The recent bad weather experienced in Branson, MO reminded me of some of our favorite family vacation memories. Silver Dollar City in the Branson area is one of the best values for your vacation dollar in this country. As I stated in a previous post, when our children were in school, we developed the habit of traveling over the spring or Easter break each year (hence our experience of celebrating sunrise Easter services all over the country!). On several occasions, Branson, MO and Silver Dollar City was our destination!
This was true for several reasons. First of all, our home is in Wisconsin. Over Easter, we are all ready to move to warmer climes. Missouri is a mere 12 hour drive from our home and lots warmer, by spring standards, than Wisconsin, in which spring is often gray, damp and, on worst occasions, white with new-fallen snow! Missouri tends to be sunny and 20-40 degrees warmer than our home turf—in other words, a very appealing destination.
In terms of amusement parks, Silver Dollar city is very appealing for all family members as well. We have taken our children and done the Disney thing several times. While it is an entertaining trip, my husband and I found it quite commercial and, at times, a bit overwhelming.
But kids do LOVE rollercoasters! Silver Dollar City is a terrific compromise for all members of the family. Billing itself as “Where America Lives” it provides not just amusement park rides for all ages, it adds excellent down-home cooking, crafts people and tradesmen practicing crafts not often seen in this day and age, combined with music and production numbers to rival all the traditional show houses in Branson. Quite a combination!
It is impossible to see all of Silver Dollar City in one day. On each of our visits, we have gone several days in a row. But the beauty of the experience is that my husband and I will enjoy visiting the park as much by ourselves, without the children as we enjoyed taking them there as school-aged children and teenagers.
As you stroll through the beautifully landscaped grounds, you see families with children of all ages, in combination with newlywed couples, strolling past retired pairs reminiscing about days long past. In the next few posts, we will explore the various features of this spectacular park, a sister park to Dolly Parton’s “Dollywood” in Gatlinburg, TN, to give you an idea of some of the best features and reasons to visit. Even better, there are a number of excellent full service RV parks just outside the guest of Silver Dollar City, especially America’s Best Campground and Branson’s Shenanigans RV Park that offer virtually any amenity you could desire.
One advantage to visiting during Easter week is that their annual World-Fest is held from early April to early May every year, adding many memorable shows from around the world to the extremely talented crew regularly staffing the entertainment venues year round. Rather than provide my own photos of the various venues, I provide instead a link to the Silver Dollar City website, which does an excellent job providing information and photos of this spectacular location. To check them out, head to www.silverdollarcity.com.
Each time we have gone, we have also saved time at the entrance gates by purchasing tickets online prior to leaving home and we have never been disappointed. Look for more to come on Silver Dollar City attractions: food, entertainment venues, shopping and rollercoasters. A treat for family members of all ages!
For more information about RV parks in the Branson, MO area, check out browse Woodall’s listings of Missouri RV camping resorts.
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