*This is a sponsored post.  We got 2 free passes to the Ark Encounter*

We got two press passes to the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY.  This was a very exciting experience for us since we have been wanting to go ever since it opened up in 2016.  If you haven’t heard of the Ark Encounter, it is a full scale, life size Noah’s Ark.

The Ark itself was built to the dimensions provided in the Bible!  It is the largest timber framed building in the world at 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high. The total amount of timber used to build this full size ark is 3.3 million board feet. To put that into a perspective that is easier for you to understand, it is 612 miles, the distance from Williamstown, KY (where the Ark is located) to Philadelphia, PA.

Even though The Ark Encounter is a theme park, it’s not an amusement park.  It’s a family fun, historically-themed attraction that contains both educational experiences and entertaining daily live shows.  There is also an interactive area for children, as well as, live mammal shows and a themed restaurant.  There is a zoo and petting zoo opening in the summer of 2019 with animals from all around the world.  It also has a zip line course that consists of 22 different lines.  One zip line cable there is the longest in the midwest at 2100 feet.  The Ark was designed to be historically accurate and family friendly.

Because it takes advantage of the latest environmental technologies, it’s also considered one of the largest “green” projects in the country.  The Ark Experience uses passive solar, solar panels, geothermal, water, and wind into the mechanical systems.  They use locally manufactured products in order to reduce the carbon footprint.  The Ark is built from standing dead timber and treated wood created from the acetylation wood modification process.  This is a fast growing softwood timber and non toxic treatment guaranteed for 50 years.

If you are traveling with more than a couple people, you can expect to spend well over $100 to get in, however, once you are in, you will see that it’s well worth the cost of admission.  You can see ticket prices here, so you are not completely caught off guard and know how much you are spending.  Especially if you are planning ahead, it’s good to know how much your trip will cost ahead of time.  (You can read more about how we plan for stress free vacations here.)

When you get there, you’ll park,  buy your tickets and the board a shuttle to be taken to the Ark.  When we were there the actual shuttle route was closed, so we were taken in through the employee and construction entrance which allowed us to see the horticultural area and some of the things that they are currently working on.  I hope to be able to go back when they have the projects that are currently under construction completed.  One of the future exhibits is the Tower of Babel.

When the shuttle dropped us off, there was a guest services pavilion, where you can rent strollers, motorized wheelchairs and lockers.  Just passed that, there was a coffee shop, restrooms and the West Village, where they had different food options.  Because we were there during the off season, the West Village was closed, however, I’d say in the summertime, it’s a busy place.

As you walk up the ramps into the Ark, you hear thunder.  Leslie said that it was kind of scary, but it didn’t seem to bother any of the other kids. Once you walk through the doors at the top of the ramp, you see cages, lots of cages.   These are the cages that would have held the animals that Noah had on the ark during the flood.  Some were small for the smaller animals, some were medium sized and some were large.

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There were three levels to the Ark to explore.  On the first level, along with the cages, there were displays of how they stored their grain and liquid.  There were also explanations of how they were able to fit all the different animals on the ark.  They did have to have two of every single type of animal on the ark, but instead, there only had to be 2 of each species of animal.  So for example, they didn’t need the polar bear, brown bear, black bear, ect.  All they needed was 2 of the bear species.

As we walked on there were other interesting things displayed as well.  We finished exploring the first level, then walked up the ramp to the second level, where they had more cages and displays.  They showed how God created a perfect earth, but how Satan tricked man and how man, rather than trusting God, listened to Satan’s words “Though Shall Not Surly Die.” There were displays about creation and how it was seven twenty-four hour days, not millions of years.  There was a display of the Pre-Flood World and about What Happened Outside the Ark, Flood Legends, the Tower of Babel, as well as explanations about why God continues to allow suffering and why cutesy fairy tail ark stories are dangerous for our kids (and adults too).  There was a section too that had an explanation about Why (we can know that) The Bible Is True.

There was a story board called Searching For Truth that followed a group of young adults who were taking a religion course in college, that made them question what they believed and why they believed what they believed.  Kyle was getting board as we were reading through this area, so he started rolling around on the floor, pretending to be a mop at one point.

There was an area where the kids could pet a kissing llama and a lizard. 

There were also a number of hands on activities in a number of the displays for the kids to explore.

There was one plaque I saw that really made me stop and think.  This is a profound statement and it’s something that would probably make anyone stop and think about it.

Satan has already convinced Adam and Eve that God was lying to them and now he’s trying to convince everyone that there wasn’t a global flood.  If he can convince people that it didn’t happen, then he could convince people that nothing God has done for us is true.  He’s working harder than ever to convince people that God’s Word isn’t true and we have to fight back and convince everyone that it is.

Enjoy the rest of my pictures and videos of us exploring the Ark Encounter and If you ever get the chance to visit, don’t turn it down.  It is worth your time!  We spent 3 hours here, and if the kids hadn’t been getting bored, I could have probably spent another couple hours looking around, so plan to spend the whole day there.  They do have a restaurant on site as well, and don’t forget to spend time checking out the gift shop.  They have some amazing, one of a kind gifts there.

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