# Kentucky's Ark Encounter: $100 million boondoggle **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907 "2016-07-02T04:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/201 "2016-08-01T21:11:58Z")
BTW, the parking lot was more than 3/4 full, but it was mid-afternoon and I suspect many visitors had left- there were many cars in a lot that looked like overflow parking. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/202 "2016-08-01T21:38:48Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > BTW, the parking lot was more than 3/4 full, but it was mid-afternoon and I suspect many visitors had left- there were many cars in a lot that looked like overflow parking. Could be employee parking. The tax credit is based on annual attendance of about 325,000. Ham expects many times that, about 2 million. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/203 "2016-08-01T22:17:24Z")
It was a decent sized lot, but not huge. Assuming 4 people per car, I think it’d be tough to get 1000 visitors per day. Also, the roadway there was surprisingly small. But maybe it’d be better to check it out with Google Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/204 "2016-08-01T22:18:42Z")
But this is NOT the Ark I’m discussing. ---
**Author:** ![MrAvg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@MrAvg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAvg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/205 "2016-08-07T13:18:00Z")
Local news reports put attendance at about 8000 a day. The economic impact has yet to be calculated. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/206 "2016-08-07T15:24:09Z")
> [@MrAvg](#): > > Local news reports put attendance at about 8000 a day. The economic impact has yet to be calculated. Is the local news saying that is the actual attendance, or the _claimed_ attendance? ---
**Author:** ![dreamregent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6f9a4e/32.png) [@dreamregent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamregent)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/207 "2016-08-07T16:05:30Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Of course they were. That is why building the Great Pyramids counts as a granary in \*all \*your cities. This is one of the funniest things…the idea the pyramids were built to store grain. **[Here’s a photo I took](http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m36/DreamRegent/Places/Trip/ECairo-GrandGallery.jpg)** looking down the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid. This is the largest “room” in the structure…not much space for grain. ---
**Author:** ![MrAvg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@MrAvg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAvg)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/208 "2016-08-13T11:55:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is the local news saying that is the actual attendance, or the _claimed_ attendance? Actual , hard to measure by amount of cars, since most come by bus. The financial impact is still not clear. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/209 "2016-08-13T16:55:21Z")
> [@MrAvg](#): > > Local news reports put attendance at about 8000 a day. The economic impact has yet to be calculated. I was in that area last weekend visiting family. I stayed at a hotel in Florence, KY that is pretty much between the Ark and the Creation Museum. The hotel was sold out for the weekend and yet there wasn’t much of anything special going on in the Cincinnati area. I talked to 4 families at the hotel who were there to see both the Ark and Creation Museum. Seems like there is going to be a substantial economic impact. Personally I’d never visit either except maybe to get in a few laughs. I find it sad that parents would subject their children to such rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907/210 "2016-08-14T00:15:09Z")
> [@dreamregent](#): > > This is one of the funniest things…the idea the pyramids were built to store grain. **[Here’s a photo I took](http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m36/DreamRegent/Places/Trip/ECairo-GrandGallery.jpg)** looking down the Grand Gallery in the Great Pyramid. This is the largest “room” in the structure…not much space for grain. That’s **amazing**. Before this thread the thought never even occurred to me that they would let tourists in there. Or are you an archaeologist/historian/person of importance? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kentuckys-ark-encounter-100-million-boondoggle/758907.md?page=10)