I teased it out in my Weekly Wrap-Up, but I went out of town over the weekend to spend time with my sister and family. I meet up with them in Branson to go to the theme park, Silver Dollar City. Until October 31st, the theme park is having a Harvest Festival. They decorate the park with over 1.000 pumpkins and don’t close until 9 or 10pm on the weekends. This was my first time ever going to Silver Dollar City during the fall, so I was super excited.

Friday

The forecast for the weekend was going to be hot during the day, before dropping to outright cold once the sun went down. I ended up packing a large jacket, pants, and sweaters just because I tend to get cold easier than hot and started my drive 2 hours North.

I got into town around 4pm and even though we haven’t had our time change yet, it already felt like it was later in the day.

Since Silver Dollar City didn’t close until 9, we went ahead and experienced the park dressed in orange for the first time.

The first stop once inside the park grounds is Thunderation. This ride is retiring after this season, so we have been riding it multiple times before it’s gone! I think the last time we were here, my sister Annistyn rode it at least 15 times. At night, there’s almost no wait to ride it.

We rode it a few more times before walking through the rest of the park for the next rides. There was a mix or real and fake pumpkins, and string lights of various pumpkin colors and shapes. I thought this pumpkin scarecrow was super cute.

Annistyn had gotten over her fear of the swings so I went on it with her and it was fun. I remember riding these as a kid and pretending like I was a fairy or something haha!

After that, she wanted to go on the elephant ride. It spins pretty fast, and there’s a button you can press that will raise you up in the air. Annistyn and I always try to hang on while it’s going 🤣.

You can see the sunset in the photo above, and soon after that, it got dark and the fog machines started up. My sister and I took a cute picture together before crossing this walkway. Once we hit the other side, the fog was so thick and it was actually kind of spooky! It also felt super cold once the sun went down, I was shivering through the faster rides I went on with my stepmom.

I took this photo of the lanterns once we were heading back to the condo. Seeing everything lit up was so cool. They had purple and green lights in the trees and the overall effect was perfect for Halloween.

Saturday

Last night was just the beginning, because we woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and went out for breakfast at Billy Gail’s. They’re known for their 14″ pancake and large portions. We saw the huge pancake on a table close to us and it really was ginormous! My sister got the kid’s size and even her pancake was big. I just got a side of hashbrowns, fruit, and coffee. It was very good, and my grandma and I had waitresses refilling our coffees before they had even been drank halfway! We probably drank three cups each 🤣.

After we ate, we drove next door to an Amish store and looked around. They had a ton of jams, sauces, general canned goods, and candies. No one ended up getting anything, but it’s always fun to look around.

We got back to Silver Dollar City around 10 am and got in quickly, but it was definitely more crowded this Saturday. There tended to be more people outside of the rides than in line for them, so any ride that we rode during the day wasn’t too long of a wait. My stepmom and I got to ride a few of the adult rides like Wildfire and Time Traveler, and with my sister we rode the teacups.

After my stepmom and I rode Outlaw Run, we spotted Him. The one and only Vanilla Ice was at Silver Dollar City with his family. It was funny because you had to be a certain age range to recognize him, so it wasn’t very obvious that we were in the presence of Ice Ice Baby. My dad is a big fan, and he ended up talking to him and getting a picture. His whole day was made.

My stepmom got a food pass to choose 5 different foods from their seasonal menu, so today we went around and tried some things from the different food locations. We tried a pumpkin spice cheesecake funnel cake, and I wasn’t a fan. It was way too rich and not crispy enough for me. One part just felt like dough in my mouth! My stepmom got a pumpkin spice corndog, which sounded like a nightmare lol!

I ended up with a huge bag of pumpkin spice kettle corn. No one else was a big fan, but I had been craving kettle corn before this trip so it was absolutely delicious to me! I will probably end up eating some for my treat in tomorrow’s post!

We left the park in the afternoon to decompress before dinner, and we ended up going to Mel’s Hard Luck Diner once again. It was my grandma’s first time going and it was a fun time. The waitresses and waiters take turns singing around the restaurant, and it is 1950’s themed. They sing all eras of songs though, from Disney to 80’s and pop songs.

Dad really likes their dried green beans, and they really are good! I got a veggie burger with fries, and I ate as much as I could but got stuffed before finishing all the fries. It was great.

After dinner we headed back to the park to experience it once more at nighttime. I was getting tired since I didn’t sleep well the night before, so I forgot to take any more photos. We rode some more rides, and my stepmom tried a worm dirt cake funnel cake, but I opted out of trying it. I think I’m a fan of the good old-fashioned powder sugar funnel cakes. Would you try any of the things we did? I think after this weekend I am officially pumpkin spiced out!

Full of food and down almost 20.000 steps for the day, I think everyone fell asleep fast. We packed up and left our separate ways on Sunday morning, ending another successful Branson trip! Do you enjoy Roller Coasters? I included clips of each coaster we rode linked to their names if you were curious about each one!

Thanks for reading, and I will see you all tomorrow! It is the last week of Blogtober, can you believe it?