Ideas for fun stuff to do in Atlanta

[FredNash]

A friend of mine is going to Atlanta this weekend and he sold me his dad's ticket when he couldn't go, they were going to go to a meeting of some kind, but it's been canceled, so now we're looking for some fun stuff to do. He's a huge CocaCola fan, like memorabilia and stuff, so we're going to see the Coke museum or whatever, but besides that we don't really have any plans.

So I'm just wondering if any posters are from Atlanta or familiar with it enough to offer some suggestions on sights to see or fun stuff to do that's not too expensive.

I wanted to see a Hawks game, but they're on a road trip this weekend. I also know Cartoon Network, like all Turner stations, is based in Atlanta, and so is Williams St. right? Does CN do tours? Is there even anything worth seeing, or is it just a cube farm? I wonder if Williams St. would let us in if we brought them some booze...

Anyway, just looking for suggestions, and any ideas are appreciated.

[Tienshin]

From what I understand Williams Street does not do tours of their facility, so thats a bummer.

(Though with ENOUGH booze you might be able to finagle a picture with the seven foot gundam out of them.)

[Chad Bonin]

It's a seven foot Megadeus.

No, I don't think Williams St. does tours. I DO think there's a general Turner tour, covering CNN and other stuff... but Williams St. is another building.

The Coke tour is friggin' awesome. Just don't taste the asian Pineapple drink... made my tongue go numb.

Umm... get some Krispy Kremes, go see The Big Chicken...

[Tienshin]

Oh yeah...its a Big O model. :sweat:

And so as not to waste a post...I hear Atlanta has excellent night life...

[cowboyardee]

Don't know if CNN does tours on the weekend; probably does. Williams Street - to heck with them; don't waste your booze.

Let's see, there's the Centennial Olympic Park. It's fun in the summer because you can get splashed by the fountain jets. In the winter it's probably less than a thrill, though. It's still a nice place to visit and look at the names on the bricks. You can say, "I was there."

Anything at the Fox Theatre. It's good just to look around inside the building, it's beautiful. And, what we call the "Highbrow Museum of Art" is really very nice. and the VARSITY!! you have to go to the Varsity and get a chili cheese dog. I don't care if you aren't hungry! Go!

Knux Five is dead on right about the Asian Pineapple at the Coke museum. There's another kind, can't remember what it is (my taste buds automatically shut down my memory when I think of the Coke testing room) but in general, if it sounds bizarre, it will be. There's a big difference between being adventurous and being foolhardy. You'll also gain a great deal of respect for people in other countries who actually think their Cokes are tasty.

But, if you go downtown, watch out for the panhandlers. They can get really aggressive because they're not supposed to be panhandling and they know it.

[FredNash]

No, I don't think Williams St. does tours. I DO think there's a general Turner tour, covering CNN and other stuffTurner Tour, I'll look into that

The Coke tour is friggin' awesome. Just don't taste the asian Pineapple drink... made my tongue go numb.No pineapple, check.
get some Krispy Kremes, go see The Big Chicken...We've got Krispy Kreme.
Big Chicken?
Williams Street - to heck with them; don't waste your booze.I didn't think they would have tours anyway, what with insurance and liablility being what they are...
Centennial Olympic Park... Fox Theatre... "Highbrow Museum of Art"... and the VARSITY!! Gotcha.

These are great ideas, I never would have thought of going to the Olympic Park, but that's something I'd definitly like to do. And I remember seeing the Varsity on a food show I'm pretty sure, we'll have to check that out too.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate it :bosko:

[Speedy Boris]

Go to the National Optometric Association! ;) Maybe you'll see my dad. I've been to Atlanta and I took a tour of CNN, which was pretty cool. We also looked at the Olympics stadium and toured the Coca Cola museum.

[purplehairedwonder]

Knux Five is dead on right about the Asian Pineapple at the Coke museum. There's another kind, can't remember what it is (my taste buds automatically shut down my memory when I think of the Coke testing room) but in general, if it sounds bizarre, it will be. There's a big difference between being adventurous and being foolhardy. You'll also gain a great deal of respect for people in other countries who actually think their Cokes are tasty.
If I remember correctly, it was the Italian Coke... stuff was nasty. But the last time I was there was 5 years ago, so I could be wrong...

Let's see, I used to live near Atlanta, what is there to do in the winter...

I'd say Braves game, but it's not the season:sweat: Are the Thrashers still playing? (I'm not a big hockey fan...) Coke is a definate must see... Varsity is good for a meal, Centennial Olympic Park is worth a visit (but these have all been mentioned...)

Maybe check out the Mall of Georgia. If you want to spend a whole day walking around a mall, heh:D

[Speedy Boris]

Speaking of shopping- I remember I went to Underground Atlanta, which was really cool. In case you don't know, it's basically shops that are under the street and is supposed to also be a Civil War historical site (because Atlanta was burned in the process). Even if you don't shop, you HAVE to go there.

[Squall]

Every major city has its party district, and of course, there's the local sports teams... the Falcons (NFL), Hawks (NBA), Braves (MLB), and Thrashers (NHL). Also, which colleges are in Georgia? If the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech are located there, it would be neat to take a tour of the campus...

:)

[Anyone00]

Well there's Stone Mountain, I'm no way endorsing any Johnny Reb crap or anything like that, I'm just saying go there and see if you find the realization "I'm going up a Confederate monument and 2/3 of the people here are Asian Tourist" as surreal as I did.

[Maybe it was the time of year I went or the year itself, I don't know]

[Tallaid]

If I remember correctly, it was the Italian Coke... stuff was nasty. But the last time I was there was 5 years ago, so I could be wrong... Yup you're right it's some kind of Italian coke, the taste is indescribable but one thing is for sure you won't soon forget it. Everyone seems to have mentioned all the interesting things to do in Atlanta(As if there were really many things to do here). Basically my main piece of advice is eat as many Krispy Kremes as possible, it's like God's gift to man in donut form....You know they should amke that their catch phrase

Krispy Kreme: God's gift to man, in donut form

[wrenchien]

and if i wanted to go see power lines overhead? where would i go then?

[wrenchien]

It's a seven foot Megadeus.

No, I don't think Williams St. does tours.
...

they should. even a hour a day. just not for the kiddies.

I DO think there's a general Turner tour, covering CNN and other stuff... but Williams St. is another building.

The Coke tour is friggin' awesome. Just don't taste the asian Pineapple drink... made my tongue go numb.
sorry i think i will taste it if i make it to the coke tour. and if not, there's always atlanta grocery stores (hispanic) to go through and buy up some of the rarer flavors.


Umm... get some Krispy Kremes, go see The Big Chicken...

umm.. no.

[Chad Bonin]

The Big Chicken-
Not an actual great site to go to, just to snag a picture of. It's a huge wooden chicken, on top of some chicken restaurant (Long since forgotten in my mind; it's just the Big Chicken).

Centennial Park-
Eh, not much to actually do there. You can look at the Olympic Torch/Big McDonalds Fry Box.

Krispy Kreme-
Get 'em fresh. Either come in with a family or ask for such (Seems to work both ways)... they melt in your mouth... literally.

Stone Mountain-
It can be either extremely fun (Laser show!) or extremely boring. Last time I went there was a Senior field trip. Raining, foggy, and nothing to do because half the locations were closed. Some dared to walk up to the top of the mountain, me and my friends (Outside of those dissappeared up the mountain) did a lot of walking, waited a half-hour for McDonalds, and sat around.

Underground Atlanta-
Definitely. Drinking age? They're making it into a major night hot spot. Otherwise, it's still an interesting visit (An underground strip mall, essentially).

Mall of Georgia-
I was there, uh... once, I believe. Didn't stick out in my mind... unless it was another. Is this the one with the Ponce de Leon statue on top?

General-
No, those aren't huge buttcracks; all giant peaches look like 'em though.

[Jaguar]

The Underground has the best Hooters ever.

[Shawn Hopkins]

I went to Atlanta once. I loved the Varsity!!! I still have one of those paper hats from there. I also enjoyed the CNN tour, the Olympic Park and the view from the restauraunt in the hotel we stayed in, I think the restauraunt was called the Sundial but I can't remember the hotel. The tallest one in the city.

There was other fun stuff, too. Being a country boy I even enjoyed riding the MARTA. Wish I'd checked out that Underground Atlanta thing. I'd like to go back some time if I get the chance.

[guinaevere]

How old are you? If you're over 21, hit the Buckhead area. I'm guessing you're under, so I'm detailing Atlanta.

Hit Atlanta Underground.

The big chicken is on Cobb Parkway in Marietta. It a KFC restaruant, but the restaurant itself is a huge old chicken. I love driving by there. His beak opens and closes and his eyes roll around. But only do that if you're just driving around with nothing better to do. http://roadsidegeorgia.com/site/bigchicken.html
http://roadsidegeorgia.com/images/big_chicken_sm.jpg

A lot of people take the CNN tours, and perhaps it's sumpin you'd like to do... but it's a waste of time, IMO. If you're in that area, I'd suggest Centennial Olympic Park.

I'd definatly go for the Coke tour. Which I still haven't gone on.

If you hit the Fabulous Fox Theatre, you're close to the Woodruff Arts Center, which has a decent art museum. The High Art Museum, to be exact. Not great, but decent.

If you're just looking for local color and toursity stuff, then hit the Varsity. Hot dogs, fries and ice cream. With all the grease you could hope for.

The Georgia Force is playing, if you're interested in seeing an Arena Football game. They're fun.

I just noticed when you're going, and it seems you're already here, so I'll stop now.

::embarrased::

There really isn't too much going on around here right now.

[TimTwoFace]

The headquarters of Coca-Cola is in Atlanta, isn't it? You could probably go on a tour there - it actually could be quite fun.

Every major city has its party district, and of course, there's the local sports teams... the Falcons (NFL), Hawks (NBA), Braves (MLB), and Thrashers (NHL).
If you're a fan of hockey, I'd suggest checking out the Thrashers. They're a young, fast-moving, exciting team to watch - too bad they're not in a region of the world that isn't exactly crazy about the sport. Hey, that at least means really cheap tickets, as opposed to what you would find in Canada or the traditional US hockey markets. If I were ever in town during the season I'd check it out, for sure.

-Tim

[Caffeine King]

I went to Atlanta once. I loved the Varsity!!! I still have one of those paper hats from there. I also enjoyed the CNN tour, the Olympic Park and the view from the restauraunt in the hotel we stayed in, I think the restauraunt was called the Sundial but I can't remember the hotel. The tallest one in the city.

There was other fun stuff, too. Being a country boy I even enjoyed riding the MARTA. Wish I'd checked out that Underground Atlanta thing. I'd like to go back some time if I get the chance.
I went to the Varsity to eat with school on some field trip, I hated it...too crowded. :shrug: The food was...ok. :shrug:

I've heard lots about that Underground Atlanta thing, I wanna go. :p

The only times I've been actually in Atlanta was once on that school field trip, and to the Atlanta airport (which isn't really much) despite the fact I only live about an hour and a half away from Atlanta. :shrug:

[Discloner]

The Coke tour is friggin' awesome. Just don't taste the asian Pineapple drink... made my tongue go numb.

I liked the Asian Pineapple, I do however suggest you avoid the Italian Birch or whatever that one Italian one was....*Shudders*

I thought the World of Coca-cola was a tad overrated, Sure nothing beats being able to taste all of coke's products, then more from all over the world, as much as you want. But besides that the 'museum' is basically one big advertisment journey for the company and nothing more.

The CNN tour was great, I wasn't looking forward to it, but after it was done I was happy I went through with it. I did chuckle when the video at the end mentioned Cartoon Network and the only clips from the network were from Cow and Chicken, I am Weasel, and Tom and Jerry. Their store has a few CN stuff too...but not enough to make a fan of the network happy.

Thats...about all we did in Atlanta. Just as passing through on our way from Rhode Island to Orlando Florida.

[FredNash]

Wow, thanks for all the input people!

OK, well, I'm back now, and the ideas were great, so to keep it simple I'll just break down the major stuff we did:

Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Good food, cool atmosphere, pretty expensvie.

Went to the Underground. Cool place, just a mall really though...

Coca-Cola. I did drink the pineapple, and it was ok, but the Bitter Aperitivi was, well, awful. When you first put it in your mouth and swish it around, it's fine. No really strong taste at all. But 1 to 2 seconds after you swallow... the most bitter drink I've ever had. It was almost like swilling straight Gin, except more bitter and without the alcohol to cover it up... anyway, besides that the tour was cool, especially the old coke bottles and tv commercials and stuff.

Sci-Trek. This was a mistake. If you have a family or are an 8 year old, this place is great. Just your basic "hands-on" science museum. If you're fascinated by levers or magnets, and you don't mind wading through 3rd graders, this is the place for you.

CNN. This was cool, got to see CNN live, and the office you see in the background all the time, but I was disappointed to find out that there are no tours at all of the other stations, Cartoon Network, TNT, TCM, or that there's really anything to see there at all. :sad: They're in Atlanta, but since there's not really any live shows except for a couple (like Insde the NBA), it's really just a bunch of offices. But I got an Adult Swim shirt at the gift shop for $10 and I got one of my brothers an ATHF shirt and the other a Sealab shirt, so that was cool.

The Varsity. Awesome. Chilli dogs to die for. Go if you get the chance.

Fudruckers. Not exclusive to Atlanta, but I'd never been to one before, and it's good food.

That's about it I think, besides the stuff like MARTA, which was cool, plus it was really clean and only crowded at rush hour. I also got to see The Dreamers, which was awesome, and is never coming within 300 miles of where I live.

The only thing left is the plane rides, which were nice (finally got to finish the book I've been reading for a month) and the ride home. We stopped at The Cheesecake Factory. Good Cheesecake. :p

So anyway, thanks for the ideas, if it weren't for some of them, we would have missed out on some really cool stuff, so I really appreciate it!