How exciting Sarah
A trip to plan. I feel that the planning is half the fun of a trip.
We have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House). The first time we had a room with a queen bed and bunk beds (a savannah view room), the second time we stayed we had a room with two queens. I actually liked the bunk bed layout better, but I think it's extra for them, but we didn't pay extra. We absolutely LOVED this resort. The first time we stayed, we were there for 21 nights, the second time 8 nights, so we have spent a good amount of time there. AKL is one of the cheapest deluxe resorts at WDW and is worth every penny (although it is great getting 40% off, which we got last trip)
My son is an animal lover, so he absolutely loved checking out the animal on the savannah. We have always requested a room on the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor has viewing areas along the way to the room, with rocking chairs and viewing machines, my DS would always run ahead and go out to the viewing area on our way to and from our rooms.
The resort has three of our favourite restaurants at WDW. Boma has the best breakfast onsite, it's a buffet, has such good food, feels healthier than many of the other breakfasts. Mara is a great CS restaurant, their chicken caeser salad is one of the best I've ever eaten! the chicken is so yummy. Then Jiko, mmmmmm, the food is so good here, its a signature restaurant and we have never had a bad meal there and it has great service too.
The lobby is absolutely amazing and the resort has such an incredible feel. It is darker in appearance but that is just the themeing in my view.
The bus system, which can have bad reviews on occasion has always been great for us, except for one very long wait at MK for a bus back to the resort. The resort is very close to AK park and doesn't share buses with other resorts.
They have a great laundry too, which is quite big and also a kids club, that we didn't use, but it gets good reviews and it looked good. A nice pool, but after staying at Yacht/Beach Club resorts, the pool doesn't seem as great anymore, but it's still nice.
Con's of AKL.... It can be a long walk back to your room, one of our rooms was the 2nd last room at the end and it was a really really long walk, but we didn't mind as we had an awesome view of the savannah. Other than that, there isn't anything that I can complain about.
We have also stayed at Beach Club Resort.
Beach Club was ok. It was nice. I would stay again, but it's not the top of my list. We had a room almost at the end of the hall, overlooking a wooded area beside EPCOT. We had a view of illuminations every night and a few rooms after us, there was a stairwell that came out about 1 minute from the EPCOT gates, SO close and SO handy to EPCOT. No good if you had a young child, but with your DD being 5, if she has a stroller, you could fold that up to go up and down the stairs.
The pool is amazing! Probably the best at WDW and with a 5 year old, she would be in heaven in that pool. It is huge, acres in size. It has an awesome waterslide, a lazy river where you can hire tubes to float around in, it has their whirlpool thing that my DS lived in, that you go round and round in a circle, there is also a beach.
There is Cape May's Restaurant, which is a character buffet breakfast. It's one of our favourite character meal and a really fun breakfast with good food. The clam bake at dinner is good too. There is beaches n cream restaurant. This feels like a CS but is a TS restaurant. It has burgers, hotdogs and ice cream and shakes. I have to say that the food is not fabulous, but a visit to this place is a must. It feels like an old icecream parlour/diner and the icecreams and milkshakes are SO good! The burgers are ok, and not bad, but not great. You can get take away icecreams and milkshakes. Next door at the Yacht Club has two restaurants and these are both easily accessed from the Beach Club and are great restaurants (will talk about those later).
There is a kids club at BC, but there isn't a CS restaurant. There are light meals available at the marketplace (the store/shop) and there is a CS style outside by the pool, but it isn't open in the evenings. It is so handy to EPCOT and the Boardwalk, that it really isn't a big deal not having a CS in the resort in my opinion.
There is once con about the bus system. As the buses are shared with Yacht Club, Boardwalk and sometimes Swan & Dolphin resorts, often by the time the buses get to the BC they are full and you have to wait for another or there is standing room only. Access to EPCOT is not by bus, it is only by boat or walking, there is also access to Hollywood Studios by boat, which it's almost quicker to walk as the boat stops along the way. That was the only thing that bothered us about staying there, was the crowded buses, because they stop at multiple resorts, they are regularly packed or fill up quickly and you have to wait.
This is a fantastic area to stay in. The easy access to EPCOT makes it fantastic for dining at EPCOT, the pool is amazing and it is such a bright resort with a wonderful feel.
My mother stayed at Club Level too in a suite and it was amazing! The club was good, had really nice snacks, really good service and her room was huge.
We have stayed at Yacht Club Resort a couple of times now. I actually prefer this resort to the Beach Club. Now we did love the BC, but we just found the YC to be a lot quieter and it's nice to escape to that after the busy hectic parks, just to have somewhere that didn't feel all so busy. The rooms are very similar to the Beach Club, the size and layout is the same, just the furnishings are in different themes. We loved hopping on the buses here as if they didn't stop at Swan and Dolphin, they were empty, we were the first stop on the journey, so then going to BC and Boardwalk resorts, we were already in our seats and no waiting or missing buses due to them being full.
The restaurants here are Yachtmans Steakhouse which is a signature restaurant. They food here is just fantastic and I can recommend it. Then there is Captains Grill restaurant. This is one of the hidden gems at WDW and I can highly recommend it if you are staying at BC or wanting somewhere before heading to EPCOT. It is a buffet, but as there are not any characters, it's cheaper than most other buffets at WDW. The other fabulous thing is, that they are also a la carte, so not everybody has to have the buffet. If somebody in your group just wanted coffee or if they just wanted fruit, they can order off the menu and the other can have buffet.
YC shares it's pool with BC.
Along with AKL, YC is our preferred resort, we love it. Being so close to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios and the Boardwalk, the amazing pool, fantastic restaurants, it's a short walk to the Fantasia Gardens mini golf. It's in a great location, not far by bus to the waterparks, DTD.
My mother has stayed at Saratoga Springs and we spent a bit of time there with her. It was OK but it's a really big resort and can be a real hike to the main restaurants and reception and pool area. There are smaller quiet pools too, but for a 5yr old, the main pool is more fun. It's not somewhere high on my list to stay, but if I got a great price, then I certainly would stay there, it wasn't bad, the room was clean, had a kitchen but just didn't have the same feel as the smaller resorts.
I have pictures of the rooms and resort at AKL, BC and YC in my trip report below. Happy to help with any questions in the future when you narrow down your resorts and if you are thinking about one of them.
. Our DD will be nearly 5 years old and the year before she starts kinder.
... i know there is meal plans and such (was reading about them today) what does TS and CS stand for??
. Disney clearly need someone as smart as me on their payroll 
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