Tag: stranger things experience

The Stranger Things Experience Atlanta
adventures with kids · travel with kids

The Stranger Things Experience Atlanta

Essentially Better LivingLeave a comment

This year for Christmas, I bought my thirteen-year-old daughter tickets for the Stranger Things Experience. I had done a lot of reading about it, and followed the experience on Insta, so I somewhat had an idea of what we were in for. But the experience truly exceeded my expectations.

When my daughter first started encouraging me to watch the show with her, I was hesitant because I don’t love scary shows and movies. They have a tendency to give me bad dreams. However Stranger Things was different for me. I really got invested in the characters and the story line was so well written, I “needed to know” what happened next and so I got drawn in. She had asked multiple times to go to the NYC experience, but that is a long and pricey trip for us. But she doesn’t ask for a lot, so when the opportunity came along for us to go in Atlanta, less than five hours away, I took it!

When you first arrive, the signage, branding and attention to detail, even to the outside of the building, is impressive. The porta potties were even impressive to us, with an employee inside managing them. There were stalls, and they were immaculately clean. There was a place for ice skating and marshmallow roasting which we did not have time to do,. Lots of selfie opportunities.

Inside, you will have your bag searched, receive your VIP badge if applicable, show your tickets, and be told no pictures until the Mix Tape area. This was hard for us, because there were so many times where you would really want to take pictures! I understand now, looking back, because you are Hawkins Lab Sleep Study subjects, and the whole thing that made that part of the experience awesome was the suspense of not knowing what was going to happen! If people photographed it and posted about it, it would ruin the experience! That is why I am not going to share what happens in that part of the experience in that post. I would hate to ruin it for future attendees. Just know that it was so realistic and magical that it absolutely blew us away.

I do recemmend getting the VIP tickets. We were treated to free VIP drinks at The Upside Bar. Any drink you want. I got a Demogorgon cocktail and my daughter got an Eleven Mocktail. My cocktail had a cute Luxardo cherry and Stroopwafel garnish. We also received a free gift that I also don’t want to reveal and spoil the surprise because it was way cooler than anything I thought we would get!

My cocktail and her mocktail from The Upside bar

In the Mixtape Area, we struggled with what to do first. So many photo opps! You can take a picture with Vecna, a Demogorgon, and at the different “shops” or stations they had set up in the perimeter.

We started by looking in the gift shop area. They have many shirts and other items to offer, however, I would wait until you make it all the way around the enter Mixtape Area. There are shirts and items for sale in each individual area, in addition to the stand alone gift shop.

The photobooth! I remember these from when I was a kid! You go in and close the curtain, then a three-second countdown for a series of four pics that print out once you step outside. I am laminating ours as bookmarks and a keepsake. There is a five dollar cost.

The Byers Living Room! If you take a few minutes in here, and not just take a picture or selfie, you will really appreciate the attention to detail! Also it is so fun to see all of the props and clothing actually worn by and used by the characters on the show that are on display throughout Mixtape.

The Byers living room

Rink-o-Mania. I asked about roller skating, and one employee shared with me that they too wished that attendees and employees could roller skate. I believe it is liability issues and space issues that prevented them from actually allowing participants from roller skating.

Scoops Ahoy! This area was so nicely done. The ice cream is very good – we have butter pecan. The girl who served our ice cream was so pretty with nicely done 80s makeup and very friendly. In the sailor costume of course! They had the boat seating area for photos, then you could have your ice cream in the concessions food court area.

Surfer Boy Pizza. I hesitated to spend the money, but my daughter had been in pursuit fo the frozen pizzas at a grocery – we were never able to find the cheese. At the Surfer Boy Pizza bus we could get the three cheese, so she and I split a slice. It was not quite lunch time – ha!

The Arcade and Family Video. It was so fun for me to play Dig Dug check out all the VHS movies. A real blast from the past as a child of the 80s.

To sum it up, this was a very well done encounter and I would recommend it to any fan of the Stranger Things series. If you would like to read more about our mother daughter trip to Atlanta you can find that here.

Mother Daughter Trip to Atlanta
adventures with kids · travel with kids

Mother Daughter Trip to Atlanta

Essentially Better LivingLeave a comment

After Christmas, I took my thirteen-year-old daughter to Atlanta for a quick overnight trip. I wanted to share about our trip to help other moms who may wish to do the same, including tips on how to avoid traffic, ways to save money, things to do and where to eat.

We live in north Tennessee, so it’s about a 4-5 hour drive to Atlanta. I did quite a bit of reading and research about how to avoid Atlanta traffic because that was my one reservation about going in the first place. Atlanta traffic is notorious for being awful!

My first tip is to really thank carefully about how to avoid high traffic times. Leave early in the morning and think about rush hour traffic in major cities and how you can avoid them. For us, I knew we would be driving through Nashville, so we left early enough to avoid the 8-9am commute traffic. We got through well before that. I also knew we wanted to stop at Buc-ee’s on the way there to gas up and grab a bite, so I wanted to arrive before the lunch rush. We achieved that too! We wanted to arrive in Atlanta avoiding any lunch or rush hour traffic and accomplished that as well.

Buc-ee’s in Adairville, GA

I was fine with taking I-24 to get there, because while I wanted to avoid I-75 and I-285 in Atlanta, we also wanted to spend as little time on the road as possible and maximize our time having fun.

If you do travel to Atlanta the week of Christmas I read up on the best days to drive and days to avoid. December 26-27 because of after-Christmas traffic, and December 30 is not recommended due to New Year’s traffic. So we chose December 28-29 and these proved to be good days to travel.

When considering time on the interstate, consider spending as little time on 75 as possible. We did get caught in some I-75 traffic as we neared Atlanta, but not for long because we exited EARLY to check out Lenox Square and the Buckhead area, one of the nicest in ATL.

Lenox Square in Buckhead

Once we exited, we never used an interstate or highway the rest of our time in Atlanta. We stayed on the east side of the interstate which generally are the nicer and safer neighborhoods. On your maps app, select “avoid highways” and you can steer clear of the hectic, white knuckle Atlanta traffic. We had a GREAT experience driving through the quaint and charming Atlanta neighborhoods. This also allowed us to discover some great finds and ideas for future trips to ATL.

We saved money by eating brunch and dinner only. When we did eat, we ate well. The portion sizes at most restaurants are enough for 2 or more people so we would choose a dish with large portions and split it, asking for an extra plate. This allowed us to save money and not overeat. We also saved money by using our Marriott points so our hotel stay was completely free. You can find out how to get a Marriott Bonvoy rewards card and why we love being a member here. We strategically planned to stay near where we had dinner which was the unique and charming Dwarf House Chick Fil A, so we did not spend time and gas driving. We could head to our hotel and relax right after dinner. This Chick Fil A was the very first one and you can learn more about why it was so special and why we loved it here.

Dwarf House Chick fil A

We had brunch at the highly rated Sun in My Belly. It did not disappoint. I was looking for somewhere that could make an amazing latte (mine had a pretty design on top) and an outstanding meal. SIMB fit the bill on both counts. We added it to our bucket list for places we must revisit next trip! As an added bonus, it was only 5 minutes away from Target and our Stranger Things Experience, which was the event that brought us to Atlanta in the first place. You can read about our experience here if you would like to know more. The Target was a Super Target, and had a Starbucks and Ulta inside. It was not crowded at all and we love Target so much that looking back it was one of our trip highlights.

Stranger Things Experience
Sun in My Belly
My latte at Sun in My Belly

Other notable highlights and places we would like to visit on a return trip include: East Pole coffee in Buckhead, Krog Street Market, Virginia Highland area (best food), Ponce City Market (give yourself a whole day for this, or have a clear agenda in mind. It is huge!) My biggest regret was not allowing more time for Ponce City. There was so much we wanted to do and so many places we wanted to try in the food hall but just ran out of time.

Ponce City Market

My final piece of advice is to consider your daughter and what she would LOVE. I don’t know about you, but as a mom, if my daughter’s bucket is full, mine is too. Avoid too much touristy stuff and seek out things to do and places to eat that will bring you both joy.