AAA price same as Disney.com?

[caligal415]

Ok, so where are the wonderful AAA discounts & perks I keep hearing about? I had several people recommend that I book a package through AAA & their quote is exactly the same as Disney's quote. Bummer.

Is this normal? Are there a bunch of extras, coupons, or special privileges thrown in that make it worth it? Would going in & speaking with an AAA travel agent result in a better quote? Would calling in get me a better deal?

I am pretty disappointed to say the least. I think I'll be booking the package through getawaytoday.com. I can get essentially the same package (minus the character phone call) AND an extra night for less than what Disney/AAA are quoting, all at a hotel with excellent reviews. With the hotel I'm considering, there is a free shuttle to/from the park, free breakfast, free parking, resort fees are covered as well & it's only 2 miles from the park. I didn't see any of those as a whole included in the other quotes.

This is our first trip to Disneyland, it's for our 5 year old's birthday. I have to say that I'm having a bit of sticker shock. My husband asked me if we were throwing her a party, in addition to taking her to Disneyland, and I pretty much did this

Thanks for your help

 

[mrs_z]

We booked through AAA 6 years ago and got a good deal -- not so this time. So I bought parkhoppers and character breakfast through getawaytoday, bought an entertainment card and booked a retro rate room at HoJo. All that saved a bundle over what AAA quoted me. It was also better than Costco - mainly because I couldn't have stayed at HoJo with the Costco package.

I really don't know what's up with AAA. For my family of 5 it would have cost a few hundred dollars more to go with a package from them, and they didn't even have 4-day parkhoppers at all (they had 3 day, 5 day, and some above that). I felt bad about not being able to book with them because the woman who works in the regional office is so helpful (she booked our trip 6 yrs ago). She still sent us maps, guidebooks, etc. as we are members and get those free. AAA needs to get more competitive because it doesn't take much shopping around to get a better deal. Perhaps booking travel is not their priority these days?

 

[caligal415]

Thanks for your reply

I thought maybe I did something wrong online or that I didn't know some insider info on how to get the best deal through AAA.

I think AAA is great for their roadside assistance, but I find most of their other discounts to be pretty crappy. Oh well!!

 

[lovedisneyland1]

The price through AAA is the same as through Disneyland, you do get free parking though. What we do is book our hotel separate and then buy our tickets through AAA. You can get a 5 day park hopper for the same price Disney charges for a 4 day. Plus you get free parking with it. For 5 days that saves you $75 in parking fees. AAA sells 3 and 5 day park hoppers.

 

[skiingfast]

Thanks for your reply

I thought maybe I did something wrong online or that I didn't know some insider info on how to get the best deal through AAA.

I think AAA is great for their roadside assistance, but I find most of their other discounts to be pretty crappy. Oh well!!

You can get good rates at non Disney hotels through AAA.

GAT avoids taxes, that's how it gives you a discount.

Nobody gets a discount from Disney on tickets to resell, except for Socal teachers and the Military.

 

[disneychrista]

The free parking is the best perk of AAA tickets.

 

[spacemermaid]

Seconding what skiingfast said about good rates through AAA on non-Disney hotels.

If you're booking a vacation package that includes a stay in a Disney hotel, it's better to book through Disney than through AAA.

However...booking a non-Disney hotel (and not an entire vacation package...just the hotel), there are some wonderful discounts one can get through AAA. You'll need to research online for yourself as to whether the rates on AAA's website or the AAA rates quoted on your hotel of choice's website are better; it varies from hotel to hotel and depending on your vacation dates. For example, I recently booked a room at Best Western Park Place Inn (hotel direcetly across the street from the Park) for around $75 a night through AAA's website. On the hotel's website, the AAA discount price per night was around $95 a night, and the non-discounted price was quoted as $120 a night. So with a little online cross-referencing, you can save quite a bit of money using your AAA discount

 

[Huff]

Costco adds a premium character meal. Thats a savings of $39 per adult over Disney.com. Also includes a $20 Disney gift card.

What I found though that often I could book the same room at a good neighbor hotel for far less than the rack rate Costco or Disney.com uses. In the end the price worked out about the same despite the 'free' character meal. So the advantage of Costco was the magic morning and toon town madness that I wouldn't get by booking myself.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Costco adds a premium character meal. Thats a savings of $39 per adult over Disney.com. Also includes a $20 Disney gift card.

What I found though that often I could book the same room at a good neighbor hotel for far less than the rack rate Costco or Disney.com uses. In the end the price worked out about the same despite the 'free' character meal. So the advantage of Costco was the magic morning and toon town madness that I wouldn't get by booking myself.

The toontown madness you wouldn't get, but I believe the MM comes with any park hopper of three days or longer, no matter where you get it.

We did the package in June and December of last year (first through AAA and then through Costco) to get the preferred stuff, but this year I think I'm going to book separately as it seems cheaper that way, and we've done MTTMM and all the preferred seating. The only preferred seating one we found really worth it was Aladdin, and we've seen that twice now.

 

[blackjackdelta]

We have found that Costco is a better package deal than AAA, but we now book separately since we are staying on Disney property.

Jack

 

[bumbershoot]

With the hotel I'm considering, there is a free shuttle to/from the park, free breakfast, free parking, resort fees are covered as well & it's only 2 miles from the park.

You might want to do some serious research on pricing things out "a la carte" and looking at the much closer hotels. There are so many walkable hotels that are good, and they can have specials. Combine that and buying the ticket on disneyland.com at a pre-purchase deal, and you *can*, sometimes (every time when I've priced things out, but others have different opinions), get a much better deal.