This month’s Daytrippin’ takes us to Williamstown, Kentucky to visit the Ark Encounter. Just off I-75 and about an hour south of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Ark Encounter is anchored by a life size recreation of Noah’s Ark with other attractions built around the structure.
When you get to the site, you take a shuttle bus to the actual venue from the expansive parking lot. The drive is fairly short, the buses are comfortable; and if you visit during Christmas, the drive is lined with Christmas Lights. At the welcome center, you pay your admission, (They have several options.) and begin your tour. The welcome center has restrooms and a gift shop. The Ark is about 100-yard walk from the welcome center and there are numerous opportunities to take pictures of the structure on the short walk. When we were there, they were allowing visitors to climb the exterior ramp to get photographs of the area. The ramp is not the entrance. You enter the ark on an interior ramp, visitors can get a professional picture made before beginning your tour. (An elevator is also available.) The entrance has a very detailed cutaway of the hull, and you can see the construction of the decks as well. The animals are divided into cages based on size and type, starting with small animals on lower decks and larger animal on the upper decks. The exhibits also included prehistoric animals. The actual animals on the ark are naturalistic replicas of the animals populating the boat. The tour can be self-guided, but a guided tour is offered. Also on display are exhibits of daily life on the ark as well as how the animals were taken care of and fed.
One of the more unique areas of the tour presented the living quarters. This included cooking, sleeping, and recreation. A large model shows the actual deck to deck to deck layout of the boat; this helps you understand the storage of feed and supplies. Visitor also get a chance to ask an animatronic Noah question about the ark, the animals, and life aboard the vessel. Estimates say it took between 75 and 120 years to build the ark.
The tour of the ark itself takes approximately 3 hours, but we did not read all of the exhibits. Snacks are available and, surprisingly, you can walk around with snacks during your tour. The tour ends with a very large gift shop.
After the ark tour you can take in an animal encounter, ride the carousel, visit the Ararat Ridge Zoo, take in a 5-D VR show called “Truth Traveler”, which takes you through building the ark, the flood, and his life aboard the vessel.
One of the more adventurous attractions of the Ark Encounter is the Zip Line Encounter. This gives guests access to the 2000’ Zipline, the challenge ropes course, and a free fall. The zip lines have adventures for all ages.
For the less adventurous, the carousel is a great option. The indoor ride is a great way to cool off and relax. The two-minute ride is included with the ark admission.
There are numerous locations to eat on the property. They offer sandwiches and salads, bar-b-que, pizza, burgers and hot dogs. If you want a more sit down meal, Emzara’s Buffet offers a wide range of food for the entire family.
At select times of the year the park has a concert series and lectures for visitors to take part. The ark encounter has a web site, www.arkencounter.com. This is a great way to spend a day in a family friendly atmosphere.
Located just south of Cincinnati, this is also a great opportunity to take in a Reds game or Kings Island and be sure to tune in the real WKRP in Cincinnati.
