Around the World in a Day with Coca-Cola

A Coke and a Smile was playing constantly through my mind while exploring the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a wonderful place to escape on a hot day. The unlimited drinks at the Taste It Sampling Bar also helped. My husband and I were in the Atlanta area and spent part of the day with some friends that live in the area. We had a great time, and their kids really seemed to enjoy themselves too. Let me tell you a little bit about our visit and the World of Coca-Cola. 

When we first walked in we received a sneak peek video of some of the highlights of the World of Coca‑Cola experience. There were also 7 bottle sculptures that were created for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. I didn’t know this, but apparently there were 75 of them made. Next we moved into the loft area with artifacts that represent more than 125 years of Coca-Cola memories from more than 30 different countries from France to Korea to Zimbabwe.

The first thing the kids noticed after we moved into the main area was the Coca Cola Polar Bear. Of course we took a lot of pictures, but I was shocked when he stood up to take some pictures with some adults. He is really tall. It was a really fun and exciting way to start the tour, especially for the kids.

I was most interested in checking out the Taste It Sampling Bar, so we headed there while we decided what to do next. This part was amazing. There are five tasting stations arranged geographically – Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America, with more than 100 different beverages! Another sampling area is dedicated solely to the Coca-Cola Trademark brands such as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine-free Diet Coke, Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke Zero and Diet Coke with Lime, but with so many different ones to try, we mostly stayed away for those.

The thing that stuck a lot in my mind (beside A Coke and a Smile) was that all the different coke products from Asia were less sweet and not as “tasty” as those here in the U.S. The Fanta products were good from all over the world. Mostly anything fruity was pretty good to me. The one I did NOT like at all was Beverly from Italy. They state that it is one of their most popular, must-try drinks, but I think they just want to get rid of it, lol. It was horrible. I  knew that a lot of people didn’t like it, so I decided to try it and see what all the fuss was about.

Like I said, it was horrible and I immediately followed it by my favorite Manzana Lift from Mexico. Who knew, lol. My husband also tried the Beverly and said it wasn’t too bad, but everyone else in our party thought it was nasty. Try it yourself sometime and see what you think. Either way, it was a great experience to see how different each country is regarding Coca-Cola. It was cool to think that we all share that in common, our love of Coca-Cola. You also can’t miss the huge Coca-Cola bottle in the room, which is also a fountain of regular Coca-Cola products

The first thing that we all wanted to see was the vault of the secret formula. Apparently it is regarded as the most closely guarded and best-kept secret, for over 125 years of history and special moments. As we travel through the interactive exhibit on an immersive multimedia journey toward the Chamber of the Secret Formula, they test how well you protect the secret. It is a fun tour which led us through three virtual environments, the Triangle Room, Secure Train Car and Bank Vault, all locations where the secret formula has been kept. It was a little silly, but fun too.

After checking out a few theater shows and trying a few more sample, we decided to check out Bottle Works where we experienced the equipment and processes that are found in a full size bottling plant. It was very interesting and the kids seemed to be full of questions for dad, Poor dad, lol.

By this time we were all ready to go so we headed toward the exit where we were handed a complimentary commemorative 8 oz. souvenir glass bottle of Coca-Cola. It was so cute. I didn’t want to open it, but finally did since we couldn’t bring in on the plane. Still have the empty bottles though. After we received our bottles, we exited out into the store. Most of the time, this is annoying, but It was fun at the World of Coca-Cola with the all cool memorabilia, not to mention all the cute stuffed polar bear animals. The kids really liked the store and begged dad to be able to buy just 1 thing. He relented and it was a perfect ending to a wonderful visit to the Coca-Cola Museum.