We were in Atlanta, Georgia for the day and decided to visit The World Of Coca-Cola to see if we could find the vault where they keep the secret recipe for the famous drink.
We bought our tickets outside and made our way through the metal detectors and bag search area, into The World of Coca-Cola. We first room we found ourselves in had a large bar where we were served our choice of coke can for free whilst we waited to be called into the next room.
This next room, the loft, was standing only and we were here for eight minutes. Surrounded by 200 old and international Coca-Cola products and adverts, we listened to a very clever man impressively greet everyone in their many different languages.
The doors at the front of the room opened and we were ushered into a cinema to watch a short six minute film about celebrating life’s memorable moments. After the film everyone exited the cinema at the front into a large lobby with doors to exhibits all around on two floors. In the middle of the lobby there was the chance to queue for your picture with the famous coca cola bear, an opportunity we passed on purely for the length of the queue.
This part of the attraction was self guided and once out of the cinema we were free to choose which exhibits to visit. We naturally chose to find the vault with the secret formula first. The entrance to this part of the attraction was through a large pretend safe. We walked round reading as we went about the history of coca cola until we eventually found ourselves in a 360 degree cinema room. In this room there was a short presentation followed by the walls moving to reveal what everyone was there for – the vault door! I am fairly sure this door has been made to look more impressive than it is and couldn’t help feel a little underwhelmed by the fact I was looking at a shiny door, but only two people in the world can access that door and no one else has any way of finding out the secret recipe for coca cola. We waited in turn to take our pictures stood next to the vault door. At one point a small child got too close and set off a satisfying alarm which added to the experience a little.
After finding the vault we moved opposite to an exhibition of how coca cola is packaged called the “bottle works”. Looking at the factory machines used to bottle coke was actually pretty interesting.
There was another door leading to an exhibition of old Coca-Cola products which was actually quite nostalgic as I was able to spot some things from my own childhood. They also have the olympic torches on display here and bottles from all the different coke products.
Upstairs there was a 4d theatre running shows back to back. Next to this were interactive exhibits and even a collectors corner housing the the sofa from american idol.
We looked at the vast amount of exhibits and then made our way to the part we were looking forward to most – “taste it”! This was a huge room where we helped ourselves to plastic cups and were let loose on over 100 flavours of Coca-Cola products from around the world. It was like Epcot’s club cool except way bigger! We stayed in this room until the kids had, had enough sugar to stay awake for the 8 hour flight home later that evening!
We exited through the gift shop, where we spent a bit of time looking at all the Coca-Cola branded products we hadn’t seen before. The kids chose to buy surprise bags which basically meant they paid for a plastic bag each with a surprise gift in it and the cashier rang a bell for everyone to shout surprise as she gave them their bags. We didn’t know this was going to happen so it was quite novel, however I was pleased the price was small considering its always a risk buying something without knowing what it is first.
The World of Coca-Cola is an impressive large attraction with many exhibits. It makes you realise how big the company actually is and how much history there is. This in itself makes it so impressive that the recipe has been kept secret for so many years. We received two complimentary tickets in exchange for this review. All opinions are our own.
Visiting the World of Coca-Cola with an autistic child?
The queue to get in on the day we visited wasn’t long, however the roped areas suggested it can get very long.
You need to pass through a bag check and metal detector before entering the museum.
The first three areas you go through to get to the rest of the museum are guided. The first room, you are waiting to enter the next room. You can get a free can of drink here but the room felt quite crowded.
The second room, the loft, we tried to stand upstairs near the door we came in. This was to try and be out the crowd a bit at the back, it was however another room full of people to stand in.
The theatre, again, was packed and as we entered last there were a lot of people hanging around at the back trying to see if there were seats. The film started and was quite loud. My son, who had semi coped with the security check and two rooms before this, dropped to the floor in full on meltdown! I half carried him, half pushed him out of the nearest door which turned out to be a staff area. Staff seemed fine with us being there for a bit and then someone helpfully came to tell me that the film was about to finish and if I took my son quickly down the stairs in the theatre, I could get him into the lobby before everyone else crowded in. Once we were in the lobby it wasn’t so crowded and he was a lot calmer.
It may be worth asking staff if you can bypass the first three rooms and go straight to the lobby.
Some of the exhibits can become crowded, the vault for instance is very popular.
The queue for photos with the polar bear didn’t look worth trying, especially after the earlier incident.
There is a quieter seating area through the tasting room, near the windows if you need somewhere to sit away from people.
There is a car park but it is a walk to get to the attraction.
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