Going For A Few Drinks At World Of Coca-Cola

I don’t know why we did it to ourselves.

One of the highlights of World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia is getting to try their sodas from around the world. There’s pineapple Fanta from Greece, a vegetable soda from Japan, an apple-flavor beverage from Chile and much more.

There’s one drink though (called Beverly) that tastes so disgusting, your face will wrinkle up in a way you never knew possible.

The thing is, we’d visited World of Coca-Cola in the past and tried that drink before, so we knew what we were letting ourselves in for. We figured it’d make a fun video though, so down the hatch it went – the things we do for you guys!

Let’s back up an hour or so though, back to when we arrived at World of Coca-Cola that day. When you enter, you get to pick a free can of soda from these four flavors:

The thing you should know is that up until the day of our visit, Shae hadn’t drunk any dark soda for 5+ years. She still drinks Sprite and ginger ale, but no Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Dr Pepper, etc. as she’d started having reactions to them.

Not wanting to pass up the experience though, she got a can of new Coca-Cola Life and took a swig:

The World of Coca-Cola must be one of the only museum-type attractions that actively encourages you to drink soda as you walk round all its exhibits. That shouldn’t be surprising though seeing as the place is one large living and breathing piece of propaganda for Coca-Cola.

And it’s great!

One of the first things you experience on your visit is a 5-10 minute video that’s a pulling-at-your-heartstrings masterpiece. Imagine a collection of tragic-yet-feelgood American Idol backstories done to the nth degree, with bubbles thrown in for good measure. This would normally be something I’d be incredibly cynical about, yet Coca-Cola somehow pull it off.

(btw, I’m not part of the Coca-Cola propaganda machine! This isn’t a sponsored review or anything like that – I just think they do an incredible marketing job.)

Once you’ve watched the movie, you walk through to the main hall which branches off to different exhibits. The first one we checked out was The Vault.

This is where the recipe for Coca-Cola is kept locked safely away. The problem is, they waaaaaaaaay oversell this section. They make it sound like you’re going to get to view the handwritten recipe, like it’s The Declaration of Independence written with unicorn tears.

On your way through, you even get to turn some dials to try to create the perfect Coca-Cola mix. Their verdict of my attempt?

You eventually get to where the recipe is kept. The suspense is built, the curtain’s drawn back and…

Anticlimax. There is no recipe. Well, there is, but it’s locked inside this second vault and they’re not going to let peons like us see it. I guess they’re worried we might be Pepsi spies.

The best part of World of Coca-Cola is upstairs in the Taste It! zone. That’s where you can sample Coca-Cola brands from around the world.

We tried each of the fountain drinks – there were 64 in total, including the normal Coca-Cola flavors. In theory there are more than 100 different flavor combinations as they also have one of the mix and match Coke machines you sometimes find in fast food outlets.

Neither of us are used to drinking that much soda nowadays, so we went into a soda coma.

Once we’d recovered, we went to the second best part of the place – meeting the Coca-Cola polar bear and getting your photo taken with him.

When we visited World of Coca-Cola a few years ago, the person inside the bear was hilarious (sorry, I’ve given away their secret – it’s not a real polar bear). He/she is able to manipulate the bear’s facial expressions and the person that first time we visited did it perfectly.

The bear wasn’t quite as entertaining this time around, but it was still nice to give him a high-paw.

Some of the other exhibits include all kinds of decorated bottles…

…a 4D movie…

…a small bottling plant…

…history of the Coca-Cola company…

…and all kinds of paraphernalia.

And, of course, you get to exit through the gift shop. You have all your usual gift shop stuff – glasses, T-shirts, keyrings, etc.

And then you have an almost $3,000 can of soda made of Swarovski crystals.

Ticket Cost

The ticket price for World of Coca-Cola when we visited was $17 for adults and $13 for youth from ages 3-12. The great thing was that we were able to get in for free, but it’s not something you’re able to take advantage of nowadays.

Coca-Cola used to have a loyalty scheme called MyCokeRewards. Bottle caps and can multipacks had codes you could enter on the MCR website which earned you points. You could exchange those points for various prizes, so last year I exchanged the last of our points for two adult tickets, knowing we’d be visiting World of Coca-Cola early on during our 50 state road trip.

They don’t run MyCokeRewards anymore (although they do still have codes on bottle caps for occasional other rewards), so I don’t think you’re able to get free World of Coca-Cola tickets that way anymore.

Final Thoughts

If you’re visiting Atlanta, World of Coca-Cola is worth a visit. Yes, it’s a propaganda machine like I’ve already mentioned.

But it’s a great-tasting propaganda machine with a polar bear you can hug. And really, isn’t that what life’s all about?

Well, no, it’s not. But you should visit World of Coca-Cola anyway. If for no other reason than you need to try the disgusting Beverly drink at least once in your life.

And why should you try something disgusting? Here’s why:

You can thank me later once your tastebuds have recovered. You’re welcome.