AAA more expensive than Disney site?

[billwendy]

Hi -

We called AAA today for their rates, and with Pop century, base ticket and dining they quoted us $1500 vs disney website which was more like $1200....

Is this right?????

Thanks!!

 

[disneyin2008]

Disney has a number of promotions going on right now.....AAA may not be participating in those, or may not be properly applying the codes to their rates, so yes, it is possible.

Call Disney directly and ask them for their rates, and then ask them if there is a discount off those rates for AAA holders.

Check elsewhere on this board for the threads that have the codes in them for the various discounts. Some CMs will know the codes and apply them for you, others will ask you for the code and if you don't know it they can't/won't apply it, so research before you call.

If you have a Disney VISA, there is a code to get free dining on select dates in November/December (and I think a few dates in Oct), so if you have that card you may want to be sure to find those as well.

 

[JoanieS]

When we booked with AAA, we saved $321 over the Disney quote. Then, when the code came out, my AAA TA applied it and we saved another $525!

 

[mbethel]

AAA checked on the Disney Visa free dining for me last week and it was about $50 more (only a 4 night ressie) than I priced online. It made sense though because I would have had to upgrade to a preferred room to get that pkg instead of a standard room which I already had booked. It sounds like Disney has a set amt of rooms blocked at each resort for each individual discount so in my case the allotted number of standard rooms had already been booked leaving me with an option to upgrade. Each time I've asked my AAA agent about a code she puts me on hold and calls Disney then gets back to me.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Any thoughts about using a AAA travel agent vs booking it yourself (and getting the AAA discount)?

 

[catne]

also, make sure you are actually comparing exactly the same packages. Could be one or the other has upgrades on the park tickets that you may not want anyway. I know every time I price a package on the Disney site I have to go in and change the tickets option to what I really want.

 

[disneyin2008]

Any thoughts about using a AAA travel agent vs booking it yourself (and getting the AAA discount)?

You can book room only with the AAA discount through Disney....but if you want a package (i.e. dining or tickets) then you have to go through AAA.

If you're wanting to book now and hope for a code later....frankly, I wouldn't use AAA. There were some major codes that just came out this month, and then of course the Disney VISA free dining codes, and there were a LOT of posts about people trying desperately to get in touch with their Travel Agents to have them call Disney and get these discounts for them......and the agents were either out of the office, or not returning calls, or not understanding the codes that were available (and some even arguing with the client that these codes weren't as good as AAA rates, blah blah blah).

If you have a AAA room only that you booked through Disney, then when you get wind of a code, you simply call Disney and ask if the new code can be applied to your reservation (and if it can't you ask for a quote on a new reservation with the code to compare costs). If you went through ANY travel agent, then you have to have THEM contact Disney for you. Delays of even a day on a spectacular code like the free dining when there are such limited rooms available can be the difference between getting the code and losing it for the delay.

It used to be that travel agents could do so much more than we could, but with the advent of the Internet, we have the ability to look things up for ourselves, and Disney really has an open and easy phone reservation system to do it yourself. A travel agent is able to do some things that we would find difficult....but honestly, most of the AAA agent's out there are NOT Disney experts.....so unless you use one that is, you aren't likely to have them even aware of things that you can discover for yourself by reading the DIS boards here!

I tried to use a company that bills itself as an expert in Disney....but it took me 24 hours before I heard from her whether she'd gotten me the code (we both knew the date it was coming out). I wasn't willing to lose out by not being able to reach her, so I went ahead and booked it myself, figuring I could always cancel one of them.....well, I got a better deal by over $100.....and yet she couldn't explain why. So I stuck with my reservation of course. I do understand that she couldn't respond because she was busy trying to apply codes for ALL her customers, but that didn't make the waiting and wondering any better especially reading these boards as people posted their deals and knowing that they were going fast. So while I'm sure she was doing a great job...I guess maybe I'm just not able to give up total control when I can easily do it myself and know I did my best....and then to have her come in over $100 more and unable to explain why (I was thinking her company was throwing in perks or something) that sealed it for me.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Disneyin2008, thank you so much for the detailed answer! That was exactly the kind of information I was hoping for. We will be going in Feb 09. I had planned a first-time WDW trip three years ago - had it all worked out, all ressies, but a sudden cancer diagnosis nixed that. I recently had a little scare but got the clear MRI this week, so I am good to go!

I can't imagine they'd give free dining again so soon after this current offer, do you? If they don't offer it, we'll probably buy the plan and the tickets, but for now I'm mostly concerned about getting my resort reservation. Because of the new dining reservation changes, I think I cannot do those until Oct.

I hope your trip is absolutely magicial!

 

[disneyin2008]

Disneyin2008, thank you so much for the detailed answer! That was exactly the kind of information I was hoping for. We will be going in Feb 09. I had planned a first-time WDW trip three years ago - had it all worked out, all ressies, but a sudden cancer diagnosis nixed that. I recently had a little scare but got the clear MRI this week, so I am good to go!

I can't imagine they'd give free dining again so soon after this current offer, do you? If they don't offer it, we'll probably buy the plan and the tickets, but for now I'm mostly concerned about getting my resort reservation. Because of the new dining reservation changes, I think I cannot do those until Oct.

I hope your trip is absolutely magicial!

Actually I don't think they have EVER offered free dining outside of the Aug/Sep/Oct traditional time, so a part of me can't quite believe it! And for it to fall on one of our weeks is just heavenly. (Of course I'm greedy enough that I wish it were all our weeks, but hey, I'll take what I can get, lol).

Disney is upgrading it's Advanced Dining Reservation system, so they have limited how far in advance you can book dining reservations (ADRs) to I think January or early February.....except for Cinderella's Royal Table, Chef Mickey's and Victoria & Alberts. I believe that the upgrade is supposed to finished in late October??? I'm not sure if that has changed because I've not paid much attention since I'm not planning 2009 yet, lol.

BUT....that is NOT affecting the resort reservations....you can book a room through December 2009. So, you can and should make your resort reservation ASAP.....I personally recommend doing a room only until you know what code is available. If there is no code available right now, doing the room only reservation will guarantee that worst comes to worst and there are no codes for your dates, you'll at least have a room. That's first and foremost! These resorts seem to sell out really fast....or else Disney is holding back some rooms for a later time, but I've been amazed to see threads about no available during some dates in 2009!

The problem with booking package now, is that you have to pay a penalty if you make any changes....so if you book a package at full price now, and later a code comes out, it'll cost you I think it's $100 for value/Mod and maybe higher for deluxe???. So booking a package at full price makes no sense, because you can add the tickets/dining part of it just a few days before your arrival if no code comes out. Of course, if a code comes out (like did for many in August) and you act on it, and then a BETTER code comes out (like the free dining did in September), then you can decide if it's worth the penalty cost to change. But making and then needing to change a full price package and paying a penalty is a bit silly. Does that make sense? Also for Room Only, your deposit is one night's cost....for packages it's $200 (at least for value/mod, I've not done a deluxe ressie before so it may be higher??).

If you don't have a Disney VISA, you may want to consider applying for one....there is no annual fee, and you only have to use the card once a year to avoid cancellation. That way you're ready if another Disney VISA code comes out (Disney VISA holders typically also get first dibs on the code for the summer time free dining...it gets released to Annual Passholders a few days later and General Public after that.) So having first dibs means best selection of rooms. Also show your Disney VISA in Epcot for an exclusive meet and greet with characters, and I think the offer of a free 5x7 print of your meet with them is free. You can do the meet/greet/photo offer once a day! I was a little disappointed because we went 3 times and it was always Mickey & Pluto....I had been hoping for a change in characters, but it was still fun to have some private time with these guys.

Good luck on your search for the perfect code!

.

 

[krissyh]

I have checked with my local AAA several times.
Comparing identical packages (including codes), AAA always came in at a higher price than I could get for myself. That includes all of the standard issues:
- codes
- AAA applying travel insurance
- making sure the code was available

Obviously, I just booked it myself and and in all honestly, I'm a control freak and don't like the idea of someone else being in charge of my ressie.
Now, I've heard of great AAA travel agents, but my local one basically had an attitude, of "this is the price, we're right and if you don't like it, book through WDW,but it will be a mistake". Well, I did and both times, I did get a better deal.

Guess it depends on the knowledge of your local agent.

 

[cmesq61]

I have checked with my local AAA several times.
Comparing identical packages (including codes), AAA always came in at a higher price than I could get for myself. That includes all of the standard issues:
- codes
- AAA applying travel insurance
- making sure the code was available

Obviously, I just booked it myself and and in all honestly, I'm a control freak and don't like the idea of someone else being in charge of my ressie.
Now, I've heard of great AAA travel agents, but my local one basically had an attitude, of "this is the price, we're right and if you don't like it, book through WDW,but it will be a mistake". Well, I did and both times, I did get a better deal.

Guess it depends on the knowledge of your local agent.

I had a horrible experience with my local AAA TA and like you will be booking myself in the future. Just wish they didn't bill themselves as Disney experts.