A Pretty Brutal Take on Branson

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

I like tacky tourist traps. You can't have too many mini golf courses and go kart tracks. Seriously!

My kids are 7 and 9. That's just perfect. The beach bores them to tears unless we're with extended family so they have cousins to play with.

[Lisa P Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lisa P]

We don't like tacky tourist traps but we sure did when we were younger, in our early 20's and again when we had young, grade school aged children. All the mini-golf, go-cart tracks, t-shirt shops and neon signs are there because they make money, because enough people DO like them. Seeing families and children having fun, excited and doing things together brings smiles. Most families, it seems to me, don't spend their whole vacation doing these things. They're a nice (though expensive) extra, tacked on to a vacation that may also include theme parks and water parks, museums and aquariums, nature hikes and picnics, beaches and pool time.

It's so easy to knock these places but they serve their purposes. When traveling with a wide age range, several generations, we've appreciated the variety of things to do, expecially if weather turns too cool or rainy for water activities. It helps that my DMIL and DFIL have such a positive response to seeing families with children enjoying themselves too. As long as the resort rooms are a pleasant peaceful retreat, they're flexible enough to look for quieter times to enjoy the resort's amenities.

We love annual visits to the Pigeon Forge area. Our older teens may or may not visit these places on some trips - DH and I don't. But rather than detract from the region, I think all the kitsch and neon adds a bit of excitement in being there, especially when we first arrive. Maybe the crowds of kids and families don't bother me so much, as long as I'm staying in a nice resort that has enough pool and resort amenities to accommodate them and not crowd us out. Knowing the back roads, to avoid traffic, makes all the difference too.

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

All I know is that when I drive the highway high on the ridge overlooking the lake, and look out over the vista, it certainly must be a different place than this person was writing about.

Last night we were with friends we met OY, for dinner at their house on the hill overlooking the sunset (after golf, of course), and went to another friends house to look at their jet ski (which we bought for DW). Their house could only be called an estate, with the same view, 7 acres, huge guest house, infinity pool, etc. They were 10 days from closing on their retirement home in Omaha when they brought a friend's computer down for him. On the way home the husband told his wife, 'I think we're buying that place!"

Some see what others don't.

I notice one other noticed the dogpiling, a fairly common, calculated move for this particular situation. Some know what I'm saying.

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

I don't think it would be unfair for someone to add Branson's rebuttal:

A Brutal Assessment of Branson - 1Branson.com

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

From the beginning of BCWC, not that long ago, we have repeatedly talked about the scarcity and value of a cabin during the summer. It wasn't that long ago that they became available to other than BCWC owners. One is easily worth $2500/week.

The house behind us on the bluff rents for $3500/week during the summer, and doesn't come with any resort amenities.

It seems a shame to waste one.

Given the special situation/needs/demands of this group, where one is m/l restricted to the unit, I'm hard put to come up with a suitable destination, such that any place they went likely would have been equally dissed.

Anyone have an idea of good destination given the situation?

From what I'm hearing, it sounds like we are doing the Branson Belle Tuesday. Choices are really tough . . . a show, Branson Belle, golf, dinner at the Landing, sunset boating, jet-skiing, hanging out with friends, or just sitting on the dock catching little girlie-boy fishies.

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

This is exactly why you need to read several reviews of any given place and then take all of them just as one form of input. You need to try to get in to the reviewers head a bit and look at some things that you might consider key. I often find that after I go somewhere I disagree with many of the reviews, that's because we are all different in our wants and needs. I find lots of times people pan a particular place because of something I might find insignificant. I think that most people that put in a review are trying to be honest about their feelings towards a place and I think it is unfair to get all upset because we don't agree with their assesment. Look at the big controversy we have always had about "Orange Lake"... Some folks love it others hate it. In all I think it is beter to have reviews than not have them, you just need to average them out a bit and do some other research, then make our decisions.
By the way, I intend to go to Branson one day and I believe I will enjoy it, but hey whatever floats your boat.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

Last night we were with friends we met OY, for dinner at their house on the hill overlooking the sunset

Come on! Someone living on their own 7 acre estate or someone with their own home on the lake has a much different view (as in scenic) and a much different experience than a timesharer from out of the area. Glynda may have expected a bit more of a lakeside country environment then she got with this exchange. If I read "lakeside" and got a view of the scrubby brush I'd be a tad disappointed, too. And she does seem to have enjoyed the resort & the area despite all the tacky that is a big part of ANY major tourist destination.

Let's face it. Timeshares are located primarily in places that are full of developement and tacky is often a big part of that.

I so wish that some timeshare developer would specialize in building in the places where most vacationers have no interest. Like...oh say, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump for example.

[ace2000 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ace2000]

I can't believe how badly that one guy was harrassing her!!!




JLB - where have you been 'OY'???

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

There are tacky tourist things all over the place; London, Boston (that weird guy who dresses up and walks around like Ben Franklin) and the phoney "Cheers" bar (when it really is downstairs from the Hamshire House - my old boyfriend used to play softball with the team bar back in the early '70s) and so on.

Branson isn't on my list of "must-dos", but I am not opposed to going, there are just so many other places ahead of it.

"20 Miles 'Til Stuckey's !"

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

Well we didn't see the Ben Franklin guy. Heard they were having a crackdown on street performers but I did get my picture taken alongside the giant cutout of Norm outside of Cheers Faneuil Hall. About 12 years ago we went to the Bull and Finch pub. The owner was a member of my fraternity and I was hoping to get a chance to talk with him but he wasn't around.

Touristy I'm OK with...tacky not so much. It's a fine line, though.

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

Beats me.

I've been looking for me there and can't find me either.

JLB - where have you been 'OY'???

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

Huh!?

Same hills. Same sunset. Same lake.

BCWC cabins and their location relative to the lake have been discussed quite throughly . . . For that matter, all of Big Cedar . . . WC or not . . . and all of the Branson area has been.

As someone said, a case of not doing homework.

But, as I asked . . .what would be the right place?

Come on! Someone living on their own 7 acre estate or someone with their own home on the lake has a much different view (as in scenic) and a much different experience than a timesharer from out of the area.

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

Yes, a long time ago, before kids. This time we went on the Maid of the Mist, which we've never done before. That's pretty incredible! I couldn't believe how far into Horseshoe Falls the boat went!

We were at Niagara Falls last month and went on the
"Maid of the Mist" It was pretty awesome. This was my third visit to Niagara falls but the first time for my wife. I have also been there in the winter which is a completely different experience and pretty spectacular with all the ice and snow.

We spent a week in Branson a few years ago in May and were not impressed at all and would never go back, To us it was very junky and the surrounding countryside was pretty boring. We went on the lake and drove all over including down into Arkansas.

However, that is just our opinion and doesn't really matter. What somebody else likes or dislikes is neither here nor there. The only important thing is if you like it, and not what others think. That goes for anywhere.

Personally, I don't care what others think about where I live or places that we like. We love it and that is all that is important.

[pcgirl54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcgirl54]

I did not find the review brutal. We can read a lot about a place and still not like it or the area when we get there. Expectations are different for all of us.

Just think about house decriptions of "oceanview" now flip it to TS "lakeview".

Also think about how hard it can be to travel with kids or the elderly or even extended family-not all goes well.

So this was just a review of a vacation that was not as enjoyable as planned in an area that was not as desirable as one thought in a unit with a scrub brush view rather than seeing a lake. For me the view would be the biggest disappointment.

When we went to Asheville NC last year during Chrsitmas season. We also did a one day drive to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Although the town was very friendly Gatlinburg was not a place I would revisit and I was glad that I did not exchange there or I would have been so very disappointed. I did like Pigeon Forge and wished we had more time there and skipped Gatlinburg. Lots of people love that area. Had I stayed there I would not have written a good review.

I also do not think it is very nice to publicly trash someone's experience or disappointment on their vacation. It would make me leery of ever posting again.

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

But, as I asked . . .what would be the right place?

Whatever place you think is right for you.