Great Escape: Pause to Refresh at The World of Coca-Cola

Your teens are holding a car wash at the high school Saturday. The grandparents volunteered to take the younger children to a movie Sunday afternoon. Your tweens take tap on Wednesday evening. It’s your time. Take it.

Each week, we’ll tell you about great ideas to give you a much-deserved break and make your life a little easier—maybe a whole lot easier.

Many may be aware that this year is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the 75th anniversary of Gone With the Wind's publication, but did you know it also is the 125th anniversary of Coca-Cola? 

I never had been to The World of Coca-Cola until recently when one of my daughters said she would like to go. I also was unaware of Coca-Cola's 125th until our trip. 

In 1886, an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton, formulated a soft drink to be sold at soda fountains. He took his flavored syrup to his neighborhood pharmacy, where it was mixed with carbonated water—to "excellent" reviews by those who tasted it.

Dr. Pemberton's business partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, named the beverage "Coca-Cola" and designed the trademarked script that is still used.

The first servings of Coca-Cola were sold for 5 cents a glass, and sales averaged nine servings a day in Atlanta during the first year. Today, daily servings of Coca-Cola beverages are estimated at 1.6 billion worldwide.

As a special treat, one of our tickets was free because I had been saving my Coca-Cola rewards points from my cap codes. Tickets are $16 for ages 13-64, $14 for 65 and above, $12 for ages 3-12 and toddlers up to 2 years of age are free.

Parking is $10 in The World of Coca-Cola's own parking deck at Pemberton Place near the Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Olympic Park. This 22-acre site was donated to the City of Atlanta by the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company.

The World of Coca-Cola is closed only on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. All this month, hours are 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with the last tickets sold at 5 p.m.

Inside, I felt as if we had entered Disney World. The lobby area emptied into the Happiness Factory Theater to watch captivating Pixar-like characters introduce us to what was to follow. Then the screen lifted, and we walked through a tunnel into the two-story gallery surrounded by attractions. 

We toured a Coca-Cola bottling facility, saw Coca-Cola TV commercials from around the world in the Perfect Pauses Theater, viewed Coca-Cola artwork, toured the history of Coca-Cola through a museum and saw a multi-sensory Secret Formula 4-D theater presentation. You also can have your picture taken with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear.

At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to sample nearly 70 beverage products from around the world. (More than 500 beverage brands are sold in around 200 countries.) You can sample as many as you want. (We were so full that we could not think about trying the nearby Pemberton Cafe with its reasonably priced food.) 

For an Oprahesque ending, we each got to take home our own 125th anniversary bottle of Coca-Cola in a Coca-Cola bag before winding our way through the fascinating Coca-Cola Store.

On a hot August day, one of the best values is to experience The World of Coca-Cola.

Contact: 404-676-5151.