Atlantis Water Park Experience vs. WDW theamed Water Parks

[wdwenthusiast]

Seems as there is an even split among experienced DCL cruisers as to the value of getting off ship at Nassau and doing the Atlantis thing vs. having a less crowded ship to yourself.

We've been a DVC member since 93 and have been to WDW many times -- we really enjoy Typhoon Lagoon etc. Given that we're doing a 4-day cruise in May & then staying for eight more days at our OKW resort -- This will be our first cruise & we'll certainly do several water park trips when we get WDW -- I'm leaning towards staying on ship through all ports of call, not visiting Atlantis etc. -- other than CC. What would I miss using that strategy?

This board is great! Thanks go our to the addicted DCL & Disney folks that offer such great information and tips -- it really helps the rest of us maximize the opportunity -- thanks again.

 

[disneyholic family]

tough question...
we always do blizzard and typhoon (though we never stay more than 2 hours....getting there at opening and leaving at 11 when the lines become unbearable)...
we also did atlantis on the july 4th cruise....
while we definitely enjoyed atlantis, i'm torn as whether to recommend it....
it was very expensive, the big slides were very crowded (but it was july 4th weekend), and we didn't stay there that long...
on the other hand, when i just asked my son he said he would want to do it again...
so...
if it were just me i'd stay on the ship....but since it's not just me i guess the next time we go, we'll again do atlantis....
by the way, they strictly enforce the height requirements on the slides...

 

[zurgswife]

we are going on the 4day in march 2003 and I toyed with the idea of doing Atlantis...but I have since changed my mind and we will be staying onthe ship....i figure it should be pretty much empty compared to the other days and we could lounge by the pool if the weather permitted...

 

[disneyholic family]

on the other hand, atlantis is a really amazing resort.....huge....beautifully landscaped.....
i should have added that while we didn't spend that much time by the big slides, we did spend some time in the lazy river pool (by the coral beach hotel part of the complex).....
and it was interesting 'seeing' nassau.......it's been well over 30 years since i was last in the bahamas (from what i saw, it would seem that time has been equally cruel to both of us).....
my son says he enjoyed seeing a 'foreign country' (since we live on the wrong side of the atlantic, this was an interesting statement....he has no shortage of foreign countries to see)....

and if you're going to be on the 4 day cruise, maybe taking a few hours to see atlantis is a nice addtion without taking you away from the ship for too long.....
as i said, we didn't spend much time there (since we NEVER lie out in the sun, as soon as we'd had our fill of swimming we jumped back into a taxi and headed for the ship).....
we were back on the ship in time for the special screening of lilo and stitch on the big screen (which was great fun in the middle of the day).....
as i said, my kids enjoyed the visit to atlantis....let's see....we went on the shark slide about 4 times....my son went on the steep slide once......then we went over to the lazy river pool for about an hour more of swimming (there are inner tubes floating around for your use in the lazy river).......so all together we were at atlantis for about 2 hours.....
by the way, the pyramid slides are quite a long walk from the lazy river pool.....atlantis is a huge complex.....
also, if we'd been there during a less crowded time i'm sure we would have spent more time on the big slides....but the lines were way too long during the 4th of july weekend.....
on the other hand, the lazy river pool was totally empty when we were in it....just as we were leaving a huge group of teenagers had just arrived and was about to get into the lazy river...

i hope this is of some help to you....

by the way, we took a room at the comfort suites, but next time i'll reserve the cheapest room possible at the atlantis.....that will save time and extra walking between the two hotels....plus i might actually consider using a room at the atlantis which is a luxury resort......the comfort suites has negative stars....it was disgusting and the sooner we were out of there the better...