It's been about 6 years since I've last been down to the Atlantis, so this might have changed. Took my family and the 4 of us got the American meal plan. It includes a breakfast buffet and dinner buffet. The food (at that time) was great and the meal theme changed every night. We ran the numbers and it came out more reasonable than eating out at a differrent restaraunt each night. We ate a huge late breafast, skipped lunch (maybe a snack by the pool), and then an early dinner. If you have to try one of the restaraunts on property and you're on the meal plan, they will credit your bill by a percentage. It's worth asking.
Some tips: Stay in the towers if possible. The far side is crowded and a hike. If you are an early riser, get down to the pool and claim your spot. We tipped a "pool boy" $20 for our whole stay to do this and we had prime locations each morning. The pool next to the "Leap of Faith" slides was the most active, and they usually had a live band in the gazebo. If you like bargaining, go across the bridge to the "market" to find cheap stuff for the kids. Take the aquarium tour, it's a back door look at the "Dig" and we got up close to the sharks and manta's. If you like golf, the Ocean Club course is top notch (but not cheap). Don't bother waiting for the $5 craps table to ever open up in the casino, min table is always $20 (as a side note, we got unbelievably lucky at one table and subsidized part of our stay, so it is possible. We made so much noise "whooping" it up, the pit boss compted us a dinner). Skip the "Grey Stone" in town, it's a superb restaraunt but way over-priced, as is the chinese restaraunt on the property. We had a great steak dinner at the steak house in the hotel, and it was reasonable, but if you order a bottle of wine, it's a mortgage payment. Make your reservations now (before you get there) to any spot you'd like to try (can always cancel when you get down there). And get your wife to the spa just once, she'll feel like a queen and the benie's come back to you that night. Dress like a dorky tourist on the flight down: they'll never check the bag you've stuff with underwear-wrapped Tangeray and Jim Beam.
Of course, it's been a while since I've been there . . . .
Red