A day in the city...

Silver Dollar City, that is.

Silver Dollar City is an amusement park in Branson.  Not a typical amusement park - oh, there are rides, and greasy food, and themes, but Silver Dollar City is also about entertainment and craftspeople.  The current theme is World Fest...

Silver Dollar City celebrates Americana, but World Fest brings other countries and cultures to the park.

It was a chilly ride to the park first thing in the morning on the scooters; nice curvy roads all the way there, though.  We were there early enough to get a good parking place (yes, they have free parking) and catch the tram that takes you from parking to the park...

We had breakfast there, before they allow people to enter the park; a buffet, but a country-feel to the food choices.  Our timing was good - just as we finished eating, the park opened.  The crowd was lighter than I expected.  We looked through the park newspaper to determine what entertainment we wanted to see - they have venues all around the park, but the timing doesn't always work to go right from one to another.  We watched some opening entertainment...\

... then walked around a bit to see some craftspeople and get on a couple rides...

Took in a few shows...

By noon, the crowds were thick...

Nice weather and reasonable season pass prices make it easy for people who live near or come to the area often to do the park for a few hours instead of an all-day marathon.  We stood in some lines, walked around, ate some greasy food... the crowds were interesting: older folks and a lot of school age kids, apparently doing class trips (said so on their matching t-shirts).

The weather was lovely: low 70s and sunshine.  The kids didn't take to the water rides until about noon...

After which, there were a lot of wet people, with squishy shoes, walking around the park.

By late afternoon, the park was getting quiet again...

I heard one employee telling a guest that they were "expecting about 15,000 people today"... we thought it might be quiet on a week day; not during most of the day.

They have a "late show" - a relative term, since that show starts at 6:00, when the rest of the park closes.  We decided to take a pass on that, and headed back to the trams to get to the scoots.  A relaxing grown-up supper out topped off a very nice day.  And still back to the RV in time for Izzy to get a walk around the park before the sun set.