Hi! We stayed at AKL last year in April & we loved it so much, I convinced some of my extended family to stay there in the summer! We stayed at Jambo House. I have TONS of pictures! We were only there for 3 full days (the other 2 were spent mostly at the airport!) and I wished we would have had more time just to wander around the resort...it is huge! Also, my son was only 10 months at the time so we didn't spend much time in the pool but my family spent a TON of time there & loved it.
To help you with the room, request the 3rd floor...thats the floor that the main lobby is on. We were in Room 3463 & it was honestly PERFECT!!! (We upgraded to a Savanna-view room.) Our room had only 1 king bed, so that might not work for you, but I am telling you, that location was amazing! This is how we got to our room from the lobby...walked up a small ramp, turned right (went past an elevator), and 3 or 4 doors down was our room!!! Talk about convenient! We were literally seconds away from anything we needed...lobby, eating, elevator, mailbox, giftshop, & since you are by the lobby, you can go right outside to the left & you are at the bus stops!!! It was wonderful. If you are on the 3rd floor, you don't have to take the elevator to the lobby since its on the 3rd floor as well! You can take the elevator down to Jiko or Boma (we didn't make ADR's last trip so we didn't get to eat at either). We went down to Jiko one evening & they said it would be an hour & 15 min wait. By the time we were almost called down, my son fell asleep & we didn't want to wake him up (they give you a buzzer & call your room when they are ready for you).
Right beside the lobby, there are also a few "viewing" areas where you can look at the animals. Don't forget to do the "night vision" viewing! We didn't do it & I'm sorry we missed it. We also went back to our resort early the day we went to Animal Kingdom & spent basically the entire evening just sitting outside in various locations. It was so peaceful & the animals are neat to watch. The AK guides are also very informative! There is also an early morning tour that you can do at AK park as a guest of AKL...I didn't know this ahead of time or else we would have done it! I thought it was only for concierge guests (sorry I can't spell that word!). In my opinion, there are definitely lots of things to do just at the lodge! I've actually been reading people's TR's & I'm a little sad we aren't staying at AKL this trip! I tried convincing DH but he wants to try other resorts!
I have TONS of pictures...if you want, PM me your email address & I will email them to you!
As I said, I also convinced a bunch of my family to stay there as well. They had 1 queen bed & a set of bunk beds in their room. They actually loved it & didn't upgrade their room to Savanna-view or King room. I think they were on the 4th or 5th floor? They still spent a ton of time viewing the animals from the viewing areas.
Make sure if you are on one of the lower floors that you let Devon walk across the bridge!!! The kids love that! Its also awesome to take pics from up above the bridge looking down towards the lobby, especially at Christmas time! I've seen some great pics of the Christmas tree from the top floors of the resort!
Overall, we had a great experience there. We had super-fast check-in (I had done the 10-day online check-in before we left). I had tons of questions & the CMs were wonderful with answering them. Our room was always clean & whenever we didn't want Mousekeeping coming in early (because we were still in the room) we just put a sign on the door & they came back later. As I said, when we got back from the park, our room was immaculate! We always had enough towels, soaps, etc. Also, if you go to the pool, you don't have to take towels from your room (or from home! saves luggage space!). We took towels from our room & when we got down to the pool, noticed a "towel return" & a place to get towels as well.
My favorite part of AKL was sitting out on the balcony...in the morning while drinking a coffee or in the evening to watch the animals. But you don't have to be in a Savanna-view room to do this, there are many viewing areas & outdoor areas where you can see the animals.
I loved the gift shop. I spent way too much money there. They have alot of tshirts, keychains, Mickey ears, photo albums, mugs, charm bracelets, stuffed animals, little figurines, pens, bags, etc. They have AKL stuff...I bought a way overpriced hoodie for myself & tshirts for my nephews. They also have a little area with "convenience store items" like milk, ice cream, chips, bandaids, some medicines, toothpaste, crackers, etc. I went down one evening because I needed Pedialite for my son...I can't remember if they had it or not but I remember buying chips & milk & a candy bar. I was actually surprised at what variety they had there...although of course it was pretty pricey!
The first night, I went to the gift shop just to see what they had...then I waited until our last night there to buy stuff. I wanted to wait to see what I bought at the parks first. I do not suggest waiting to buy something if you really want it. I wanted a lime green AKL tshirt they had & it was gone on the last night! I ended up with the hoodie instead & it cost $44.95...I think the tshirt was $15-20 so I could have saved some money.
Just thought I would tell you about that...I was surprised because we were only there 5 days all together, but some of the merchandise does change (I'm not sure how often). I will email you some pics of my souvenirs from the resort as well!
They also have a small work-out room, arcade, laundry, and childcare area. I think the childcare place does babysitting for kids ages 3 or 4+ so we weren't able to use it, so I don't have much info on that. I heard that the laundry was only for concierge guests, but I can't confirm that for sure. We went to the work-out room briefly & it looked decent. It had tvs, weights, treadmills, etc. It was definitely a better area than most hotels I've stayed in! We also went to the arcade briefly. Its not the greatest, but I think its fun for the kids to go at least once. A friend of mine also reported that her son LOVED the pool! They have a HUGE water slide!
I know alot of people don't like CS restaurants, but we love them. We ate breakfast at Mara almost every morning. It was pricey just for eggs, cereal, etc. but we liked most of what we ate. I'm really picky with breakfast foods, so this is a compliment. My son just ate cereal or a banana so I can't say much about his food! lol We also kept stuff in our fridge in our room for breakfast. I don't remember what all we ate there specifically. I do know there is a refrigerated section with salads, veggies w/dip, fruit, jello, cake, etc. I purchased alot of that for my son & he liked all of it (they were some of his first table foods so I consider that good!) My husband also got the pizza one evening. I can't remember if he liked it or not.
I have a friend who stayed there & her son is 8 so I will ask her opinion on AKL or WL. I think they are both beautiful especially around the holidays! I will think about other suggestions I have about AKL & will let you know! As I said, if you want tons of pics, PM me your email address. I don't think they're in my photobucket account but if they are, I will just post them on here for you...is that ok? I also did a review of AKL on TripAdvisor. They have info on there as well, so check that out too! I'm excited for you that you got a PIN code!!!
I also loved all the Easter pics you posted!!!
And the fact that I was complaining to you ALL morning yesterday that Disney keeps teasing me with pins that don't work for my travel dates and then I FINALLY got one was priceless! 
Plan as of now is to just tell him we are going to Disney on Thanksgiving and not say anything about the resort we are staying at until he asks me! 
And Terry is very adventurous with his eating...
