Atlantis raises vacation stakes with new Aquaventure in Bahamas
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/20/07
BY GENE SLOAN
USA TODAY
Theme park executive Mark Gsellman bubbles with excitement as he leads a visitor into what's being billed as the world's largest water-themed attraction.
Dubbed Aquaventure, the complex fills 63 acres. It includes a maze of interconnecting river rapids, pools and water slides that rise like a mirage from the edge of a white-sand beach. It's so big, it requires 81 lifeguard stations. And it boasts a man-made lagoon for dolphin encounters, called Dolphin Cay, more than twice the size of the one at Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla.
Watch out, Orlando. Paradise Island in the Bahamas is raising the stakes in the battle for the family vacationer as well as the childless jet-set crowd.
Aquaventure, which opened March 2, is the first piece of a much-awaited, billion-dollar expansion of Atlantis, the giant, water-themed resort that dominates Paradise Island. The largest beach resort in the Americas, which exploded on the vacation scene in the '90s, also is getting a new 600-suite, adults-oriented luxury hotel tower called The Cove; a sprawling, two-story spa; chic, celebrity-chef-run eateries; and nightclubs.
Atlantis, just across a lagoon from the Bahamas' capital of Nassau, has made its name during the past decade by offering families more than just another pretty beach. Its claim to fame is acres of heavily themed, Disneyesque water attractions from water slides and a lazy river to pools of sharks, barracuda and rays swimming amid faux ruins.
Much of the new development is sleek and contemporary, such as Nobu, the resort's newest celebrity-chef eatery, a branch of Nobu Matsuhisa's Nobu in New York City. It's aimed at the same young, style-conscious travelers found at Las Vegas' ultra-lounges and upscale casinos.
Nobu is a dramatically lit, Japanese-influenced space with soaring ceilings and walls made of river stones. It is just off Atlantis' bustling casino, which is the largest in the Caribbean.
A few steps away, George Markantonis, managing director of Atlantis, shows the new Aura, Paradise Island's first ultra-lounge. It offers hipsters a state-of-the-art late-night playground with glowing glass floors that change colors with the music, VIP seating areas and a private elevator for celebrities.
Another ultra-lounge — or "ultra-pool" as they're calling the outdoor, poolside night spot — is a focal point of the new Cove hotel complex.
The hotel oozes sophistication, from the templelike, open-air entrance with soaring 35-foot timber ceilings to spacious suites. Perched between two white sand beaches on a narrow peninsula, the property offers spectacular ocean views from every room. Restaurants include celebrity chef Bobby Flay's first international foray.
This isn't the first time Atlantis' creator, Sol Kerzner, has bet big. What is now Atlantis was a run-down beach resort in a run-down destination when the famed South African developer bought it in 1994. Kerzner sketched out a bold transformation into a water-themed fantasy land. He went on to spend $1 billion by 1998, adding acres of water attractions, more than 1,200 rooms, eateries and more.
It was a huge success. Atlantis now draws more visitors a year than entire Caribbean islands such as Anguilla. The resort offers 2,917 rooms.
Aquaventure promises to take water play to a new level. The area includes a milelong, circular river ride with four sets of churning rapids that visitors can stay on continuously in inner tubes thanks to a conveyor belt system that lifts them from the end of the ride back to the beginning.
If visitors complain about one thing at Atlantis, it's the cost. The least expensive rooms at the new Cove Atlantis start at $735.
But guests take it in stride. At a watery complex of faux ruins known as The Dig, Lorrie and Chris Apel of Ringwood, N.J., rave about the resort.
"We're overwhelmed," Lorrie Apel says. "There's something for everyone here." |
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