Ripley's Believe It Or Not ③
I didn’t discover this until recently, but Ripley’s apparently has 95 different attractions worldwide; the “Odditoriums” each unique in character and in its collection of oddities and their presentation. When I first went to Ripley’s in Branson, MO I thought it was the only one.
The kind of stuff I saw were things like the world’s tallest man, the world’s largest ball of yarn, wax figures of the cast from Wizard of Oz; along with Rocky and Hulk Hero, shrunken heads, and a fortune telling machine. There were other little things like artwork, rooms of interactive illusions, and mannequin-like statues of side show circus acts. At the very end I got my photo taken with my face on the body of an ex female WWE wrestler, which was obviously funny looking. The tallest man was interesting, but I couldn’t understand why anyone would care about the largest ball of yarn.
They have added some new items like a 22 foot robot made of car parts and a spinning vortex tunnel. However, some of the new attractions I believe are just plain inappropriate to expose to children; like the Mexican Vampire Woman with the Vampire Killing Kit that’s complete with potions and weaponry.
Overall, the coolest part of the entire experience for me personally was the architecture of the building; it looked like it was completely falling apart, yet it was structurally sound. All of their Odditoriums are built this way, and that was really the only part I was fascinated with. Everything else wasn’t worth the money or time. It might be something more geared towards keeping children entertained, but I found I was quite bored and looking for something more around every corner.
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