Branson Landing (shopping & entertainment district)

Branson Landing is a recently opened shopping & entertainment district (which includes apartments & a hotel above the shops) in downtown Branson. It is anchored by the Belk outlet store & the Bass Pro fishing store, & the development also includes a new state of the art conference centre. We spent a while in the Belk store since Sandy had previously shown Beth a watch that she bought there during her & Jerry's last vacation to Branson & so Beth had been saving her pocket money so that she could by one as well. The mall reminded us of outdoor, high-street, shopping centres back home (Fremlins Walk in Maidstone sprang to mind as did Kingston Upon Thames) with two rows of shops separated by a pedestrianized area. The district has a number of free trolley-buses that take you from one end of the mall to the other but we thought that we would be healthy & walk the relatively short distance.

One of my favorite stores was Ridemakerz. This was like Build-a-Bear (but for boys) since instead of stuffed animals built & customized your own model car (which you could also make radio controlled). There were a number of stylized bodies (including a Dodge Ram pickup, Dodge Viper, 1930s hot rod, & a Ford Mustang) in a variety of colours which (much like Build-a Bear) included all the 'standard' accessories (wheels, tyres, & sound module). For an additional cost you could upgrade your parts to make a seriously wild ride. After choosing all the appropriate parts, you assembled your car at a mechanics station with mini air-wrench & then registered the VIN so that you could login to the Ridemakerz website & see you car online!

The Landing includes a boardwalk along the 1.5-mile Taneycomo Lakefront, & at the centre of the complex there is a town square that includes a performance area & small water feature with fountain. At this location there is a break in the riverside shops & apartments & the square extends down to the $7.5 million riverfront water attraction. This features moving fountains (which shoot water up to 120 feet high) & fire cannons which are all choreographed to music & light. This was created by Wet Design who are also the producers of shows for Downtown Disney marketplace in Orlando, Universal City Walk in California, & the Bellagio hotel & casino in Las Vegas.