Atlantis Goes GaGa For Babies

Located on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Atlantis is a true family getaway with special programs and perks for even the tiniest travelers.

A few minutes of peace, a spontaneous adventure — The Atlantis Resort wants you to enjoy your family vacation with babies and toddlers to the fullest.   Atlantis, on Paradise Island, truly offers a spectacular location for entertainment, recreation, and a chance to have fun and relax. It is known worldwide for its magical aquarium-style attractions, “second only to mother nature” as they say, housing 50,000 marine animals. The beautiful 37-acre resort landscape boasts cascading waterfalls, gold sand beaches, lagoons, tropical flowers and yacht-filled marinas.

With these beautiful sights, why not add a maze that offers an underground passageway to tour the mystical sunken land of Atlantis? The Dig allows you to stroll past the glass walls, admire the architecture of this ancient civilization, and see treasure guarded by piranha.

Atlantis creates excitement with the Mayan Temple, a featured water ride that slides through a lagoon filled with sharks (that can’t reach you, of course). Gather together for more thrills, when a 60-foot, almost vertical drop that plunges you at rapid speed through a clear tunnel submerged in the shark-filled lagoon. Spin around on the serpent slide in the blackness of the temple’s mysterious core right before you meet the sharks. (Hope you’re a shark lover.) More timid guests can enjoy a relaxing ride on inner tubes through the seven-acre snorkeling lagoon.

The most recent waterpark addition is Aquaventure, near The Cove condominium tower, with its own thrilling waterslides that all run into child- and grandparent-friendly zero-entry pools.

Atlantis Thinks of Everything

Recreational activities for the whole family can be found at The Fitness Center. There’s tennis, basketball, golf and — let’s not forget a mother’s dream — the spa. Talk about a complete range of sensory pleasures. The Atlantis grounds also have a 65,000-square-foot marketplace where you can dine, shop and find local entertainment.

There are so many things to do, but along with Aquaventure, Atlantis added a new 650,000-gallon tank. Did they need more water? No, this special tank houses Dolphin Cay, a lagoon where guests can interact with dolphins, many of whom were rescued from the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina and brought to the Bahamas for training. Additionally, the family can get into the water with sea lions, or be a Dolphin Trainer for a day, or an “Aquarist” who snorkels with staff through a lagoon amid giant mantas and exotic marine life, hand-feeds cownose rays and learns how the staff keep 50,000 sea animals healthy. This area has its own sand beach where participants can relax for the day, away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the resort.

The Atlantis has something for everyone. The Cove, a glamorous all-suite tower, has 3,770 rooms and villas. It is also home to famed chef Bobby Flay’s culinary centerpiece, Mesa Grill.

The Royal Towers, adjacent to the casino, hosts celebrities and high rollers, the Coral Tower has the kids club facilities, and the original Beach Tower has more moderately priced rooms.

Tiny Travelers Welcome

How great can this place get? It welcomes guests of any age. Atlantis joined with Johnson’s and BabyCenter.com so new families can enjoy a restful vacation and maintain baby’s routine while away from home. Since this can become a big issue when traveling, the resort provides essential home care gear and products needed to care for infants.

They include, with a requested crib, of course, a Gentle Travel kit from Johnson’s best product lines, a lullaby CD, and a specialty nightlight designed to create a calming atmosphere. In addition, you will be given the opportunity to preview Johnson’s new baby care product lines before they are available for purchase.

If you’re still concerned about taking the Little One with you on vacation, try considering the other offers from Atlantis such as bedtime instructions for putting that over-excited child to sleep. A new invention that I would love to experience myself is their Prompt Response Service that allows you to receive immediate baby care. Just think, extra crib sheets, baby bathtubs, bottle warmers, sterilizers, strollers and small refrigerators all at your request. Parents can even request babysitters who have been trained, screened through a background check, and qualified in CPR and childcare.

The resort also tries to accommodate special needs by offering restricted diet meals, handicap accessible facilities, and other custom requests. Bring your kids and don’t worry about anything except for having fun.

There’s Fun for the Whole Family

Atlantis, Paradise Island wants children to feel this is the place to play with mommy and daddy. Ripples and Poseidons kid’s pools offer mini slides, fountains and animal figures. A pint-sized, three-foot-deep waterscape called Splashers is designed for children under 5-years who want some of the water action, with rope bridges, splash guns, small slides, and a 320-gallon dump bucket for soaking family and friends. Kids and adults can enjoy the beautiful sights of sharks, rays and tropical fish, experience the thrill of exciting waterslides, participate in theme games, crafts, and learn how to play an instrument.

A free, daily supervised Aquatots program enables toddlers to help the staff in a shallow water lagoon. Five children ages 3+ and up to 48″ in height are selected daily to participate in 20-minutes of fish feeding fun.  To register your child for a chance to participate, visit the Atlantis Library in the Reef Wing of the Coral Towers as soon after arrival as possible!

Kids ages 3 and up in pull-ups can create their own Atlantis Pals, special stuffed animal — imagine bears, dogs, cats and pink flamingos — that counselors will help them customize, dress and accessorize, all free of charge, to be a souvenir of their Atlantis stay.

Fee-based activities include the Atlantis Kids Adventure. Children ages 3-12 enrolled in it can tour the resort’s Fish Hospital, play in their LEGO station, take cooking classes, try computers, rehearse musicals, and be otherwise engaged mornings, afternoons and evenings during your visit.  There are educational activities that allow children to discover hidden treasure, decode hieroglyphics and test their own endurance through beach Olympics.

But it doesn’t stop here.  Teens aged 13-17 have their own special Club Rush to compare vacation adventures or just hang out. There are pottery classes, model car racing, video gaming and lots more to keep them busy or making new friends.

Atlantis gives you the sense that they put every thought into family and fun. If you consider what your family wants from their vacation, I am sure one way or another Atlantis has something for you.

Details, Details

Atlantis gives you the sense that they put every thought into family and fun. If you consider what your family wants from their vacation, I am sure one way or another Atlantis has something for you.

Even when you’re ready to leave, the resort has provided a Transit Lounge, located outside the bright pink Royal Towers, and a Hospitality Cavern next to the Beach Tower, so that if you have time before your airport pickup, the whole family can keep on swimming, then get ready with showers and bathing suit dryers in the well-stocked changing rooms that are free to arriving and departing guests.

Other amenities offered to parents include in-room babysitting (all baby sitters are CPR-certified), but they suggest you call one week prior to travel to book your time.  For their supervised kids clubs, Atlantis asks that all children be diaper and pull-up free, and require proof of age at the initial Kids Club and Club Rush session.  For more information and to book their seasonal specials, visti The Atlantis Resort or call their agents at 888/528-7155.