The old World of Coca-Cola was one of my favorite attractions in Atlanta. It was the first tourist attraction I ever visited in Atlanta and has always been a place I recommend to visitors. The location in Underground Atlanta offered a good bit of history and some nostalgia but most everyone would agree the ability to taste Coca-Cola products from around the world was the main draw. Coca-Cola decided to raise the bar and just in time for Memorial Day weekend and opened a new World of Coca-Cola. The new facility cost almost $100 million and promises a new level of interaction for its visitors. Fans of the old attraction need not worry though, the ability to fill yourself with as much Coke as you can still exists.
The new World of Coca-Cola is situated right across from the Georgia Aquarium. This location is ideal for visitors that want to check out the Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, or the CNN Center without having to drive and re-park. In fact, Atlanta now offers a “city pass” allowing tourists to visit each of the city’s major attractions over the course of nine days for one discounted price. Like the Georgia Aquarium, tickets for The World of Coca-Cola are for a specific time. This helps ease the congestion and made entering and touring the museum a relatively painless process despite the crowded Memorial Day weekend crowd. I would definitely recommend buying in advance online.
As expected, the World of Coca-Cola is little more than one long commercial for Coca-Cola. From the moment you step in the door to when you exit the gift shop, Coca-Cola wages a propaganda war against your senses. If you’re already a Pepsi-hating, Coke lackey like myself this should do nothing but please. However, if you look past the marketing, there is a fair amount of history that is quite interesting. The original Coca-Cola patent is on display as well as various pieces of Andy Warhol’s famous Coke inspired pieces of art. Coca-Cola has been a lot more than a soft drink for a long time now. In fact, one person even described it as “America in a bottle.”
The biggest new attraction is a “4-D” movie/ride called the “Search for the Secret Formula”. This is very similar to some of rides at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl. You wear 3-D glasses and sit in a motorized chair that will shift, rumble, spray air, water, etc in response to whatever is happening on screen. The movie itself was more pro-Coke propaganda, but like I said you should expect this from the moment you walk in the front door. On that note though, I did not notice anything even mentioning Coke’s biggest rival, Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola sells an image and I far prefer this marketing approach to Pepsi’s direct comparison strategy. Pepsi seems far more concerned with talking about why they are better than Coke than anything else.
The coolest new addition when compared to the old museum is the full bottling facility on site. One can watch the workers operate the machinery through a glass window, producing actual 8oz glass bottles of Coca-Cola. These bottles are produced solely for the visitors too. Everyone that goes through the World of Coca-Cola gets to take home one of the bottles produced that very day.
The “Taste of Coca-Cola” is still there and is setup as the last stop on the tour. It allows visitors to taste Coca-Cola products from all around the world. For some reason I remember there being a little more variety at the old museum but I don’t have any numbers in front of me. A new addition is a rotating, tasting “bar” that changes what it serves. It was serving a couple Odwalla products on Saturday which was a surprise since I did not even know Odwalla was owned by Coke. The tasting center was definitely welcome at the end of the tour as I quite thirsty by the end of all of it. In fact, I found myself getting thirstier and thirstier as I went through the museum. Take a wild guess as to what kind of beverage I wanted? That’s right a good ‘ol fashioned Coca-Cola, still my favorite of all the variations available.
The additional attractions, increased size, and of course the “Taste of Coca-Cola” room make The World of Coca-Cola a worthwhile way to spend an afternoon. It took me and a friend a good two hours to go through all of it but I think one could easily spend a lot more time and not be bored.
On a side note, it is worthwhile to mention that all the plastic cups in the tasting room are produced from a renewable source and the actual building is built to LEED standards (United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This makes the World of Coca-Cola one of the few environmentally sustainable building in Georgia according to Coca-Cola CEO and Chair, Neville Isdell.
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Tags: 4 Comments
Your point about liking Coke’s marketing vs. Pepsi’s comparison strategy is interesting. In just about every taste test, Pepsi beats Coke, but Coke just has that something special that makes it great. People don’t seem to care that Pepsi tastes better, because that still doesn’t make it Coke.
Coke tastes better.
Did they have coke with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup?
Ironically enough, I sit here sipping a Coke as I read through your entry,
I find Pepsi has a more “refreshing” taste that is better when I really want something to drink, but I prefer the overall flavor and sweetness in Coke. In my house, if there’s no Coke in the fridge, then there’s a problem.