Atlantis --- an extravagant vacation destination

No gas costs once you are there, though. I just read that vacations that are all inclusive or where you do not travel once you get there are the way to go with the price of gas. Of course, if you are able to spend money on traveling to Atlantis, you probably are not in the position to need to worry about gas costs.

We were fortunate enough to take a couple trips to Atlantis, once with one child, and then again with both kids due to sitting in on a time share meeting during the first trip.

If I were going to try to visit again, I think I would look into renting someone's timeshare instead of doing the package deal through Atlantis or through Costco, which is what we did the first time. There are several ways to check out timeshares online, including people selling theirs on ebay and specialized timeshare sites.

Here are a few places to look at renting or buying someone's timeshare for Atlantis:

SellMyTimeshareNOW

Vacation Timeshare and Rentals

ebay listings


The first time we visited we stayed at Coral Towers, which worked out very well for having a two and a half year old. In the evening we would sit on the little balcony and enjoy the view while she fell asleep. It had an awesome view of Royal Towers and much of the area.

The next time we stayed at Harborside, which is the timeshare part of the resort. This worked well for having two kids because of the kitchen area with refrigerator to have breakfast and snacks in the room. However, our view was of the area where the boats stop to pick up to cross over to the main island; not exactly romantic, although the kids enjoyed seeing the boats.

We did not purchase any meal plan while we were there either time, mostly because we had small children that we knew would not eat enough to make it worth it. I did notice they have some meal plans that have kids 6 and under eating for free; if that had been available when we were there, we would have definitely considered it. If you travel just with adults or adults and teens, then I think it would be a possibility of being an okay deal. I would not think of Atlantis as the place for interesting food, although the addition of the row of shops and restaurants at Harborside did add some more flavor to the food choices.

Unless atmosphere and decor are important to you for the midday meal, I would suggest the fast food type areas near a few of the main pool areas for quick lunches.

I doubt we will get the opportunity to visit again, although I am intrigued by what has opened since we last visited in the fall of 2006.