shows every half hour from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. seven days a week and are so fun! The Aquarium has 7,200 sea animals across 10 themed exhibit zones. We enjoyed a 5D theatre before exploring the rest of the aquarium. The touch pools and underwater tunnel were my favorites. My kids loved climbing the kelp forest!

For brunch, we ate at Paul’s Breakfast House (3009 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO), which is an 80’s diner that just opened. They are known for their cinnamon rolls as large as a dinner plate and other large portions! The vibes were so fun with bright, vivid colors and 80s music videos playing in the restaurant.

Then we headed to the Titanic Museum. This one was a new spot for us and it is already a new favorite! This museum has over 400 real items from the Titanic and we learned so much more about the crew and passengers. When we arrived, we received a boarding pass from a real passenger. We continued throughout the museum learning about the history. We felt an iceberg, put our hands in ice cold glacial water and walked the ship deck’s angle of the sinking Titanic. We even got the chance to walk in the replica of Titanic’s Grand Staircase! At the end of the museum, we found our passenger’s fate along with all of the Titanic passengers.

For dinner, we ate at Silver Dollar’s City Showboat, where we enjoyed dinner, live music and views of Table Rock Lake. Silver Dollar City recently purchased the Branson Belle. This four-deck paddlewheel riverboat cruising Table Rock Lake was so family-friendly !! Our family just loved this experience. The 3- course dinner was lovely while we enjoyed live music from the Rivertown Rambers. There was comedy, magic acts and lots of time taking in the views of the water.

After dinner, we rode the Branson Runaway mountain coaster (935 165 Hwy, Branson, MO 65616), which is the fastest alpine coaster in the region. This was the first mountain coaster in Branson and we loved it! We rode this one at night, which was so cool with the lights! Adults can ride with one child on the front. It is very family-friendly because you control the speed and can brake the coaster if it is too fast for kids.

Day 3

On our third day, we headed to Top of Rock Lost Canyon Cave trail (150 Top of the Rock Rd, Ridgedale, MO 65739). This is hands down the coolest golf cart tour. This is a self-guided golf cart ride that is about 2.5 miles through waterfalls and Ozark views. There are such beautiful rock formations and we even drove through a cave! We bought refreshments at the Bat Bar inside of the cave too. I recommend this one early in the morning, as it gets a bit crowded later in the day!

We ended our Branson trip by visiting Dogwood Canyon (2038 W State Highway 86, Lampe, MO 65681), which is just so peaceful and gorgeous, spanning 10,000 acres. We explored the trails and went fishing too (they had fishing rods for rent)! We didn’t catch any fish, but definitely left with fun memories. They also offer biking, horseback riding and wildlife tours. My kids loved climbing through the treehouse. My favorite was enjoying bison burgers with the waterfall view from our table at the Canyon Grill Restaurant. It was so amazing!