Heading there next month--looks like the place is a shell of what it used to be?  Any advice on yes/no stops in town and about a 3 hour drive would be useful.

There are a few guns tore but in my opinion they are a bit overpriced...

The only shop I like to visit down there now is the Ralph Lauren Polo shop and the Oakly Store in the big mall....

It really just depends on what you are into.
There was a really big liquor store, like Walmart sized, I found a few harder to find Tequilas and a few other bottles that caught my eye...

Try to catch the Sunday brunch at College of the Ozarks.

Thank you all for responding, it seems like a lot of the stuff that we talked about no longer have shows there.

Ozark Shooters, about 10 miles north, has two sporting clays courses. South course is a ton of fun, the North course will determine how good you are with distant and difficult targets.

Table Rock lake for water fun. Go in the morning(pontoon, jet ski, etc) to avoid rough water. Rent from state park marina if you want decent equipment. If you want to rent worn-out broken-down junk there are others on the lake.

I enjoy what used to be called the Dixie Stampede. Kind of a family place. Get tickets in advance a couple of days.

Thank you for letting me know!  My outdoors activities are a bit restricted, 3 months into shoulder rehab....

I took my family to Dixie Stampede a couple of years ago and it was a great show.  My young kids enjoyed it.

Head north on 65 to Springfield and check out Bass Pro Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium + the NRA Museum.
It's the nicest aquarium I've ever seen.

https://wondersofwildlife.org/

Keep adding replies all!!! I think you, less than two weeks now.

I was there this weekend. My wife wanted a weekend getaway.  We went to the titanic museum. It was ok. It was for her. We went to the movie in Ozark to see horizon.  As far as food, we went to billy bob's dairyland, great burger and shake. Went to two barbeque joints. Went to danas it was ok, not as good as I make at home but better than chain restaurants. The last day before we left we went to gettin basted. Probably the best barbecue I have had from a restaurant. I had ribs and my wife had burnt ends. I highly recommend it if you like BBQ.

oOH-I am ALWAYS up for some good Q~

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Try to avoid fall creek steak and catfish at all costs  Steak you could not cut with a chainsaw and catfish nice and crisp on the outside and raw in the middle.  The food at the Stampede was pretty good. Paula Deans down on the landing was pretty good  Best fried chicken I have ever eaten.

I rented a pontoon boat and dragged the family around the lake on a tube for 6 hours.  The next day my wife and son-in-law rode the grandkids around on a couple of their jet skis. State Park Marina is family-owned and runs most professionally. The equipment is one or two years old.

This all happened last week. Get on the water early. By noon the wake boats and cruisers and the number of boats make the lake less pleasant.

Thanks--we leave here on Friday, boss wants to spend a day in St. Louis (she wants to ride the Arch) and mosey on over.

Also, booked College of the Ozarks Brunch (at 1:30 my time....)

Gettin Basted is so good. My wife asks once a month if we can drive down to Nixa or Branson to get it

I've been to Gettin Basted two times and the first time was pretty good, the second time was very meh.  When we went at dinner time the food was much better than when we went close to opening right after the Titanic exhibit (go there as early as possible if you go). I'm not saying don't go there, but just temper your expectations.

Lunch at the Pickin Porch Grill inside the antique mall is decent.  Also, Little Hacienda has really good Tex Mex.  Pretty random, but if your wife likes cats, Mochas and Meows is a good spot to grab a coffee and play with some cats for a little bit.

The golf cart tour at Top of Rock is definitely worth doing.  

Not sure if you're looking to do some shooting, or just things to do for entertainment.

If it's entertainment, there's no shortage of things to do in Branson. Sight N Sound theater has an excellent show, I think it's currently Esther. Of course there's all the mini golf, arcades, go karts and other places, Titanic, Showboat Branson Belle, Silver Dollar City, fishing and golf and tours, etc. Great dining. Head 40 mins north and there's various caverns, Lamberts, Wonders of Wildlife/NRA museum/Bass Pro.

Stampede now has a walkthrough metal detector. FYI

We just did the golf cart tour in February.

While I wasn't all that excited for it I wound up pleasantly surprised. A nice little activity, and its promising to be developed even further.

Definite recommend.

ETA:
Wife and I enjoyed the food truck Plaza in town, fairly close to Titanic museum.

And the metal detectors at silver dollar city have never detected any of my knives, multitools, belt buckles, or any other metal.

Not promising that that's the usual, but I suspect it's just window dressing.

AAR:

Wife could not do the Arch, too claustrophobic.  Stopped at Buc-ees for gas and fudge.  Cannot recommend College of the Ozarks brunch highly enough; the gooey butter cake (?) easily one of top 3 desserts of my life.  Then went back up to Springfield, did Bass Pro.

Got good food at:  Little Hacienda, Starvin Marvins, Belgian Waffle House, Branson Cafe, Farmhouse.  Andy's and Hurts Donuts were good junk food.  Did 3 shows: Legends, Showboat, and the Haygoods--all were fine for some distraction.

Went to Eureka Springs to "take the waters" and find my wife Chocolate Gravy--nice little day trip with the totally unexpected quickie tour of Nighthawk Custom (thanks to them, great people and a tour inside the vault got my feeling weird, lol!).

Cons:  Landing was less than inspiring (plus it was 102 degrees....)
We ASSUMED it was like Vegas and you could walk anywhere--NOPE.  One day it would take us 9 minutes to drive to Place "X"--next day might be 45 minutes.

And my personal biggie is that the places I associated with Branson are all closed--Stafford, Sho, Mickey, Andy.....but that is more a function of me getting old than any fault of the area.

We rank places by; go back TOMORROW, next year, 5 years or Never.   I would put this in the 5 year rank.

Sincere THANK YOU to everyone who chipped in on this thread--we seriously took the suggestions to heart,

Sounds like a good trip.

I also got a tour or Nighthawk Customs a few years ago. Met their gunsmiths and even got to shoot a mag through one of their guns on their test range. I would love to own one but I can think of a lot of other uses for $5k.

Sounds about right.