Need tips & advice for a budget trip to Atlanta

[crusoe2]

We're planning a weekend trip to Atlanta in early June. Since we haven't been there in awhile, I could sure use some help.

So far, we're planning to go to the Georgia Renaissance Festival in Fairburn for a day (on Saturday), spend Sunday in downtown Atlanta at the aquarium and World of Coca Cola, and take DD to the American Girl store on Monday. We'll most likely head for home after we're done at the AG store.

We've never done the renaissance festival so I'd love to hear from anyone familiar with it. We have 3 adults and 1 child so tickets are going to run us about $70 plus we'll have to pay separately for games and rides. How much are the tickets for games & rides? I"m figuring we'll spend at least $100 total, maybe more. Is the festival worth that much or is it kind of a dud?

We also need some advice on where to stay. I know the renaissance festival is a good ways south of the other things we're planning to do. We haven't decided yet if we're going to drive up the day before the festival and stay nearby, then move on to another hotel closer to the other things we have planned or wait and drive up really early on the day of the festival. It's about a 3 hour drive from here to Fairburn but it would mean only needing a hotel for 2 nights instead of 3 and saving us having to unload/load our stuff an extra time. But I'd love some suggestions for places to stay near the festival and near the other activities we have planned.

Also would love some info on the mall where the AG store is located. DH and DS will probably hang out there doing other things while DD and I go to AG.

And one other thing - the Coke museum website has a Pemberton pass that includes admission to both the Coke museum and the aquarium. Does anyone know if this includes the Deepo 3D experience and the shark exhibit?

TIA

 

[G's mommy]

Check out the website for the ren fest, garenfest.com. You can order your tickets online ahead of time and get some discount. If you decide to stay in the area for a night, the hotels listed on the website that are located in Fairburn are all fairly new and are only a couple of miles from the festival grounds. Avoid the ones listed in Union City, those are not in a good area and I would not stay there. The games and rides are anywhere from a $1 to $5. I would just set a budget for each child and let them pick from the available activities. The food and drink are yummy, really just depends on how much you want to eat and if you want to drink beer or not as to how much money for food. The shows are included in the entrance price. We have been to the festival a few times and it is a fun day, but not cheap. As far as downtown, if you want to be close the aquarium and World of Coke, stay in the Centennial Park area. I would check the websites for suggestions, but some close are the Hilton Garden Inn, The Omni Hotel, The Westin Peachtree Plaza, the Hyatt, or the Ritz Downtown are all within walking distance. Weekends are often cheaper in the downtown hotels unless a big convention is in town. As far as the AG store, I can't help with that. Maybe someone with girls will chime in.

 

[IDoDis]

You can tour the MLK Jr. National Historic Site which includes his childhood home and neighborhood (including the Ebeneezer Baptist Church and a firestation) and visit the King Center museum all for free. The site is only a couple of miles from downtown area (Peachtree Plaza/CNN, World of Cocoa Cola Museum) if you decide to stay in that area.

 

[Purseval]

If you own a Bank of America product (checking account, credit card, debit card, basically anything with both your name and a BoA affiliation) you can get free admission to the High Museum the first weekend of each month:

http://www.high.org/

The High is about 10 minutes from the Aquarium. The only bad part is that you would have to pay for parking at both places. You could probably take the train from one place to the other.

The other big attraction near the Aquarium is CNN center, they have tours of the news room:

http://www.cnn.com/tour/atlanta/

The Deepo 3D show is a separately priced event, the shark exhibit is part of the regular admission. We were at the aquarium about 3 weeks ago, the Beluga whales have just returned and the place is looking really nice. We didn't go to the 3D show and didn't feel like we missed anything.

The American girl store is in North Point Mall, Alpharetta. The anchor stores at that mall are Macys, Sears, JC Penny and Dillards. It's a suburb of Atlanta so there isn't really much to do besides shop. There is a Sweet Tomatoes across the street if you want a nice, fairly inexpensive buffet meal. You can join Club veg and get 2-for-1 coupons mailed to you.

When you said it was a 3-hour drive from here to Fairburn you didn't say where "here" was, so it's tough to recommend a place to stay. Just take note that if you decide to stay in atlanta most hotels will charge $20-25 per day parking in addition to the room charge. If you stay anywhere along the Perimeter or in the suburbs parking will be free. We have had very good luck bidding with Priceline, if you say where "here" is and decide on a central location I could suggest some bidding strategies.