The Ark Encounter is a full-sized replica of the Biblical ark mentioned in Genesis. Once you park your car, you are instructed to walk to the bus terminal. Then a bus takes you down the road and up a hill to the unloading area. Once there, you walk to the ark.
It just so happened we went on a very hot day when there were "not many people" there. We arrived about an hour and a half after the park opened. While walking around outside, the "not many people" seemed accurate. Once we entered the ark, we found ourselves in a very, very large slow-moving crowd. I'd hate to see what it is like on a day there are many people there.
The ark contains exhibits that tell the story of its being built, some of the construction details, how animals were housed and cared for, how ventilation was maintained, how waste was handled, how water was collected and moved throughout the ark's cages, and more. At the end, there was a very large display making the case for Christ and encouraging guests to surrender their lives to Him. I saw a woman pondering what she had just read, and she picked up a tract from the display to take with her.
I like that they did not call the park "Noah's Ark." It was God's Ark which he commissioned Noah to build. When the US Navy commissions a ship, they do not give ownership to the builder, but I digress.
The Ark exhibits were very well done. I like that they depicted the family taking care of the animals throughout the displays. They also had a living area for the family and storage areas for the goods. I wish they had covered more of the specifics of how the ark was constructed, but it could be I missed those details due to the crowd. Having been around construction so much, I am very interested in seeing the specific details of this God-designed build. This was an opportunity to learn construction techniques from the Master Builder!
Outside of the ark was Ararat Zoo and a children's petting zoo area with kangaroos, sheep, goats, tortoises!!, lemurs, deer, and more. There is a garden to walk through and a carousel to ride. There was also a zipline and camel rides for extra fees.
What I did not like was the crowd inside the ark. Each display had one or more panels of details to read. There was a lot of reading to understand what you were seeing. But you could not many of read them because of the crowd.
There were little to no interactive displays. We could not go through the displays easily and skipped over some due to the crowded conditions. I think a guided tour or partially guided tour would improve the flow of people and allow everyone a chance to see the exhibits and take in the information better. The workers were yelling over the crowd directions, but it was hard to understand what they were saying or at least the meaning of what they were saying.
Evidently, the museum realizes the issue, because they sell a book with high-quality images and details from the exhibits. I ordered that with my phone right after we left the park so we could read and see what we missed. I also purchased a DVD on the building of the ark.
I believe we, as Christians, should patronage places that increase faith and understanding like the Ark Encounter. I really appreciated seeing the life-sized ark and the exhibits which were very well done. Even though I do not like being in a heavy crowd, I am thrilled so many people were interested. Would I go again? Maybe. I'd call to find out what their light days are and try to get there before they opened.
Our polite and friendly bus driver told us they are going to build a detailed historically accurate model of a 1st-century Jerusalem village like Jesus would have lived in. After that, they are going to build something in relation to the Tower of Babel. I did not catch all of the Towel of Babel info because people on the bus started talking. He did say God keeps providing and people keep coming so they keep building. Those future displays sound interesting and may be worth a trip back.
I will share some pictures from inside of the ark soon.
