We stayed in a Pool View Room at AKL and couldn't have been happier. We were on the 4th floor halfway between the lobby and the elevators down the zebra trail. This gave us easy access to all the restaurants and the pool without having constant foot traffic going past our room. I didn't notice a huge amount of noise coming from the pool area, but I wasn't traveling with a young child, so my threshold was likely higher.
In my opinion, you can't really get a bad location with a pool view room, because they're all convenient to the pool area and the lobby. Savanna view rooms can be very far walks from the lobby.
I think the 4th floor in the highest you can go with a regular room, because the 5th floor is designated Concierge Level.
Even though the savanna view rooms are AKL's claim to fame, I don't regret saving a little money by staying in a pool view.
I don't know how much you can actually request anymore. I think you can still put requests on your reservation when you make them, but I don't know how much they pay attention to them. If I was in your situation, I would make it simple and request a "high floor" (if it's an option). If you try to be too specific, then you may run into a problem if what you want isn't available. If you request a high floor, then that will likely do more to remove you from the hustle and bustle of the pool area than any other location around the pool would do.