If you were to travel around the world and ask random people one question, "What is the most popular soda?", chances are, the answer would be Coca-Cola. But how did this multi-billion dollar company get its start? How did the famous logo and its even more famous taste come to fruition? To find out the answer to these questions and more, you would have to travel to the home of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia and enter The World of Coca-Cola. When you first enter the museum, you will come across the 7 coke bottles designed in an artsy fashion. Those bottles and more deeper inside the museum come from all over the world. You may have to wait awhile, but the next area is full of coke memorabilia including some of the oldest artifacts from the early days of Coke.
From here, you will watch a short film and then make your way into the main area. The tour is self guided but if you want to do things in a chronological order, start with The Vault. The vault tells of how Dr. John Pemberton invented the perfect recipe for Coca-Cola and how secret it truly is. Of course, if you think you have what it takes to recreate the famous concoction, you are more than welcome to try with an interactive exhibit that allows you to attempt to recreate the famous coke flavor. Before you exit the Vault exhibit, you will get to bear witness to some incredible. What if I told you that, there is only one copy of the original Coke recipe, of which is located in a very well secured vault here in the museum. DO NOT try and approach it. First off you wouldn't be able to access it anyways without proper hand prints. But more than that, if you go past a certain point, alarms will go off.
From here, make your way into the evolution exhibit. Here you will learn how the famous Cursive logo of Coke was created, and you will also be able to Try and recreate it for yourself. Good luck with that by the way. Now over the years, Coke evolved from just making drinks to making memorabilia like wallets and refrigerators. You will also see some of the earliest coke bottles and why they were designed as such. Furthermore, it was such a huge hit in the US that it eventually made its way to all corners of the globe. Coke has other products that you may or may not know about. Fanta, Dasani, Mr. Pibb, and Hi-C Are just some of these products which are displayed on a wall. Coke has had such an enormous impact on the world that today it is one of, if not the biggest sponsor of The Olympics and Special Olympics.
Straight across from this exhibit you will get to see how the bottling process works. From cleaning to filling and even capping the signature glass coke bottles. At the end of the entire tour, these bottles are given out to the museum visitors as a complementary coke on the house.
After coming full circle from where you started at The Vault, be sure to snap a photo with the famous Coca-Cola Polar Bear before heading upstairs. Upstairs, you will venture into the Coca-Cola Art exhibit. As I said before, Coke has been such a big influence in the world. As such it was even inspired people to create art using coke as their source of inspiration, both literally and figuratively. One of these people was Famous Georgia born artist Howard Finster. Among other art pieces are items made of coke cans or inspired by coke bottles.
Of course, what art gallery wouldn't be complete without the famous Coke drinking Santa Claus collection? While you are here, snap a photo of yourself on sitting on the couch surrounded by antique coke art. Also, let the kids release their inside artist when they can design a coke bottle of their own. Got a story of how coke has inspired you or that one time where coke made your day better? Write it down and if coke likes it, they will feature it on their wall.
From here, I went to the theater for a 4-D Showing. Its a short film that last maybe about 10 minutes. But it is filled with moving chairs, water being sprayed about and a lot of laughs. When you exit, you will come across various pictures of FIFA world Cup trophy tour. Coke is also a major sponsor of FIFA. Now after all the exhibits, starting out with how coke was formed, to how it became the colossal global drink it is today, we have one final exhibit. This is where the real fun begins. At the end of it all, you will get to try 60 different flavors from around the world. Can you try them all? good luck because I sure couldn't.
Everyone has had just a regular coke. But maybe you would like to try Guarana Kuat from Brazil, BonBon Anglais from Madagascar, or even Beverly from Italy. All of these are products of coke. Now before you leave, first off do not forget your free coke bottle, complements of the Coca-Cola company. Now in all of my past posts, the gift store has been a decent size with the usual t-shirts and mugs. The gift shop in the Coke museum is no ordinary gift store however. Everything that you could imagine that has a coke label is available to buy here. Nail polish, personalized coke bottles, dinnerware, Monopoly board game, purses, Pajamas, even replicas of antique coke advertisements, all of which are on sale for a decent price.
From it's humble beginnings to the gigantic memory making drink that it is now, Coca-Cola has become the centerpiece for almost every family gathering in the world. Dr. John Pemberton couldn't have imagined the impact his secret recipe would have made in the future. So next time you have a coke, remember that is was Dr. Pemberton that was able to make it happen.
Entertainment: 5
Educational: 5
Price: 5
Cafe: N/A
Gift Shop: 5
Overall: 5
Additional Information
Address: 121 Baker St NW, Atlanta, GA (Right Across from the Georgia Aquarium)
Hours of Operation: See Website for Hours of Operation
Price:
Toddler (0-2): Free
Youth (3-12): $12
Adult (13-64): $16
Seniors (65+): $14
Military with ID: Free
For additional information, visit: http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/
