AAA or Disney Site

[Tinksalot]

My husband & I have just decided to surprise the kids with one last Disney Vacation before they don't want to go anywhere with Mom & Dad I have returned to these boards after 2 years and you are all getting me excited for the trip. I have noticed that alot of you have booked your trips through AAA. I have always done it on the Disney site. Does it save any money to go thru AAA? Thanks so much for the imput!

 

[Nuchi15697]

AAA will save you a little money. I like AAA because I can talk to a person face to face, and if anything goes wrong I have someone to call who knows me to fix any problems.

 

[mikkiwikki]

My husband & I have just decided to surprise the kids with one last Disney Vacation before they don't want to go anywhere with Mom & Dad I have returned to these boards after 2 years and you are all getting me excited for the trip. I have noticed that alot of you have booked your trips through AAA. I have always done it on the Disney site. Does it save any money to go thru AAA? Thanks so much for the imput!

HI Tinksalot -

I think you will find that on average you save 20-35 % using AAA.
(instead of buying directly thru disney)

I saved 400 bucks in 2005 with a package - 10 day @ POR with MYW Dining +ticket package.

I recently booked at nov 2006 trip - tickets only for 10 days - 4 adults 2 kids... saved around 100 bucks ...

After that just saved 500 bucks on a 2007 - 5 day Contemporary MYWD+ ticket package. So yes.

 

[mousecatcher]

HI Tinksalot -

I think you will find that on average you save 20-35 % using AAA.
(instead of buying directly thru disney)

I saved 400 bucks in 2005 with a package - 10 day @ POR with MYW Dining +ticket package.

I recently booked at nov 2006 trip - tickets only for 10 days - 4 adults 2 kids... saved around 100 bucks ...

After that just saved 500 bucks on a 2007 - 5 day Contemporary MYWD+ ticket package. So yes.

I have exactly the same story as mikkiwikki. I booked POR + tickets + dining and saved a little less than 400 dollars. The family that we are traveling with joined AAA to get the same savings. I haven't booked 2007 plans yet, but will likely go through AAA again. Of course I'll compare to the online quote to see the savings...

Please post what you decide to do and how much you saved.
Happy Trip

 

[maddhatir]

Used AAA- DH and I just got back in Sept and used AAA to book our trip. We are going again in Nov and I am using them again.

Not only do you get a decent discount (hey its better to save a little than nothing at all!) you get some perks w/ AAA-

~we got the meal and merchandise voucher for Planet Hollywood- we didnt use the meal voucher- but I got a free Planet Hollywood Keychain and you get a discount on your merchandise.
~We got the AAA diamond card parking pass- but we didnt drive- so we didnt use that
~AAA diamond card for discounts on food and merchandise
AND 15% off Disney Tours
AND 15% some spa services at the Grand Floridian and Saratoga Springs
~you can use the AAA facilities in Disney-
~I also got a voucher for 2 free pins
~Luggage tags
~we also got a voucher for Storytime (not sure what that was b/c we do not have kids)

Our AAA TA also gave us a photo album.

I would say it would be worht booking thru AAA!

 

[sonny]

I was going to book thru AAA but found a TA on travelzoo. She got me a much better deal, saved $30 per nite from AAA price and $45 from Disney price. We also got free passes and other coupons. Give her a try. She is Lisa@unlimitedcruises.com.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Be wary of using any travel agent who gets you cheaper rates than Disney or AAA. Perhaps they are legitimate. But I would stick with one that specializes in and is certified by Disney.

Booking your package through AAA does give you the perks listed above. My personal favorite is the AAA diamond parking pass. AAA can give you a discounted room rate on a package, while WDW and others cannot. Be choosy about your AAA travel agent; some know a lot about WDW, others less so. I live in Southern California and I use an agent in North Carolina. She doesn't charge me anything extra for the service or for mailing me my stuff. We communicate through email. She's booked 3 WDW trips for me, all without a hitch. Ask around!

Good luck!

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Welcome Tinksalot!

We booked through AAA last year for free dining, but we also called Disney to see if they were any less expensive. To our surprise they were dollar for dollar the exact amount! Maybe it was only because of free dining?

 

[Knuckleball]

Perhaps all AAA agents are not equal? Some of you are reporting real savings with AAA but that wasn't our experience. A couple of weeks ago, we priced a package for February through AAA and were given a quote that was the same as doing it directly through Disney. In fact, it actually was a few dollars more. We determined the cheapest way to go was to book a room-only reservation directly through Disney using the AAA discount (which Disney honored with no problem) and then to purchase the tickets separately. Of course, if a package code is released for Jan and Feb, that could change.

 

[MannyEdge]

Be wary of using any travel agent who gets you cheaper rates than Disney or AAA. Perhaps they are legitimate. But I would stick with one that specializes in and is certified by Disney.

Booking your package through AAA does give you the perks listed above. My personal favorite is the AAA diamond parking pass. AAA can give you a discounted room rate on a package, while WDW and others cannot. Be choosy about your AAA travel agent; some know a lot about WDW, others less so. I live in Southern California and I use an agent in North Carolina. She doesn't charge me anything extra for the service or for mailing me my stuff. We communicate through email. She's booked 3 WDW trips for me, all without a hitch. Ask around!

Good luck!

ExPirateShopGirl:

Could you pm me your Travel agent?

Thanks,

Manny

 

[maddhatir]

I just called my AAA TA with some Disney discount codes to see if she can get a better price through Disney--

Maybe this is why some of you got better prices from Disney- they used the codes??

 

[TheWog]

~you can use the AAA facilities in Disney-

Can you tell me what these are?

We too used AAA and received a discount over WDW website prices. I also called her when the Disney visa code came out and she got that applied as well. Overall we ended up saving about $500 from the regular package rate for room/dining/park hopper + tix.

 

[bdklein]

You can also use the AAA WDW card and save money on a boat rental, which I did when I rented a little boat at the Polynesian.

 

[jkp464]

I'd suggest you research various sources first. Plus, it'll all depend on what you what for your trip. We were able to get the best room-only discount through Small World Vacations (using our AAA membership #) - no special discount on MYW tix and DDP not available since items not booked as a "package". The AAA TA was able to give us a group package with discount (including MYW tix & DDP) on selected resorts. We are traveling in June so not all resorts offer AAA discounts. So for the All Star Music Family Suites, we got the same price on disney website as we did through AAA. However, we get a free character breakfast and other "freebies" by booking through AAA.

 

[sonny]

I have gone thru AAA twice before and did get better room rates than Disney and better ticket prices but this year they were too high. Lisa at unlimited cruises is a certified Disney rep and, all I can say is that she got us a rate of $99/night at CBR and my ressies show up on the disney.go 'My Vacation' site for next week so I believe in her (and little pixie dust).

 

[maddhatir]

Can you tell me what these are?

We too used AAA and received a discount over WDW website prices. I also called her when the Disney visa code came out and she got that applied as well. Overall we ended up saving about $500 from the regular package rate for room/dining/park hopper + tix.

I am sorry about the AAA locations- not sure if they even have them anymore- I know there used to be on ein the MK where you can go in and I think go something to drink and the kiddies can rest if I ma not mistaken- we never used that eitehr- but I checked my AAA vaction brouchure and do not see that listed anymore---

can I ask you though- when did the Visa code come out-- I didnt know they can apply 2 discounts to a package. I s/w my TA today and gave her some Disney codes and Disney told her they were all sold out for those.

I also found that even purchasing park tix through AAA seprately were less expensive than Disney prices. So I just added those into my package- I got our room at the POP for 71.00 per night. and my 5 day adult hoppers for 254.00 pp and 219.00 for a child - I thought these prices didnt seem bad-

am I wrong??!

 

[love~disney]

This was the first time we booked with AAA but we ended up saving $300. My suggestion is to check out all possible places and then see where you would get the best deal. AAA only has a certain number of rooms available at the discounted rate. If they sell out of them they will be the same price as everywhere else. One other thing to note... when I talked to many travel people they mentioned that the prices are usually very close between agencies.
Hope this helps.

 

[TheWog]

I am sorry about the AAA locations- not sure if they even have them anymore- I know there used to be on ein the MK where you can go in and I think go something to drink and the kiddies can rest if I ma not mistaken- we never used that eitehr- but I checked my AAA vaction brouchure and do not see that listed anymore---

can I ask you though- when did the Visa code come out-- I didnt know they can apply 2 discounts to a package. I s/w my TA today and gave her some Disney codes and Disney told her they were all sold out for those.

I also found that even purchasing park tix through AAA seprately were less expensive than Disney prices. So I just added those into my package- I got our room at the POP for 71.00 per night. and my 5 day adult hoppers for 254.00 pp and 219.00 for a child - I thought these prices didnt seem bad-

am I wrong??!

Thanks.

As far as the codes, they came out in August. Visa holders got a couple days advanced notice before it was released to the general public. What I think happend is that my visa code discount was greater than my AAA discount so they just reduced it by the difference. Meaning that I saved over $200 using AAA when I initially booked in March. Codes came out and savings over rack rates was about $500 so they just deducted the $300 +/- difference to get me there. All they did was call WDW and confirm my dates and room qualified for the discount and called me back about 10 mins later and said I was all set with the lower rate.

No, I think you did pretty well with the prices you got.

 

[scubamouse]

Can AAA get you a discount on a DVC room if you're not a DVC member? I have a room only reservation I did thru WDW website but would change that if I can go thru AAA

 

[wrighter]

Scubamouse:

We reserved a one bedroom DVC suite at Old Key West through WDW directly, and they gave us the AAA rate. We figured that with a kitched in the suite, we'd be ordering food through gardengrocer and didn't really need the dining plan - we'll really only be eating lunch at the parks daily, and dinner occasionally. So for us, the room only ressie with AAA discount was great.

No need to call AAA to get a AAA rate - just tell the CM on the phone that you'd like the AAA rate applied to the room you already have booked. They'll just ask to see your card when you check in.

Good luck!