I requested a Cabanas Room that was not a parking lot view. We were put in Cabanas 9a with a courtyard view, which was fine. We weren't in the room long enough for it to matter what kind of view we had. It was great. We went to the parks each morning at early entry and stayed until 1:30-2:30. Went back to the hotel, ate a sandwich in the room(rented the fridge) and then headed to the pool until supper. After supper, we would either go back to a park or let my DD 6 yo go back to the pool around 7:00. Most of our pool time was spent at the quiet pool-the one at our building. The only time we went to the big pool was when my daughter was to play on the slide. It was always too crowded to play around in and our quiet pool never had too many-only a few. The pools were great. We only had a very short walk to ElCentro and the Pepper Market. From what I had read, I was dreading the walking-but it was not bad at all. None of us had a problem with it and actually walked it several times a day to refill the mugs. The breakfast wasn't too good but the lunch/dinner was fine. We found the rotissiere chicken and stir fry to be the best. And also the buffalo chicken sandwich at the Siesta Bar.
Any other questions, just let me know. I think I answered all your questions.