Floridafam - I did a restaurant report, but not an official "trip" report. But here is a quick rundown: Royal Pacific is a gorgeous hotel in terms of the lobby, entrance, lounge area, pool. Great grounds and great location. About a 10 minute walk to Citiwalk and Islands of Adventure. A bit longer to USF. We got a great deal - $125 per night with entertainment rate. The rooms there are nothing special, but nothing wrong with them either. A bit small and no balcony, but we were paying "moderate" prices so that was just fine. We had a "water" view which looks out onto the large pool. Other views you face Islands of Adventure. If you go there, do not miss Emeril's Tchoup Chop, if are looking for a great meal experience.
I really loved the AKL. We had a Savannah view using the room only code, so it was about slightly over $215 per night - not bad. I had requested to be on the Zebra Trail / Arusha Savannah. The first room they put us in overlooked the backside of the hotel - Ostrich trail and the Sunset Savannah. I'm sure it would have been fine but I just was not happy with it - I wanted to look out onto the Arusha savannah and see the semi-circle of hotel rooms. So we immediately asked to be switched and they were very gracious about it - met us at the other room with a key. Got a great room in the location asked for (we had faxed room requests 4 days prior and also had it noted on reservation - why they didn't originally give us this location, I don't know). Ate at Boma and Jiko - both of them were FABULOUS. Cannot say enough about them. If you go there, do not miss either restaurant. Make PS seatings at Boma because it is packed with long waits if you don't. The pool area was nice, but crowded. We enjoyed sitting by the firepit in the evening and also Victoria Falls. We had a rental car and paid for valet - only $6 per day, compared with $12 per day at Universal's resorts!
We also loved the WL Villas - we actually bought DVC while we were there (our home resort is BCV). The villas are great with their own pool - very quiet and nice, but you still feel like you are a WL guest, not separated. The boat to the MK now goes to Ft Wilderness before it stops at the MK - this bugged me as it added 15 minutes to the trip (it used to go directly, and Ft Wilderness had its own MK boat). Oh well! We enjoyed the boating area - both rented watermice and took them out in Bay Lake and the 7 seas lagoon.
A great trip! I would recommend any of these resorts. It is difficult to say I like one the "best" because they are all very different themes and experiences. I would return to any of them.
Enjoy!
--Jenn