Plankiando with the Coke polar bear from left to right are: Gringo Papi (Shawn Hutcheson), PapiBlogger and Mike Jolly.
Day 4 of the Making Memories Family Road Trip took us for a pitstop visit to Atlanta’s World of Coca-Cola where we met up with Latina bloggers Jennifer Hutcheson (Mami2Mommy) and Piera Jolly (Latina Mom Bloggers and Jolly Mom) and their families for a short but eventful visit that included some surprising plankiando (planking).
PapiBlogger and the Blogger Familias, pictured here, from l to right: PapiBlogger, Angela Ruiz, Piera Jolly, Mike Jolly, Jennifer Hutcheson and Shaun Hutcheson. Front row: Elena, Lucas, Briani, Shauncito and Jonathan.
The World of Coca-Cola
A huge downpour greeted us outside the World of Coca-Cola, which was welcomed because the weather throughout the entire southeastern United States was scorching and the wait time to get into the museum was about 30 minutes. The museum ($16 for adults and $12 for children) is a colorful, interactive monument to the world’s most recognizable brand and despite being a bit too commercial for my own taste, we enjoyed the visit.
Happiness Factory Theater
The weakest link in this entire museum has to be the puzzling, animated video that introduces you to the World of Coca-Cola at what is called the Happiness Factory Theater. I wish I could say you can skip it but you can’t. It’s part of how you get from one part of the museum to the rest. This theater features what is supposed to be a very sophisticated piece of animation with two bizarre-looking characters that look like a cross between a Coke bottle and something else I can’t describe. Weird is the word and fortunately short too. The moral of the short movie is somewhere along the lines that Coke stands for happiness.
We're still not sure what these characters and neither were the kids.
Planquiando with the Coke Polar Bear
Outside the Happiness Theater is a giant, open area that takes you to the two main floors of exhibits.
It was at that moment that from the corner of my eyes I saw the iconic Coca-Cola Polar Bear so naturally I asked Jennifer’s husband Shaun (the Gringo Papi) and Piera’s husband Mike if they would join me to ask the bear’s handlers if we could do some plankiando with him. The bear’s handlers said yes so the bear sat down for us and we just planked right in front of the world famous Coca-Cola Polar Bear. (I think the Coke folks know a good commercial opportunity when they see it!).
From left to right, the Latino blogger kids Lucas, Sean, Briani, Elena and Jonathan.
Secret Formula 4-D Theater
In sharp contrast to the Happiness Factory Theater is the Secret Formula Theater. If you have very limited time at the museum, don’t miss this experience because the kids and you will love it. The short, 4-D movie (the 4 refers to actually feeling stuff bump and wet you) features the adventures of eccentric scientist and his assistant on their quest to uncover the mysterious secret formula for Coca-Cola!
The Perfect Pauses Theater
Regardless of how old you are, this part of the museum will take you down memory lane through many of the most classic Coke commercials. I especially still love the classic 1971 Coke commercial, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”, a jingle so catchy that I was constantly humming it from the moment I walked into the museum.
Taste It Exhibit
The highlight of everyone’s museum visit was the Taste It exhibit. This exhibit is a soda fountain on steroids with tasting stations that feature more than 64 variations of drinks produced and distributed by Coke throughout the world. There are Coke products from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. If you’ve ever dreamed of what it would be like to mix soft drinks, a rated G version of mix hard drinks, this is paradise and not unlike the process that has gone into discovering some of the world’s best soft drinks.
The Krest from Mozambique was awesome. Question for Coke: Why don't you sell it in the U.S.?
Jonathan’s favorite mix was the Bibo drink from South Africa and Elena’s was the Krest Ginger Ale from Mozambique. (Yes, the kids sipped more caffeine in one sitting than they ever should in their lifetime but it’s not every day you visit the World of Coca-Cola).
The World of Coca-Cola also features several other exhibits but time was running out on us, our blogging kids had drunk too much caffeine and we had to hit the road again.
Where in the world is Papi?
July 8
252 miles (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) from Orlando, FL to Odel, GA
Left Orlando at 7:51 p.m. On Friday, July 8
States Traveled so far: Florida, Georgia
Noticias Newswire 
