AAA Discount

[Hincher]

I am thinking of joining AAA to get the discount on my Disney vacation. Can someone tell me how much discount you get? Is it worth it to join just for the discount?

 

[shelly3girls]

It really depends if a general discount code is offered. If not then AAA is worth it. A friend of mine just booked a last minute trip and was able to get the AAA discount for POP, she saved $15/night (off of $99 rate).

 

[WDWBetsy]

Depending on the season and resort, you can save 10-20% off rack rates.

Here's more info at Mousesavers.

We're saving about $256.

 

[vascubaguy]

If you are also going to be doing a bit of shopping, the AAA Diamond discount can come in handy. Also some discounts on tours and food.

I'm not sure if they are still doing it, but when we booked we also got some bonus Disney Dollars by booking thru AAA.

 

[msmayor]

When I first booked my trip to the WL for this coming August, I was saving about $250 off the Disney site rates for an 8-night stay, plus I will get a $50 rebate for booking during a promotional period.

However, when the free dining came out I wanted to take advantage of that; my AAA agent said there was availability and she could re-book with the free dining, but I'd lose the AAA discount (only one promo can be used). It was a no-brainer to ditch the AAA discount since the 'value' of the dining plan over the 8 nights is $1300 ($35/person X 4 ppl per day...my kids both count as adults). Effectively, I'm 'paying' $250 for the dining plan.

 

[Goofy4WDW1964]

I used our AAA card for discounts on our trip in June 2005. They do offer AAA discounts on resort rooms. But, like the general codes, they are limited. Once they are gone, they are gone. So, you may not always get a AAA discount on your room. We didn't in June. But, I did buy our tickets through AAA before we left. I bought 4 day park hopper tickets at our local AAA office. They only have 4 day tickets and 5 day tickets. But, after we got to Disney, I added three more days to the hopper tickets and it only cost me an additional $11.00 per ticket. I ended up paying a lot less by doing it that way than if I would have purchased 7 day park hopper tickets through Disney.

The other perk is the parking. Every park at Disney World has a special section for AAA parking. You have to get a voucher from your local AAA agent before you leave. When we went to Epcot, we parked in the very first row, second parking spot from the front. Each park is different, but we never rode a tram the entire two weeks were were down there. You do have to tell them at the parking booths when you first come in to each parking lot that you have AAA parking.

We also went to Universal Studios while we were there. The AAA card did save me on the hotel we stayed in at Universal, the Sheraton Studio City, and I could also use it inside the Universal Theme parks for 10% off of food and merchandise. It came in handy there too.

I saved much more on the trip than the cost of the membership.

 

[mlwear]

No Disney Dollars for us. We booked through AAA, I think our savings was around 15%, maybe more. Our savings was significant.
AAA has helped me a couple of times in bad situations with flat tires and keys locked in the car. Membership has been valuable for that reason alone. Lots of other places offer discounts, too. Just have to keep your eyes open.

 

[flamanar]

I used our AAA card for discounts on our trip in June 2005. They do offer AAA discounts on resort rooms. But, like the general codes, they are limited. Once they are gone, they are gone. So, you may not always get a AAA discount on your room. We didn't in June. But, I did buy our tickets through AAA before we left. I bought 4 day park hopper tickets at our local AAA office. They only have 4 day tickets and 5 day tickets. But, after we got to Disney, I added three more days to the hopper tickets and it only cost me an additional $11.00 per ticket. I ended up paying a lot less by doing it that way than if I would have purchased 7 day park hopper tickets through Disney.

I've heard of others doing this, too. Did you add days at a resort? Can anyone else add their success story to this one and how you made it happen? We're looking at 10-day hoppers, but staying 14 days at POP, so we might want to add more days.

flamanar

 

[tessqt]

We are going during value season, after Thanksgiving. We had booked regular rate of $149.41 (taxes included), my t/a turned in our AAA membership and our new room rate is $119.28, savings for the week of over $200, my AAA membership was $60 and I had a car breakdown and tow last month, so I have more than paid for my membership.

 

[TinkOhio]

I inquired about rates a few weeks ago for this coming Easter break at the CBR and was told by CRO that rack was $199./night for our stay,(April 14-20.) A couple of night ago, I was quoted a AAA discount of $148./night for the stay...25% off.

Hope this helps!

 

[MaryFMac]

We saved close to 400 dollars off our 7-day/7-night MYW with dining package at AKL through AAA.

We also saved 15% on our Segway tour.

We'll probably save more as we use our AAA discount card in DTD.

...and there's always that complimentary AAA preferred parking pass.

 

[Goofy4WDW1964]

We didn't add any days onto the resort once we were down there. We had added on before we left, but we weren't getting a AAA discount on our room. We had originally planned on 5 days at Universal, wife was down there for a conference, three days at the beach and 4 days at Disney. We already had one day at a water park left on an old ticket. When I had priced out three day tickets, it was pretty pricey under the new ticket format. When I checked at AAA, I could buy 4 day park hopper tickets cheaper than the three day no hopper tickets through Disney. So, I went ahead and bought those. We then changed our plans and decided that we would not go to the beach and just stay at Disney. We figured we could just spend the extra days relaxing at the pool. I am glad we did because we were down there when tropical storm Arlene came through and we wouldn't have had much fun at Clearwater Beach.

Once we were down there, I stopped at Guest Services at Magic Kingdom to ask about adding days to our tickets. They checked prices for me and it ended up costing $11.00 per ticket to add the three days. They just printed up new tickets for me and the whole process only took about 15 minutes. It was nice because since we didn't pay much for the additional days, we didn't feel like we had to spend the entire days at a park to get our moneys worth for the additional cost.