Lots happening here in Branson

First off, Merry Christmas!!! Now that I have that out of the way, let me tell you about what's been happening in the Branson Family House. I am sorry I haven't gotten the next review out but after taking pictures at several shows I upload them all to a special Hard Drive. The drive had an index problem and I lost almost 184GB of pictures. I am afraid I have done my last review for the year. I still plan to begin next year with shows performing during Hot Winter Fun here in Branson along with getting their calendars online for you all to see.
I also am sad and glad to report Branson Son had sharp pains in his right hand side and asked me to come to MSU to be with him. We went to the emergency room and he was diagnosed with appendicitis. He went through emergency surgery and came out of it just fine. He went home with me after recovery and has been home since. He's headed back to school tonight for finals week.
I drove down the strip this past week and saw Odies Bar-B-Que on the strip must have caught on fire. The whole building was gutted and burnt. I hope they have insurance so they can rebuild. I, for one, would miss them.
Several shows have been cancelling shows toward the end of the season cause of low attendance so make sure to check with the theater or the establishment you bought the tickets from.
Also, if you do plan to come to Branson, gas prices are at $1.55 on the strip and $1.40 in Ozark. Hopefully, gas will continue to come down and be reasonable next year so everyone can take a vacation!!!!
Enjoy the Holiday Season and check back early next year for news about things happening in Branson.
Branson Dad

Tis the Season

Things are really hopping here in Branson. The strip is full of visitors, the busses are filling the hotels and the shows are having a great winter season. I think the reason for it all is that gas on the strip has hit a low of $1.76 a gallon for gas and Branson Son reports a price of $1.63 a gallon at the Ozark Wal-Mart.
I saw the Amy Grant concert over at the Mansion and she was just wonderful. I have pictures of her on BransonMom.com for you to enjoy. I have been trying to get to several Christmas shows as quickly as possible cause the season will end soon. Keep checking BransonMom.com for new show reviews. Coming soon are the reviews for the Duttons, the Brett Family, and the SIX Christmas show. SIX was just awarded Show of the Year for 2008.
More to come next Blog entry.

Never thought I'd see the day

I never thought I'd see the day that gas prices dropped below $2.00 a gallon on the strip, but I was pleasantly suprised as I cruised the Branson strip yesterday and saw several gas stations advertising $1.99 per gallon for regular. I can only imagine what the price of gas is in Ozark and Branson West. Let's hope this trend keeps going or at least stays WAY below the near $5.00 a gallon we saw during the summer time.

It's Christmas time in Branson now and lights are up and glowing everywhere. I was taking down Halloween decorations yesterday and thought seriously about putting up my Christmas stuff. Branson Mom was talking in my head and told me "Not until after Thanksgiving". It was her big thing to not mix the holidays but I may sneak up a few lights while it's still WARM. You know the temp in Branson is a low of 50 with highs in the 70's? This is not winter weather but I'll take it. We had a cold front move thru here a few weeks ago to give us a taste of what is to come and I discovered my furnace wasn't working. I fixed it - luckily it was something simple. I'm just glad to have a few more days of warmer weather.

Here is something new I discovered, Next year the Mansion will be showing the Broadway hit Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby. Yup, in May of next year the whole set is moving from Broadway to Branson. I look forward to seeing that show. They are going to build a rig for her to fly over the audience.

Make sure to check my Weekly Reviews page often cause I plan to get as many Christmas shows reviewed as I can before the end of the main show season. Most shows will close down between December 13th and December 20th this year. But not to worry, Branson has several shows that run all year long so no matter when you come down to see us, you'll have plenty of entertainment choices.

Branson Dad

Visit Bransonmom.com for more information about Branson!

Celebration City closing for good

Well, it's official, Celebration City will be closing it's gates for the final time at park close Saturday 10/25/08 at 10pm. The press was informed today at noon and the employees found out at 1:00 pm. Many I talked to mentioned part time jobs elsewhere, and others might be reassigned to SDC. I will miss CC cause the Branson family has been going to there in the evenings to spend time, ride WildCat and play the arcade games. Branson Daughter and I went to CC tonight, just to look around one more time. According to SDC company, they are not sure what they will do with the 110 acres of land CC sits on. All we can do is wait for next year to come and see what happens.

Some good news, Branson Son came home this weekend and says the price of gas at the Wal-Mart in Ozark is $2.09 a gallon. Here in Branson I saw gas at $2.39 a gallon just down the street. At this rate, I hope we see gas under $2.00 a gallon in the next few weeks.

You can take advantage of the cheap gas on your way down to look at the beautiful fall colors in Branson right now. I think the colors will peak some time this week. We have been without rain for a while - till yesterday - so the colors won't last long. I offer the pictures Branson Daughter and I took earlier this week for your enjoyment.

American Bandstand Drive-In

Hey everyone, just wanted to tell you about my experience at the Drive In the other night. The movie featured was Monster House - an animated feature. Just below the American Bandstand theater is a huge parking lot where they had a blow up movie screen at the far end from Hwy 76 - in the corner. There are no lines or guide lines to how people park, they just drive up any which way and park. We were one of 30 cars - most filled with families, here to watch the movie. On the screen came a note to turn your radio to 103.5 fm for sound, but found out later the transmitter was faulty so they just had large speakers. The movie started just after 7pm even though they will tell you the movie starts at dusk.... this night's dusk was 6:15.
At the rear of the parking lot was a lunch trailer with hotdogs, popcorn and drinks. I enjoyed the thought of a Drive In and with so many people attending and sitting outside in the cold fall air in their lawn chairs - many covered in blankets ----- It was a little nostalgic for me. If I had any suggestions to give it would be to raise the screen onto a trailer if they could so people in the back could see - either that or paint some lines on the lot to organize the cars better. Luckily we had a front row seat, being there early to catch the beginning of the movie.
All - in - all I would have to say this was a great FREE activity for families in or visiting Branson to attend. They show a different movie every Friday night. Not sure how many weekends they will do it, but if there in nothing going on in the Branson Family house on a Friday night, you can be sure this will be on the possibilities list.
Have a Great Day!

Beyond

There had been some speculation that the building next to the new Wal-Mart was going to be a Best Buy, but a sign on the building now shows us that it will be a Bed Bath and Beyond store. There is still hope that with all the land available in that area that we will get our own Best Buy, but only time will tell.

Driving down the strip the other day, I noticed that along with La Hacienda closing, so did La Case Del Sol. Now we have lost two mexican restaraunts now. The only one I remember now is called La Portal (I think). I haven't eaten there yet. It just opened recently. The building previously was a fried chicken place. My how things change around here.

Gas prices have come down again to 2.59 a gallon here in Branson.

Gonna check out the American Bandstand Drive-In tonight. I'll report back to you what it was like. It's free to the public. More on that tomorrow.

It's getting cold.... brrrrrr. I've been wearing long sleeve shirts, LOL. It may be time to stock up on Hot Chocolate and mini marshmellows. Not cold enough for a fire in the fireplace, but that time will come soon enough. After all, Halloween is just around the corner and then Branson will be in Full Christmas Mode!!! Yay Christmas.

Enough for now. Report back tomorrow with more on the Drive-In experience.

Forsyth Road Finally Open

Hey Everyone,
I wanted to fill you in with the latest - Forsyth Rd is finally open. Yup, the road across from the old Wal-Mart on Hwy 76 is finally open after a long time waiting. I have a couple pictures to show you. The first is on Forsyth on the way from Hwy 76, the second is taken from the new attatching road to Clay Coopers parking lot showing the round-a-bout. Hwy 76 is to the right, Roarke Rd is to the left.



I also got a call from Branson Son in Springfield and gas prices there last night are 2.49 per gallon. Today a friend of mine wrote me that gas is selling in Ozark for 2.58 a gallon. I'm glad gas prices are coming down. It's too bad gas wasn't this low during the summer when people could have taken advantage of it and come to Branson.

Just a quick observation

I was driving on Gretna the other day and noticed Playtime Pizza's marque says they are closed for the season.

Gas prices in Springfield, Ozark, and Branson West have come down to between 2.94 and 2.97 per gallon. I know the prices in Branson are a little higher but it is a welcome sight to see gas coming down. Too bad we didn't have those prices in the summer, but hopefully this will give people the opportunity to come to Branson for the Christmas season.

More to come next time.

Branson Dad

Shadowrock Park flooded, and Branson

Hi everyone. Here are the things I noticed in the Branson area that I wanted to tell you all about. First, I went for a drive out Hwy 76 East the other day and noticed that ShadowRock Park is flooded. Most of the buildings are covered up to their roofs. Only the top rails of the slide are visible. It will be some time before the water returns to it's normal level I'm afraid.

I also thought I might mention that for all you Halloween fans out there, I found a pumpkin patch on Hwy F that you might enjoy going to. It's called McKenna's Pumpkin Patch at 3265 F Hwy in Branson. They have a play area for the kids, Hay rides, or course Pumpkins, and a Hay Maze to go through. Speaking with Ed McKenna, he had a corn maze all plotted out but the storm we had a few weeks ago knocked over the stalks so he improvized with hay. General admission for ages 3 - 65 is $4.00 for activities, but no cost to look through the pumpkins and pick your own. Call 417-593-3159 for more information.

For visitors to Branson that have not been here yet this year, I thought I would mention that we have a new Winery in town you can visit. Not only do we have the Stone Hill winery where they actually bottle wine in the building and have tours for you to enjoy, but we now have a Mount Pleasant Winery location. It is on Green Mountain across Gretna road from Stone Hill. They have wine tasting and are open 10 am to 7 pm based on season and crowd. Stone Hill is open 8:30 am to 8 pm based on season and crowd. Both are open every day except for select holidays. Wine tasting is free so stop in and check out our old time favorite Stone Hill, and our new kid on the block, Mount Pleasant.

One last thing before I go, there is a new stop sign that everyone should know about. It is on Gretna road between the entrance to the White House Theater and the road next to Branson Variety Theater. I don't remember the name of the road, but there is a new 4 way stop sign at that location. It may make traffic easier to leave the theater, but may confuse users of Gretna until thay get used to a stop sign there. Be Careful.

I'll add more posts as I find more things of interest in Branson. Until then, Have a Wonderful Day!!

Branson Dad

Visit Bransonmom.com for more information about Branson!

Getting Started

This will be the beginning of Branson Dad's blog about Branson Missouri. I'll try to post about things that are constantly changing in Branson.

I went to Silver Dollar City yesterday and found out the road to SDC has completely changed. To improve traffic going directly to Indian Point, SDC has seperated Crows Nest road into two roads. One going to SDC and the other heads directly past SDC. For anyone who has been to SDC before, this is going to be really confusing. They have guys helping direct traffic, so be patient and follow directions.

Feel free to leave comments or questions for me by clicking on the "post comment" button below. I'll try to answer as quickly as I can.

Have An Awesome Day!!!

Branson Dad

Visit Bransonmom.com for more information about Branson!