Friends gave us a week timeshare for free.  Only place we could get into in 2018 was an RCI “resort” in December ber.
 Looks like a standard  apartment type place.  Not very “resorty”.
 Wife and our four kids, looking for mostly low cost things to do.  Were not into fishing or music shows, although Dixie Stampede and Samson look OK.
 Planning on Springfield one day for bass pro etc

Silver Dollar City during the Christmas season is amazing. The number of lights is mind boggling, and theres no lines for the coasters

Not really sure about winter stuff...... Eureka Springs Arkansas is about an hour away. Way better than Springfield, MO in terms of vacation stuff. Lots of info online about what to do. It's kind of an old timey downtown with shops, good food, etc.  If there is snow on the ground remember you are in the Ozarks..... lots of steep grades to drive on. I'm sure being from up north you will do fine.

Lots of caves to explore in the area too. Which would be nice to get out of the cold.

Dixie stampede is cool and my kids loved it but it isn't the place to go if you are wanting affordable entertainment. I think it was around $60 per person.

Grand Country Inn has an indoor water park that is open year round for about $18 per person. Grand Country also has an amazing pets show that was surprisingly very good. I think they have a family ticket pack.  I sprung for the "vip" seats so we could be in the first couple of rows and I think it was worth it. The Grand Country buffet is average to below average.

SDC is simply amazing with the lights and the smells at Christmas time.  Just a great place to enjoy being together, have a hot chocolate and get in the spirit. You can get a two day ticket for $70 on reserve Branson dot com. If on your first day you don't enter the park untill 7:00 p.m., you can go the next day and it only counts as one of your two days. You then have to use your "second day" within two more days I belive.

Plenty of good places to eat. Indoor mini golf, and there is a new indoor adventure park of some sort. I can't remember the name.

Thanks for the responses!

Are any of the trip planning places cheaper than arranging on your own?

Pretty much anything free was added, then we'll manage a paid event once a day for five days.  I don't think we'll have time to do anything twice.

I'm torn on Silver Dollar City, it seems really expensive and I'm not sure our 4 year old could handle much walking there with the hills, but we'll have the stroller.

Kids voted for Samson and Titantic or Ripley's, which of those two museums is a better value in your opinion?

Very interested in the best cave tours for our family, we're thinking the top of the Rock at Big Cedar, but if we do SDC, we'd have to skip it.

Oh yeah, my family is mom, dad, (48 yo)  and kids 4, 7, 10, 11 1/2.

Last year we saw a pretty good Christmas production of the Nativity at a big, nice theater there, can't remember the name.

In Springfield at the main Bass Pro Shop there is a very nice NRA museum with some really cool items in it, including movie guns.  Definitely worth the trip.  There is also a nice aquarium there, not just the usually bass and trout stuff, but a full on aquarium that is supposed to be good.  Silver Dollar City is fun, the kids will like it.

If you go to the Pea Ridge Battle Field in Arkansas, stop at the Daisy Airgun Museum. It's a small little storefront place but at the end you can buy deeply discounted airguns. Red Ryders for $15, etc.

http://www.daisymuseum.com/

Visit the Ralph Foster Museum at College of the Ozarks.

Looks like college of the ozarks has enough stuff for a day

Air gunmuseum looks great but well stay within an hour of Branson and probably only stray by going to Sprinfield to bass pro and wilson civil war battlefield

SDC has a cave too

We just got back from Branson a few days ago. We buy SDC season passes and get the water park added on, and getting to go during the winter months is a nice bonus.

I'm a bah humbug kind of guy but they really do go all out and it is worth the admission to experience it.  It will be busy and I did strollers before my little one who's now 6 was out of them and it can be a pain but the lights and no lines for the coasters make up for it.  The cave is open there year round too and pretty cool.  Ride time traveler if you can.  Great New coaster this year and worth the wait.

The hatchery is cool, and they have a neat nature section with some live snakes and some cool exhibits.  Will be a bit cold to feed the fish, but if we catch a warm spell you can go out and feed them.  Not an all day thing though.

The wonders of wildlife museum in Springfield should absolutely be experienced.  It is expensive, but we spent 5 hours in there and could of spent 5 more.  Worth every penny and Johnny spared no expense.  Truly amazing and the aquarium is pretty awesome as well.

Have kids are 6, 10, and 13.  They love SDC and said the museum at basspro are their favorites down there.

Good luck and have fun.  If you were into fishing I could set ya up as that's my main draw down there.  Taneycomo is one of the best trout fisheries in the US.

Eat at Lambert’s just south of Spfg in Ozark.   It is directly north of Branson so it will not be out of your way.  Go hungry. Cash or check only.  No credit cards.  If I recall correctly.

Samson is good, and I think Titanic is far better than Ripleys.

Listen to the KADI shopping show on line Saturday morning.  They have discount certificates for a lot of shows and restaurants in the Springfield/Branson area.  You can find some really good show or show and food specials.

Since fishing is off the list.......

A lot of good stuff has already been covered.

SDC does Christmas time well.  WOW museum next to Bass Pro is top notch.  Titanic is really good.  These are pricey, but good.

C of O has a good museum.  Inside Bass Pro is the NRA and archery museum, both are free.  Grand Country for Amazing Pet's is good, also decent buffet.

Maybe look at Smallin Civil War Cave in Ozark.

Lambert's in Ozark is okay.  Rolls are good, prices not bad, food is okay.  I live in Ozark and hit it once or twice a year when we have friends in town.

Sign up for a "Timeshare" sales pitch and they'll give you a bunch of coupons for local attractions....

They take Credit Cards now.  They must have had enough people complain.

Yup. They add a service fee.

@ChickenDaddy when are you going to Branson?  It’s a long shot but it looks like we are going down there Dec 21-23.  We have season passes to Silver Dollar City and they give out guest vouchers to pass holders.  Certain times of the year you can get guests in free or at a reduced rate.  I can’t just give these out and let you go whenever you want, the guests have to enter the park with the pass holder.  If all of the stars align and you are in town and want to go to Silver Dollar City on Friday Dec 21st, I can get you and your wife in free.

Wife and I toured the Titanic soon after it opened and we were underwhelmed.  Most people like it though so it’s probably just us.  Check Groupon for deals on stuff.  Sometimes they have deals on Titanic tickets.  We went to the Promised Land Zoo this summer through Groupon and it was a good attraction for the money.  It’s part walk through, part drive through and they have a Christmas light drive through.  Our kids 5 and 8 yrs old loved it. Seems like it was less than $50 for the four of us and we spent probably 3 hours there.

Dixie Stampede is expensive but a very good show.  When you consider that you get a very good meal with the show, it makes it more in line with prices of other shows.  We’ve been to Dixie Stampede several times and the kids love it.  I know Samson was mentioned by someone, maybe you?  I don’t want to discourage you from going but at least know what you are getting into.  It’s basically a biblical themed musical.  If that is something you think you would like, you will love it because they do it very well.  We went t9 the Sight and Sound theatre for the first time last year for The Miracle of Christmas.   It was a very good show and it is visually spectacular for a stage show with all of the different sets and live animals.  It is probably the top rated and most attended show in Branson if you are into that sort of thing.   We didn’t regret going but it also wasn’t  near the top of our favorite shows we’ve been to in Branson.  The kids were indifferent.  They liked it but one was aslepp by the end and the other was losing interest.  Neither one of us are into musicals at all, no matter what the subject is.  We can’t stand to watch them in tv and this is the first one we’ve ever seen live.  Again, most people love this show so we are the minority in our opinion of it.  Dixie Stampede can get a bit musical-like but to me, it’s much more entertaining and especially so for the kids.  It’s mostly live action with a little bit of singing and story telling.  Sight and Sound was mostly singing and story telling.

While you are at College of the Ozarks, eat at Dobyns Dining room for one meal.  It’s a little more expensive than most places but it’s excellent food.  They have a Sunday brunch buffet that is amazing.  Lunch or dinner any day of the week is also good.  Its almost all homemade and grown on site. If you are going to eat there, figure it out ahead of time and make reservations because they are almost always busy.

As others have said, the aquarium at Bass Pro is really neat.  They have two parts, the aquarium and also a wildlife museum.  It’s discounted if you do both which is what we did. We all loved it but we kind of had to rush through because the kids were getting restless towards the end.  Depending on your kids, you may want to consider only doing one.  Both parts were good but I would probably reccomed the aquarium if you only do one but you can’t go wrong either way.  I also recommend eating at Lamberts.  Someone mentioned to go there hungry which is kind of good advice.  If you are going there at noon or evening time, especially on a weekend, don’t go into it very hungry because there will be a wait and you will be starving by the time you get a table.  It’s worth the wait and once you get in, you will not go hungry.

EC, thx for the offer for SDC.  We’ll need to be back hone by then so have to take a rain check.

Also appreciate the feedback on titanic and still deciding if we’re going to spring for it—most likely will if weather is bad.

Is the only place with walk-through lights SDC?

I’m going to share with my kids how you described Dixie Stampede vs Samson.  I like the sound of Samson cuz I like live musicals and biblical history, but the meal with DS has me thinking its the best value.

Spoiler alert; this shows many of the effects, but may help you make your decision. We saw it last month, and I liked it.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/B66asntU26E[/youtube]

If you like live musicals and biblical history, I think you will love Samson.  I should elaborate, we enjoyed the show and neither of us like musicals if that tells you anything.  It just wasn’t our cup of tea and probably not something we will go back to see any time soon.  Your kids will like Samson but they will probably like Dixie Stampede better.  My brother loves the Sight and Sound theatre.  His kids are 9 and 12 and I’d say they would prefer Samson over Dixie Stampede.  DS has comedy, competitions, trick riding, singing, etc.  There’s more variety that will keep some kids more interested.  It depends on your kids but chances are your younger ones will enjoy DS better and the older ones could probably go either way.   Your best bet will be to go ahead and get tickets for the shows ahead of time.  Those two shows are probably the only two shows in town that you usually can’t but day of the show.  You can usually get tickets for them a few days ahead of time but they won’t be the best seats.   For DS, all of the seats are good but they have preferred seating that is simply closer to the arena which IMO is worth it.  For Samson, we got tickets a few days ahead of time and we’re limited to the balcony.  It was a good view and you see everything easily.  Certain times during the show they may run horses, camels, goats, etc down the aisles of the lower level.  I’ve only been once but I would imagine and aisle seat down low would be a pretty cool experience, especially for the kids.  The good seats for Samson will be gone before the good seats at DS

The only walk through Christmas lights I’m aware of are at SDC.  There are some drive through displays that are probably similar to any other drive through display you’ve been through.  There’s nothing wrong with titanic but I guess we just expected more.  With a groupon it’s relatively cheap entertainment for Branson.  Like you said, especiallyif the weather is bad.  We were there probably 10 years ago so things have probably changed in there too.