I'm thinking of taking my 7 year old to Atlantis for his birthday at the end of April. He loves water parks and he loves the beach. This will probably be our only beach trip this year. Last year we went to Orlando for the Kennedy Space Center and also spent a night at the Four Seasons in early May and the water was a bit cold for me. I'm hoping that the Bahamas will be warmer sooner.

I know asking how many days is personal. I'm thinking two travel days and 3 days at the resort. Is that too many or not enough? We have a whole week to travel. Should we go somewhere else in addition to Atlantis?

Or is there some other great hotel with a water park nearby and a lazy river?

zero. just kidding. I am not a big Atlantis fan but I could see how some people like it, especially with kids. I think 3-4 days is a good amount of time there.

Tom, if it was just me, I'd never go there, but the 7 year old. right up his alley. Beach and water park.

Now I'm worried that it will be crowded with cruise ship passengers.

Honestly, I'd like to go to London or Paris or Amsterdam for the week, but I'm dragging him to St. Petersburg, Finland and Estonia at the end of May so beach trip it is.

Though maybe we will just drive to Gulf shores/Orange Beach.

I stayed at Atlantis twice (only because they lured me with a free room) and between the slides, the pools, waterpark, the beach and also the aquarium (the "dig") I could definitely see it being fun for kids. It's been awhile since I've been so I probably don't have timely information on it. For me the downside was that the food was mediocre but at premium prices and there was just so much concrete at the huge pool area.