I think I've caught Branson (Stormy Point) fever

[brucecz Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close brucecz]

They have a great variety of music and other types of non country shows.

It is almost worth a trip to see the Togi's show fancy bathroom rooms with the mens bathroom having the pool table from the Paul Neuman-Jackie Gleason "The Hulsler".

Bruce

Do you have to be a county music lover to fully enjoy downtown Branson? I know there are non-music venues like the Chinese acrobats (a must-see for us since one year ago we were in China adopting our now five year old!), but am I fooling myself to think that this northern, non-country luv'n girl is going love Branson??

I'm drawn to the landscape and lake, the theme park for the kids, the fireworks & water shows at of Celebration City and Branson Landing, and the private Cape Cod cottage feel at Stormy Point...but not so much to honky tonk music.

Is it possible to love Branson even if you're not a fan of country music??

Thanks,
Karyn

P.S.
I live near Chicago and I'm not a Blues fan either

[brucecz Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close brucecz]

If you buy RTU I garn o tee you will not ever get a penny back.

I resectfully disagree. We sold our RTU Puerto Vallarta Los Tules fixed week 52 for a "Few" hudred dollars profit a couple of years ago and just sold a " Hot C" week 11 lease on made a couple of dollars.

I just turned down a offer for our weeks 4 and 5 at the "Hot C" were we could have made over $1,000.

Bruce

[1950bing Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 1950bing]

Do you really show a gain after you consider all the years you had it and pay all the fees to support the place? It is really hard for me to consider such a
" deal " when at the end of term you just hand it back over to the place and not get one penny back from your investment.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Downtown Branson is distinctly different from the entertainment areas.

DT is a collection of unique shops and restaurants. Branson Landing is downtown, but different from downtown, and something some of the downtown merchants complain about, the Landing taking their business.

Downtown is very busy during the day. Tour busses dump loads at a time to wander around places like Dick's Five and Dime, where you can by all sorts of tourist trash made in China. Of course, at one time downtown was the location of shops selling native handcraft items.

Most of the entertainment is on the strip, where I just went to get our complimentary Presley tickets for tonight. But, the strip has grown, with theaters and attractions also being located on Green Mountain, Shepherd of the Hills, Gretna, 248, etc. The newest, largest and most magnificant theater, Sight and Sound, is well off the strip, on Shepherd of the Hills near Branson Meadows.

The lake(s) is another vacation experience and many lake vacationers don't go to any shows.

Silver Dollar City/Celebration City/Waterwater is(are) the sole destination(s) for a lot of folks, mostly families with All-City passes.

Golf is the sole purpose for other vacations.

Shopping is big, with three outlet malls, Branson Landing, downtown, and some new areas being developed, like Branson Hills,

So, no you don't have to be a country music fan to come to Branson. There are also plenty of shows with no country music.

Do you have to be a county music lover to fully enjoy downtown Branson? I know there are non-music venues like the Chinese acrobats (a must-see for us since one year ago we were in China adopting our now five year old!), but am I fooling myself to think that this northern, non-country luv'n girl is going love Branson??

I'm drawn to the landscape and lake, the theme park for the kids, the fireworks & water shows at of Celebration City and Branson Landing, and the private Cape Cod cottage feel at Stormy Point...but not so much to honky tonk music.

Is it possible to love Branson even if you're not a fan of country music??

Thanks,
Karyn

P.S.
I live near Chicago and I'm not a Blues fan either

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

All previous reports are that SP bought an older lakefront resort on down the road, and that they had lake access and rental boats there. You can use the search function here and OY and find previous discussion, since there have been several.

There is also a hateful anti-timeshare thread currently going on a Branson forum, in which I, another from here and OY and a Stormy Point rep are involved.

Which Timeshare Presentations are worth it? - Page 3 - 1Branson.com

Table Rock Lake is not a beachy lake. The shoreline is rock--rip rap, pea gravel, or solid rock.

By all means bring golf clubs. One of the days we are not on the Margaritaville Dock we can be on the nicest golf course in the area, Ledgestone.

[brucecz Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close brucecz]

Do you really show a gain after you consider all the years you had it and pay all the fees to support the place? It is really hard for me to consider such a
" deal " when at the end of term you just hand it back over to the place and not get one penny back from your investment.

Yes, because I buy resale and then rent to people loke you for more than my costs are.

Bruce

[1950bing Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 1950bing]

You don't rent to people "loke" me. I do not vacation that way.

[kmansen Member Find all posts View Profile Close kmansen]

reumb question about Branson

Thanks, Bruce & JLB. Truthfully, I asked about the country music thing because I was all excited thinking Branson could kind of be like a drivable Orlando with all kinds of things to see and do--after 15 years of marriage, Orlando's been the only place we've had interest in repeat vacations, but we have to do so via plane and rental car... Anyway, I was all excited until I saw a map with all the theaters and country music related things. Somehow seeing that emphasis kind of burst my bubble a bit and made me question if I was cut out for Branson. Or if Branson was cut out for me. But I suppose our trip(s) would be what we make it(them). Thanks for reassuring me that there are plenty of things there to satisfy all ages, stages and interests. And that loving country music is not a prerequisite.

I am a little disappointed for the kids that the lake isn't too beach-y though. At this age they don't wander in too deep and spend most of their time digging in the sand. On the map I see Moonshine Beach...is that a kid friendly place?

JLB I'll have to follow the thread you linked above to see what that's all about...

Bruce, thanks for the heads up--we'll have to remember to check out the fancy bathrooms!

Thanks again for graciously and patiently answering my endless questions. This forum has been a great find and it's nice not to have to sort all this out by myself.

DH and I still agree that we ought to visit before we make in decisions, so he's trying to pin down a good week to take off work once school is out.

Karyn

[brucecz Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close brucecz]

You don't rent to people "loke" me. I do not vacation that way.

Now, now now bing relax. But if you do not own a timeshare any longer and post here do not rent timeshares for your use I find your posts some times controdictory.

PS I am gald you can understand what the "word" "Loke" means as some might have thought I had hit the wrong key.

Bruce

[brucecz Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close brucecz]

Karyn, thanks but JLB deserves most of thank you as he is a great resourse when it comes to Branson. Both he and Doug#'s???? are two of the absolute best on Branson.

Bruce

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I was going to mention Moonshine Beach before, but, unlike what some think, I do not always say everything there is to say every time I say something.

Moonshine Beach is the exception, a sandy beach. Of course, the problem is that when the lake goes back down it will probably not be there, the sand that is. It is located in a popular area, next to Chateau on the Lake and the dam.

Our youngin's and the many other youngin's who have visited the Margaritaville Dock have done just fine. The youngest has been less than a year old. We/they/all wear flip-flops, lake shoes, from Wal Mart, and the lack of sand pretty much is not an issue.

A common practice is to tie your boat up to a tree back in a cove, and just stay there, jumping into the lake with floaties on. I prefer the old-fashioned waist ski belt. We require the youngins to have a floatation device on when they are on the dock or anywhere near the lake. We have one for our dog, too.

The SP person on the Branson board just posted that part of the resort is Festiva and the other part, including the restaurant, clubhouse, and pool are the other company's.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Weird. The other day [Branson's] Stormy Point's website said it was a Festiva Resort which traded with II, but today (with no fan fare or explanation) it casually refers to itself as a Summer Winds Resort who trades with Trading Places. I guess things change fast in TS world!

Karyn

The units that are completed to date are Festiva units and, as far as I can tell will remain that way. Future developement will be with Summerwinds.

It appears the Festiva sold out the future developement of this resort to Summerwinds along with all the amenities. Exactly how this would affect an owner that had a unit associated with Festivia I can not say. I have seen other split developer resorts in the past and it didn't seem to matter which developer they were with as far as using resort amenities. It only made a difference if they were in a system that had internal exchange powers. I believe Festiva owners have some degree of an internal exchange program but I do not know what the deal would be with Summerwinds. The only way to find out would be to take tours at both a Festiva resort (I think Cabins at Green Mountain in Branson remains a Festiva resort) and a sales tour at Stormy Point, which is now being sold by Summerwinds.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Before making any commitment, I would visit Branson first to see if you like it. We stayed in a timeshare there once and will never return. The timeshare was new and was OK but we were definitely underwhelmed by Branson itself. We went to 8 shows, toured all over the area and went on the lake. A couple of the shows were OK but not worth visiting Branson.

There is no comparison between Branson and Orlando. Branson is a small junky city full of tourist traps. There is nothing attractive about it.

It is extremely easy to exchange into Branson.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I haven't found to many resorts that are fond of the idea of allowing you to just look at a unit without their sales staff getting a crack at you. I guess they figure if you're interested enough to look at one of their units you might be interested enough to buy one.

We haven't tried very often but, the couple of times we did approach resorts to explain we were only interested in what the units looked like for exchange potential, we got the cold shoulder. Essentially they told us you'll have to sit here and wait until we can find someone willing and with available time to show you a unit.

I suppose if one wasn't interested in the freebies, you could sit through the part about how timeshare in general works, how their program works and why they think it's the best program out there, go see a unit and, at the end of seeing the unit (where they start talking money), say "no thanks" and just walk out without any gifts. I'm sure that would stun and surprise the salesman but, what are they going to do? They don't have any leverage if you're a walk in and didn't hand one of the body snatchers a twenty as insurance you'd even show up for the tour.

Our experience has just been the opposite. We have visited many timeshares and asked to see the units with no problem. They were happy to let us see them. We just told them that we were considering exchanging there and would like to see them first. In fact our first one we visited was Polo Towers in Las Vegas where you own. They not only showed us the units but let us wander around by ourselves.

[kmansen Member Find all posts View Profile Close kmansen]

Thanks, John, for sharing your opinion of Branson. Never having been there, I am not sure how we'll like it, but I agree, we should and will visit Branson before making any commitment. I'm hoping to visit this summer, but haven't pinned down dates yet.

Thanks,
Karyn