I went to the Atlantis in 2003, and what a nice relaxing vacation it was. I had booked a package through the Atlantis and we were transported from the airport to the hotel by limo which was very nice. I did notice that there were a lot of cabs and also the hotel offers a bus/shuttle for a fee of course.
We stayed in the Royal Towers conceige level. We went for 5 days 4 nights and it felt like I was there for a month. We immeadiatley began to unwind from our hectic schedule.
We are early risers and were on the beach by 8 or 8:30 am. The staff of the Atlantis would bring our lounge chairs to the area of the beach we wanted and then about 10 am we eagerly awaited for the 'coconut man'. The coconut man was the man who sells Pina Coladas (with Alcohol) on the beach in a half of a coconut. I think they were $5 with $2 refills. We enjoyed that immensly....and we were careful not to drink to much while in the sun we also kept hydrated with water.
I'm not sure if they still do this but they would take your lunch order or drink order while you were on the beach which we enjoyed as well.
We left the resort for 3 activities. We went snorkeling which was arranged by the hotel and we had a wonderful time. We went to the BLue Lagoon Island for the day again arranged by the hotel and I think that was one of the highlights of our trip. We also went shopping at the local markets and I bought several watches

I couldn't resist I have a watch fetish.
The resort itself has a lot of activities for families with children. We enjoyed using the pools, waterslides and of course the lagon. This resort has come a long way from when it was Merv Griffins.
Forgive me for not remembering the names of the restaurant we ate at but I will try and describe them. We ate at an Asian Fusion type restaurant that was located near the casino called the 5 brothers or 3 brothers...can't remember sorry but it was excellent. We also ate at the restaurant below the lobby with the fish tanks this was very good as well. We went out one night to place recommended by the locals and the food was fantastic....it was located around the fishing docs and we took a cab. Again I apologize for not remembering names. I think the worst meal we had was on our first day there. we went to the bar in the casino it was around 2pm and not only was the food awful but the service very poor and we were unable to get a clean glass to drink in. That made me nervous especialy since that was our first experience.....although the rest of trip made up for it.
I hope this helps anyone interested in going. I know I am excited that it is part of
DVC.