Honestly, at the price people are charging per point now to rent, it's very close to to booking directly with Disney when discounts are offered for the dates. Now if no discounts are being offered by disney, then of course renting is cheaper, but I've found a lot of times a room with discount direct is only slightly more than renting points unless you can find someone who will rent for a decent $/point. I mean I'd almost rather pay $50/night more to book with Disney knowing I can cancel or make changes and also make payments (rather than pay all up front).It's very hard for me to justify AKL cash rate. If this is the path you want to go, I would consider renting DVC points.
Sadly I think the press pot is no more. We went in Feb and they did not have it, and since then I have noticed its no longer listed on the menu.I'm glad you decided to try AKL. I don't think you'll be disappointed. We went in 2005 for two nights and it was just awesome. Get Boma for breakfast - love that presspot. From the videos I've watched of AKL and Disney, the resort is even better and still so beautiful!
Highly recommend a lunch or dinner at Sanaa if you can swing it. The food is excellent (it was my favourite meal and we also ate at Boma and Jiko), and it's so nice to have a meal while looking out at the savannah. Super easy to get between Jambo and Kidani as well, the shuttle comes every 5 min or so and the drive is just a couple of min.Thanks everyone for all your help! We made the decision to try out AKL as we have done POFQ before and we did POR last year and visited POFQ a couple times while there. Thanks for all of the advice... and onward to planning! 60 days out today, so just made our dining reservations including both a breakfast and dinner at Boma!