Our room at AKL wasn't by the elevators-that was at BC. AKL rooms seem to be VERY well insulated so I wouldn't worry. The restaurants at AKL that we tried are Boma-we enjoy it very much-fun to try new dishes-very tasty. We didn't try Jiko. Mara is nice-sort of mini food court with some grocery items-things were labeled for people on dining plan this trip-like counts as snack, etc. Not alot to choose from but we like it. Our DS is 15 so we didn't use any children's activities. We did see staff members with things they were doing with kids at both resorts-like pool bingo at BC and animal skeletons, etc at AKL. I am sorry but I don't know when big pool closes at BC-I think the quiet pools are open 24 hours though. At AKL if you want to avoid extra walking from room I have found pool view to be quite good-can't be far out for that view. The resort is not spread out like some though and everything is in one building so no running through rain, etc. Hope this helps! Cindy