I expected to see some promotion of Coca-Cola, but the entire World of Coca-Cola is just one big advertisement for Coke. The tour begins with a 6-minute film which I thought would give some background information into the history of the creation of Coke, but it’s just a commercial. (And what’s the deal about the guys throwing basketballs off a hotel balcony into a hoop they set up in the ocean? One bad throw and they could seriously injure someone! Coke wants to promote dangerous activities by stupid kids?)
From there, you walk through several galleries all promoting Coke, but there is no historical context. So you don’t learn why John Pemberton created it (as a patent medicine); what the recipe originally contained (cocaine); why it’s called Coca-Cola (from the caffeine-rich kola nuts and the cocaine); nor how Asa Chandler acquired the company. I would have appreciated a few facts with the big dose of “sugar” in the exhibits.
There is a 4-D film which I thought would be fun, but it (again) began as a commercial for Coke in the guise of a storyline. The 4-D effects produced a lot of screams from the kids in the audience, but they actually had no relation as to what the movie was supposed to be showing. (I don’t want to give too much away.)
The only mildly worthwhile aspect of the World of Coca-Cola is the self-service tasting room at the end where you can try different sodas and flavored waters from around the world. We tasted a good variety of them and they were, for the most part, “interesting”. If you visit during the holiday season, you can also try “Gingerbread Coke” and “Butter Toffee Sprite”—but I don’t recommend that you do. (Yuk!)
Instead of going to the World of Coca-Cola-Cola, you could sit at home and watch endless Coke commercials and drink a mini-can of Coke (which they give you when you enter). You’ll have a similar experience and save $17!