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The 'best' Tourist(trap) city?

Best Tourist(trap) city?

  • Branson

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pigeon Forge

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Wis. Dells

    Votes: 1 33.3%

  • Orlando

    Votes: 2 66.7%

  • Las Vegas

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Clifton Hill

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other(please state)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    3
GuyWithAStick

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
First off, Merry Christmas everyone! Second, here's a new topic!

So, there are 3 main tourist-ey cities in the US(excluding Orlando and Las Vegas), most of which are based on meh attractions and traps. So, which one is the best? Here's a rundown of the main 3 cities I'm thinking of:

Branson
Branson, Missouri is an old-time town with a modern fix in the middle of the beautiful Ozark mountains. It's home to Silver Dollar City, and the ever-so-famous Outlaw Run. It has great charm, and is a great place to be in all 4 seasons. However, there isn't much to do outside of a few tourist traps, an outdoor mall, a Five and Dime, a few shows, and SDC. The hotels aren't the best, and most of its residents are over the age of 50.

Pigeon Forge
Located in the Smokey Mountains, Pigeon Forge is home to Dollywood, a fantastic park that's getting a launched RMC. Pigeon Forge has some fairly decent hotels, some great food, is home to(in the surrounding area as well) tons of Alpine Coasters and mountain-based activities, and is quite straightforward in terms of a city layout. However, there are loads of tourist traps, it's pretty far from another major city, and has very dramatic geography.

Wisconsin Dells
Often called the Waterpark Capital of the world, Wisconsin Dells is home to tons of great resorts(Wilderness, Mt. Olympus, Kalahari, etc.) and outdoor activities. Including Duck Tours(amphibious vehicles), Go-Kart courses, Zip Lines, a drive-in theater, and quite a few(smaller) amusement parks, there is something for everyone to do. The food there is also pretty good(including Moosejaw, Buffalo Phil's, Sarpino's, etc.). However, there isn't as much to do in the winter as in the Summer, the main activities are pretty spread out, and there are a decent amount of tourist traps.

If you have another you're thinking of, please list it. I didn't include Orlando and Las Vegas, as they'd be the top 2, and I wanted to see what the best of these 3 were.

So, which one is the best? In my opinion, I'd say Wisconsin Dells. Probably because I'm but 3 hours from there, and I think it has the most to offer in the view of an adrenaline junkie. Also, Buffalo Phil's <3 .
 
What do you mean by Pigeon Forge being far from another major city? It's quite close to Gatlinburg and is only 45 minutes from Knoxville.
 
I've never heard of these places...

What about Washington DC and New York? They're much more enormous tourist hot spots, surely? I do like that Branson and Pigeon Forge both have a Titanic museum. Keep up Wisconsin Dells, you'll be left behind!
 
nealbie said:
I've never heard of these places...

What about Washington DC and New York? They're much more enormous tourist hot spots, surely? I do like that Branson and Pigeon Forge both have a Titanic museum. Keep up Wisconsin Dells, you'll be left behind!
Click to expand...

Tourist spots and tourist traps are two seperate things though.

Tourist spots are places that are worth going to anyway, which then capatilise on that, in a nice way (cities, areas of natural beauty etc)

Tourist traps are places that are literally just built to take tourist's money and are amazingly tacky - Branson and Pigeon Forge are tourist traps.

It's one of those things that isn't black and white but NYC and London aren't like the places mentioned in here.

Vegas is though - that is like the ultimate tourist trap. It's fab.
 
International Drive is pretty horrif, Branson and Pigeon Forge were gross but...kind of acceptable in a way?
 
I don't think Vegas really has a comparison IMO. That place can suck you dry, no matter what you do there. I've been to Branson and Pigeon Forge and not spent a dollar.
 
My vote goes to Blackpool! The corny "attractions", the shabby oceanfront hotels - looks like fallen out of time. Maybe its lucky Blackpool never was the IN location in later years as it saved us lots classic creds and rides at BPB.

This pic says it all:
 

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Difficult question to answer, firstly because I've only been to 2 of those places on the list - Orlando and Vegas (the 2 obvious ones) and secondly because I've never even heard of Branson or Wisconsin Dells.
I have heard of Pigeon Forge though, and would very much like to go there one day! I like tourist traps on the whole, so I'd probably quite like the others too.

I'd say Niagara is probably worth a mention. There was me, dumb-ass tourist, expecting this pretty waterfall in the middle of the wilderness with maybe some guided tours and a gift shop, but nooo, they got everything there. You could spend a week there and not get bored. As long as your pockets are deep enough of course...
 
^ I was just about to mention Clifton Hill at the Canadian side of the falls. Dreadful place.
 
^I'm almost ashamed to say I quite liked it!
Funfair, arcades, casinos, wax museum, Rainforest Café, Planet Hollywood, Fudge Factory etc... What's not to love?
 
^^^Branson is the city home to Silver Dollar City(Outlaw Run), and Wisconsin Dells has Mt. Olympus(Hades 360) and Noah's Ark(US's largest waterpark).
 
I don't really consider Vegas as much of a tourist trap as the other places. It's more based on night life, resorts, and gambling, whereas "awful" places like Pigeon Forge and Clifton Hill are literally just like, attraction after attraction that costs you about a million dollars to take your family into. Wax museums, fun houses, go kart tracks and Ripley's museums are staples of tourist traps to me.

I loved Pigeon Forge though. I really dislike Clifton Hill, but Pigeon Forge was actually a great vacation. The attractions were actually really fun and with Gatlinburg and the Smokies being right there, it really isn't all that vile. Plus, free moonshine <3
 
GuyWithAStick said:
^^^Branson is the city home to Silver Dollar City(Outlaw Run), and Wisconsin Dells has Mt. Olympus(Hades 360) and Noah's Ark(US's largest waterpark).
Click to expand...

Ooh, yes - Branson, Silver Dollar City... I want to go there too! Well... I want to ride Outlaw Run anyway, but me being a not-very-well travelled goon means I don't know very much about Branson, or Missouri, or anything else nearby. In fact, I'm not even sure I could point to Missouri on a map!
I'm still working my way through the more 'obvious' destinations first.
But yep, now I know that SDC is in a 'tourist trap' city, it's just been bumped up a few places on the wish list!

ps where the hell is Missouri anyway?
 
^Here's a map of the US. Missouri is filled in red, and Branson is the blue dot.
v0OHKg8.png

Hope this helps! :)
 
^It's hard to tell if you're being extra helpful and nice... or just a tiny bit sarcastic!
I'll go with the former, and say thank you - yes it does help! :P
 
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