Family Vacation Ideas and Help for Family Vacations

     Our toughest decision was which of the several beautiful pools we should sit at each day. At Atlantis, there are pools ranging from the formal splendor of the Royal Baths Pool to the relaxed atmosphere and fun of the River Pool. Each pool deck offers plenty of lounge chairs for sunbathing and complimentary beach towels for guests of the resort. Nothing is worse than those locations you have to wake up super early to secure a “good” spot at the pool. Atlantis has plenty of room for everyone to lounge and there is not a “bad” spot to be found even if you sleep in and don’t make it out to the pool until after lunch.

     As soon as I settled into my chair on our first morning, my husband was heading straight towards Aquaventure, the 63-acre non-stop water experience, containing over 5 million gallons of water, four thrilling water slides and a mile-long river ride with high intensity rapids and wave surges. When he returned to our seats more than an hour later he explained in detail each of the slides:

• The Abyss – an exhilarating body slide that drops a staggering near-vertical 50 feet into total darkness and then continues the drop through a tumbling waterfall.
• The Drop, The Falls and The Surge – these three inner tube slides use “master-blaster” technology, which effectively creates roller coasters from jets of water that propel riders up and downhill at a fast pace. The Drop spirals through the Power Tower’s dark center while The Falls drops riders down 58 feet before propelling them up again through twisting turns. The Surge, the third tube slide, starts at the very top of the Power Tower (accessible by stairs) with a drop into a cavern, ending in a flash flood.

     I thought he was finally ready to relax. It was at this point, however, I realized I still had one child with me on this so-called “parent-getaway”. He was now heading over to four more slides:

• The Leap of Faith slide, a 60-foot almost-vertical drop propelling riders at a tremendous speed through a clear acrylic tunnel submerged in the shark-filled lagoon.
  
  
  
• The Serpent slide, 48 feet up, spins its riders into the blackness of the Temple’s mysterious core before they emerge through the shark-filled lagoon at a leisurely “shark-viewing” pace.
• The Challengers, two high-speed dueling slides
• The Jungle Slide, which meanders through exotic jungles and caves.

     There were actually 2 slides he did not try out, located in the Splashers section and that is only because he exceeded the maximum 54-inch height restriction.