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Travel Log 4: Stampeding Through Branson
We've had a blast in Branson!
I can’t believe we just finished up our three weeks in Branson, Missouri! Time is really going by quickly!
Table of contents
- Big Oak Retreat Airbnb
- Dolly Parton’s Stampede Dinner Show
- Disney Immersive
- Dining Out
- Promised Land Safari Park
- Happy Birthday
- Silver Dollar City
- Branson’s Wild World
- Pumpkin Fest
- Bumps in the Road
Big Oak Retreat Airbnb
I know I mentioned how great this Airbnb is in our last blog post but I have to tell you again. 😁
This house is beautiful and the community has been such a blessing to us. Last Sunday at church we were able to meet the host of the Airbnb we are staying in. We have never met a host before so that was a fun experience.
He has always made sure we have everything we need. He even asked me this week where else we are traveling and wanted to recommend some churches that his pastor knows about in those areas.
We also had another nice visit with an older couple that lives down the road. They stopped over today and we got to talk to them some more. They even prayed with us for our adventure.
This community of people of God has been so great.
We were a little far from everything out here which we found frustrating by the last week of our stay, but I believe we were exactly where we were supposed to be this part of our journey. If you ever want to stay in this area, check out the Big Oak Retreat on Airbnb.
Dolly Parton’s Stampede Dinner Show
We went to Dolly Parton’s Stampede in Branson and it was a blast! As you walk into the building you get to walk by all the horses that are part of the show which the kids thought was really neat.
The show itself was amazing! It was interactive and very entertaining. The kids were completely entertained the whole time, even the 2-year-old! There was lots of horse riding, some acrobatics, competitions of strength, and they even herded some buffalo in the arena.
I always get nervous at these things because some of my kids are super picky eaters but even though I thought they wouldn’t eat the food, they did! It was a 4-course meal and it tasted delicious.
Disney Immersive
One day we went to the Immersive Disney Animation experience. Before the show itself, there is a little gallery showing some animation history and techniques. The kids also got to draw a picture following some examples of Disney characters like Mickey. Those pictures got scanned and would be part of the experience later.
We were waiting for a very long time to get into the actual show part of Immersive Disney. Half an hour or more after the scheduled start time they announced that, due to technical difficulties, they had to cancel the show. Talk about a letdown!
They were gracious enough to let us come back for a later showing (which ended up being less crowded). So we still got to experience the magic.
The show is in a room surrounded by projectors on each wall. The floor was the cool part as it morphed to fit each scene. It was also interactive so things would swirl around your feet as you moved or spread out as you walked by.
They even had a bubble machine for certain scenes. One time they even made bubbles with puffs of smoke in them which we haven’t seen before.
The girls really enjoyed singing and dancing to the music while the boys mostly just sat and watched (and sang along too!).
Dining Out
We went to Guy Fieri’s Kitchen at Branson Landing. The food there was really delicious. We highly recommend the Motley BBQ Trash Can Nachos!
We also checked out Hurts Donut Company at the insistence of a friend. Then we ended up bringing home 2 dozen donuts. 😂 They had a lot of great flavors to choose from and the kids all loved them.
Promised Land Safari Park
We checked out the Promised Land Safari Park near Eureka Springs. It was ok, but compared to other safari drive-thrus we have gone to this one was not nearly as good.
The animals were in fences so they couldn’t even come up to your car like we’ve had before at other ones. You had to attempt to throw food over the fence or in the holes in the fence to get it to the animals.
I did enjoy their small walk-through section. They had a whole tub of guinea pigs that you could pet and a couple turtles. They also had a sloth, capybaras, birds, tortoises, and more.
My favorite part was all the baby pigs. 😍
Happy Birthday
I got to spend my 34th birthday in Missouri. We went to Escape Code and narrowly escaped. We all really enjoy escape rooms. I thought this one was done really well and we even made it out with 1 minute and 22 seconds to spare!
After the escape room, we went to The Yard Milkshake Bar. They had delicious gourmet milkshakes. I got a milk and cookies milkshake and it was so good!
Before we headed back to our Airbnb we stopped at Dick’s 5 & 10 store. It was such a neat store. They had lots of unique things and great Christmas ideas.
It was truly a great birthday spending time with my family and just exploring Branson.
Silver Dollar City
One of our favorite days was when we spent the day at Silver Dollar City. Our kids love roller coasters and rides so we really enjoyed that.
You can go to guest services when you get there and they will measure your kids to see how tall they are and put it on a wristband. I couldn’t believe how tall our kids had gotten! I swear last time I knew they were all like 6 inches shorter.
They just opened a new ride this year called Fire in the Hole. It was an indoor coaster and even though I don’t like roller coasters I absolutely loved it! Eli and I even rode it a second time because we liked it so much.
Not only did they have rides but they also had a lot of food options and different vendors. We were there in the fall so they had a ton of pumpkin decorations which were neat to see. We got pumpkin spiced kettle corn, pumpkin spiced soft pretzels, and a pumpkin cinnamon roll. 🎃
It was a little pricey but it was a fun day for sure!
Branson’s Wild World
On our last weekend here we went to Branson’s Wild World. This is a zoo and aquarium but though it was on the smaller side they had some animal interactions that I’ve never seen before.
Eli and Brian got to go in and play with the Dingoes. Eli and I got to feed the Lemurs (Em didn’t want to go…). They gave you a small cup of baby puffs and when you sat down the lemurs all came rushing over, sitting on your lap, and trying to get the food.
I had one lemur that would take his hand and pull my hand over to open it and take the treat. It was such a neat experience and it was extremely reasonably priced.
Pumpkin Fest
After we went to Branson’s Wild World we went to Shepherd of the Hills PumpkinFest. This was a smaller pumpkin festival than we have been to before and it was built on a hill so there was a lot of walking.
They did have some bounce houses, a wagon ride, some animals, a slide, and a few other things. They have a large zipline course and a mountain coaster but we didn’t try either of those this time.
It was a nice afternoon adventure though not our favorite place. They did have a delicious Pumpkin Pie Sundae though. 😁
Bumps in the Road
The last 2 weeks of our trip were busy but there was still time for just hanging out and having family time.
We went for walks around the neighborhood, played a ton of games, and had some movie nights. We are also getting school and work done every day.
We did have a little situation with Araballe one day. She had a low-grade fever and complained that her ear hurt so, as a mom, I knew she had an ear infection.
The one disadvantage of this house is how far it is away from everything. We had to drive 30 minutes to the nearest urgent care, which was fine because we were going to pair it with a coffee break.
When we got to the urgent care we started to give them all our information and then the secretary asked for her social security number. I do not travel with their cards in my wallet because if something happens to them I don’t want the possibility of someone getting a hold of them. The lady said they would not see her without her social security number which, to be honest, I think is ridiculous.
We were now 45 minutes or more from the next closest ER so I called our doctor’s office back in Pennsylvania and they were so gracious to call her in an antibiotic.
I didn’t think it would be that hard to use an urgent care if we needed something but maybe it’ll be more challenging than I thought. Fingers crossed we don’t need any more medical care on this trip. 🤞
We’ve had a blast in Branson and are excited to move on to Kansas!
