2007 AAA Rates for Moderates

[jjohnson]

If you book a package thru a AAA agent, you still get the discount on the room.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I did some number crunching. If we got an AAA room (room only ressie--used the figure quoted here of $129/night) and bought our tickets on our own, then the price would be $2600+.

$4500 - $2600 = $1900 difference!

We are not going to eat $1900 worth of food on our trip.

If my estimates are correct, we'd be better off doing a AAA room-only ressie instead of the dining plan, where we'd be paying not only for 3 adults and 1 child on dining but also would be paying rack rate on the room.

Thoughts?

Funny that you posted that, because I was going to post something similar about my upcoming June trip.

If I book a package, then I'm paying $1,700 for food!

The dining plan should only be $1,200 for the five of us. I can't figure it out.

With the scaling back of the DDP, I'm seriously considering keeping my room only ressies, getting my tickets at TM and paying OOP of my food. I sure will miss the convenience of the DDP though. It was so nice, although way too much food.

 

[jenr812]

The DP for us will cost $1529 for 11 nights. That works out to $139 a day for food for 5 people. With the cost of the meals we had last year, I think it's a good deal and worth the convenience (and being able to say to the kids - order whatever you'd like!).

Don't forget that tax and tip are included in that total. So subtract around 22-25% (15-18% tip plus 7% tax) from your dining plan price to get the cost of the food. That comes out to $104 for food in our case. We could not eat that cheaply based on the cost of meals at Disney and the way we like to eat on vacation. Definitely a deal for us!!

 

[Pixiedust34]

The DP for us will cost $1529 for 11 nights. That works out to $139 a day for food for 5 people. With the cost of the meals we had last year, I think it's a good deal and worth the convenience (and being able to say to the kids - order whatever you'd like!).

Don't forget that tax and tip are included in that total. So subtract around 22-25% (15-18% tip plus 7% tax) from your dining plan price to get the cost of the food. That comes out to $104 for food in our case. We could not eat that cheaply based on the cost of meals at Disney and the way we like to eat on vacation. Definitely a deal for us!!

I'm still not sure if the dining plan is worth it for us for the reasons in my "number crunching" post above. For as much as we'd enjoy the plan, we'd eat cheaper paying OOP. Paying for rack rate plus the plan itself makes it much more expensive than the food we'd pay for OOP. We also don't need an appetizer and a dessert at every meal, though it would be nice to walk into a restaurant and have everything already paid for. : )

I'm glad it worked out for you.

 

[jenr812]

I'm still not sure if the dining plan is worth it for us for the reasons in my "number crunching" post above. For as much as we'd enjoy the plan, we'd eat cheaper paying OOP. Paying for rack rate plus the plan itself makes it much more expensive than the food we'd pay for OOP. We also don't need an appetizer and a dessert at every meal, though it would be nice to walk into a restaurant and have everything already paid for. : )

I'm glad it worked out for you.

You don't pay rack rate - you get a AAA discount off the room portion with dining. Your park tickets and dining plan aren't discounted, but you get whatever discount is applicable to your room. For instance, we saved 15% off of our POR room for next May, which came out to around $275ish.

Edited to clarify - I meant it comes to around a $275 discount for an 11 night stay

 

[jenr812]

PS When is your trip?

 

[jenr812]

Funny that you posted that, because I was going to post something similar about my upcoming June trip.

If I book a package, then I'm paying $1,700 for food!

The dining plan should only be $1,200 for the five of us. I can't figure it out.

With the scaling back of the DDP, I'm seriously considering keeping my room only ressies, getting my tickets at TM and paying OOP of my food. I sure will miss the convenience of the DDP though. It was so nice, although way too much food.

That doesn't make any sense at all - the discrepancy in the DDP cost. Did you talk to a AAA agent? The adult plan went up $1 a day but the kids' is still $10.99. What resort are you staying at and for how long?

 

[tammy1210]

Did anyone get a mod discount during their new summer season yet? I'm wondering what the rate is?
Thanks!

I got $184.81 Preferred room at CBR in June - that includes tax. Rack rate was $195.00 (without tax - $217.43 with).

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

That doesn't make any sense at all - the discrepancy in the DDP cost. Did you talk to a AAA agent? The adult plan went up $1 a day but the kids' is still $10.99. What resort are you staying at and for how long?

If she'd call me back...

I'm trying to switch from the Poly to POR. The example I posted is for my Poly reservations.

If she'd ever call me back, I'll get the answers.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

That doesn't make any sense at all - the discrepancy in the DDP cost. Did you talk to a AAA agent? The adult plan went up $1 a day but the kids' is still $10.99. What resort are you staying at and for how long?

Okay. Here is my package price: $3,737.75. This is for seven nights at POR standard view, with five-day hoppers with no expiry and the meal plan for four adults, one child.

Tickets should be: $1,282.55
Dining Plan should be: $1,168.65
Hotel should be: $1,240.31

Total: $3,691.51

Close enough. I can't figure out where the $46 is coming from, but it's a heck of a lot better than I got before.

By the way, I think I've got a very new, young, travel agent, who has never been to Disney before.

She has had FITS getting these prices and this is the fifth time I've made her call back, because the other prices have been within a couple $100 of my Poly reservations. I knew instantly something was wrong and she had no clue.

 

[Natalya]

Are some of you getting AAA packages with dining, or are you all doing AAA room only ressies? I was under the impression that you have to pay rack rate with dining.

We got an estimate from our TA for 8/07....12 nights at POR, 10 days of hoppers, and the dining plan (3 adults/1 kid) = $4500+. Ouch.

I did some number crunching. If we got an AAA room (room only ressie--used the figure quoted here of $129/night) and bought our tickets on our own, then the price would be $2600+.

$4500 - $2600 = $1900 difference!

We are not going to eat $1900 worth of food on our trip.

If my estimates are correct, we'd be better off doing a AAA room-only ressie instead of the dining plan, where we'd be paying not only for 3 adults and 1 child on dining but also would be paying rack rate on the room.

Thoughts?

(My dh is set on staying at POR, so the resort isn't going to change to renting dvc points or to a value to save & get the dining plan).

I'm a little confused. You would only be paying that much IF you had free dining, which it doesn't seem like you would have that yet.

To get your "real" number for the crunching. Figure out how much rack rate for ROOM only is. Then take off the AAA discount from that number only. That would be your hotel rate...then add in the amount of money that the tickets with park hopper and dining plan would cost you (to find out that amount you would subtract the Rack Rate hotel room cost from the total cost that you were originally given).

I'm sure I've confused you but I'll give a fake example with easy numbers to work with.


Say your total package from travel agent is quoted at $5000 for everything, Room and MYW tickets with PH and dining.

You go online and price out the Hotel only for the exact dates you are looking at and find out that the hotel only is Running at a Rack Rate of $3000.

Take the AAA discount percentage off (I'll assume 15% percent although it changes with the season). 15% off of $3000 is $450. So your Room would actually be $2550 with AAA.

Then take the Original Rack Rate of $3000 and subtract it from $5000. This would be what you are being charged for your MYW tickets with PH and dining. In this example that would be $2000.

Add the NEW AAA room rate to your MYW tickets and you have the Package price that you should be comparing to your AAA room only ressie. In this example it would be $2550 + $2000 = $4550

So you would compare the $4550 with your room only ressie with MYW tickets but NO dining to see exactly what the dining portion would cost you.



To get the AAA package as I have outlined you must book through AAA. To get the room only ressie with added tickets but no dining you could go through Disney OR AAA.

If in fact, free dining DOES come out for the dates you are going then you are correct in your first estimate and it does seem like you would make out better by foregoing the free dining and just using the AAA discount.

 

[Natalya]

Pixiedust:

I did some closer number crunching for you. It won't be exact because I don't know the ages of the people going...the exact dates...the room category you are in...etc. But it will be similar to what you will find when you figure out the EXACT information.


The total package I came up with WITHOUT AAA is: $4553 (I rounded up)
Out of that I took the Rack Rate Room only: $1958 (I rounded up)
So you are being charged for MYW with PH and dining: $2595


NOW if you are traveling AFTER August 5th you would be in Value season so: Out of the $1958 you would get 20% off of the room.

$1958 x 20% is $391 (I rounded down because I rounded the room rate up)

So $1958 - 391 = $1567 with AAA discount.

Finally add the AAA room to the MYW with PH and dining price:
$1567 + $2595 = $4162 (MUCH cheaper than your original price of $4500 )



So THEN you would subtract the room only figure that you had "$2600" from your NEW full package price:

$4162 - $2600 = $1562 is the amount that I come up with. But just remember this is a guestimate as I don't know your exact situation. I DID account for 3 adults and 1 child with the DDP (I used 2 adults 2 children..with one child being 12, which would put her into the "adult" category for the DDP)


So, would it cost you guys $1562 to eat for 10 days? Only you can figure out if it is worth it for your family.

Just know that I'm not trying to push the dp on your family (we decided not to buy it ourselves this time but only because I didn't like the "rules" associated with it....we couldn't come up with the full package price 45 days out and I wasn't comfortable with the cancellation fees) but I wanted to give you the information so you could compare apples to apples rather than apples to oranges. That way you could know for certain which is the best deal for you family.


Disclaimer: I did not include taxes in my figure. I didn't include them because I was under the impression that your figure of $2600 also did not include taxes. If it did then the figures would be slightly different.


Again, I do not believe free dining would be a good deal for your family IF it comes out...because then YES you would have to pay rack rate for the room.

 

[abline]

If you have any doubts I got the name and number for AAA agent Michelle Shears off these boards but I lost her number. Do a search and give her a call she was outstanding and gave me a great price for my upcoming trip. She knows what she is doing and has come highly recommended on this board.