Vacation 2017 - Silver Dollar City, Branson, Missouri

We woke up ready to have some fun at Silver Dollar City (SDC).  We were blessed by our church to receive complimentary tickets to Silver Dollar City.  Our church participates in Operation Christmas Child and received some complimentary tickets because of that participation. 

There is free parking at the SDC.  The free parking is a good ways from the Silver Dollar City entrance, but there is a shuttle from the free parking  that will take you right up to the entrance.  Because we saved on the ticket fees, we decided to pay $15 to park closer and walk to the entrance.  That sounds like a good idea until you have to walk to the entrance.  

It’s not too far to walk but it is up hill..  And it was hot . . .  seriously hot.  It was not a pretty sight – me huffing and puffing and sweating profusely – but I made it.  Those children of mine were skipping practically up the hill.  I may have hated them a little bit.

 

Shane had to make a face.

Once inside the park, the boys became focused on finding the rides.  The very first ride they did was the American Plunge which was basically them sitting in a log and plunging down a steep hill into water.  

Silver Dollar City describes it as a “float trip with a soaking 5 story splash down at 35 mph.”  Ha! Dave rode the ride with the boys and they all got soaked.

 This was Shane’s favorite ride.

Soaking wet, but happy.

Getting wet at the beginning of our day was probably not the smartest idea.  LoL.  

Soaking wet, and not happy.

Because they were already wet, we decided to ride all the water rides first.  We were headed to the rafting ride called ”Lost River of the Ozarks” when we came upon the “Fire in the Hole” ride.  Dave and the boys decided to ride it first.   Here's a video of the ride that Dave took when they were on it.

Because it’s basically an indoor roller coaster and I don’t do roller coasters, I sat by the ride’s exit and waited on them.  When the boys came out, Dave said he wasn’t doing any more rides where you get wet.  Apparently, there is a part of that ride where water is squirted on you.  LoL.

Before we got to the water rapids ride, we came across the RiverBlast which is described as “Silver Dollar City’s exciting, all-out water war down a river channel – the boats are armed with soakers, as are the spectators on shore!”  

I agreed to ride it with the boys not realizing that the people around the wall of the ride could shoot water at us!  I got completely soaked on this ride.  And getting squirted repeatedly by strangers in the face with water is not as much fun as you would think.  Ha!

 

My hair was a mess after getting squirted repeatedly with water.

We moved on finally to the “Lost River of the Ozarks”  or the whitewater rapids ride.  I loved it.  I was already completely soaked so it didn’t matter how much more water splashed on me.  We actually got back in line and rode it twice!  Here's a video of part of our ride.

 At this point we decided to stop and eat lunch.  We chose the Riverside Ribhouse.  I didn’t like it.  We got the hickory smoked half chicken and a full slab of baby back ribs with the sides, and split it between us all.  I didn’t like the hickory smoke flavor in the chicken and the ribs were tough to eat.  It was probably my least favorite food we ate on our entire vacation.  The boys and Dave may have liked it.  I don’t know.  I thought it was yuck.  :D

After lunch we rode an assortment of rides.  The boys talked me into riding the “Fire in the Hole” indoor roller coaster. 

Me and the boys waiting to ride Fire in the Hole.

They actually tricked me by telling me it wasn’t much of a roller coaster.  Once I was strapped in and the ride was moving, Zach looked at me and said, “Momma, we lied about the roller coaster.”  It is dark on the ride.  You can't see a lot of what's happening on the ride. At first, it’s not much to it, but then there are 3 big roller coaster dips in the dark which makes them more frightening because you can’t see what’s going on.  The boys loved it. They rode it again, this time without me! 

While at Branson, we rode the Train which is a steam engine train but it has open air cars so it didn’t feel like a train.

 

Alex was mad because he didn't want to ride the train.  lol

Having fun!

It was still fun to ride through the park and they had a cute little skit midway with train robbers.

Dave and the boys rode the Elephant March which is geared more to little children, but it’s a traditional ride for my family. 

The boys loved that ride at Dollywood when they were smaller, and we had to ride it over and over again.  When I saw it at SDC, I knew the boys had to ride it just once.   They got off the ride laughing about it being a kiddie ride. 

We rode the Fire Spotter which was the hot air balloon ride.  It looked harmless.  I almost got sick.  No lie.  Going round and round was a little more nauseating than I expected.  Watch the video and listen to Dave.  lol

Zach and Shane weren’t interested in riding the big roller coasters, and Alex wasn’t going to ride it by himself, so they settled for riding the smaller version called the Grand Exposition Coaster.  They rode it several times.

I was very resistant to most of the rides because I don’t like going up too high on rides.  I did ride the Racing Regatta with the boys.  It was fun . . . extremely fast, but fun.

The Mighty Galleon looked harmless, but actually proved to be pretty scary for me.  The boys loved it.  I was ready to get off when it finally stopped.

I love Shane's expression in this picture.

The Royal Tea Party was basically the spinning tea cup ride, and Zach, Shane, and I enjoyed it.  Zach and Shane kept it spinning so fast and furious that I had to keep my eyes closed for the entire ride, but they loved spinning it fast while I was screaming.  Lol

The Electro Spin was the only ride that wasn’t really liked by all.  Alex, Shane and I were going to ride it together, but at the last minute, I backed out.  

After the ride started, I could tell by Shane’s face that he did not like the ride at all.  It was a horrible situation to watch his face and not be able to stop the ride.  

Afterwards, he told me the back of the seat comes up and secures them to the ride, and his seat was pressing so hard on his back, he couldn’t breathe!  My poor baby.  Alex rode it again by himself while Shane, Zach, and I rode the spinning teacup ride.  So beware the Electro Spin ride. 

We stayed until Silver Dollar City closed, but before we left, Shane, Zach and Alex rode the American Plunge ride one more time.  It was Shane’s favorite ride, and after his bad experience on the Electro Spin, we all wanted him to get to ride his favorite ride one more time.  Who cares if they get soaking wet again?!? 

 

I tried to get one last picture with Shane smiling, and he makes a weird smile.  Little boys!

We rode many of the rides several times, and there are some rides I didn't write about on here.  The post was getting too long!  There's lots of shows and entertainment there as well, but my boys weren't interested in that!

We googled the best places to eat in Branson that have a gluten-free menu and found a place called Pasghetti’s Italian Restaurant.  Zach has been having some stomach issues so we are trying to cut gluten out of his diet and see if that helps any.  His favorite meal is spaghetti or lasagna, and cutting out gluten has limited his intake of these favorite foods. 

 

Yes, that's a fork coming out of my head - not!  lol

Pasghetti’s is a very cool place.  The inside walls look like a city street with businesses and billboards.  They have a working ferris wheel upstairs too. 

It looks like the meatball is in the back of the pickup truck!  lol

The outside of Pasghetti’s is unique.  There is a giant meatball with a fork stuck in it on the front sidewalk of the restaurant.  You can literally walk through the meatball. 

Zach was able to get a big bowl of gluten free spaghetti with his favorite marinara.  

Look Momma! I ate it all!

He didn’t care one bit that he couldn’t eat the breadsticks the server brought us because his pasta dish was so good.

After eating lots and lots of delicious food at Pasghetti’s, we headed back to our hotel to rest up for day 3 of our road trip vacation.

Silver Dollar City was a blast for 

                  the Ferrell boys and me! 

Ferrell Family Vacation Road Trip 2017

We headed out on our annual family road trip on the very last day of June.

I started early trying to get all the clothes washed and packed for the trip.  Dave had to work nights the week we were leaving, and his plan was to leave Friday morning when he got off from working Thursday night shift around 6:30 in the morning.  I envisioned staying up all night packing, but sleep won out. 

We still managed to get everything loaded and ready to leave by 9:30 Friday morning.  WIN!

Waiting on Dave to join us!  We are ready to go!

We almost always stop at Waffle House to eat breakfast/lunch on the first day of our trip and this year’s road trip was no exception. 

West Point Waffle House

I never really feel like we have made any head way on our road trips until we leave the state of Mississippi.  About 2:13 p.m., we crossed the Tennessee state line, and the Ferrell Family Road Trip had officially begun.  :-D 

It was raining heavily when we pulled over to take a picture of the Tennessee road sign.  We usually get out and take a picture in front of the sign, but not in the rain!

Crossing the Tennessee river bridge into Arkansas only heightened our excitement about our first destination – Branson, Missouri.  

Dave and I had switched out driving.  

Quick take a selfie with me!

We didn’t realize that the road the GPS had sent us on had a 45 MPH speed limit!  Nevertheless, we saw some beautiful country traveling through Arkansas and the Ozark Mountains.

Starting to see some mountains!

So cool seeing where they cut through the mountains for the roads!

A huge lake!

We arrived in Missouri around 8 o’clock Friday night.  After checking into our hotel, we headed out to eat at the Steak & Shake for supper before hitting the sack.  We stayed at the Green Gable Inn in Branson, and it was a really nice motel for a reasonable price.

Silver Dollar City was on the agenda for Saturday and it opens at  9 o’clock.  I’m the kind of person that likes to get there when the place opens and stay until it closes – which makes for a long day.  Dave is not so much into spending all day anywhere except maybe in bed or on the couch!  We were so excited about going to Silver Dollar City.  We had watched several videos on youtube about the rides, and the boys were ready to get there. 

Oh the fun and excitement that Branson and Silver Dollar City has in store for . . . 

                        the Ferrell boys and me . . . .

Bedroom Make-over : Alex's Bedroom

I've been re-doing each of the boys' bedrooms.  Alex was my last one to do, and I had purchased everything I needed to do the makeover.  My only problem in getting started was Alex and his messy room.  

I had told Alex that I wouldn't start on his room until he cleaned it up.  Nana came over one day and helped him get it straightened.  I bought the paint.  And then it was wrecked again.  LoL.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I coerced my daddy into helping me paint Alex's room.  Alex chose a military theme for his room so I picked out a medium dark green for his walls.  With my daddy's help, I got Alex's room painted and ready to decorate.

I positioned Alex's bed in front of his bedroom window. That's the one wall we haven't ever put his bed, and he wanted something different.  He's grinning big because I swapped out his mattress and boxspring with mine and Dave's old mattress and boxspring.  It was only a couple of years old, and we hated it.  The boys thought our mattress was awesome.  We hated it.  Dave surprised me on Christmas eve with a new mattress and boxspring.  Alex immediately asked for our old one.  He got it.  Now I have his old mattress and boxspring leaning against the wall in my dining room.  LoL.  

After positioning his bed in front of his window, I hung some camouflage army netting over the window.

The netting has a green side and a brown side.  Alex and I decided to hang it with the brown side showing to provide some contrast with the green walls.

I had taken some of Dave's military items, such as, dog tags, patches, medals, etc, and put them in shadowboxes to display in Alex's room.  

We hung them to the right of Alex's window.  I had ordered some military vinyl cut-outs from Amazon a few months ago, and we put some of those around the shadowboxes.

I bought a lamp and lampshade at dollar general and some military figures at Walmart (I think).

I sat down with a glue gun and creatively glued the little plastic figures to the lamp.

We hung the plane and helicopter from the lampshade.

Alex loved his lamp.  :-D  And it helped to complete that corner of his room.

We hung the rest of the vinyl stickers, the army flag, and other items I've collected.

Portrait of a happy boy.  

I've still have some more to do to finish his room, but I got a lot done this weekend.  Alex wants me to camouflage a couple of his walls.  :-/  I'm not too eager to start that project.

Until then, I'll be patching the walls and touching up the paint in Shane and Zach's rooms.  These boys of mine are rough on the walls in my house.  LoL.

But that's what it's like when you live with 

 . . . .the Ferrell boys and me!