{The Ark Encounter In Kentucky}

Oh ME of little FAITH is all that I could say upon immediately arriving at The Ark Encounter in Williamstown Ky.

 The Ark is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. 

The size of this Ark is overwhelming enough to look at with the visual eye but when thinking about all the details that was put into this by God Himself with Noah being His lead man much less the craftsmanship it took to do a replica of it is unbelievable.  The closer I walked to the Ark the larger it was! It was a WOW moment for sure.   Let me say this, when we stepped onto the Ark and walked just a short distance, thunder came and then the Ark began to shake just a bit. SEE HERE....THIS BAPTICOSTAL GAL didn't know whether to fall flat on my face or to run! I had the Holy Bumps I tell ya!

I've had so many ask me to give a review on The Ark Encounter with pictures. Believe me, I wish I had the time to show you every single picture I have but I don't. But if you will bear with me I will show you many and these pictures in no way do the actual "seeing it for yourself" justice.      

First, let me say that I am a visual learner and I always have been. So for me to be able to put a visual to the words was like the icing on the cake for me.  I have walked with the Lord for many years now. Have taught His precious Word for years now. I've sat under many sermons on Noah and the Ark. I've heard the stories told over and and over but to be able to imagine...just simply imagine how it could have been blew me out of the water. I will never hear the name "Noah" from the Bible and think of him the same. Oh no! Noah has a whole new meaning for me. A MAN OF FAITH, TRUST, BELIEF, OBEDIENCE and HE WALKED WITH GOD! 

There were replicas of everything imaginable on the Ark that you have read in the Bible. A lot of things were viewed with "This is probably what it looked liked or how it appeared to be". So keep that in mind as I show you some pictures. There is a lot of pictures on the ark to look at but the neat thing was that before each picture you could read everything pertaining to the picture which brought it to life for us. Let me go ahead and say this, "There is a lot of reading".  My husband is a history man and loves to read anything pertaining to history  of any kind. For me, I love to read PERIOD so this was right up our alley. But get ready...it is very time consuming but for us there was no hurry so it worked out great.

First I want to share with you the mass construction on the inside of the ark. The pictures simply doesn't do justice to seeing it for yourself but they will give you an idea. 

I can't even begin to to tell you how massive the construction was and beautiful at that. The Ark had three decks.

  

Just to give you an idea on what I meant by having a picture and with the reading to go with it I will show you a few pictures.

  

This next picture shows storage for water.

Random pictures...

 

These pictures simply represent the way the animals must have been fed and watered. 

I loved reading this about gathering at the Dining room table.

Time for a New Beginning.......

 

 There are many more pictures but I do hope you've got somewhat of an idea of The Ark Encounter. They did have a few live animals on the ark but mainly replicas of animals. The reading that went along with the animals was very interesting. I learned QUICKLY that I didn't know as much as I thought I did! LOL! 

So much to read about "The World's View" versus "God's View".  

Illustration after illustration on every aspect of the Ark and Accepting Jesus or Rejecting Jesus. I still have the Holy Bumps! 

 So much to share about this. I might just need to teach a Bible Study on Noah and his faith!

I am going to give you a review of our Ark Trip and this is based on the many questions that I have received from friends. 

Cost: We thought it was a good price for all that we saw and the time that we spent. For us it was $40 a person. Senior Adults and prices for children are different as well as group rates.

How long did it take to see the Ark: We arrived at 10:18 am and were pulling out of the parking lot at 3:35 p.m. YES...we spent over 5 hours on the Ark.  When you arrive you park in a parking lot and then you walk up to purchase your tickets. This can be done online but we chose to purchase upon arrival. Apparently we went at a good time of the year as we did not wait in line for anything. We purchased our tickets and immediately stepped on to a bus to carry us to the Ark. 

After arriving at the Ark we went on board. 

Is there a fee to park?

Yes. For regular size vehicles it is $10 and for larger ones like buses I think it was $15. When we got ready to leave we purchased our parking ticket then through a Kiosk machine which takes debit or credit. Then you take that ticket and when you are leaving the parking lot there will be a machine that you insert the ticket in and then the gate opens for you to leave.  

Were the lines long and was there a lot of walking? We did not wait in line for anything. Once again, I know it's because of the time of the year we went. YES, lots of walking but there are benches all along the way to stop and rest. There were also three different theater areas that you could sit down and watch different previews of the Ark. There are restrooms on every deck and nice restrooms at that. They even have a designated room for nursing mothers.

What takes the longest to do on the ark?

READING. For you to totally understand it all and truly get the most out of the Ark you must take the time to read. I can see that if the lines are long, which I am sure they can be, that it would take a REALLY long time to read everything and still see everything. When you factor in walking, reading, bathroom breaks, resting and etc. be prepared to stay all day.

Any places to eat inside the ark? 

There were snack areas along the way with drink machines and coffee and etc. I think one place might have had pizza to purchase if you wanted too. There is one restaurant outside the Ark. You can eat before going into the ark or after you leave the ark. You can also go online to check the prices out and the menu for the restaurant. I will share what I did notice with people that had their children with them. They went in with back packs and looked as though they had their own snacks. I did not see or read anything that said that you could not do that. That would be a smart thing to do especially if you have children. A cup of coffee was around $2.25- $2.50 so that gives you an idea of prices. 

Is there a gift shop on the ark?

Yes and a nice one at that. You can also purchase fudge, peanut brittle and etc. PRICEY! Everything was expensive. But I did have to buy me a tee shirt and it came with an arm band. Marty lined up for the free samples of fudge! LOL!

Did you see lots of people with their children?  We did but we saw more senior adults than anything. Here is what we did notice: A lot of the older children seemed to take an interest in the reading as well as the looking. There seemed to be quite a few that we encountered that had young children that their parents would read everything to them and then explain it. I thought that was awesome but I am not so sure they could have done that if the lines had been long. 

Do you think it is kid friendly?

Yes by all means. I could see how young children could easily become bored or get cranky if the lines are long. It was somewhat easy to spot those kids that you could tell immediately was raised in church as they seem to take more of an interest and even excited. However we did see one poor daddy that was about at his wits end with his little one!!!! WHEW is all I can say! 

What was the most interesting thing to you?

For me, I'd have to say everything! I was overwhelmed with emotion at some points of the Ark Encounter, fascinated, intrigued, and blessed. For Marty: The massive building of the Ark itself and the way things was probably built and what made it all work and come together. Guess that's a man thing!

Why did you not go the Creations Museum and did you talk to anyone that had been while upon the Ark?

 For us, we choose to do other things as well as the Ark so we decided to only go to the Ark. I had been told by quite a few people before going that if we could only do one to do the Ark. If we could do both then to go to the Creations Museum first and then the Ark. I was told that for those in my age group that the Ark would be the number one place. I was also told by many that the Creations Museum truly draws a lot of parents with their children. I think we would have enjoyed both but since there were other things we wanted to do we chose the Ark. I did speak to a young woman that appeared to be in her 20's and she had been to the Creations Museum and loved it and now was visiting the Ark. I asked her if she was enjoying the Ark as much and she said yes absolutely. I also spoke to a lady that was there with her husband and three children and I asked her had they visited the Creations? She said yes they did and they enjoyed it but her children loved it more. If opportunity comes one day I would like to go to the Creations Museum. But I think I would be safe to say that you could not do both in the same day unless you rush. And...I am not about rushing these days if I can help it! For me, I would never attempt to do both in the same day. We are happy with our choice of visiting the Ark. We loved it! The Ark Encounter was one item on my list that if the Lord willed I wanted to do in 2017 and I did! I'm grateful for the opportunity.

My summary: If you have never been then GO. As my motherinlove would have said, "You might not ever want to go back but at least you can say you went". 

For me, the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson sum it up. All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.  

I hope that you have enjoyed a little piece of the Ark with me today. Next week I will share and post a few pictures of our trip with other things that we done with a little sightseeing. 

 Hugs and blessings, Cindy  

Sorry ladies but once again Blogger has placed my comment section at the very bottom! GRR.........