To do Aquaventure or not?

[gmc824]

My DD12 and I are sailing on the 5-night cruise on 6/15/12 and currently have 9:45 reservations for Aquaventure. I've been reading some bad reviews about it, such as very long lines and also the later reservations not getting in the park till almost noon. We are annual passholders at WDW and do the waterparks there often. DD is very excited about going to Aquaventure, but I'm worried it may be a large letdown if we get there late and hardly get to ride anything. Any thoughts from someone whose been recently or was there last year during start of summer? Thanks!!

 

[Shazzasmd]

We were there on the Mar 27 sailing of the Dream. I didn't go, but our kids went with our grand daughters ( also at 9:45). All I can say is the 12 year old loved it - said it was her favorite day. They spent a lot of time on The Lazy River. The adults enjoyed it, but preferred CC. They said their trip to Atlantis was quick, but they were held up by a traffic accident on the Bridge on the way home.

 

[scootch]

I take my girls cruising without daddy and have taken them to Atlantis twice now via Comfort Suites(so I can pick when we want to go and when we come back, just grab a cab) and we LOVE IT!!Both times we went it was not crowded and last year it was the week before Easter so I expected some crowds. If you go to your cruise board, you will likely find another couple that might want to go in on your room. Since we had three in our group, we helped a family of 5 out and they rode over with us in the taxi to make me feel better. The first time we rode back alone, the second time we rode back with the group, but either way I felt safe enough in the cab. My kids are bummed the Fantasy isnt' going to Nassau as they want to go again(they were 9 and 11 last time we went). ps.. they love the strawberry smoothies(nonalcoholic, of course, but got them at the bar) and the nachos are superb too!

 

[littlebitsmom]

My DD12 and I are sailing on the 5-night cruise on 6/15/12 and currently have 9:45 reservations for Aquaventure. I've been reading some bad reviews about it, such as very long lines and also the later reservations not getting in the park till almost noon. We are annual passholders at WDW and do the waterparks there often. DD is very excited about going to Aquaventure, but I'm worried it may be a large letdown if we get there late and hardly get to ride anything. Any thoughts from someone whose been recently or was there last year during start of summer? Thanks!!

I was there this past Sunday, and my opinion is it's not worth the money if you book through Disney. You just aren't there long enough, and the time spent there is mostly waiting in line. Not sure if you saw the post I wrote yesterday on another thread about Aquaventure...

If you really want to do the Aquaventure, I would suggest grabbing a taxi as soon as the ship docks and going by yourself. When we booked the excursion, the 8:45 time was full so we had to do 9:45. I thought we were getting off the boat at that time, but 9:45 was just the beginning of a long process. We had to wait in line outside the Walt Disney Theatre and then show our tickets upon entering. Then we had to wait in another line to get our wristbands. Then we had to go sit down and wait to be called to leave the boat. Then we had to wait to catch a shuttle bus. Then when you get to Atlantis, you have to walk for like 20 minutes to even get to the waterpark. It was almost noon by the time we got there! And of course, all the loungers were taken so we had nowhere to leave our stuff.

I thought Atlantis was poorly run. It was a beautiful place with great potential. But after being on a Disney ship, you could tell the difference. The staff were not helpful, the bathrooms were extremely dirty, etc. Also, there was practically no signage and they had run out of maps. We couldn't find where anything was, nor did we know what was even available to do. Our son is 7 and was scared of a lot of the larger slides, but we could never find more kid friendly options b/c we didn't have a map!

There were 4 other ships in port that day, and the Aquaventure was packed! The lines were so long that we spent most of the day waiting. Also, they give you a voucher for lunch. There were 6 or 7 people in front of us in line, but it took at least 30 minutes just to get our food. They had the same person cashiering and getting the order together, and they wouldn't start taking the next person's order until the first person's order was complete. It was a terrible process and we wasted so much time just eating lunch.

We left at 4 to get back to the ship for our 5:45 dinner time. We could have certainly skipped dinner, but after eating in the dining rooms you won't want to!

So if it's a must do excursion for your family, my advice would be to get to Atlantis yourself so you'll have much more time. All the waiting burned a lot of the time we could have spent there. Also, print your own map before you get there. The only downside to this option is you do run a risk of it being sold out.

We were there on the Mar 27 sailing of the Dream. I didn't go, but our kids went with our grand daughters ( also at 9:45). All I can say is the 12 year old loved it - said it was her favorite day. They spent a lot of time on The Lazy River. The adults enjoyed it, but preferred CC. They said their trip to Atlantis was quick, but they were held up by a traffic accident on the Bridge on the way home.

We spent a lot of time on the Lazy River, too b/c the lines were so long for everything else. It was about the only thing you could do without waiting very long.

 

[gmc824]

I did read your posting (littlebitsmom), among others. I did look into getting a Comfort Suites room, but they are all booked for that day. So if anyone is reading this that has a booking for June 17th at Comfort Suites and would like to add 2 people and split the costs, please post a reply!

 

[madbaby]

Thank you for the helpful information!

 

[scootch]

I did read your posting (littlebitsmom), among others. I did look into getting a Comfort Suites room, but they are all booked for that day. So if anyone is reading this that has a booking for June 17th at Comfort Suites and would like to add 2 people and split the costs, please post a reply!

Go to your cruise meet thread.

 

[n8tivecaligirl]

My family (3 cabins worth) are going for christmas. How does it work to book a room at the CS and then get from the ship to get to atlantis(which i know is pretty close). For my niece spending over $1000 for them to go seems outrageous.(2 kiddos and 2 adults). Could anyone point me in a direction to possibly see if this could work for us? Thanks.