Dolphins in Bahamas with a 4 year old

We will be in Bahamas with RC at the end of September and my husband really wants to take our 4 year old daughter to see dolphins. He believes Atlantis is the place to be. I looked up excursion options with cruise planner and they have 2 options for her age. A 60min encounter with the aqua adventure (6 hours)OR a 30min encounter with a beach pass (4 hours), They seem to be about the same price. I also saw there is one at blue lagoon. Has anyone done the one at Atlantis? Which one did you pick and/or recommend? thanks

I’ve done neither but Blue Lagoon sounds like the better option for a 4 year old in terms of swimming, the beach at Atlantis can be really rough.

We took 4 year old granddaughter to Atlantis for shallow water encounter and Aquaventure from Disney cruise a few years back. She looked cute in wetsuit. Touched dolphin first pass but when they got to the hold the dolphin part she freaked and headed to shore. Aquaventure slides have a minimum height of 48", so she could not go on any of them. But they do have a large play area and some tiny slides nearby that she was happy with. We didn't use the beach at all and would not book an Atlantis beach only excursion - way too expensive for what you get. Have been to Aquaventure a number of times and enjoy it, but it is a VERY expensive water park. Also note that food in the Atlantis area is credit card WITH a picture ID. No ID, no service. No cash.

Price was over $225/pp including the 4 year old when we went. More now, so you will need to decide if it is worth it. We thought so and the Atlantis folks really do a very good job. Extremely long walk from bus dropoff to dolphin area (and Aquaventure). Bus area is by the big flag on Coral Tower on east end of property. RC bus goes back to ship once an hour and on the hour when we went. Two minutes late and you wait for next bus (even though two or three are sitting there with the cabs).

We are going to try Blue Lagoon next trip and cheapest way there is to book their stingray encounter. Dolphins are in same area but almost as expensive as Atlantis. Beach facilities look to be much better than Atlantis, but we will see.

Most dolphin places have you use a life vest rather than a wetsuit. Atlantis uses a wetsuit and it takes a while to get ready for the encounter (which is why they advertise it as an hour).