# Best place to stay in Branson?  RCI exchange



## aralston (Nov 29, 2011)

Trying to decide between #5824 French Quarter or #3294 Wyndham Branson at the Meadows.   We will be traveling with young children (under 5) so we are looking for a family friendly resort.   It looks like the Wyndham has wifi in the units which is a nice plus and also has multiple pools.   Any help is appreciated!


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## puppymommo (Nov 29, 2011)

*Meadows*

We stayed at the Meadows several years ago and liked it very much.  One plus is that they have an indoor pool.  Don't know what season you are planning to travel but if it is not Memorial Day to Labor Day having that indoor pool is very nice.

We were (a few years ago) able to get wifi in our unit but not sure it is available in all units.  The best way to know for sure is to call the resort directly. 

I've never stayed at the French Quarter so I don't have an opinion but I would recommend Wyndham Meadows.  I like Wyndham Mountain Vista a little bit more, if it is available.  They also have an indoor pool.


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## Hophop4 (Nov 29, 2011)

We were at Wyndham Mountain Vista for Thanksgiving week and it was very nice.  There is free wi-fi in all the units.  Indoor pool and hot tub, outdoor pool, children's pool and hot tub.  Outdoor pool is kept heated during the summer too but shut down and covered during the winter season. It has a nice activity center with games and pool tables and buildings at Vista and Meadows have elevators.  They also have an Entertainment Sampler where anywhere between 12 to 20 entertainers come in and perform to give you a taste of what their show is like and pass out flyers and coupons.  This cost us $12.50 per person which included a buffet dinner.

I have some pics of the unit as soon as I upload them, I will post the link.

We went to the Yakoff Dinner Show and it was a very good show.  It is about the Russian Circus so there are circus acts which kids and adults really enjoyed and best of all 2 for 1 tickets are offered.


Just uploaded the pics: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/EHophop8


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## dougp26364 (Nov 29, 2011)

We own at French Quarter because we enjoy the location and it has one of the better pool's in Branson, not that Branson resorts are known for great pools. For us it's more about the location as FQ is right on the strip (76 Hwy) but the back enterance goes out onto the yellow traffic relief route. There is also an iHop and Olive Garden within walking distance of the resort and a Cracker Barrel Country Store/Restaurant across the street. Because of the easy access to the traffic relief route, we can get anywhere reasonably quickly and avoid as much traffic as possible. 

Since I have not stayed at the Wyndham properties I really can't compare the two. French Quarter's developer filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago and the resort is now being managed by Southwind Management, which is the same management company for Spinnaker Resorts. I really haven't seen a decline in quality since the bankruptcy was filed and guests don't seem to know about it unless they're owners.

Click the picture to go to our Webshots photo album of our 2010 vacation at FQ. The unit we own is a two bedroom loft unit. 






Edit: FQ does not have WiFi unless you go up to the lobby. In certain areas I could catch a weak signal. Enough that I could get online but it wasn't easy or convenient.


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## bellesgirl (Nov 29, 2011)

We stayed at the Wyndham Meadows in Oct. and loved it.  If you wind up with a 1BR make sure it is the deluxe (A side) because the B side is much smaller.  And, yes, we had free wi-fi.  We found the resort to be very helpful with booking most shows.  They even gave us a coupon for a show that they could not book.


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## aralston (Nov 30, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your posts!


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## chriskre (Nov 30, 2011)

I also stayed at Wyndham Mountain Vista which was very nice and you have access to the other Wyndham pools and facilities just down the road.  It's in a quiet area not on the strip but high on a hill.  Take your phone off the hook cause the salespeople will hound you from check-in to check-out if you don't.  They wanted to take a survey of our stay when we hadn't even been in the room for 15 minutes.     What opinion could I possibly have after 15 minutes other than they were annoying me already.  :annoyed: 

Definitely don't stay at Holiday Hills unless you want to golf.  We did a split stay it's not near anything but the downtown area and even then you have to drive quite a ways over the bridge.


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## MichaelColey (Nov 30, 2011)

We've stayed at Wyndham Meadows a couple times (and Wyndham Mountain Vista across the road, also) and they were great stays.  I haven't stayed at French Quarter yet, but it's pretty high up on my "short list" of places to stay in Branson based on TUG/RCI ratings, sizes, location and amenities.

I suspect that you would be very happy in either place.


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## ace2000 (Nov 30, 2011)

Not sure about your timeframe.  But, have you checked into Big Cedar yet?  I think the consensus would be that it's the best resort in the Branson area.  It's located about 15-20 minutes from the main strip.


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## Hophop4 (Nov 30, 2011)

ace2000 said:


> Not sure about your timeframe.  But, have you checked into Big Cedar yet?  I think the consensus would be that it's the best resort in the Branson area.  It's located about 15-20 minutes from the main strip.



We have stayed at Big Cedar a couple of times and loved it there too.  But this year I have not seen any availability for RCI exchanges for it.  In the past I have been able to pick up a non-summer week but nothing for this year.  What's going on with that?


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## MichaelColey (Nov 30, 2011)

I've had an ongoing search for ANYTIME in the summer for QUITE a while, and haven't got a single match.  I've seen off-season (non-holiday Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb) ones once in a while, but it's been a while since I've seen those.  It certainly looks like the cream of the crop for Branson, but not a reasonable expectation for an RCI exchange at this time.


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## Hophop4 (Nov 30, 2011)

Both times we went to Big Cedar it was during Thanksgiving week.  I use to see it all the time and some early spring but nothing this year.  So we ended up at Wyndham this time and it was a nice stay.


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