Noah’s Ark religious attraction to open in July in Kentucky

“We believe that what we’re doing here in this particular life-size reconstruction will be the most authentic and realistic reconstruction of Noah’s Ark in the world”, Ham said during a media gathering on the ship’s deck Thursday. Take a moment to go ahead and cancel any conflicting beach vacations and road trips, because obviously you’ll need to be there.

Answers in Genesis, the Christian ministry leading the project, said they anticipate opening the park to visitors July 7.

Here you can see them installing the animal cages, but don’t get so distracted you forget to book your hotel accommodations. However, while the group has touted the project’s job creation, they would only hire fundamentalist Christians to work on construction. It will also feature a large petting zoo. So far officials with the project say they’ve received a big portion of the funding through bonds, donations, and memberships. So the state pulled the incentives and now, Ark Encounter is suing the state in federal court. Those tickets will be available for purchase in January through an online reservation system. An individual three-year pass costs $1,000. Once the Kentucky theme park is ready for the public, it will stay open for 40 days and 40 nights, the amount of time the Bible says the flood lasted. Ham said the park has the capacity for about 16,000 visitors a day.

Answers in Genesis has attracted headlines and controversy for promoting a view that Old Testament stories are true and the Earth is just 6,000 years old.

Park officials said the Ark would be part of a $91-million project that would sit on 800 acres and later add other biblically themed attractions. @LEX18News pic.twitter.com/9ABRxmX4oM – Josh Breslow (@JoshBreslowWLEX) November 12, 2015 Massive Noah’s Ark to highlight theme park. https://t.co/RluxzmVpAD pic.twitter.com/RBT5OTGIvj – The Reading Eagle (@ReadingEagle) November 12, 2015 According to Reuters, the ministry was awarded tourism tax incentives by the state worth more than $18 million over a decade.