Atlantis excursion? Good for a 4 year old?

[CrawfordMomof2]

Hi Everyone!

We are taking our first Disney Cruise during May of 2014, and we were looking into the Atlantis Aquarium tour as an excursion for our family. Our children will be 4 and 8 at the time of sailing. I figured the walking would be OK for our oldest, but do you all think the 4 year old would be OK? And for those of you who have done the excursion, how long did you spend there?

Thanks for your help.

 

[WDWNerd]

My family just sailed our first Disney cruise in May. I have a 5 year-old & 3 year-old. We went to Nassau, but we did not get off the boat. We enjoyed the pool & aqua duck while everyone was off the ship with no waits for the slide & definitely no crowds in the pool. I'm so glad we did b/c it was CROWDED during the day at sea (of course). I talked to another family with a young child, who did the Atlantis excursion & they said they wished they had stayed on the ship (their child was maybe 3). My parents also did an excursion in Nassau & they enjoyed it, but weren't overly impressed. The overall consensus of the Nassau port wasn't that great on the boat. Having said that, you know your family. If you think they would love the Aquarium tour & definitely want to get off the boat, then try it!

 

[fabulousfive]

I've never even done the cruise, but my best friend who has gone multiple times said their only regret from their first trip was doing the Atlantis excursion. She said it was just too crowded and made her nervous trying to keep tabs on her kids. She noticed how empty the ship was and how they wished they had stayed on. They love Disney's island day though!

 

[yaddakal]

I wouldn't do unless kid is 48 inches, then kid can enjoy all of Atlantis. ( due to the price)

 

[OrcaPotter]

The resort is enormous, which results in a lot of walking. If you go with a child under 6, I would recommend a simple stroller just in case. The tour guide for the Atlantis aquarium excursion goes at a blistering pace, and my in-his-70's dad had a very hard time keeping up and the guide paid no attention to how he was struggling to keep with the group. Once the hour or so tour is over, you're free to tour the aquariums on your own time. But frankly, aside from very pretty grounds, the aquarium is nothing to write home about at all as far as fish variety. My family and I were not unhappy we did the excursion, but would not pay to go to Atlantis again unless we're actually staying there. If we do a cruise to the Bahamas again, we'd stay on the ship for sure.

 

[CrawfordMomof2]

Thanks to everyone for your input! We have a pretty large aquarium close to us ( about 2 hours away ) so I think we may pass on the Atlantis Aquarium for now. They really like the one that's close to us, but I don't think it will be that much of a new experience for them. Especially for the amount of money they want. Since this will also be our first cruise, I think the kiddos will be more than happy to spend that day on the ship.

Thanks for taking the time to post everyone.

 

[elemusing]

You specifically asked about the Aquarium not the slides/waterpark, right? We did the aquarium with our 4-year-old and he LOVED it. He walked it - no stroller.

 

[CrawfordMomof2]

Yeah. Just the aquarium. I don't know that either of them would really enjoy the water park.

 

[jcriket]

If he likes fish I think he would enjoy it. it's themed well, has some really neat tanks, huge mana rays. There's an outside area with sharks, turtles. It's pricey but we had a good day, but we enjoy this anyway. A stroller isn't a bad idea. google search the place using images, and get an idea of what it looks like.

 

[swimfly]

Not worth it if you have ever been to an aquarium similar to say Baltimore or Atlanta.