This update is going to focus on the new updates to Valley Road. Starting at Christmas Hollow, you can see that the area down to the restrooms has been regraded and opened up.
Valley Road is no longer a straight shot after going around Time Traders it makes a curve to the right and hugs the top of Echo Hollow.
Time Traders is on the right and the new skillet stand is on the left. You can see Valley Road curving to the right here.
The old Cowboy Jepp's (and the original fire station for the park) is now Emmaline's Dress Up Emporium.
The shop sells princess dresses...
lots of accessories...
and even pirate clothes for the boys. I guess this is a way to buy a larger bulk of clothing for their Princess and Pirate Cruises on the Showboat Branson Belle.
The first new restaurant you will see is Buckshot's Skillet Cookery.
This is the largest of the 3 new restaurants and features the largest variety of offerings.
Each of the new dinning locations have established queue lines. This helps to keep the crowds off of the new Valley Road and really helps with crowd flow.
Here is the registers and drink area for Buckshot's.
All three restaurants share the same dining patio which overlooks the Flooded Mine lake.
The only issue I have with the area is that it is not covered (and the section that is, the roof is too high to make a difference), so when it rains it will be hard to use.
It looks big, but it was overwhelmed today during the lunch rush.
I really liked the old style Coke signs that hung on the walls in the patio area.
Traveler's Stop is the new chicken sandwich shop. This restaurant was really popular today. One thing that I noticed was that they sell combos here that include drinks.
Here on the "road side" of Traveler's Stop you can see how the new Valley Road path hugs the Echo Hollow ridge. It will be interesting to see how this works during Christmas time with the parade.
The third restaurant is not really new, but it has been completely refurbished and "reskinned" with some new siding and a new roof.
Tater Patch was an already popular eating location and the long lines today show that that popularity has not changed. The calico potatoes are amazing.
Two quick serve carts are also in the food court area. The Dippin' Dots used to be near the Flooded Mine Exit and the other cart was near the TNT entrance.
This popcorn cart used to be down by Boatworks Theatre. It seems to be getting a lot more foot traffic here near the new food court.
Casey's Dugout is a brand new store and it received some major upgrades over its old tenant, including a new entrance (as seen on the right of the photo)
They have a guy who makes personalized bats outside of the shop.
Inside there are a lot of different baseball themed products to purchase.
I personally think that this shop will go over pretty well for the park.
I think the new shop looks great.