How far are you from Disney? Animal Kingdom Lodge is a really cool resort and you def. don't feel like you are in central Florida. Personally I don't think I'd go to all the trouble to go (depending how far you are), pay the Disney prices, and not go to a park. What time of year are you considering? Are your kids really into animals or your local zoo? If they are, they would probably go nuts for the Savannah view rooms (again, $$$). We did the savannah view and the adults enjoyed it, but the kids weren't overly impressed (not super into the zoo at home, so wasn't surprised).
Maybe consider a shorter trip and just do Magic Kingdom? We are about a 2.5 hr flight from Disney, so we did 3 nights for our boys first trip (they were just shy of 2 and 4). We stayed at the Contemporary so we could walk back and forth to the Magic Kingdom. We had zero expectations and booked the Contemporary so that if someone was over it or not having it we could quickly head to the resort. We did Magic Kingdom with 1 afternoon at Epcot because our boys had gotten into Frozen before the trip.
Disney is overwhelming for sure, but I think a lot of it is mind set and setting expectations (for the adults)... which we have found when traveling with little kids means having Thanks for your input! So we are also traveling with grandparents and aunt and uncle for a total of 6 adults and 2 kids. I was planning on renting points for a 2 bedroom villa at AKL (my kids love animals and it seems to be the cheapest DVC) I’m totally open to looking into other hotels, but I was struggling to find one that could accommodate that many Thanks for your input! So we are also traveling with grandparents and aunt and uncle for a total of 6 adults and 2 kids. I was planning on renting points for a 2 bedroom villa at