Joining in! I'm so glad you got your resort settled. We love AKL and rented points to stay there the last two big family trips (meaning my husband comes, because he can only handle WDW every two years or so). Next family trip, our youngest will be three, so we'll officially be a party of six, which makes our plans trickier. I think AKV is fabulous for a family with young kids (mine range in age from 3 to 12). I really prefer the pool at Kidani Village for the young ones. The kids splash area is fantastic and it just seems more doable in terms of keeping an eye on everyone. I admit, the lack of QS at Kidani can be annoying (at least for my kids, because we made them walk over there - faster than taking the bus). Our first stay at Kidani, we were on the Pembe savannah and waaaay far from everything. I swear, that walk at the end of the day took forever. Our last trip, we were right by the Timon elevator (I'm almost positive that was the one, but I'll check). It spat you out really close to the bus stop. All the elevators are named after characters from the Lion King. Rafiki is on the other side of the lobby closer to the pool. I know one of the other elevators is Pumba. I think that's on the Pembe savannah (maybe because that savannah has the red river hogs?) But if you're by the Timon elevator, you're close to the lobby, close to transportation, and not so far from the pool that it was a terrible walk to get there. And you're close to Jambo House if you just want to walk over. The days we went to MK, we got there at RD, stayed for several hours, then went back to the resort for the rest of the day. We'd swim, look at the animals, the kids would participate in the activities there. With a number of the activities, the kids get a bead for each activity and they string it on a necklace for them. My kids honestly had just as much fun doing that as they had at the parks. I've found the staff there so incredibly friendly and always willing to talk about where they come.