and the resort was beautiful and the pool area one of the most relaxing I have seen at Disney.
They do have a slide, but my daughters aged 7 and 9 declared it to be stinky. We had been at the CSR for the previous 4 days and they love the slide there it is faster and curvier -- one of the specific reasons we stayed at CSR was the slide. They open the slide at 10:00 and close it at 8:00 pm. (these are the lifeguard hours -- the pool itself is open 24 hours). They have a cute little ceremony with the children when the open the slide -- each child takes an instrument from the bin and they all play them as they walk up the stairs and then they get a little band going at the top of the slide and the lifeguard collects the instruments back as the each child takes their turn down the slide.
The life vests are in covered bins right next to the pool towels and I believe they are arranged by size -- there seemed to be quite a few from what I saw and many children in the pool were using them.
The towels are plentiful and are renewed often -- take as many as you wish. There are a couple of towel return bins around the pool.
The lifeguard coverage at this pool is fantastic -- especially compared to CSR. There are 4 guards at the AKL pool -- plus a 'head' guard who shows up periodically. They are extremely vigilant and are on their feet almost the entire time (the couple of guards at CSR never got out of their chairs). They are extremely friendly and get their point across in a nice friendly, but serious tone -- the guards at CSR just barked at the kids.
As mentioned there are pool activities -- I believe the hours are 2:00 and 5:00, but they vary. If you look at the blackboard on the back of the lifeguard chair by the slide you will see the times. The few we saw and/or the girls participated in -- Disney trivia (there were a couple of adults participating in this and collecting beads which I though unfair and no they were not answering for their children), chalk drawing of Mickey Mouse (the guards took the kids over to a secluded area of sidewalk by the pool and taught them how to draw MM), bingo, and then I believe a coloring, glitter picture sort of thing.
There are a lot of chairs around the pool and quite a few umbrellas. Another great thing is that they have someone who walks around the pool and collects the used towels from abandoned chairs -- so no more trying to figure it out for yourself.
The zero entry did seem to work quite well for the younger kids. There is also a small round shallow 'kiddie' pool off to the side in a segragated area by the pool.
There is also a large play area -- jungle gym in back of the pool slide.
They also feed the giraffes at the back of the pool in the early around 4:00 or so -- make sure to look for that. Also in that area is a flamingo pond.
The pool bar is great and serves wonderful drinks -- make sure to try their featured drink of the day. The couple we had were great.
