Leaving AKL CL today. We had a fantastic stay. We are staying DVC CL and our room was the studio closest to the lounge and CM prep area (6201). I thought it might be loud but we had no issues, maybe a little rustling in the mornings while they were putting out breakfast, but nothing significant, I would gladly take this room again, and much prefer it to the studio directly next to the ice machine/elevator on the other side.
Our view was horrible due to the construction on the Ostrich trail balconies/facade but we know the DVC rooms have terrible views regardless so that wasn't an issue at all.
After our trip last January I posted a long soliloquy about how amazing the lounge was that year, which I will save you all from this time, but to say that, if possible, this trip was even better. The afternoon service certainly had a few more options than last year, and everything else was still spot on. We have stayed DVC CL at AKL every January for almost 10 years now for comparison. Although we have only experienced three CLs (Poly, WL, and AKL) we by far prefer AKL. We would do WL CL again (me more than DH to be fair) and neither of us felt Poly was the best fit for our preferences.
Hopefully we are able to secure our room for next January!
I actually found the parks a bit more crowded than usual, but we were still able to get everything in we wanted including two ROTR rides. We had fantastic dinners and food all week at various restaurants, only one really bad item, but we knew it was a gamble going in. TIW has already paid for itself after a week.