It was the last full day in
Branson for Marsha, Brittany,
Amanda, and I. We had a full day of fun planned, as well as a very special
nighttime celebration.
We were up and out of the
Radisson Hotel Branson
early to head to
Silver Dollar City, one of Branson’s most popular attractions.
I expected an amusement park, but I also got a period attraction
that reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg.
Silver Dollar City has as many depictions of historical
sites as rides, including period costumes and vehicles, an old school house,
animals, walkways that looked like streets from long ago, woodworkers, a
glassware maker, a pottery store, and other shops that had a lot more than your
typical theme park souvenirs.
The park also has lots of shows, such as “Mean Murphy Rides
Again” at the Saloon, McHaffie’s Homestead, and the Silver Dollar City Street
Troupe. They also have seasonal shows in the fall and Christmas shows in
December.
Unlike most amusement parks, Silver Dollar City is open
through January 1st each year, and then re-opens in March.
You can
also purchase a triple ticket during the summer to include admission to Whitewater
Water Park and the Showboat Branson Belle (which we had done
a few days before) dinner cruise at a discount rate.
We started with breakfast at Eva & Delilah’s Bakery. It
was hard to choose free the pastries, breads, brownies, cookies, Danishes, and
cupcakes.
We ended up with a cinnamon roll and sticky bun to share,
and some fresh coffee to go with them.
There is no shortage of food at Silver Dollar City, from
sit-down and buffet restaurants to stands for funnel cakes, sidewinder fries,
tater twists, ice cream, candy, and fudge.
Marsha and I wondered around exploring while Brittany and
Amanda hit the rides:
The Giant Barn Swing, Thunderation Wooden Roller Coaster
(called “the world’s most daring wood coaster” since it has three upside down
twists), Firefall, and the Firespotter Roller Coaster.
We all did the train ride at
Silver Dollar City, which stops for a comedy skit
along the way, and the Fire in the Hole ride.
We were all very hungry and decided to go to Molly’s Mill
Restaurant for the buffet luncheon. It was good and quite filling, with fried
chicken, macaroni and cheese, a salad bar, a pasta bar, and more.
It was a very hot day and we were ready to go over to
Whitewater Water Park. Marsha and I again took the relaxing route, spending
time on the Lazy River before enjoying one of the many lounge chairs in the sun
with an afternoon ice cream treat.
Brittany and Amanda went through the Pipeline Plunge, Surf’s
Up Wave Pool, Kalani Towers, and Kapaui Plummet.
We headed back to the
Radisson Hotel Branson in the evening.
We had a late night planned and all napped for a while before dressing up.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of a mix-up with the PR rep
as far as the Missouri laws were concerned. No one under 21 was allowed in the
bar between 10 and midnight.
Another wrench in our plans was the fact that Branson is
just not a late-night dinner town. The only place we found open for the
birthday dinner was the International House of Pancakes!
We actually had fun with breakfast for dinner at IHOP and
made it back to the Cheeky Monkey at 11:45.
While Brittany waited outside the door with Amanda (who had
turned 21 a few weeks before), Marsha and I got the drinks ready and talked to
Craig, the bar’s owner.
He told us about his journey as a farm boy from
Nebraska to Washington, DC, Panama, Costa Rica, and more, including where the
monkey came from (you can read the whole story on the back of the menu in the
picture).
At exactly 12:01 am, Craig personally escorted Brittany into
the bar for her first official cocktails.
I picked the Cheeky Monkey Bar because of the fun atmosphere
and interesting cocktails. It seemed as if every one of them made it to the
birthday girl at our table! Including these:
Cheeky Monkey
A Monkey’s Uncle
Grass Monkey
Cruzan Coconut rum, Deykuper Melon Liqueur, pineapple juice,
sour mix, and a Cruzan 151 floater.
We closed down the bar at 2:00 am and headed back to the
hotel for a good night’s sleep. We had some more birthday celebrating to do for
the last day of our trip in
Branson, Missouri.