My Dad said it's less expensive to eat @ WDW!!!
WDW can be a lot less expensive. But there are ways to save at Atlantis, if that's how you want to vacation.
It was actually closer for us to walk then staying at some parts of Atlantis.
This is very true. The CS is closer to the evening activities and dining in the Marina a Village than the newer Reef and Cove towers.
In any case, no matter where you stay at Atlantis, you'll be doing quite a bit of walking.
He said he spent about $10k for the week for the 4 of them.
You can stay for a lot less if you stay in the less expensive towers, and don't go to the up scale restaurants every night. If he visited during spring break, in a suite, with the gourmet dining plan, didn't take advantage of the value lunch meals, had several frozen drinks a day, and did many excursions, this would make sense.
But if you have smaller budget, you can stay for much much less....comparable to a moderate-to-deluxe stay at Disney at the same time of year.
The meals and meal plans are priced so outrageously.
Outrageous is not really a helpful description. Food is expensive, no question. But the dining at Atlantis skews to the very upscale, so when a meal at a fancy restaurants is compared to a meal in New York or San Francisco, Atlantis prices are not outrageous.
The fact that most of the dining at Atlantis is a bit too upscale is my big criticism. They need a bit more casual inexpensive options. They have them (Johnny Rockets, Bimini Road, the pizzeria and deli) they just seem like kind of a let down when you are on such a nice vacation to such a special place.
By the way, the meal plans use to be nicely priced. But at one point, like at WDW, they got over utilized. Atlantis' decision was just to raise prices to the point that the meal plans are actually more expensive than going a-la-carte.
Beaches in Turks and caicos is a better option and we spent about the same $.
Do you really think that these are comparable....this is is like comparing a rustic beach vacation in the North Carolina outer banks to a trip to Disney World....yes, they're both vacations, but are very different experiences.
I've done the secluded island Caribbean vacation before...it's a great experience, but the only thing comparable to Atlantis was the fact that there were beaches at the resort.