We stayed in Building 9. The pool was just around the corner. Probably, the closest to the pool is building 8 but we were not far at all. We were on the first floor which was great because we didn't have to take the elevator with all of our luggage. We just parked right in front of our door all of the time. My father was with us and he has trouble walking and bldg. 9 was nice and close to the lobby and the restaurant where the breakfast is. By the way, the free breakfast was great! Not a whole lot of variety, but plenty of food! Eggs everyday, somedays pancakes and somedays French toast. Always some sort of potato like hash browns and one meat, either sausage, bacon, or ham. Lots of muffins, rolls, toast, and donuts too. Also a nice variety of fresh fruit to chose from. Tons of different things to drink too from soda and water to milk, white and chocolate, coffee, tea, juices, etc. We usually tried to fill up pretty m uch on breakfast then just snacked for lunch and had a nice dinner at a nice restaurant.
As far as crowds, it wasn't bad at all. It's best to go to breakfast before 9 a.m. to avoid the crowds but they always had three different buffet lines open so there was very little wait even if there was a line. As far as the parks, the longest we probably waited was 15 minutes or so to get onto any of the rides in all four parks. Some of them you could get off of and get right back on again with no wait! It was great! Just remember your rain ponchos even if it is bright and sunny in the morning when you leave. We learned this the hard way our first day there. The forecast was for sunny all day but around noon it started to pour and continued to shower until we finally had to leave the parks because we were absolutely drenched!
We never used the shuttles. We rented a van. We didn't like the rigidity of the shuttles - having to be ready to come and go on their schedule. They looked pretty full too - lots of people standing. You'll be glad you have a car.
Hope this helps. Any more questions, just ask.
