World of Coca-Cola

It's been some time since I've made a new post but I have been on the road and since I was visiting Atlanta I made a stop at the World of Coca-Cola. The World of Coca-Cola is a museum, exploration center, and promotion rolled into one. This building is not attached to the Coca-Cola headquarters, which is about a mile away, but is located in the old Olympic park used for the 1996 Olympics. It shares this site with the Georgia Aquarium and Center for Civil and Human Rights.

At the time of my visit the cost of admission for adults was $17, however I opted for the VIP package. The VIP package cost $32. With this package you get a personal tour guide, VIP lanyard, 40% off at the store, and at the time of this visit a VIP lapel pin. I went with a friend and our tour guide was Kelly. Kelly was a consummate professional, very fun and friendly, and full of energy. As we passed other visitors listening to the narrators for general admission it was very evident some of them were bored or didn't want to be there. One of them sounded depressed, and another sounded so smooth and even toned I thought he was on a load of muscle relaxants and anti-depressants. The woman who stood at the entrance of the Vault exhibit was more energetic and friendly however. The VIP package also means you get to cut lines to enter, and at each exhibit, plus lines for the photo ops where they have staff that take your picture with a costumed polar bear or the Coca-Cola sofa from American Idol, if you're interested in those photos. They charge extra for those photo prints and calling them "professional" photographers is a reach.

The Loft

Upon entering the first room from the Lobby, called The Loft, you will see walls and display cases of various memorabilia with a brief welcome from one of the staff and discussion of some of the memorabilia in this room. After leaving this area you enter a large theater which basically shows a 4-story commercial for Coca-Cola trying to prompt you to believe that the drink makes "moments" in your life and is tied to happiness. I thought it was a little too much pandering. This is followed by an atrium, named The Hub, which each of the exhibit areas branches off from. 

Various Memorabilia

The first exhibit we were led through was the Milestones of Refreshment. Once you're in the exhibit areas having the wireless headsets that the VIP package affords you really helps because there are many people and it would be difficult to hear the guide without them, so that was very nice. In the Milestones area you are led through chronological showcases of memorabilia such as original documents, early advertisements, syrup and soda dispensers, etc while the signs and guide present you with the evolving history of the brand. Most of this area is focused on Coca-Cola, but towards the end of this exhibit there is some introduction to other Coca-Cola owned beverage brands. Fanta. I tried to tactfully address this but it felt like they had prepared guides for how to deal with that, and I was trying to be a graceful guest so let it go.

Vintage Vending

World Advertising

Some of the highlights of this exhibit are early advertisements, a collection of gorgeously maintained vintage and retro vending machines, and amazing collection of the various Olympic pins and Olympic torches Coca-Cola has been involved with. As someone who really loves vintage advertising and coin-op devices I was drooling over the vending machines. There is also a great display of international advertising. I'm not so sure I agree with the narrative they present with regards to their involvement with

The next exhibit was the Bottle Works. Because this is more of a museum and not an actual bottling plant this area presents an actual, functioning bottling process on a scaled down size. They have the water purification equipment, syrup tanks, bottle cleansers and fillers and test lab, just on a small scale.

The Vault

The next exhibit is called The Vault. In this area they have some fun and games for kids and address the history of the secretive formula and steps taken to protect it. After Asa Candler bought Coca-Cola from the Pemberton family in 1889 for $2,300, he would go on to sell it to a group of investors in 1919 for $25-million. The investors didn't have this much money and secured a bank loan from Guarantee Bank in New York on the condition that the recipe be held at the bank as collateral for the loan. After repayment of the loan, the recipe was secured at the Trust Company Bank in Atlanta. When a vault was built at the World of Coca-Cola, there was a big show made of relocating the recipe from the bank to the vault inside this exhibit. There is also a room in this area regarding myths of the brand over the years, many of which I'd never heard of and are quite amusing. I think they made a mistake in making the vault itself though. Supposedly they hired an actual vault manufacturer to make it, the hand scanner is most likely non-functional, just for show, but there are also three combination dials on the face. But it's a "black box". It's physically huge, but its so easy to say, "Sure, but is it really in there?" They should have built a window into the vault similar to the way the famous 9,000 year lease at the Guinness Brewhouse is stored inside a thick window in the floor. Obviously they can't show the formula but give visitors something to see in there.

On the second floor, there are a few more exhibits. The Pop-Art exhibit is fun. Here you can see folk art made around the world of coca-cola or from coca-cola cans/bottles. This seems to be the only location in the building that addresses the New Coke fiasco. Here you will see a small display with company documents, a few cans, some copies of lawsuits files by angry consumers and a looping video of the announcements and backlash the company faced from it. Next to this exhibit is an area that shows Coca-Cola commercials from around the world. I was not interested in that as there is already an enormous amount of promotional materials around you. 

Up next was what I felt to be the worst experience in the building, the 4-D Theater. This was another advertisement attempting to pull on your heart-strings, told through a story of a "mad scientist" attempting to find the secret behind Coca-Cola. There they provide you with 3-D glasses, though I found it difficult to focus my eyes. The 4-D part comes in because the seats move. My complaint here is that A) The story is told to you, you are not looking through someone's point of view, so the movements seem random and not particularly aligned to the action on the screen, and B) the seat movements are so hard and jarring I'm surprised it hasn't injured anyone. Someone mentioned you might feel a spray of water, and there were moments in the video that probably could have happened, yet I felt nothing. Overall, I felt this this exhibit has a lot of room for improvement. 

Finally, we reached the Taste It gallery. Here there are large stands with self-serve soda fountains for regions of the world, such as Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, North America. While the spigots circle each station they have the same flavors all the way around except at North America. They stated that they do periodically rotate flavors. While I tasted nearly every offering, I did make a note to taste one of the new flavors my guide mentioned from Asia, a drink called Smart, with a new Sour Plum flavor. She had mentioned it seemed odd and did not taste like sour plum. This drink smells and tastes like mild barbecue sauce. It wasn't unpleasant but very unexpected. Bjäre from Europe had a Lingonberry flavored soda, which I did not care for. I enjoyed Fanta Exotic at the Africa station, but I believe this is also available in Europe. Fanta Blue Raspberry was not something I would drink and I found it pleasant to see Tab at the North America station as well... apparently it's still chugging away without sign of being a killed off flavor. Of course there was also a separate area in the tasting room for all the Coca-Cola standards, Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, Coke Cherry Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, Coca-Cola Cherry, Diet Coke, Diet Caffiene Free Coca-Cola, and Coca-Cola Life. Next to this were several "free-style" machines, these are the machines that allow users to navigate a screen to choose select custom flavors or make their own mix-and-match creations. 

In summation, it was a fun experience, though I was mostly there for the museum section to see memorabilia and see more historical information as well as learn of and taste exotic flavors from around the world. Younger kids may not enjoy it, but I think kids 10 and up will. I don't enjoy parts where I feel like a captive audience to their commercials and I think there is room for improvement, but I had fun. It can definitely take you longer to explore and see everything than you'd imagine so plan accordingly. If you're in Atlanta and have some time consider stopping in.