I'm not so sure I would say AKL is the farthest pickup spot for all parks. For EPCOT, the AKL bus picks up at the cover area on north side of the bus and cab lane. It isn't the closest, by any means, but I think the moderates or values are somewhat farther away. I'll agree it is probably a 6 of one, half dozen of the other kind of thing. Here is a
Windows Live map for EPCOT (I hope the link works).
I'm not sure about MK - I again, however, think it is not the farthest spot.
My recollection of DHS is that the
AKL pickup spot was that it was on the DHS side of the bus area (as opposed to the parking lot side).
AK - I believe it is in the middle of the
center pickup area as opposed to the one on the side farthest from the park.
Of course, WDW may have changed the bus pickup locations since you (or I) have been there. I stayed at AKL in January 2008 and remember being very impressed with AKL bus transportation to the theme parks. I don't remember any long walks to the parks from the bus drop off spots. The only problem I had was waiting longer than usual for a bus to the MK. I lost my patience (which is not terribly good anyway) and got on the EPCOT bus - then took the monorail to MK. (Part of this was because of a particularly loud and foul-mouthed person waiting to get on the bus. I am no stranger to cussing but was mystified as to why anyone wanting to go to the MK would repeatedly and loudly use the F word especially in the presence of children. That was the exception but it did stand out.)