Going into a two week road trip crammed into a minivan with three boys, and knowing our family’s tendencies, we knew we had to break up the vacation into different styles. Visiting only National Parks (or any of the same thing) can get monotonous and since we are a diehard amusement park family, we like visiting some different parks if possible.
Our first go hard day involved starting driving at 5am from St Louis to Branson, Missouri to make rope-drop at Silver Dollar City. Knowing we wanted to maximize our time in the park and see and do as much as possible in one day, it meant a full day.
We arrived at Silver Dollar City at 9am and met up with my in-laws, who made the trip out and spent several days camping in the area.
Our visit was on a Sunday in June with overcast skies. Fortunately for us, it also meant crowds were really low.
We were able to get rides in on Outlaw Run, Powder Keg and the retiring Fire in the Hole dark ride.
Going into the planning to visit Silver Dollar City, we had always heard rumbling about make sure you visit the cave. Ok. Sounds intriguing. Most be some small artificial exhibit.
Wow were we wrong. What guests see on the surface an amusement or theme park literally only scratches the surface.
Silver Dollar City Marvel Cave
Marvel Cave is an epic and monstrous underground cave system taking about an hour to visit and descends 500 feet below the surface. Plus the end of the tour involves taking an epic old fashioned cable train back to the surface.
While theme park is great, Marvel Cave is simply a hidden gem and was easily one of our favorite parts of the visit.
The afternoon got us rides on Time Traveler and The Flooded Mine dark ride in addition to the train and various other smaller attractions that add a lot of character to the park.
Silver Dollar City Peach Cinnamon Bread
Most guests to Silver Dollar City (and Dollywood) rave about the cinnamon bread, and for good reason. The park freshly bakes hundreds of loaves per day. We opted for a standard version and another one topped with peaches. OMG! Absolutely fantastic! Honestly, we thought the Silver Dollar City bread was better than that served at Dollywood. So good.
Rain settled in for later afternoon, stalling our efforts to get in as many rides as possible. Fortunately it allowed us to try some of the great specialty food items and take in the environment that makes it second to none and absolute beautiful park.
Unfortunately, Silver Dollar City closed this day at 7pm, meaning no late night rides. Maybe it was for the better to preserve our energy, but odd summer hours to close so early. Maybe we are just spoiled with Cedar Fair properties typically staying open until later in the evening most nights.
Branson Accommodations
Since we planned our trip a year in advance, we were able to secure a stay at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations: Holiday Hills Resort Branson for a two bedroom villa.
A single night cost us 40,000 IHG points, but it was one of the few times we ever get stay at a vacation club property and we knew it could easily accommodate five of us.
Since we were only staying one night, we did not get to fully take in the resort and Branson, but the kids did get to try out the large pool and we took the opportunity to take advantage of the laundry facilities.
Overall the Holiday Hills Resort Branson more than met our family needs and we were able to continue on our journey westward. The layout of the rooms were a bit weird with a shower right next to the bed with no wall, but fortunately it was only one night.
This resort we were very fortunate to book a room 10 months out (August 2022), as availability for our same room was non-existent for most the year leading up to the trip. The odd thing is though the complex was mostly empty during our stay, as we were the only ones in our building and the adjacent houses also appeared to have very few people.
Overall we were glad we got to try out the Holiday Hills Resort Branson, but it definitely is not somewhere we need to stay again as we expected a little more for the price point.
Daily miles driven- 250 miles
Accommodations Cost- free
Theme park tickets- free (gift from in-laws)
Continue reading about our journey below.
Just like our 2019 National Park Road Trip, we will break down the trip each day in separate posts as highlighted below.
Epic Road Trip: National Park Tour (Part 1)
Epic Road Trip: Cleveland to St Louis (Part 2)
Epic Road Trip: Silver Dollar City (Part 3)
Epic Road Trip: Rt 66 to Texas (Part 4)
Epic Road Trip: Texas Surprises to Santa Fe (Part 5)
Epic Road Trip: Four Corners and Arches National Park (Part 6)
Epic Road Trip: Canyonlands National Park (Part 7)
Epic Road Trip: Capitol Reef National Park (Part 8)
Epic Road Trip: Bryce Canyon National Park (Part 9)
Epic Road Trip: Zion National Park (Part 10)
Epic Road Trip: Knott’s Berry Farm (Part 11)
Epic Road Trip: Universal Studios Hollywood (Part 12)
Epic Road Trip: Meow Wolf Las Vegas (Part 13)
Epic Road Trip: Worlds of Fun (Part 14)
Epic Road Trip: Trip Wrap Up (Part 15)
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