After we were done viewing all of the fabulous sea life in both The Dig and the Predator aquariums, we walked across the back edge of the property (near the beach access) to get back over to the lockers and changing area.
In all of our travels, we only saw about three or four of the eleven pools on site. There was just too much ground to cover. As we passed by, we noticed the big main sun pool (I call it that since it has a huge sun painted on its bottom. Its real name is the Royal Bath Pool) was packed with loungers and swimmers. A DJ was out there, playing music and fun games with the kids in the pool. Next we passed the Mayan Temple Pool, which has to be my absolute favorite. It was HUGE, and it had beautiful caves with waterfalls and small slides going into it:
This pool was right under the Mayan Temple with its thrilling slides, the Leap of Faith (thats the near vertical body slide that you always see pictures of, where you slide out under the mouth) and through an acrylic tube that travels through a shark filled lagoon! The Mayan Temple also has several other fun rides. On the side of the temple are the Challenger slides, where two sliders can race each other, and there are clocks at the bottom to take away any doubt as to who was faster. It also has a tube ride where you ride through five stories of twisting and turning and end up going through yet another acrylic tube underwater through the lagoon of sharks. There is a fourth slide in The Mayan Temple, a regular body slide called the Jungle Slide, which also looks like a ton of fun.
The Mayan Temple:
Our first stop though is going to be Aquaventure. This part of the resort just opened this past spring, and consists of what they call the Power Tower a which is a huge green building topped with white tulip turrets, housing several thrill slides and new and innovative water coasters and a surrounding mile long sometimes calm-sometimes rapids river called The Current. We kept on moving back towards the locker pavilion, which is situated at the back of the property near the beach access. By the lockers I spotted this amusing sign:
After changing into our swimsuits and putting on our sunscreen, we walked to the closest pool. It was actually just a little inlet where you can enter the lazy river ride, which is actually part of the Current. There were plenty of open lounge chairs in this area, and we reserved two for ourselves with our towels (the towels would not fit in the locker). Unlike onboard
DCL, this is not taboo behavior, as there are more than enough chairs all over this huge property. We didnt know at the time that this was one of the entrances to the Current. The Current is the new expansion of the lazy river tube ride that has rapids, huge waves- up to four feet, and takes you to the Power Tower conveyor belts (they call it Transpotainment , which to me just sounds so Disney!). You enter anywhere along the river at several entry pools. The entry pools are wide and about three feet deep, with either zero-entry or stairs for you to get in the water and situate yourself in your tube at a depth you are comfortable. There are both single and double tubes. I should note there is a height restriction for all the Aquaventure/Power Tower attractions, which is 48. We were concerned about Savannah, as she is only 47 ½ inches tall in shoes on a good day! If you have a child that you know can tolerate the power tower water coasters (they are intense!) and is close or slightly under the height limit, do not walk up to the slide entry in the Power Tower. Instead, enter the river on a double tube with your child and ride up to the Power Tower that way. Thats what we did with Savannah.
Girls on the double tube:
We got on our tubes and right as we floated down the river, we dipped down into a black cave in leaping waves! It was great! After each burst of rough water, there was a nice calm stretch. Every corner though it seemed you dipped down into a cave, or hit a rapids patch, or pass this huge wave generator where an Atlantis lifeguard pushes your tube right into a towering oncoming wave! The wave doesnt engulf you, instead you ride it like a surfer! Your tube goes soaring down the river at a thrilling speed! Its so much fun!
Coming out of the cave, with the boys just ahead:
Not long after the big wave, you go around a couple of corners and come up on a backlog of a bunch of tubes. This is where you ride in your tube- on a conveyor belt up through a cave, and it deposits you into the river system that feeds the Power Tower. If you want to bypass the Power Tower, and simply stay on the river, then keep to the left and avoid any conveyor belts! Once in the Power Tower feed we found quite a big backup of tubes waiting to ride up a second- much steeper conveyor belt to enter the Power Tower itself. It moved pretty slowly and you are in direct sunlight the whole time you are sitting there. Make sure you have plenty of waterproof sunscreen on! Once you get past the bottleneck, you are funneled towards one of two conveyors. You have to ride up this one backwards, and there is an Atlantis lifeguard to help guide your tube in correctly. The belt moves slowly, and as you rise towards the Power Tower entrance you see the path of the water coasters tumbling down next to you! At the top of the belt, you slowly plop back into a little river, now inside the Power Tower.
The ride up the steep conveyor belt into the Power Tower:
Once inside the Power Tower, you are actually in the lower level. There are two-water propelled tube rides accessible from this level. One is called The Drop, where you go down, then back up via hydro-propulsion, then spiral down into the towers dark center. The other is the one we chose to ride this time (it had a shorter line). Once you get dropped off the belt, you paddle your tube into the river-like queue of the coaster you want to go down. You can also walk up to this level from the outside entrance of the Power Tower (be sure to bring a tube with you!) and just find the end of the queue (probably near where the conveyors discharge their passengers) and place your tube in the water and hop in! We stayed to the left after entering the tower, which brought us to the queue for The Falls. This is another inner-tube water coaster. Ride in your tube down a 58-foot drop and then get propelled back up again, in and out of twisting tubes.
Here we are preparing to go down The Falls:
The ride attendant wisely warned me to Keep (my) butt up. Good advice. I did not feel the water coursing down the slide at a high rate of speed below me (it looked like water coming out of a fire hose
that much pressure!), but I could imagine it would shave the tender skin right off an unsuspecting bum. I kept mine tucked high up in the tube, and before you know it we were gliding down, and back up again! The ride was so much fun! It was super fast and over in a flash. When its over it deposits you-still in your tube- right back into the Current. If you wanted, you could ride back up and go down another coaster, never having gotten out of your tube. We had been in our tubes a while, though and were a bit uncomfortable. Plus, Savannah though she seemed to enjoy it at the time- was now acting terrified and did not want to go on a water coaster again. So we hopped out at an inlet and decided to grab our lunch.
There were two choices of counter service restaurants where we could redeem the free lunch coupons. For the life of me I cant remember the name of either of them. One was located close to The Dig, and the other was near the cabana and towel-pick up building. Theyre both relatively close to each other and offer nearly the same selections. The one by The Dig had pizza, so we decided to go to that one. It was a good choice too, cause it was much less busy. There were only a couple of people in line ahead of us, but it took for-ev-er. Ron noted that we were back on Bahamas time, which was a reference to the fact that everyone and everything moves at a much slower pace on the islands. I cant remember too much about the offerings, except there were cheeseburgers, hot dogs, conch fritters, chicken nuggets, and pizza. Ron got the cheeseburger, fries and soda, which he said tasted fine. It looked pretty good, anyway. Savannah got the chicken nuggets, fries, and soda. The nuggets were awful. They came in a box, four of them (it was a kids meal) and they were quarter sized. They were also a very funky gummy texture. She wouldnt even touch them after the first bite. Luckily the portion of fries is very hearty, and she filled up on those. Brendan and I both got pepperoni pizza, fries, soda for him and iced tea for me. The pizza was pretty good, it had a lot of cheese, and the serving was two pretty big slices (for adults), and one large piece for kids. It was way more than enough food. I didnt even eat any fries. The soda dispenser is out in front, self serve. The iced tea was behind the counter. I didnt like the tea. It had a very funny taste. Metallic, and stale
.old, is all I can describe it as. I ended up dumping it for soda, which I dont drink
it was that bad. There is plenty of picnic table seating nearby, some shaded and with umbrellas, some not. We were lucky enough to snag a shaded table, which was good cause it was *HOT* out there. I was ready to get back in the water.
We headed back towards our chairs, and left our cups there, to refill later. It took some persuading, but we finally managed to talk Savannah into going on The Abyss, which is the regular body slide in the Power Tower. We walked up the outside entrance of the Power Tower, past the height markers. According to those it seemed she was tall enough. Once you reach the lower level of the PT, there are sets of stairs along the outside of the building to walk up to the upper level. This is the only way to get to the upper level, no conveyors go up there. Once up top, there are two choices, the Abyss and also The Surge, which is an inner-tube water coaster similar to the two on the lower level. We got in the short line for the Abyss, which was right in the middle. Once we got around and could see the entrance, it was just a big hole into darkness. I was pretty sure she wouldnt go on this one either, but she said she wanted to. Not only did she, she went first!! They did measure her too, placed her up against the side of a rock and pronounced her tall enough. I dont know what they were measuring her against though, since there were no demarcations of any kind on it. In any event she was big enough and down she went. In dead silence. Ron and I looked at each other and were like uh-oh. Savannah always screams on slides. Ron shrugged and headed down after her. He yelled. Brendan went next, and he yelled too. I brought up the rear, and Ive been on some pretty scary waterslides before- including the now-defunct ten-story Tampa Typhoon at Adventure Island. But nothing I had ever been on looked as ominous as this black hole. When the light turned green I shut my eyes and jumped in. Oh yeah, I was screaming. It was steep, real steep at first. Then it was just a bunch of turns and little bumps. It was over quick, and I didnt open my eyes until I had splashed down at the bottom. When I came up I was horrified to see my picture had been taken by a photographer standing in the splashdown pool! She slapped a fluorescent green wristband on me, and off I went. (What a great shot that would be, I could just imagine!) The slide exit was really cool, it emptied out into this underground cave with aquarium tanks inside with alligator gar fish inside. I didnt see much of them, though because as I exited the water, I noticed Ron and Brendan frantically looking around. They couldnt find Savannah. (I wondered briefly if she went to the Lost Children sign -lol, but we found her outside the Power Tower.) Apparently she came down and ran straight out of the building! I figured she would say she hated it, but she said she really liked it! Go figure!
Somehow, Ron convinced her to go on another water coaster, even though she was still hesitant. I wondered if her butt fell through and got sanded last time..? Anyway, he told her that the reason it was bad was because I was not heavy enough to balance the tube, so she should ride with him. Such a lie, but hey- it worked. We went to an inlet, grabbed some tubes and walked back up to the upper level of the tower. The other ride up there is the water coaster The Surge. It descends from the higher level and features a camel back drop into a cavern and ends in a flash flood.
Since there are no conveyors up here, you just wait in a regular line with your tube. When its your turn, there is a short platform with a belt on it where you place and enter your tube. Here are Ron and Savannah preparing to enter The Surge:
Brendan followed them in a single tube, and I went down after him, also in a single tube. I dont remember too much about this ride. After the first big drop, my butt fell through and the water grazed it. In an unfortunate exaggerated reflex move I thrust my pelvis up to get my cheeks out of that torrent below me, but that threw the rest of me off balance. For a horrible second I thought I was going to tip over, but I recovered and ended up spinning. This all happened in a split second, and I was heading feet first- right for the wall of the ride. I hit it straight on, with the bottom and side of my left foot, and shot right back off to careen off the opposite wall. I howled in pain, I was sure I had broken my ankle. Of course, there was nothing I could do in this precarious position. There are lifeguards stationed all along the course of the ride, and I was sure one of them would notice my face contorted in pain, and my guttural moans and stop the ride and sweep me off to an ambulance, but nope. I had to endure the end of this ride (which was somehow much longer than the rest). When it was finally over- or so I thought, I was still spinning mercilessly and was deposited into the Current. But this was a part of the Current I hadnt been in yet. This was THE RAPIDS! Huge rocky bumps along the bottom propelled my tube up and down and up and down and up and down. I had no more resistance, and my poor raw behind fell through the tube to BANG again and again on the rocky protrusions below me. Im sure this would have been SO much fun if I wasnt in so much freakin pain! Finally, it ended and I slammed up behind the boys and Savannah, wailing I BROKE MY ANKLE! Luckily I did not attract the attention of anyone else around me, what a sight I must have been. Ron saw immediately that my left foot had already swollen up pretty bad and he said Yeah, it looks like it. I slid out of my tube and hobbled into the shallow inlet. I reached down to manipulate it, and determined that I did not actually break anything. It was just swollen, and the side and bottom of my foot was already a shiny bruised purple. I went to the locker and took a nice dose of Advil, since it was throbbing heartily.
Savannah didnt want to go on any more rides and honestly, right now I didnt either. We headed over to the Mayan Temple Pool. The boys went up the Mayan Temple to go on some of the slides up there. I relaxed in the pool. I was surprised to discover this was a salt water pool. The others by the Power Tower were chlorinated. This was just the neatest pool. Not only did it have caves and waterfalls, but it had all these nooks and crannies connected by short slides. You could actually enter this pool back by the Challenger slides, and follow it, from one little lagoon to the next, connected only via the slides, which eventually empty out into the main body of the pool. Savannah and I amused ourselves for a while doing this. Before too long, the boys came back, disappointed to discover that the waits for all of the Mayan Temple attractions were several hours long. They headed off to tackle the last water coaster over in the Power Tower. I suggested to Savannah that we go over to the kids area, Splashers. Its a big water playground with slides, obstacles, water guns and turrets, and a huge bucket that showers water down on all the kids. She said no, that she wanted to stay on the slides. So we stayed in the Mayan Temple Pool.
The boys came back from The Drop, which they said was great, but didnt offer any details. It was starting to get pretty late in the afternoon, and we had Palo reservations at 6. We hated to go, but we had to start packing up our things. The kids swam around in the pool while we got everything out of the locker and grabbed our towels and drinks. When we got back to the pool, the kids, of course, did not want to get out, so we let them amuse themselves a little longer.
Movie of the slides. Click to play:
We finally tore them away from the pools only with the promise of a stop at the gift shop. We trekked back through The Dig to get to the little gift shop there. We spent way too much money on T-shirts, Christmas ornaments and stuffed stingrays and sharks! Next we went into the hotel. I wanted to check out the casino. We walked through it (even though the kids werent supposed to be inside). It was pretty dead. I had wanted to stop and play some slots, but we really didnt have much time left. So we just passed through.
There is so much beautiful intricate artwork in the hotel. Here is one glass sculpture outside the casino:
We bid a sad farewell to Atlantis, and hoped we would find the opportunity to come back and do all of the things we didnt have time for.
The way this excursion works, you take a bus over and arrive at around 10:30 AM. You can return anytime you want before 5:30, the buses run every half-hour. I believe we made it back to the bus station to make the 3:30 bus. When we climbed on, we saw the bus was almost completely full. There were only scattered seats throughout, not even 2 seats open together. We didnt want to wait at that hot bus station for a whole half hour, though. We went ahead and split up, all four of us sitting in single seats. Ron and the kids were close to each other in different rows towards the middle of the bus. There was one other seat left in the second row, and the shotgun passenger. I took the second row seat, and we were ready to depart beautiful Atlantis for the mainland.
Up next: The ride of a lifetime, must have cakes with booze, and Pal-OH!
I hope it will be warm enough to use the slides and get in the pools! 
I did some panicked sleuthing and discovered that it was sitting on the shelf at Best Buy the whole time!!!!!
I'll tell you what, though I was just so glad to get it back (intact!!!) that I'm not even angry about it!!!
