My Opinion
Good morning all,
I just thought I'd throw in my $0.02 worth. I did my MEL add-on and MEI/CFII add-on with ATP during ten days in February in KFLL. I completely enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to anyone. I chose the 15-hr MEL add-on package along with the 15-hr MEI/CFII package - paid about $8000 and ended up with 30.6 hours of multi time. After doing the math, I only spent about $500 more going to Florida than getting the same amount of time at the local airport. For the time saved, and I believe money saved (in the long run), this was the best and most economical option for me.
My instructor was awesome - he knew his stuff, and we got along very well. I scheduled my training far enough in advance that I was able to spend about a month and a half studying the material. Additionally, prior to going down, I spent about 5 hours in an FTD at the local university going through multi-engine procedures. The end result being that I was very comfortable with the airplane and maneuvers, as well as the knowledge material, when the checkride came around.