Branson, MO Trip

We just returned from a week in Branson, MO. We had a great time, except for the traffic in Branson.

THE SHOWS
We took in Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner Show which we both enjoyed. The food was good but be warned, you eat everything with your fingers. That was fun.
The next day we took in the Acrobats of China and neither my wife nor I were impressed with this show. Definitely not worth the price of the ticket.
We also took in The Shepherd of the Hill play which we both enjoyed. I don’t know if my hearing is getting bad but the sound system seemed weak to me. At times I had trouble hearing what some of the actors were saying.
The last show we took in was the Shoji Tabuchi Show which was very good and great entertainment. If you take in the Shoji show be sure to use the bathroom in the theater, it was the fanciest restroom I’ve ever seen in my life.

BRANSON LANDING
The Landing is an outdoor mall and the first mall I’ve enjoyed going to. It has something for everyone. The two anchors on either end of the mall are Belk Department store (for the shoppers) on one end and Bass Pro Shops (for outdoor people) on the other. In between there are shops, restaurants, a comedy club, a dueling piano bar, and cruise excursions on Taneycomo Lake. The eastside of the mall has a paved river walk right on the bank of the lake. There are also a couple of fountains in the mall, one of which puts on a fire and water display accompanied to rock n roll music every hour, The fountain was designed by the same people who did the fountain in front of the Bellagio in Vegas, just not as big.

The fire and water display was even better at night.

BEST SURPRISE IN BRANSON
We had some free time on our hands before we went to the Dixie Stampede show so we stopped at the Branson Mall in the heart of Branson to kill some time. On a small stage in the common area of the mall there was a singer by the name of Mike Walker doing impersonations of other famous singers. He was incredibly good and had a great voice and we both wondered why he was working at the mall for tips instead of being in one of the many shows in Branson. A sign said that he entertains at the mall every day from 2 to 4. We’re still scratching our heads wondering why he wasn’t in one of the many shows in Branson.

Mike Walker entertaining at the Branson Mall for tips.

OUR CAMPGROUND AND OTHER AREA CAMPGROUNDS.
Before I get into my report on campgrounds let me tell you what I want in a campsite: a level site with full hookups, long enough to leave my truck in front of my Wildcat, and a width of about 30 feet with grass or greenery between the sites.
We stayed at the Compton Ridge Main campground for seven nights (seventh night free). I wasn’t thrilled with our campsite because it was short and narrow as were most of the back-in sites. Some of the pull through sites had better spacing and length, but a few had a grade going into the pull-thru that was very severe. So severe in fact that at some sites there were gouges in the asphalt where the rear of RV’s had dragged. This campground did have some nice amenities thought including an indoor pool to compliment the outdoor pool. They also offered free wifi, cable TV (a large number of channels), trash pickup at your site, and a shuttle service to Silver Dollar City.

The covered picnic table belonged to the site next to us, too close for me thank you. We were in site 62.

Because I wasn’t thrilled with our site, I made a point of looking at other campgrounds in the area. While we didn’t drive through every campground in the area, we did see quite a few. I wasn’t impressed with any of the other campgrounds we drove through. I’m convinced Branson doesn’t have a great campground. Too many of the reviews on rvparkreviews.com overrate these campgrounds, my opinion of course.

CAMPGROUNDS WE DROVE THROUGH.
The Wilderness
Tall Pines
Acorn Acres
Blue Mountain
Branson View
ABC Campground
Branson Stage Coach
Andrews Landing
Table Rock Lake State Park (a limited number of sewer hookups)
Branson Lakeside RV Park
Indian Point Corps of Engineers campground (no sewer hookups)
Lakeview RV Park

Richard,

I'm glad you had a successful trip. I've often been tempted to head for Branson, but our friends who were regulars to the area kept talking us out of it with their tourist trap/high traffic type of tales. They described Branson to us as a sort of "Hillbilly Vegas". Maybe things have improved over the years, but they used to complain it took them nearly 1/2 hour to drive from one end of town to the other.

As for the campgrounds, I've noticed that quite a few, maybe most, of the older camp grounds near high tourist areas can not accomodate the newer RVs. For those that have tried to update their exsisting infrastructure, it seems few have succeeded. When we end up in campgrounds like this, I can't help feeling claustrophobic!

TC

When we were in Branson, we stayed at the Waters Edge Rv Park in Kimberling city. They did not have concrete pads, and not all sites were level, but we liked the trees and being a stones throw from the lake.

We also saw Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner Show, and felt the same as you, that it was a very nice show... especially since the South won when we were there. We set on the North side, "because of our yankee hosts", and I helped by holding up the flag so the South would win...I was not popular with that side.
Life is good...

Wish I had known you were going to be there. I would have driven down to meet you. I live just 65 miles away and am there all the time. Branson is easy to get around once you know the shortcuts.

We like Acorn Acres but agree about the short, narrow campsites.

When we camped in Branson in 2005 we stayed at America's Best Campground on the northeast side. It was well maintained with spotlessly clean bathrooms, friendly folk to greet us and assist as needed and a long level pull through. Would absolutely stay there again.

BIG DAVE: I'll keep that thought in mind becasue we will probably be going to Branson again next year.

TC: Perhaps you should go to Branson next year too. Maybe we could get Big Dave and some of the others to plan a trip to Branson and we could have a mini-rally at one of the campgrounds.

MAXTOR: The South won at our show too. Hmmm, sounds like a conspiracy to me.

SCHROWANG: When we drove through the ABC campground we thought the sites were rather close together there too. Last year we stayed at Shoals Bend in Forsyth, MO and really liked that campground. What we didn't like was that it was located 10 miles east of Branson.