How2Day: Things to Do in Branson, MI

Branson, known as the "Live Music Show Capital of the World" for its more than 50 performance theaters, is a small city nestled near the Ozark Mountains in southeast Missouri. Besides live music, Branson also offers a multitude of activities and attractions such as lakes, golf courses, theme parks and museums. Branson is home to only about 7,500 permanent residents but the town hosts nearly 8 million visitors and tourists every year.

Branson offers visitors their choice of more than 100 different live shows, featured in more than 50 live performance theaters. Many shows run morning, noon and night throughout the year. Take a trip back to the decade of bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye t-shirts, The Beatles and Motown at the "#1 Hits of the 60s" show at Caravelle Theatre.

This show, which runs yearly from March to December, uses song, dance and period costumes to take visitors through the moments in popular culture and politics that defined the 1960s. Other shows of interest include "Legends in Concert" which features celebrity impersonators and "Motown Downtown" which features musicians singing songs by Motown stars like The Supremes, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations.

Celebrate over 50 years of adventure at Silver Dollar City, a theme park featuring six festivals, 30 rides and attractions, 40 live entertainment shows daily, 60 unique craft shops and a variety of family-friendly places to eat and shop. Silver Dollar City, which is based on the theme of 1880s Ozarks culture, has more than 100 craftsmen on hand to teach visitors a variety of disciplines including the arts of candle making, candy making, glass blowing and pottery. Families may also enjoy spending the day together driving go-karts and bumper cars, playing mini golf and laser tag or riding the 100-foot tall "Skycoaster" at The Track Family Fun Parks.

Visit one of the three lakes in the Branson (Bull Shoals, Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock Lake) to enjoy a day of swimming, fishing, hiking, boating, scuba diving or water skiing. You can also camp or rent boats at Table Rock Lake. Board a Jeep-drawn tram to take a group tour through Fantastic Caverns, one of Missouri's thousands of known caves. Visitors can experience thousands of cave formations, cave pearls and a variety of animals that call the cave home. Adults and children can also climb aboard their favorite horse or pony to enjoy the scenic views on a one-hour trail ride at Big Cedar Stables.

Get up-close and personal with wax versions of your favorite celebrities at the only wax museum in the country that is devoted entirely to celebrity figures, the Hollywood Wax Museum. The Hollywood Wax Museum features wax figures of a number of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Jamie Foxx and Johnny Depp.

Relive the last hours of the tragic voyage aboard the Titanic at the Titanic Museum, a two-story museum attraction shaped like famous ship. When entering the ship, visitors are given a boarding pass with the name and class of an actual Titanic passenger to relieve how they spent their last moments. Once on the ship, visitors can view the more than 400 artifacts on display that were left behind by passengers.

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