Dearest travel board, do you have any recs or places that are can't miss? Or places that I should avoid best I can? Appreciate any advice

Sight & Sound theater is a can't miss.

Parents have a timeshare out at Table Rock.

Above poster is spot on with Sight & Sound Theater

We also like to fish. Eric will put you on the fish.

https://www.ericseliteguideservice.com/

The Keeter Center is a neat place to eat at College of the Ozarks.

https://www.keetercenter.edu/

Dogwood Canyon is beautiful...

https://dogwoodcanyon.org/

My in-laws live in Cassville, MO (about 1 hour away). If someone likes to trout fish, Roaring River is a state trout park and a nice picnic area.

https://mostateparks.com/park/roaring-river-state-park

Have fun!

Aggiewes '87

I posted this before on a previous thread:

We absolutely love Silver Dollar City and go 2-3 days. 2+day tickets are only marginally more than single day. We find Groupons for mini-golf. WonderWorks Museum. They have an indoor place that you can rock climb, zip line, etc. Mountain coaster.

While we always stay at the Residence Inn, they do have a place that has indoor waterpark that is part of a hotel. I think you can get day tickets there too.

Pasghtti's is decent Italian. Huge meatball outside. Reminds me of Spaghetti Warehouse.

For shows, our family with 2 teenage boys really enjoy Sight and Sound, Haygoods, Reza, and Clay Cooper.

We do the mountain coaster that you do at night.

Dick's 5 and 10 is fun. It has a little bit of everything.

We enjoyed eating at Billy Bob's (50's diner with great burgers and milkshakes; cash only), Billy Gail's (huge pancakes), and Mel's Hard Luck Diner (singers as wait staff and have huge yummy desserts).

When our boys were younger, they really enjoyed Wonderworks.

Every time we go, we find more fun things to do. It is a great place to find something for everyone!

Oh I forgot to mention Reza. It was good.

And they have a few old school diners

We stayed at nearby Big Cedar Lodge a few summers ago. That place is absolutely gorgeous, and I highly recommend experiencing the Top of the Rock in the evening if you have a chance. I think you can explore the Top of the Rock even if you aren't a guest of the resort (I think). The golf cart ride was fun, and the museum with all of the Native American exhibits was shockingly good. If you like golf, we played Buffalo Ridge and it was beautiful.

Agree with Silver Dollar City...very clean, old school amusement park. Not cheap, but a good time if you like that kind of thing.

Get out on the lake. It's great lake for boating/water sports or finding a cove and throwing out a float pad to relax.
We've also rafted a river in that area (James river iirc?)
There are plenty of caves (on our list every year but just haven't made it happen yet.
Previously mentioned dogwood canyon.
Lots of great golf
Exploring top of the rock/cathedral of nature

We have stayed on the lake 4 out of 5 times we've gone. One time we stayed at the marriott there in town.
We typically stay out of branson.. not really our cup of tea. We've done titanic museum, and escape room, I think that's about it. We go to the area for the outdoor offerings.