Trip to Branson, Day Four

On our fourth and last full day in Branson, we went back to Silver Dollar City for the day.  We had buy one day, get one day free tickets, and we were able to use them two days later. 

Ready for some more fun!

We went right in to the ticket takers.

Playing in the giant tree houses.

Anthony had a blast.

We went to the homestead area, where the kids got to pet the goats.

Anthony loved the goats.

We stopped for a while and watched a man making boards out of a tree trunk with an axe.

Anthony and I waited while the rest of them went on the Lost River.  I took this picture and then looked up and they were going by.

The river explorers.

The mother of all play structures!

There was water to shoot at things.

Up inside the play structure, there were lots of balls everywhere and you could shoot them from several different levels.

Ready, aim, fire!

We were up really high!  Anne is down below in pink.

At the bottom there were contraptions to get the balls up and delivered all over.  The kids loved sending the balls up.

Go Anne!

Everyone also got to ride their favorite ride, which for the oldest four, meant roller coasters, which meant mostly me riding with them.  I certainly got my fill of roller coasters for a while.  After SDC, we went back to the hotel, ate dinner, then went to the pool for our last evening.  On Saturday, we packed up and left Branson.  What a fun trip!

Trip to Branson, Day Two

On our second day in Branson, we went to Silver Dollar City.  The kids had been talking about SDC ever since we went there last year, so they were super excited.

The girls on the tram to get to the entrance.  Dom and Joseph got to sit up by the driver.

Mommy and the kids ready to go in.

Finally here!

Observing the blacksmith at work.

Candy makers!

Kids in jail.

Ready to shoot the targets in the Flooded Mine.

All aboard the train!

Everyone enjoyed the train ride.

Look at those smiles after the first roller coaster ride.

Let's go again with Daddy!

Anthony and Mommy on the littlest roller coaster.

A break for lunch.

Going down the American Plunge.

Daddy and the four big kids got wet.

There they go.

Daddy and Anthony went by themselves.  Anthony loved it.

Powderkeg, the roller coaster that starts by blasting you off from 0 to 53 mph in 2.8 seconds with a compressed air launch.  It was nuts.  I rode with Catherine, Dominic, and Joseph.

On the Lost River of the Ozarks.

Into the tunnel they go!

We went to the newest roller coaster, called Outlaw Run.  It is the second fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, reaching top speeds of 68 miles per hour.  This happens, of course, on the first big drop, which plunges 162 feet at 81 degrees.  It is also the only wooden coaster to go upside down more than once, which happens in a double barrel roll near the end of the ride.  Do I sound like I know a lot about it?  Well, I rode the crazy thing!  It was all Dominic could talk about, once we found out he was tall enough to ride.  So he and Catherine and I rode.  On the way up the long hill pictured below, I thought, what am I doing on here?!  Luckily the whole thing went so fast, it was over before we knew it. 

The first drop is much longer than this hill goes up, due to the natural terrain of the Ozark Mountains.

Dominic and Catherine immediately wanted to ride it again, but I was slightly dizzy from the ride, so they got Dan to go with them.  I think he was convinced when he saw some elderly people getting off the ride.  You'll have to ask him if he thought it was fun.  :)  I'm not sure if I would call it fun, but it was quite exhilarating!

Proof that Dan rode on Outlaw Run!

After Silver Dollar City, everyone was tired, so we went back to the hotel to relax.  I made dinner in our little kitchen and then in the evening we went swimming again.  What a fun day!

Day Three to come!

Silver Dollar City, Day Two

Well, it has taken me a while, but this is the last post about our vacation back in September!  You can tell we don't go on vacations very often.  :)

I was really glad we went two days to Silver Dollar City because the first day was a bit overwhelming.  There were so many craftsmen and shops, rides and shows, and lots of different ways to go, that even with a map, we went right by some attractions the first day that we didn't even know were there.  On the evening before the second day, I spent some time with the map and the app on my phone and plotted out all the rides and things we wanted to go to the second day. 

The great thing about going to Silver Dollar City in September is that there is rarely much of a line, especially for the rides.  There were a lot of older people there, but they were mostly attending the shows and going to the shops.  Another thing we discovered is that even though the park "opens" at 10:00 that time of year, you can get there a lot earlier, and it is good to get there early, because they have an opening ceremony that starts right at 10:00 a little ways into the park. 

This is a giant lathe.  The tall man turning the wheel told the kids to stay in school, otherwise they would have to do his job instead of the other man's!

The first day was hot, but the second day was cool and drizzly.  I was glad we brought jackets along.  This man played his harmonica for the kids. 

We went to the homestead area, and there were animals to pet!

Anthony just loved this little goat.

A lot.  He was rubbing his face in its fur.

Dan was brave and took some of the kids on a water ride, even though it was cool and a little rainy.  They didn't get wet until the end when they raced down the big hill.  Dan took the brunt of the splash.

After the wet ride, we went and found the big dryer.  All of them fit inside and for $3, you get blown dry.  It was well worth it on that day.

We went on the coolest indoor roller coaster called Fire in the Hole.  The whole family went, even Anthony.  It was really neat, and there were several sudden drops that you could not see ahead of time.  Anthony didn't cry or anything, but he didn't want to go on it again.  Neither did Anne, but I took the rest of them on it a couple more times. 

We went into the crazy house with upside down rooms and slanting floors. I wouldn't have even known this one was there, except for seeing it on the app.

Dan took three of them on a ride called The Flooded Mine.  We weren't sure if it would be okay for Anthony, so they went to check it out first. 

Anne, Anthony, and I entertained ourselves with taking pictures and eating snacks.

The Flooded Mine was an indoor, partly in the dark, ride in a boat, and shoot laser guns at targets kind of ride, so it was fine for little ones.  Another ride we walked right by the first day.

There is a cave at Silver Dollar City right at the entrance, but when we read there were I think 600 steps, we decided that would be too strenuous for the littler kids (and too stressful on the parents), so we did not go down in it.  There were two giant roller coasters that were too big for the kids and a few other rides that seemed a bit much, but otherwise we hit every ride in the park.  We watched some of the craftsmen, saw a couple of shows, and went into the Christmas Shop.  We sampled some of the food there, bought homemade taffy, and thoroughly had a good time.  One warning:  there are some pretty steep hills in the park, so you will get a workout. 

One last trip to the pool:

Anthony was all ready to go.  No chance of him going under with all that stuff on.  By the end of our stay, he was paddling around without assistance.

Let's go swimming!

And that is the end of our fun trip to Branson and Silver Dollar City!

Silver Dollar City, Day One, Continued

If you ever go to Silver Dollar City, it is advisable to bring a stroller if you have a small child, as it is a very large park.  It is also good because then you have a place to store a small cooler and/or your lunch, and lots of snacks.  If you don't need a stroller for kids, but still want to bring in a cooler or lunch, there are lockers at the entrance you can use for a small fee.  I would recommend that over leaving stuff at your car, even though you can leave and come back in the same day.  It takes a while to get out to your car and there are no picnic areas that I could see at the parking lots.  As far as what to do with the stroller if the whole family wants to ride a ride, people would simply leave their strollers (with no valuables in them, of course) by the entrance to the ride.  We never had a problem with that.  Each ride also had cubby holes that only the ride attendants had access to during the ride, so if you had a purse or hat or something, you could leave it there during the ride. 

In one area of the park, there is a giant play house which was 3-4 stories high, with multiple levels and lots of fun things to do, like in this picture.  There were several net climbing tunnels that went up and down different levels as well as spiral slides.  A fun, fun place for our kids.

There was a large open area in the middle, and a lot of the levels had these air gun things which would shoot out foam balls that you loaded into them.

Then at the bottom of the big open area was all kinds of ways to "clean-up" the balls, which all the kids had a blast with.  It was a clever way to keep the balls in circulation because they would get sucked up and distributed to the various ball containers around the place.

I need one of these at my house to suck up all the toys!

Anthony could have sat here for hours putting the balls in the tube.

This was a small roller coaster that Anthony could ride on with an adult.  It was little, so you got to ride around 3 times and then it would stop with a big jolt.  I have to say, some of the rides for little kids were a tight squeeze for adults.

The kids loved the little roller coaster, especially Anthony.  When I rode with him, I just sat and watched him grinning and laughing. 

Riding in the teacups.  I first went with the four big kids, then the next day we all rode, because you could control the spinning of your cup by the wheel in the middle.  We didn't touch the wheel, so we got a nice, non puke-inducing ride.

There were several rides in this same area designed for little kids.  This was a cute frog ride where each frog would make a hopping motion up and down.  I rode behind Anthony just to make sure he wouldn't try to unbuckle his seat belt, otherwise he would have been fine by himself.

This ride got the honor of us dubbing it the tamest ride in the park.  Anthony liked it though.

As you can see, the other kids did not think it was that great.

We were at Silver Dollar City from a little after 10:00 until around 4:00 that first day.  The kids did really well, even Anthony for the most part.  He did fall asleep for a good while in the stroller during the afternoon, so that was nice.  After we left the park, we drove back to the hotel, and everyone relaxed and then I made dinner in our little kitchen.  Of course, later, we went swimming in the hotel pool.  A fun end to a fun day!