Lighthouse Explorations: Spring Break 2012 - Day 3

This was our last morning in Atlanta. We all had a full night's sleep and were fully recovered from our journey. We woke up, showered, packed, stuffed ourselves at the hotel breakfast buffet (one of my fav things to do on vacay), loaded the van and checked out. But, before we leave the great city of Atlanta, we have to do the full tour of the World of Coca-Cola, of course. It is my all time favorite beverage after all.

Dr. John S. Pemberton

entrance

As soon as you get in, they usher you into a room full of artifacts and you get a little history lesson on Coke. It's pretty interesting. FUN FACT- About 75 years ago, Coca-Cola commissioned six original Norman Rockwell paintings that they used for their ads. They have recovered three of them, but the other three are still missing and worth a whole lot of cash. The tour guide said that if you happen to find one in grandma's attic, give Coke a call and you'll be all set for an early retirement.

vintage Coke display

vintage Coke display-
original Norman Rockwell on the right

original Norman Rockwell

After the nostalgic entry you get ushered in to a movie theater, where you get to watch a really fun flick about life inside a Coke vending machine. Then you can wander around and tour and take pictures at your own pace.

Wendy

ceiling in the lobby

fist bumps

Our next stop was to tour the vault. Inside the big walkable vault is a real vault containing the actual secret formula! It has alarms all around it, which of course we set off. They have a red and white striped line in front of it and if you get too close an alarm goes off. A ton of other people set it off, too. It just adds to the thrill of being so close to the formula.

The Vault

security cameras leading to the vault-
we are in the upper left square

look closely at the reflection

Spencer coming up with his own blend

Lincoln coming up with his own blend

in the ceiling mirror

Jax-reading up on the history of Coke, while snacking on raisins

family shadow

the actual vault that contains the secret formula

Pete

Gordon and friend

having a Coke at the local pharmacy

Dr. Pemberton mixing up his original formula

Argentian delivery truck

The truck is an old Argentian delivery truck that made it possible to get the Coke to the people that lived off the windy unpaved roads that big trucks weren't able to drive on.

Below, is an old manual bottle topper machine. You can test your strength to see if you can build up enough pressure to get the top on.

space shuttle Coke dispenser

On the main floor they have a mini bottling factory, the entire process can be viewed through the glass. After the bottle is filled and topped, it goes on a conveyor belt through the building and upstairs to the exit. On the way out, each person gets to take a special World of Coca-Cola bottle with them. Pretty fun stuff!

Next, is the tasting room. The kids were very excited for this. We usually don't let them drink pop. They had all the Coca-Cola beverages from all over the world and you could taste as much as you wanted. I gave Jackson some lemonade and the big boys a few different caffeine-free choices. We drove all the way to Daytona after this, we didn't want a bunch up hopped up nuts in the car.