Our Trip to Ripley’s Believe it or Not in Branson, MO
This post may contain affiliate links, view our disclosure policy for details.
We received tickets to attend Ripley’s. All opinions are my own.
There are 2 attractions our family MUST SEE when we travel and that is always to visit any nearby Ripley’s Believe it or Not museums, and to go cave exploring. You can call it our “thing”! I’ve been to Ripley’s in Key West, Niagara Falls, Orlando, St. Augustine, and now Branson! My kids just LOVE visiting Ripley’s Believe it or Not because they are always full of oddities, weird stuff, and things to touch and see. And to be honest, sometimes it’s just plain gross! I’d have to say that so far Ripley’s Branson is definitely one of my favorite stops! I don’t even know why but we spent more time at this Ripley’s than we normally do and we all had such a great time! And you certainly couldn’t miss Ripley’s if you drove past it – the building it broken in half! (not literally of course – it’s just an illusion!)
Here are my boys – all 3 of them! The kids were plenty occupied just in the lobby as I was getting our tickets situated. The ceiling was literally falling into the lobby and it looked like the hanging lights would crash at any moment. There were tiny cars and robots of trash. It was such a realistic looking room the ceiling sure made me nervous!!
Maybe because my kids are getting a little older but they just soaked up everything at Ripley’s Branson more than I remember them doing in the past. The kids loved popping their heads into this scuba mask – even my husband took the dive! And in the middle of the museum was a theatre to watch the Ripley’s TV series and see people with odd and unique talents. Of course my kids made us sit there through the entire filming!
EVERYWHERE we go our kids always know that they will get a pressed penny if there is a machine! We were super excited to see one at Ripley’s, and they even had an entire container of pennies to get your started! The boys each have a pressed penny book and hubby & I share one so we all did this. There was also an arcade gun shooting area which was very inexpensive and had a great time with the kids shooting targets.
This collage is just a tiny snippit of the MANY oddities we saw in Ripley’s Branson. Artwork made of cassette tapes, lint, cobwebs, on flies, potato chips and made of butterfly wings. Shunken heads and all sorts of other body parts and tribal gear. Musical instruments made from bedpans. Models of the world’s tallest man, the man with the longest nose, people with tattoos, popping eyes, strange animals, exhibits made of trash (including a wedding dress!) and SO many things. If we didn’t have the kiddos we probably could have spent all day there – there were plenty of exhibits to see and read about! I love that each exhibit actually tells you what it is and gives a full description of the history behind the objects.
This guy right here, Chamouni, totally blew our minds. I mean, it’s Ripley’s, we expect weird and far out there things. But this guy used to actually sit INSIDE an oven with a rack of lamb while it cooked at around 300* and he didn’t come out until the lamb was cooked. Seriously?! That’s craaaazy!
This Chinese Dragon Ship is also an exquisite piece that I wanted to share! Visiting Ripley’s with our kids is always such a unique cultural lesson all in itself in one building. My kids learn about cultures of native tribes, strange behaviors of people around the world, birth defects in animals and creativity in creating art with ALL sorts of materials. How about this exhibit?
This giant crab and giant turkey are actually COFFINS! How far out is that? In Ghana, when someone passes away, they create a coffin that matches the person’s occupation! They certainly are beautiful! Have you ever been to a Ripley’s Museum? If you haven’t I highly recommend it if you’re ever near one!