Centennial Olympic Park Becoming Tourist Mecca

Travel to Down­town Atlanta and one of the first things to dis­cover among the back­drop of lofty sky­scrap­ers is an oasis called Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park. The 21 Acre Olympic Park, famous for its fes­ti­vals, events and Olympic Rings, is draw­ing tourists from all over the south and beyond.

Recently the Olympic Park has been trans­formed into a win­ter won­der­land with its Hol­i­day in Lights fes­ti­val  that dis­plays thou­sands of glit­tery lights. Also fea­tured is “Atlanta’s Only Out­door Skat­ing Rink” which is rem­i­nis­cent of the elo­quent Bryant Park in New York City.

Down­town Atlanta Attractions

Take a look around Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park and observe the excep­tional venues its sur­rounded by includ­ing the world’s largest aquar­ium — The Geor­gia Aquar­ium. Other notable down­town Atlanta tourist attrac­tions fea­ture  The World of Coca-Cola and Imag­ine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta. The CNN Cen­ter stands proud as it tow­ers over Cen­ten­nial Olympic park. The National Museum of Patri­o­tism is the newest exhi­bi­tion to open its doors to the public.

The list of major urban tourist des­ti­na­tions in the United States include San Antonio’s River Walk, New York’s Times Square and the Mall of Amer­ica in Min­neapo­lis. With the addi­tion of three new venues over the next few years Atlanta hopes to be join­ing the list of vaca­tion des­ti­na­tions that tourists flock to.

The new down­town Atlanta themed enter­tain­ment exhibits expected to open its doors over the next few years include the National Col­lege Foot­ball Hall of Fame, the Cen­ter for Civil and Human Rights, and the National Health Museum.

The National Health Museum, com­bined with other Georgia-based insti­tu­tions such as the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion, CARE, the Arthri­tis Foun­da­tion and the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety, marks Geor­gia as a major player of the global health indus­try in the 21st cen­tury. In fact The Coca-Cola Com­pany was a key con­trib­u­tor in attract­ing the National Health Museum to the Olympic Park mon­tage of venues.

Legoland is cur­rently scout­ing the Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park area for its Dis­cov­ery Cen­tre. Mean­while, con­struc­tion on the $100 mil­lion dol­phin exhibit at The Geor­gia Aquar­ium has begun and is expected to the open to the pub­lic late 2010 or early 2011.

Centennial Olympic Park

Over three mil­lion vis­i­tors annu­ally come to the 21 acre Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park. It is located in the heart of down­town Atlanta and is sur­rounded by other Atlanta land­marks such as the Geor­gia Aquar­ium, the New World of Coca-Cola and the CNN Cen­ter. This park was built for the 1996 Olympic Games hosted by Atlanta and hosts many events and fes­ti­vals through­out the year.

There’s a lot to do this sum­mer at Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park start­ing with the Fourth Sat­ur­day Fam­ily Fun Days. This event occurs once a month until fall and designed to be edu­ca­tional, enter­tain­ing and theme based. A dif­fer­ent theme is fea­tured each Saturday.

Other events include the 4th of July Cel­e­bra­tion, Music@ Noon, Wednes­day Wind­Down, and the ones so beloved by kids — The Foun­tain of Rings, the 4th of July Cel­e­bra­tion, and Hol­i­day in Lights.

4th of July Cel­e­bra­tion at Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park is Atlanta’s best fire­works dis­play. Get their early to secure a spot. Kids activ­i­ties run from 5:00pm — 9:00pm on the south end of the park.

Music @ Noon fea­tures a vari­ety of music by local artists. Styles include Jazz, Pop, and R& B and shows at 12:00pm — 1: 00pm every Tues­day and Thurs­day April through October.

Fourth Sat­ur­day Fam­ily Fun Days is a fun event for kids as well as par­ents to par­tic­i­pate in.
Cen­ten­nial Park invites enter­tain­ers, per­form­ers, and orga­ni­za­tions from all over the South to join the program.

Pop­u­lar activ­i­ties include children’s art and crafts, family-friendley per­for­mances, life-size chess, tour­ing shows, and edu­ca­tional events. There’s even con­test and prizes that are awarded. Be sure to bring the fam­ily and this fes­tive event occur­ing every fourth Sat­ur­day of the month from April through September.

Wednes­day Wind­Down fea­tures live music per­for­mances every Wednes­day at the South­ern Com­pany Amphithe­atre located inside of Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park. This is Atlanta’s longest run­ning free con­cert series and runs at 5:30pm to 8:00pm May through September.

Billed as the world’s largest inter­ac­tive foun­tain fea­tur­ing the Olympic Ring Sym­bol, the Foun­tain of Rings is one of the most rec­og­nized and famous land­marks in the State of Geor­gia. The Foun­tains Of Rings goes on every­day, 365 days a year at 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 6:30pm and 9:00pm.

Songs fea­tured in this amaz­ing show include:

1812 Over­ture — Tchaikovsky
Char­i­ots of Fire — Elec­tronix
Danc­ing in the Streets — Martha Reeves and the Van­del­las
Sir Duke — Ste­vie Won­der
Sum­mon the Heroes — John Williams
Twist and Shout — The Bea­t­les
Under the Sea — Samuel E. Wright
William Tell Over­ture — Gioacchino Rossini
Fly Me to the Moon — Frank Sina­tra
Cir­cle of Life — Lion King / Elton John

A fes­tive Atlanta tra­di­tion starts again this hol­i­day sea­son as the 11th annual Hol­i­day in Lights gets under­way. Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park becomes a win­ter won­der­land illus­trated by a spec­tac­u­lar show of lights.

Thr Hol­i­day in Lights also fea­tures Atlanta’s only out­door ice skat­ing rink on the great lawn. Mar­vel at the sparkling lights and join in on the Hol­i­day spirit Novem­ber 14 through Jan­u­ary 3rd. Park hours are 7:00am — 11:00pm ever­day, includ­ing Christmas.

Related Arti­cles:
Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park Becom­ing Tourist Mecca
The Ice Rink at Cen­ten­nial Olympic Park