What are some must do?  Good dining suggestions welcomed.

Go somewhere else, that would be my suggestion.  At least go to the lake and stay off the strip.  I hate Branson with a passion.  


Have fun!

I've never eaten there, but they say The Candlestick Inn is pretty good for an upscale dinner.

Branson's not really my thing either, though I have to go there for work sometimes. If I were forced to spend several days there on vacation, I'd try to play as much golf as possible.

Another option would be to sneak over to the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas and spend a day floating.

ETA: I assume you've looked at the official visitor's web site: http://www.explorebranson.com

Yep-checked out the site.  Branson wasn't my choice but either I agreed to go there or we would end up staying in Vinita, OK.  Guess I will go hang out at the lake and Bass Pro
 Would like to find some good comfort food since I will be there for 4 days.  I will have a car.  Keep the suggestions coming.  Thanks.

Any gun stores within the area to check out?

Hate is such a strong word, but then again he is a lawyer.........

does somebody not like lawyers.

thats not very nice i think we should tell the mod!

If it's comfort food you're looking for, make sure you stop at Lamberts when you go up to Bass Pro. Nothing says home like throwed rolls . . . .

Lamberts is on the list

Make sure you strap on the ole feed bag it large portions with free seconds thirds or whatever it takes to get full, plus they bring around sides for free too. I live a little south of them and go to eat there when I want a good filling meal. There rolls are the best around too. Or if you want to eat in branson go to the out back its not the chain but a real good place to eat thats in branson, its on the strip and its a little bit pricey but not to bad. as far as things to do if you are into shows then its pretty boring. Ripley's is ok thats about it. table rock is ok too, but if you dont have jet ski's or a boat that is pretty boring too. down town branson at the landing there is some shopping and there is a smalll bass pro there. other then that theres not much else. I grew up going to branson a lot so I know the area but to each his own right.

There's a pretty impressive firearms collection at the Ralph Foster Museum on the College of the Ozarks campus. In fact, it's one of the better gun collections I've seen on display –– not as good as the NRA's national museum or the Rock Island Arsenal, but damn good. All old timey stuff (no black rifles) but good nonetheless.

If you like roller coasters, there's a couple of good ones in Branson. Celebration City has a nice wooden roller coaster and the one at Silver Dollar City isn't bad. As for Silver Dollar City, yeah, it's hokey, but I'd probably rather go there than a lot of other theme parks. At least there you can watch genuine craftsmen at work and there are some food options that a bit better than the usual theme park fare.

If you head up to Springfield, there's a small family-owned show cave called Crystal Cave. It's kind of off the beaten path and it's probably not as impressive as some caves, but it's worth a stop. The real attraction is the 80-something year old man who takes you on the tour. He opened several of the areas of the cave himself and was still hauling rock and dirt out of there by the bucketfull when I visited him a couple of years ago. For all I know, he may be dead by now, but if not, it's worth a visit.

Between Vinita and Branson, check out  this place: http://www.redoakiimissouri.com/  It's been a bunch of years since I've been there but it was kind of interesting back then. I think a lot has changed though . . .

I think Celebration City is closed.

^What he said for the most part.  Branson is hokey at best.  I lost interest in the "shows" when I hit the double digit age group but growing up we had a cabin on the lake and I would spend at least a weekend or two every year in Branson.  Table Rock is a good lake, plenty of camp grounds, boat rentals etc.  I'll be on the lake this weekend.

Grove

Well, that didn't last long!

Lonestar in Springfield is a great place to eat.  Also, the show and meal at Dixies Stampede is pretty good.  I haven't done it yet but the Steamboat ride and dinner on Table Rock also looks like a good time.  There's a few good caves around Branson including the one at Silver Dollar City.  I noticed a little pawn shop just across the street from BassPro a couple weeks ago that was advertising Bushys, DPMS, RRA, etc but didn't have time to stop there.

Starting to sound promising.

There's two pawn shops within a block of BPS that carry quite a few guns. Loftis Pawn is one block north of Sunshine & Campbell (the back of the store faces Bass Pro) off a side street. One block east of Campbell there's a pawn shop that is mostly guns. I think it's called Gunslinger or something like that. If you get to Wendy's you've gone too far. There's a pawn/gun shop at the corner of Division and Glenstone that I often stop at. I think maybe it's called Gunsmoke.

Great thread, we will be in Branson the 1st of July with the boys as they want to see the Roy Rogers museum and Silver Dollar City.

Nice.....will be checking them out.  Thanks to all for the suggestions.  Keep em coming.

There's also a lot of miniature golf and go karts.  I'm not so much into all the country music shows but here are 3 others that sound entertaining to me:  Yakov Schmirnoff, he'll make you laugh and cry at the same time,  (i've seen this one a couple times),  Jimmy Stafford, (comic) and Shoji Tabushi, (acrobats), are 2 others I haven't seen yet.  But actually though, one of the best times I ever had there was watching Lewis whip the piss outta Tyson years ago on closed circuit TV at one of the local bars.