Ark Encounter Blog

Our busy summer season has officially begun! Families are pouring into the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum from across the United States for a family-friendly vacation that equips them to stand on the authority of God’s Word.

If you’re planning a summer road trip to the world’s leading Christian themed attractions, here are our top five travel-planning tips.

Both the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum have so much to offer—high-quality exhibits, playgrounds, zoos, concerts and presentations, and more. Plus, there are unique experiences at each attraction—the Ark includes a custom-designed, Italian-made carousel and virtual reality experience, and the museum offers a special effects theater and a conservatory exhibiting the plants of the Bible.

It’s hard to fit it all into just a one-day visit to each attraction. Our 3-Day Unlimited Combo allows you unlimited visits to both attractions over three days, giving you more time to go at your own pace and enjoy everything each attraction offers. We recommend purchasing a discounted Unlimited Combo Parking Pass.

These “extras” (which require a separate ticket) enhance your visit and make for some fun family memories. Consider riding the zip lines or completing an aerial adventure course together; traveling back in time with our VR experience at the Ark; feeding a camel, meeting our sloth, or our kangaroos and wallabies behind the scenes; or visiting the Butterfly House or the planetarium at the Creation Museum.

With so many incredible experiences, it’s easy to see why so many guests choose the 3-Day Unlimited Combo and then add various experiences!

Not only does prepurchasing your tickets save you time when you arrive, but it saves you money too! Our lowest prices are available online and vary by day of the week and season (winter offers the lowest prices). If you’re looking to save money or skip the line, purchasing your tickets online is the best option. We also offer free admission to children ages 5–10 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at both attractions.

During the summer months, the attractions get busier as the day progresses. Arriving right when we open allows you to start your adventure when it’s a little less busy (visiting midweek also helps with this). And, as a bonus, the animals in the zoos tend to be more active first thing in the morning, so consider visiting the zoo first if you or your children love animals.

Our partner hotels have all been vetted by our team, so you can be confident in your choice when you use our helpful hotel search feature.

We also have a bonus tip for you: Consider a guided tour. Inspire Tours has partnered with us to offer 90-minute guided tours through the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. With “skip-the-line” access, these tours enhance your visit and help you and your family take home even more from the exhibits.

We hope to see you this summer at the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum! Start planning your visit today!

Wind your way through a graphic novel at the Ark Encounter!

Employing a comic-strip format, Searching for Truth delivers an engaging and thought-provoking story about a college student’s journey from skepticism to faith. As you enter the winding exhibit area, you are introduced to Gabriela—a young woman who once left the church but is about to be confronted with the truth.

With the help of a friend, she begins taking a hard look at the Bible’s claims and its authenticity as she wrestles with questions regarding the faith she previously dismissed.

This exhibit presents apologetic truths in an easy-to-read, modern style and clearly shares the gospel, starting with Genesis and culminating in the resurrection.

Make sure to explore this unique exhibit during your next visit to the Ark Encounter, especially if you have young people in your group! Searching for Truth is located on deck three, just past The Voyage of a Book.

You can also take Searching for Truth home with you as a reminder of this powerful exhibit. Grab your copy in our gift shop or order it from our online store at AnswersBookstore.com.

Our busy summer season has officially begun, so we encourage you to purchase your tickets online to save you time and money! Our lowest prices are found online and vary depending on the day of the week and the season (winter offers the lowest prices). If you’re looking to save some money or skip the line, purchasing your tickets online is the best option.

One of the most popular features of our Ararat Ridge Zoo at the Ark Encounter is our daily animal encounters.

Our animal ambassador collection includes a variety of invertebrates, reptiles, and exotic mammals, so you never know what critters you’ll meet! Every show is different.

These animal encounters happen most days at both attractions and are hosted by our talented zoo staff, all of whom are passionate about our animals and about imparting a biblical worldview to our guests.

You won’t want to miss these incredible animal encounters when you visit. Check the daily schedule for details on when our zookeepers will conduct these or other live animal programs at our attractions.

Check your daily schedules to see which theme interests you the most, or come to them all! (All programs are subject to change due to weather, availability, or unforeseen circumstances. Thank you for understanding!)

Plan your visit for spring break or this summer at ArkEncounter.com.

On July 7, 2016, we officially opened the Ark Encounter to the public. Check out the photos below to see how much this faith-building attraction has changed over its first 10 years.

We are so thankful for all the Lord has done in the lives of our guests through their visits to the Ark Encounter!

Save the date and start making your plans to join us for our 10th Anniversary Celebration! Join us July 9–11, 2026, to hear from Ken Ham, Steve Green, and Ray Comfort and enjoy worship with TrueSong.

Registration includes a 3-day pass to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum.

You can also choose to upgrade your experience. Several optional add-on experiences are available for this event. Choose one, two, or all three when you register.

• Hear from astronauts Captain Barry Wilmore, General Charlie Duke, and Colonel Jeffrey Williams during Astronaut Encounter 2 on Saturday, July 11 (also available as a stand-alone purchase).
• Have dinner with the astronauts on Saturday, July 11.
• Enjoy dessert with Ray Comfort and Ken Ham on Friday, July 10. Receive a free copy of Ray’s book Banana Man (one per family, while supplies last).

We look forward to celebrating this special occasion with you and your family. Plan your visit today!

It’s finally open!

We’re excited to announce that another milestone has been reached as we approach the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Ark Encounter. The stunning new Welcome Center opened last month.

Take a look at these photos of the new space.

The Welcome Center is an exhibit in itself. It is simply amazing!

Get a closer look in this short ribbon-cutting video from Ken Ham’s YouTube channel.

This building will also house our upcoming scale model of Jerusalem. Our design teams are doing a phenomenal job recreating first-century Jerusalem. This scale model will be the most accurate and up-to-date when it opens. Stay tuned for more exciting updates about this ongoing project.

Plan your visit to the Ark Encounter soon to see our brand-new Welcome Center for yourself!

Save the date and start making plans to celebrate the Ark Encounter’s 10-year anniversary with a special three-day event, July 9–11, 2026! Hear from Ken Ham, Steve Green, and Ray Comfort and enjoy worship with TrueSong.

Registration includes a 3-day pass to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum.

Several optional add-on experiences are also available for this event. Choose one, two, or all three when you register.

• Enjoy dessert with Ray Comfort and Ken Ham on Friday, July 10
• Hear from astronauts Captain Barry Wilmore and Colonel Jeffrey Williams during Astronaut Encounter 2 on Saturday, July 11 (also available as a standalone purchase)
• Have dinner with the astronauts on Saturday, July 11

Registration will open soon. Keep an eye on ArkEncounter.com/anniversary for more information.

As we head into Easter weekend, we’re reminded of the ultimate hope found in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as Noah and his family entered through one door to find rescue, this special time of the year points us to the one true door to eternal life: Jesus Christ.

When God told Noah to build the ark to survive the flood he would send upon an exceedingly wicked world, he instructed Noah to put one door in the side of the ark.

Noah and his family entered the ark through that one door to be saved from the watery judgment.

Noah and his family entering the ark through the door reminds us of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Just as God judged the world with the flood, he will judge it again, but the final judgement will be by fire. We have all sinned against our holy Creator and deserve the penalty of death. Without God’s forgiveness of our sins, when we die, we would be separated from him forever in what the Bible calls the second death (Revelation 20:14).

However, God has provided the means for salvation by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to die as our substitute on the cross. Jesus endured the penalty for our sin and conquered death by rising from the grave. Everyone who asks for his forgiveness and trusts in him will be saved from the second death and live with him for eternity.

The ark’s door reminds us that we need to go through a door to be saved. Jesus Christ is our one door to salvation, the “ark” that saves us from God’s judgment for eternity.

We’re excited to announce something new being offered at the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum—guided tours! Many people and groups have asked for such guided tours over the years, so we are thrilled this is now a reality.

Inspire Tours has been offering tours at the Museum of the Bible for several years, along with international excursions, and now they’re bringing their mission to provide “experiences that deepen faith” to our two attractions.

Now you have the option to add a tour to your visit by selecting a tour date from Inspire’s online calendar for the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum, or you can choose to add a tour after you arrive (however, tour group sizes are limited; purchasing in advance is recommended to ensure they’re not sold out on your visit date). These 90-minute tours offer an enriching experience that highlights key exhibits and illuminates Scripture.

Our founder, Ken Ham, and others at AiG worked with Inspire to provide the scripts and content for their tours. So it is all endorsed and approved by Answers in Genesis.

Start planning your visit to the Ark Encounter today, and consider adding a guided tour to your experience.

The fossil record reveals that many ice age animals grew larger than their ancestors from the time of the flood. Why would these creatures increase in size in colder climates?

During cooler conditions, larger animals generally have many survival advantages over the smaller representatives within the same kind.

• Larger animals are usually better at intimidating predators.
• Larger animals often move faster.
• Larger animals typically stay warmer due to an advantageous surface area-to-volume ratio.
• Larger animals tend to live longer.
• Larger animals require less food per pound.

Let’s take a look at a few of these animals.

Stretching over 11 feet high at the shoulders, Mammuthus primigenius—or the woolly mammoth—was about the same size as a modern African elephant and was recovered from Miocene through Holocene rock layers on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.

• Height: 11 ft. (3 m)
• Weight: 14,700 lb. (6,670 kg)
• Family: Elephantidae
• Kind: Elephant

Image by Cropbot, via Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY 2.5)

Standing up to 10 feet tall and weighing more than two gorillas, Gigantopithecus blacki was the largest known ape and was recovered from Pleistocene rock layers of Southeast Asia.

• Height: 10 ft. (3 m)
• Weight:1,200 lb. (540 kg)
• Family: Pongidae
• Kind: Great Ape

Image by Amélie, via Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, Glyptodon was the largest of the armadillo-like glyptodonts and was recovered from Pliocene and Holocene rock layers of North and South America.

• Height: 5 ft. (1.5 m)
• Weight: 4,400 lb. (2,000 kg)
• Family: Glyptodontidae
• Kind: Glyptodont*

*A recent analysis placed Glytodonts within a living armadillo family, Chlomyphoridae.

Image by WolfmanSF, via Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Reaching up to 20 feet (6 m) in length and weighing as much as an Asian elephant, Megatherium americanum was the largest known ground sloth and was recovered from Miocene through Holocene rock layers of North and South America.

• Height: 20 ft. (6 m)
• Weight: 8,700 lb. (3,950 kg)
• Suborder: Folivora
• Kind: Sloth

Image by NobuTamura, via Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Attaining a length of over seven feet and the weight of a large human, Castoroides—or the giant beaver—was the largest known beaver and was recovered from Pliocene and Pleistocene rock layers of North America.

• Length: 7 ft. (2 m)
• Weight: 240 lb. (110 kg)
• Family: Castoridae
• Kind: Beaver

Image by A. C. Tatarinov, via Wikimedia Commons. (Public domain)

Start planning your visit to the Ark Encounter today, and learn more about the ice age on Deck 3 of our life-size Noah’s Ark!

After Noah and his family left the ark, he built an altar and offered sacrifices to the Lord. We can only imagine the immense awe and gratefulness he felt at being once again on safe, dry ground, knowing the global catastrophe of the last year was finally over.

Scripture tells us that God accepted this sacrifice and his response to Noah and his sons was threefold: a blessing, instructions, and a covenant (Genesis 8:21–9:17).

Some of what we see in this passage reflects the original blessings/commands given to Adam and Eve at creation: for them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” and for mankind to have dominion over the creatures of the earth (Genesis 1:28, 9:1–2). The Lord also reemphasized that humans are his image bearers, instituted capital punishment for murder, and gave mankind permission to add meat to their diets.

But perhaps the most well-known and remembered part of this exchange is the covenant detailed in Genesis 9:8–17. In this covenant between the Lord, mankind, and the creatures of the earth—including “all future generations” (Genesis 9:12)—God promised he would never again destroy the earth and its inhabitants with a global flood.

He then established the rainbow as the sign of this everlasting covenant—a sign that still testifies to his covenantal promise given over 4,000 years ago.

You can see many of the details from Genesis 7–9 depicted in our Rainbow Covenant exhibit on Deck Three of our life-size Noah’s Ark. During your visit to the Ark Encounter, don’t miss this stunning display.

Are you looking for a seasonal job where you can make an eternal impact? Right now, we are hiring seasonal help as we begin preparing for our busy spring and summer seasons. Positions are available to suit a wide variety of shifts and schedules. To learn more and to apply today, visit ArkEncounter.com/jobs.

We’re excited to announce a special promotion we’re running for February 2026. When you visit the Ark Encounter and/or the Creation Museum, you can enjoy a special discounted price—20% off single-day general admission.

February is a great time to visit and really soak in the exhibit content, as our off-season means smaller crowds.

At the Ark Encounter, meet the animals in the Ararat Ridge Zoo, take the kids for a ride on our unique indoor carousel, stroll through three decks of faith-affirming exhibits in the life-size Noah’s Ark, and much more.

And while you’re here visiting the Ark, be sure to head to the Creation Museum as well! Your family can enjoy the brand-new Radiance exhibit, an exploration of identity from a biblical worldview, or enjoy the beauty of God’s creation in the Plants of the Bible conservatory, consisting of four climate-controlled greenhouses (tropical, subtropical, Mediterranean, and arid) featuring plants that can be found in the Bible, as the name suggests.

Don’t miss this special promotion. Use coupon code FEB2026 to receive 20% off your single-day general admission tickets!

Please be aware, these special-offer tickets must be purchased online and used by February 28, 2026. During February, we are open Wednesday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We hope to see you this month!