Branson Day 5

This was the day that we went back to the Silver Dollar City theme park. As it was a tad bit on the cool side our first day there and hot and sunny on this day, we went on the water rides this time. There was one ride where you are on a boat and you have water guns that can shoot quite far and hit either the other boats going down the river or people standing along the ride watching. Also, there were water guns along the path next to the ride that bystanders could use to shoot the people on the ride. So essentially, you're having water gun fights with complete strangers! There was a man along the path who started shooting us and soaking us, so my Mom and I teamed up and just started spraying him as much as we could. He tried to keep spraying us back but was getting hosed so badly that he had to turn around and run away. I laughed SO hard and the man was laughing, too. That was definitely a highlight. Just pure fun!

That afternoon, we decided to try to get into the cave tour. There used to not be a theme park there and there was just a cave that a man opened up as a tourist attraction in 1894. It later turned into a theme park in 1960 and the park was literally built around the cave. The Marvel Cave goes 500 feet below the surface of the earth, it takes about an hour to tour and involves 600 stairs! At first, we didn't make it in as they have a maximum number of people that they take at one time. Once they started to explain how the cave works and the amount of stairs you will climb, they give the opportunity for people to back out. Some people did, so we got in! Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera as we made it our goal to not have to carry stuff around all day, but the cave was incredible! Our kids did really well, too, which made it that much more enjoyable. Once you're at the bottom of the cave, there is a cable train that takes you back up to the top.

Once we were done at Silver Dollar City, we went to Ruby Tuesday's for supper. They had a deal where you could order steak, chicken or ribs (I chose ribs), unlimited salad bar, 2 sides and a dessert for $12.99! AMAZING! We had to rush, though, because we all had tickets to see The Acrobats of Shanghai, which we scored when we went to the timeshare presentation. It was a fantastic show and I was blown away by their talent!

This was a building in downtown Branson. We drove through this intersection several times during our stay there. The scenery was beautiful. The ways a body can bend! Flipping through hoops I can't remember how many hula hoops she had, but it was a lot and she did quite a few tricks with them! These guys were skipping while building a pyramid! She looked like she was going to drop!

They were juggling/switching hats with each other while forming part of a pyramid

These are blurry because they were moving around so much but they did some incredible tricks on those bikes! How many people can you fit onto one bike? After the show, Haley lay down on the sidewalk and tried to do some contortions, which was very amusing! Blake was falling asleep toward the end of the show, as it was late but overall, it was greatly enjoyed by everyone!

Branson Day 4

This day started off bright and early, as we had to be at our timeshare meeting at 8:30 a.m. and it was about half an hour away from our resort at a different resort. We were told it would be about 2 hours but it ended up being 3 hours. I have heard all sorts of horror stories about timeshare presentations and the high pressure sales but I was quite relieved our's didn't turn into a horror story. The guy we had was a super laidback, chill, odd early 40's guy who told us a lot of weird personal stories and wasn't at all what I expected. After discussing vacations, their points system, watching a short video about vacations being a "need," and touring one of the condos at their resort, at the end we found out that they wanted us to buy 15,000 points, which was over $60,000 US and that would get us into the best resorts all around the world and would equal to one or two vacations/year. In addition, there are HOA (homeowners association) fees, which covers cleaning and maintenance which was another $1800 US/year. They did have cheaper options but I think it was still going to be over $10,000 US for 5000 points/year. When we told them that we spent $200 US for a week at our resort and that this was our 3rd time doing that, they stopped talking and said they could never beat that. They finally gave us our cheap tickets to the 2 shows we wanted to see and then it was off to our next activity. It was hot and sunny, so we spent the afternoon at Branson's waterpark (White Water).

These were the sights along the way

This didn't really make me want to eat pasta

The way the park was themed and the waterslides/lazy river/wave pool/kids play area reminded me of Seaworld's Aquatica, except this one was a bit smaller. Our last waterpark visit, Jared was burning up with fevers, so I was really glad he could enjoy this one!

Our first stop was the wave pool. I don't think Blake and Haley had ever been in one and the kids didn't want to leave!

This was Blake going down the slide at the smaller kids area.

This was the big kids area. The kids were a little bit more hesitant because of the huge dumping of water every so often.

There was a lazy river but I didn't get pictures of it. The kids spent a fair amount of time going around it. Next it was time for waterslides. I was super proud of Blake for going down them by himself. He dislikes covered slides because then you're in the dark but he conquered his fear! They also had a great slide that 3 or 4 of us could go on at the same time in a big raft.

The curved slides on the left were the kind where you go down on your stomach while lying on a mat. Blake is usually very cautious when it comes to heights and "new rides" but he went down these multiple times beside me and the girls! I was probably more scared than the kids!

Jared tried both speed slides while I happily watched and decided not to try them. He was scared, too, but he did it!

I saw this as we were leaving the park.

Since I come from the flat prairies, I really liked that Branson is hilly!

We had supper at Pizza World, which was a sub par pizza buffet. There was one close to the waterpark and one close to our resort, so we decided to drive 20 minutes and go to the one by our resort. When we got there, we found out that only the location by the waterpark was a buffet, so then we drove back to that one, which was a bit frustrating to do all of that driving around. I liked that the restaurant had Christian music playing but the food wasn't great and for a while, we were the only people in the restaurant. After a rushed supper, my Mom and I went to see Moses. The tickets were expensive, so we decided before our trip when we were ordering tickets that just I would go and Jared would stay at the resort with the kids.

This was the outside of the building, which I thought was impressive.

This was what you saw when you first walked in.

The ceiling above it which I thought was beautiful.

This was inside the theatre. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures during the performance but it was the most incredible play I have ever seen! The singing was AMAZING, the sets were all handmade and incredibly detailed, the lights and the sound were fantastic and I was just blown away by the whole thing! That evening was definitely a highlight! The play ended with Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, which were impossible to keep, and then they showed Jesus, the perfect one who kept them all and made a way for us. The gospel message was so clear and I wanted to cheer and cry at the same time. There was a resounding standing ovation at the end. If you ever end up in the Branson area, go see the play at the Sights and Sounds Theatre!

When we arrived back at the condo, it was late and Blake was fast asleep on the couch, so I had to take a picture of him.

It was a very full day but aside from the too long timeshare presentation, it was a really good day!

Branson Day 3

When we went to Branson, we decided to buy a pass that got us 3 days at Branson's theme park (Silver Dollar City) and/or Branson's waterpark (White Water waterpark). Both were A LOT of fun! We ended up going to Silver Dollar City twice and White Water waterpark once.

I really enjoyed how the whole theme park was styled in an old western/rustic theme.

They had little signs throughout the park, most of them about family.

There were also beautiful flowers, plants and trees everywhere

They had a fantastic combination of kid rides, big roller coasters and everything in between. I think they had about 30 rides in total, plus a train ride through the park, a splash pad, an indoor firehouse play place and a cave.

It was a little bit cool and cloudy on the first day that we were there, so we saved the water rides for our 2nd day at the park.

Jared went on this barnyard swing that swings up 7 stories and goes 45 mph. I chickened out.

There was an area with picnic tables where we shared some Dippin' Dots and we took turns sitting in this huge chair.

This was the building where they had a really neat indoor play area.

This was inside the play area. The kids shot these balls around everywhere and would have stayed in there much longer than the half hour we were in there for. The park was closing at 6:00, so we had to go.

It was a beautiful, very fun theme park and we all really enjoyed our time there!