I personally really like Branson, and have been going there annually for most of my life. My family and I have Silver Dollar City season passes, and its a fun little amusement park. Depending on what time of the year you come, there are different themes out at SDC. If you are there during the Fall, its Harvest; if during Nov/Dec, its Christmas. Both are neat, but during the Christmas season, they go all out with lights and such. It might be cheesy, but I like it
Branson Landing is a newer mall area that has hotels and some "upper" scale chain restaurants (Joes Crab Shack, Macaroni Grill, Cantina Laredo, etc). There are several stores, and there is a Bass Pro Shop at one end. Fun little place to check out 1 evening. Each night, in the middle of the mall area, there is an "end of the day" water show that is fun to watch. There is also a Tanger outlet, which is pretty good - as well as a couple of other outlets, that have only a few stores - but if you like those store they are good. There is an Amish Store that I personally like to go to, because its a little different.
Shows - I really don't do the shows (but I have young children). If you really want to do a show, I would say Shoji (
http://www.shoji.com/) is the way to go. It used to be pretty hard to get tickets directly from them, but it may be easier now (?). My husband remembers going up there and seeing him. I also liked the Haygoodes when they were at SDC (its a large family of kids who all play the fiddle), and would consider going to that show.
Other things to do - this is probably another cheesy thing to do, but there is a trout fish hatchery in town that is right next to Table Rock Dam. You can buy food for a quarter and feed trout that are being raised to stock Missouri Lakes. The Core of Engineers also has a visitors center, and they are currently building a new one - so that is also a thing you can go see (and its free
). Another "cheesy" thing is to Ride the Ducks - it will take you around Branson and show you all sorts of things.
I will say that many times you will want to stay off of 76 ("The Strip") as much as possible. It can get backed up, especially right before shows and sometimes other times of the day. There are several "back ways" around Branson, and they are color coded. Make sure and get a map and you will be all good
I guess I would take the "When in Branson" approach to all the cheesy/hillbilly type things that are there
Enjoy your trip!