Category: Branson

Truth Traveler VR attraction coming to Branson and Pigeon Forge

There will be a new virtual reality (or so it seems) attraction opening in Branson, Missouri later this year. It is taking over the former Andy Williams Moon River Theater. According to the always-accurate Wikipedia, Andy Williams opened that theater in 1992. According to this article at Thousands Hills, Williams performed there until 2011 when he was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away the following year.

According to an article by SJB, the property had been up for sale and was most recently purchased by Mindscape Creative. They specialize in 5-D theater attractions (the gimmicky name for having 3-D or VR movies that feature things like moving seats, scenes, or in-theater effects such as wind and such).

Per their press release:

Time Travel is making its way to the former Andy Williams Moon River Theater in Branson, MO, with Truth Traveler, a virtual reality ride and attraction developed by the acclaimed Ark Encounter and Mindscape Creative. Mindscape Creative, known for their expertise in blending cutting-edge technology with captivating narratives, has worked with the Ark Encounter to bring Truth Traveler to life at their Kentucky location and is also developing it for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

– Truth Traveler Press Release

Ark Encounter is an attraction located in Kentucky that opened in 2016. It features a “life sized” replica of what the biblical Noah’s Ark could have been like.

Unsurprisingly, with their involvement, Truth Traveler is also a bible-inspired attraction.

From the look of some of the concept art, it reminds me of early EPCOT at Walt Disney World.

The images hint of what may be a pre-show, or other exhibit within the attraction.

Several characters have been created for the attraction, including The Inventor, P.O.D. and Rae:

Truth Traveler – The Inventor
Truth Traveler – POD
Truth Traveler – Rae

Although some of the concept art makes it look like a fully immersive ride environment…

…other images reveal that may just be what you see while sitting in a less-themed room and wearing a V.R. helmet:

Of interest, it looks like they are using HTC VIVE V.R. helmets (you can buy consumer versions of those to use at home) and the MX4D movie theater seats (we have those at one of our local theaters here in Des Moines, Iowa). As such, the experience may only be unique for those who have never tried V.R. before, and do not regularly watch movies in moving theater seats. (And we actually have two theater chains in Des Moines with different brands of moving seats, in theaters that feature effects such as wind, smells, etc.)

Hopefully, the storyline will be compelling, as well as any exhibits/pre-shows/etc. to make this stand out from the various other 5-D theater experiences found in Branson already.

And, for those looking for a more Christian-based positive message, the movie alone may be an attraction. For those less interested in that type of messaging, perhaps one of the several other attractions that let you blast zombies or aliens will be more interesting.

Since Branson is just a “short drive” down the road from where I am, I do expect to drive down and check out this new attraction when it opens. At that point, I hope to add new photos to the Branson photo gallery as well as VR images and movies to my Branson in VR projects.

More to come…

Silver Dollar City “An Old Time Christmas”

The Disney/MGM Studios was epic at Christmas time when it had the “Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights”, but that has been gone for years. If you want a Christmas light fix, check out Silver Dollar City in Missouri. They basically said “hold my (root) beer” (no alcohol in the park, you see) and put up 6.5 million lights — more than what the Disney display had.

Photos from this event have been added to the Theme Parks gallery:

http://themeparks.disneyfans.com/SilverDollarCity/index.html

I have also been posting VR/360 photos to my Park Hopping in VR Facebook page and VR/360 videos to my Park Hopping in VR YouTube channel.

Explore!

World’s Largest Toy Museum?

In Branson, Missouri is a building claiming to be the World’s Largest Toy Museum. I do not know if this is truly accurate, but after visiting, I can say this place certainly is the largest collection of toys I am aware of 😉

https://worldslargesttoymuseum.com

The facility opened around 2001 (it is unclear on the website when the actual year was, only that they moved to Branson that year). It was initially one building, then in 2015, they expanded in to the building next door. That building also has a lower floor accessible from the outside, so I refer to it as the third building.

As I go to write this, I now see there is the original building – World’s Largest Toy Musem – and the second building is called The Memory Barn. This explains the charge on my credit card I was trying to figure out.

My gallery now has aver 500 photos taken in the museum — and that barely (BARELY) scratches the surface of what all is in these three buildings. While I was there, I also took over 100 VR360 photos, which I will eventually get posted to a gallery on the Branson in VR Facebook group.

You can check out my photos here:

http://misc.disneyfans.com/OtherPlaces/Missouri/Branson/Branson2024/ToyMuseum/index.html

There are other things new to the Branson section, so explore a bit if you are Branson-curious.

Until next time…

In VR…

As I began sorting nearly 200 VR video and photo files from a recent trip, I decided maybe I should find a place to upload them. So…

For other VR photographers and videographers, I have also set up some similar Facebook Groups so we can all share our work:

Logos by Tanjalin.

More Branson photos…

More photos have been added to the Misc (“Other Places”) photo gallery:

There are now over 26,000 photos in this gallery. New additions include:

  • Branson Treehouse Adventure – tour the “Captain’s Quarters” treehouse.
  • Branson Landing – including the water and fire show designed by W.E.T. (former Walt Disney Imagineer, if I recall).
  • Showboat Branson Belle – Built in 1995 (?), this large paddle boat cruises Table Rock Lake while visitors dine and watch a live music/dancing stage show.
  • Retromania – revisiting their New Wave Cafe.
  • Flaming Margarita’s – both the original Mexican food location, and the American Kitchen restaurant. These are hidden gems in the area, with top notch service and food offerings — a very surprising find.
  • Downtown Branson – check out Farmhouse Restaurant, establishedin the 1970s.
  • Billy Gail’s – a phenomenal “Southern cooking” eatery. Sweet tea, fried okra, and 14″ pancakes!
  • …and more.

Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in VR

Here is 10 minutes of VR 360 video from Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, MO. You can look left, right, up, down and even behind you from various locations.

4/28/2024

This video was recorded using an Insta360 X4. It was set to 8K mode using all automatic settings. This should give folks an idea of what the quality is like “out of the box” without making any adjustments.

NOTE: YouTube appears to downsize the video to 4K 🙁

Lambert’s Cafe in Ozark, Missouri

Updates:

  • 2024-04-29 – Added video.

When I first moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 1995, locals started telling me about a restaurant in town where they would “pour a shake on your head.” That place was Stella’s Blue Sky Diner which had two locations operating back then, but today is long out-of-business.

But not because they “poured a shake on your head.”

Somewhere along the lines, I heard about a restaurant that was famous for “throwing dinner rolls at you.” I was never curious enough to look in to where and what this restaurant was since I assumed it would be another play-on-words like at Stella’s.

However… I have no been there, and now I know what “throw a dinner roll at you” actually means.

Coming soon to a blog near you…

Branson, Missouri’s tourist trap attractions – introduction

My grandparents took me to Branson, Missouri back in 1984. That Branson was a very different place than the Branson that exists today. Although the amusement park Silver Dollar City did exist, Branson was mostly focused on live entertainment – music venues, stage shows and such. Many big name country stars had theaters there, or would have later.

Today, most of the big name celebrities that were once there have passed on. While there are a few namesake theaters (Dick Clark has one), others have been torn down. No more Mickey Gilley, no more Jim Stafford.

BUT, the tourist traps are alive and well. We recently drove down to Branson and took a look at some of them. Over 2300 photos will be added to my “Other Places” photo gallery, covering spots such as…

  • Beyond the Lens – A mish-mash of photo ops (selfie spots), odd displays (Bigfoot and the JFK assasination?), freeplay games, and VR. It also featured the FlyRide which was such a ripoff of Disney’s Soarin’ over California that it even used yellow straps on the seatbelts, and the movie contained scenes with hot air balloons, hang gliders, an animal jumping in to the water and a number of scenes copied from the Disney original.
  • Butterfly Palace – Larger zoos have places like this, but I had never been to one that let me “feed” the butterflies. There was also a 3-D movie, a small animal display, a rope/forest and, for some reason, a mirror maze.
  • Dolly Parton’s Stampede – No longer called the Dixie Stampede, this dinner show was in its 29th season (I believe). Dinner was served while you watched a horse/comedy/stunt show. The show was great, but there were some things that really seemed bad for an entity that’s been doing this for almost three decades.
  • Fantastic Caverns – Not actually in Branson, but about an hour away. This drive-through cavern experience was one of the best entertainment things I have ever done. It was brilliantly done and operated.
  • Hollywood Was Museum – An excellent was museum. The last time I visited one (in Dallas), you looked at the figures from behind ropes. This one had them on the floor and you could stand next to them to get photos. They even had props you could use (such as putting on a red silk robe or bunny ears to lay in bed next to Hugh Hefner). This place also had the Castle of Chaos which was a moving seat 3-D shooter game, and Hanna’s Maze of Mirrors which was an evolution of mirror mazes that surprised me – it even had a storyline.
  • Retromania – An 80’s-themed bar/cafe on one side, then an attraction on the other. While it is mostly just 80’s stuff on display on walls, there were some arcade games on freeplay, some cimena seats where you could sit and watch an 80s movie, a small 80’s-themed haunted house, an 80’s music blacklight minigolf course, and several escape rooms. Paying to do an escape room allowed access to all the rest.
  • Ripley’s Believe it or Not – I have visited Ripley’s locations in Dallas and Wisconsin Dells, so it was nice to see another variation.
  • Titanic Museum – Even though it may look like a tourist trap from the outside, with a building that looks like the Titanic hitting an iceberg, inside was a serious and well-done museum. Truly one of the most enjoyable museum experiences I have ever had.
  • …and side trips to restaurants like Starvin’ Marvins, Crazy Craigs Treehouse and the “original” Outback Steak and Oyster Bar (with signs everywhere explaining it has nothing to do with the Outback many of us have down the street back home).

As time permits, I’ll share some photo essays on the experience, with pros and cons of doing a weekend at Branson versus a theme park trip to an expensive Disney or Universal park.

Until then…