Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Ripley's Believe It or Not in Branson an Unbelievable Experience

Reviewed by Ashley of ReserveDirect.comA tour of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in Branson begins outside rather than inside. Parents and children alike marvel at the structure of the museum, built to show the effects of an unbelievable 8.0 earthquake that hit Missouri in 1812. It’s a great place to take memorable photographs!

The self-guided tours of the Branson museum can take as little or as long as you like. I toured for an hour, and still didn’t see it all! There are a lot of visual items that are great for children, such as the speaking hologram of Robert Ripley and the Mystery of the Vanishing Woman. I enjoyed the Quiz room, where unbelievable facts and interesting brain teasers create an interactive experience. The Tribal Room and Marine Room house artifacts like a genuine shrunken head from an Jivaro Tribe and unique aquatic oddities like the contents of a Shark’s stomach, which believe it or not, held everything but the kitchen sink, including a 50 pound anchor!

These amazing exhibits were fun, but several have moderate reading involved, which may be a bit distracting for young children. My personal favorite exhibit was the room of extraordinary people, where I could compare myself to both the world’s tallest man and world’s largest man and glimpse rare creatures like the Unicorn Man and Lighthouse man. The fun, however, doesn’t end until you travel through the barrel room where the movement isn’t real, but you’ll believe it is!

Notables: Allot yourself at least an hour to view the museum, as crowds can vary and there truly is a lot to take in. Be sure to bring your camera too, as Branson's Ripley’s Museum encourages guests to take photographs throughout the museum.

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