Visiting Atlanta’s World of Coca-Cola

The company, known for its brand colors red and white, produces different kinds of beverages across all continents. Coke is one out of hundreds of beverages produced by Coca-Cola and it’s the most consumed drink in the world today. The World of Coca-Cola is in the beautiful Pemberton Place located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, in […]

The company, known for its brand colors red and white, produces different kinds of beverages across all continents. Coke is one out of hundreds of beverages produced by Coca-Cola and it’s the most consumed drink in the world today. The World of Coca-Cola is in the beautiful Pemberton Place located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States of America. Important buildings surround it, such as Cable News Network (CNN) headquarters, Georgia Aquarium, Center for Civil Human Rights, and others, making the area a tourist attraction.  
John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist, invented Coca-Cola in 1886. Pemberton fought in the civil war and after the war had ended, he decided to invent something that would gain him commercial success after several attempts of inventing drugs that failed. However, during the first year of the business, Coke did not sell well. He died in August, 1888. Unfortunately he didn’t live to see how successful his product had become. Frank Robinson designed the Coca-Cola logo and gave it its first slogan “The pause that refreshes.”
The World of Coca-Cola had its grand opening on May 24, 2007 in Pemberton Place opening doors to citizens and tourists to explore the fascinating story of Coca-Cola. It’s also the home of the more than 125-year-old secret formula for Coca-Cola and also a home to about 1,200 objects from all around the world that are displayed for the public to see.
The World of Coca-Cola welcomes hundreds of visitors on a daily basis and also makes millions from the tour. The company offers a variety of ticket options, including general admission, special ticket offers, annual pass, school field trip, and VIP guided tours. The good thing about the options is that no reservation is required and interestingly tickets can be bought online or at the counter. A typical tour visit lasts roughly two hours, as part of the tour is self-guided.
The first stage of the tour starts in a big room where there is an attendant who welcomes people and also gives a brief background history of Coca-Cola. Also in the room are several pictures of Coca-Cola adverts right from when it was first made and present adverts as well, pictures of inventor of Coca-Cola and samples of bottles are also displayed. Tourists are allowed to ask questions in case there is something the attendant has said that isn’t clear. People are also allowed to take pictures in the room before proceeding to the next stage.
The second stage elaborates more on the history of Coca-Cola using visuals rather than just having someone talk to the people. The tourists are taken into a room with lots of seats and a gigantic screen directly facing the seats. Everyone is asked to be seated and suddenly all the lights go off leaving the room very dark and conducive for the audience to watch an interesting short video of about 15 minutes. The video shows the different transformation Coca-Cola has gone through over the years.
Immediately after that is the next stage where people get to see over 1,200 artifacts including items John Pemberton used in inventing his drugs during his lifetime. Also in the place, there is an amazing and spectacular bubble image-maker. It enchantingly produces an image of you if you stand in front of the machine. Using bubbles, you’d see your face appear on the screen. It is truly an overwhelming experience.
The most anticipated part of the tour is when you get to see the machine that has the secret formula stored in it. It is a huge machine that is silver in colour and it stores the Coca-Cola Company’s secret recipe for Coca-Cola syrup. The company presents the formula as a closely held trade secret known only to a few employees and that is why there is tight security around the machine.
Next stage is a room with a cinematic setting that is equipped with multi-sensory 4D screen, 3D glasses and a moving seat. Visitors seat and watch a movie on the secret formula of Coca-Cola although they don’t really tell the viewers what it is hence the name ‘secret formula.’ The video also explains what makes Coke what it is. There is a point where water is splashed coming out of the screen and you could feel a drop of water on your body. This makes it more realistic and a splendid experience. Photography is strictly prohibited throughout the duration of the video. Visitors get an inside look at the Coca-Cola bottling process. The composition and the bottling process is complex and at the same time interesting. Robotic arms and machines do all the production processes.
During the production process, using jet streams and water, the bottles are cleaned and sanitized so as to wash away any dirt from the bottles. The bottles thus move to an overhead conveyer belt for thorough checking before the robotic arm picks up sometimes 5 to 10 bottles at a go and drops it in the machine station that will fill up each bottle. The famous coke is bottled using four major steps: clean and pure water is put in the bottle by a machine, redefined sugar is added to the mix, the sugar water gets the secret formula mixture and some caramel mixture as well. A machine shakes the bottle to ensure that all the recipes are well mixed together. The last but not the least, carbon dioxide is added to the mixture to give it the fizzy state that makes the drink unique. The bottles are sent down to the packaging machine and this is the only stage where a human comes to check everything is in order and ensures that all bottles are well packaged. Nevertheless, visitors are not granted the opportunity to see the last part of the production process.
The ‘Taste It Lounge’ has got to be the most exciting part. It is a drink station where visitors can taste over 100 different beverages. It has seven drink stations, which are named after the continents: Africa, Latin America, North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Each drink station has eight different beverages and the same beverages are placed on two sides of the station. Visitors are free to take as many beverages as they wish. Restrooms are also provided for visitors to relieve themselves after consuming so much liquid. The tour ends there, after which an eight-ounce glass bottle of coke packed in a transparent bag comes off the conveyor belt and each visitor picks one and exits through a huge store. There are different items sold at relatively affordable prices. One can also purchase gift items with the Coca-Cola logo on it for loved ones. The World of Coca-Cola is truly an amazing place to visit!