AAA ressie

[skipperkim]

Well, I made the leap and purchased my 1st AAA membership for the Disney discount. My fear is that I will know more than my travel agent. I've been 6 times and I know there are people here who are seasoned veterans with AAA. Please help calm my fears.

 

[disneyfanx3]

YOu don't have to go through the AAA agent to get your AAA discount you can call WDW directly

 

[RMulieri]

Yon can make a room only res with AAA disount yourself.If you want a pkg then you need a AAA agent to do it.I went thru 2 diffeent aaa agents till I found a disney specialist...I just flat out asked them if they were experienced with Disney...kind of like 20 questions.were they offfended ? probably.But hey, I am spending the moolah not them.

 

[dacky041208]

I used AAA for my trip coming up this spring, and thanks to these boards, there were plenty of things that I knew that my agent did not. However she didn't push me one way or another because I knew exactly what I wanted in the package. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience. I think AAA is worth it.

 

[jadedbeauty14304]

I am using AAA TA for the first time too for my trip this summer. I was very nervous, then I talked with her for a while and realized she knows Disney and when she sent me my paperwork, it was all exactly as I wanted. I made my own ADRs tho. I can't trust that to anyone..lol

 

[mom2munchkins]

I am using AAA TA for the first time too for my trip this summer. I was very nervous, then I talked with her for a while and realized she knows Disney and when she sent me my paperwork, it was all exactly as I wanted. I made my own ADRs tho. I can't trust that to anyone..lol

I didn't think you could make your own ADR's if you book a package through AAA. I'd much rather book them myself too.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I didn't think you could make your own ADR's if you book a package through AAA. I'd much rather book them myself too.

why couldn't you? They don't have to know you are even staying on property to made your ADRs. that is unless you are trying to get something special like CRT and you are trying to book the 180 days + # of days you're staying, if that makes sense. For example if you are checking in on 11/1 and you want to eat at CRT on 11/6, you could call on the day that is 180 days away from 11/1 and still book a meal for the 6th as long as they see you are staying on property, which means they might (?) make the travel agent make the ADR? That is the only way I would see that Disney would even need to know where you are staying. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, though.
Good Luck w/ your plans.

 

[jess20k]

I absolutely know what you mean! I actually used to be a travel agent myself a few years ago, and Disney was my specialty. So, I usually do know more about Disney between being a travel agent, going to Disney many many times, and just being a Disney fanatic!

Anyway, I have used AAA for the past 4 trips because I was able to save a few hundred dollars, so it is worth it for us. Luckily, I found a great TA to work with. She is very reliable, and even though I do know more about Disney than she does, she acutally gets a kick out of it....and it makes her job much easier!

I beleive it all depends on the TA that you have. Some may love the fact that you are basically doing most of the leg work, other than the booking aspects, but others may think otherwise.

If you do happen to encounter a less than friendly TA, then I wouldn't deal with them, find another. Like I said, usually they would be happy for the fact that you are making their job easier!

For the poster who asked about ADRs: Yes, you can make your own, I always do. If you did want your TA to, they could...but you can absolutely make your own as well.

 

[dacky041208]

why couldn't you? They don't have to know you are even staying on property to made your ADRs. that is unless you are trying to get something special like CRT and you are trying to book the 180 days + # of days you're staying, if that makes sense. For example if you are checking in on 11/1 and you want to eat at CRT on 11/6, you could call on the day that is 180 days away from 11/1 and still book a meal for the 6th as long as they see you are staying on property, which means they might (?) make the travel agent make the ADR? That is the only way I would see that Disney would even need to know where you are staying. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, though.
Good Luck w/ your plans.

You are correct, I was able to book our ADRs and then my TA just was curious as to what I booked, but they had no problems with me doing it. Also, if you need to fly to Orlando, that is something you should look into doing yourself. You can save some $$$ there.

 

[Ilovestitch]

What I would do is call your local AAA office and ask which agent is a Disney nut - they'll tell you and then you'll know who to ask for.

 

[whatacrew08]

For those of you who have booked through AAA, did you fax a room request (example: 60's Building, Pool view)directly to your Disney Resort or does AAA need to do this? I asked our AAA TA to add our request to our reservation, which she did, but I also want to follow up 2 weeks before we go, by faxing Pop Century our request. I was able to book my own ADR's but she had to book our Grand Gathering Safari so I am not sure. Thanks!

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

We've never used an AAA agent, and have used the discount dozens of times when we couldn't secure the AP discount.

Good luck!

 

[Tam1067]

I'm using AAA for the third time--booked a few weeks ago for August.

She's pretty good and knows her stuff, but I had two frustrating experiences (two different years) with another office near my home, so my message is, call around until you find a good one.

You can do your own dining, or you can have the AAA agent do it for you. This year, mine actually called ME and left a message to remind me that it was "time" to do them!

For room requests, I've always told my agent which building at the Poly we want, and she notes that on the reservation. It's very simple, and when you pick up the final paperwork, you can see the notation right on there.

 

[dacky041208]

For those of you who have booked through AAA, did you fax a room request (example: 60's Building, Pool view)directly to your Disney Resort or does AAA need to do this? I asked our AAA TA to add our request to our reservation, which she did, but I also want to follow up 2 weeks before we go, by faxing Pop Century our request. I was able to book my own ADR's but she had to book our Grand Gathering Safari so I am not sure. Thanks!

I had the same experience as the previous post. I told my AAA agent what building I wanted, and that is printed out on the paperwork. Hopefully that all works out!

 

[sandym718]

I used AAA in 2007 and will again for 2009. We booked the package with Dining. Our TA knew a good amount, but I'd say I knew more. That was fine - I did my research and knew EXACTLY what I wanted, no problem. I just needed her to book it for me, so we got the discount. She did that, added our exact room requests, and that was it. That's all I needed, I didn't ask for anything else. I made our ADR's. I enjoy all the planning, etc. so I wanted to do it myself anyways. BTW, when I booked our package, there was a confirmation # on there - I was able to use that when making aDR's to do the 180 +10

 

[skipperkim]

I'm just hoping that the one here in Overland Park, KS does know there stuff. Has anyone used them? I will be getting the DDP for my Dec trip. I won't be using them for air because the only airline that flies non-stop to MCO is Southwest, for now anyway.

 

[Atchley]

My AAA rep knows her stuff pretty well, but I still tell her exactly what I want. I know everything I want when I call, right down to knowing how much it should cost. (I think my figuring was off by $2.00 this year. )
I make my own ADRs. I can call and let AAA rep know and she would do it for me but how soon would she call? I may miss out on a reservation if she waits a day or two before she gets the time to call. Why would I call her and tell her all of my information and then have her call and do the same thing? I can call myself and save her some trouble and help myself out at the same time. One of the ressies I wanted may not be available, so you have to know your backup.

 

[skipperkim]

My AAA rep knows her stuff pretty well, but I still tell her exactly what I want. I know everything I want when I call, right down to knowing how much it should cost. (I think my figuring was off by $2.00 this year. )
I make my own ADRs. I can call and let AAA rep know and she would do it for me but how soon would she call? I may miss out on a reservation if she waits a day or two before she gets the time to call. Why would I call her and tell her all of my information and then have her call and do the same thing? I can call myself and save her some trouble and help myself out at the same time. One of the ressies I wanted may not be available, so you have to know your backup.

I'd have to make my own. I could never give up that much control.