AAA the Best Way to Go?

[amashstat]

From your experiences, is the AAA package the best way to go? I'm either looking to go through my AAA agent or through a Disney specialty agent. I'm not worried about needing to go through a specialty agent because I'm an avid planner and organizer, and can get the info I need on my own. I just care about the best price.

Has it been your experience that the AAA package is the best?

 

[The1EvilQueen]

My AAA package was $346.00 cheaper than booking through Disney!!! It's the first time I've used AAA for this and was excited to see how much less it was and the travel agent there was wonderful. I'm an avid planner and know what we want for each day, meal, & park so it was just a bonus to save some $$. Goodluck and have fun!

 

[bumbershoot]

I think there are too many factors (when you're going, where, does AAA have anything left, etc etc etc) to make a blanket statement about who will be the best.

I know that for our planned trip (DL not WDW), Costco was better, over AAA and Disney directly. Their prices weren't all that different from each other (actually, while getting the deposit and dates prepared, I missed on some EXCELLENT deals through AAA and Costco, and by the time I booked it was only a *good* deal), but it was the extras from each that tilted my favor in one direction or another.

When I was looking into WDW at the time that you could book free dining (almost changed plans to FL from CA), I didn't check with AAA, but I personally noticed that the Disney specialists from whom I got a quote were EXACTLY the same as booking directly through Disneyworld.com...the difference was the amenities, they would book the ADRs, etc etc. Others might have had a different experience.

Just find out the whole list of what is included and what the benefits to you are, find out the bottom line cost, and you'll have your decision.


On the other hand, if you arent' normally a member of AAA and got a membership just for this travel, then use them. I get my membership in discounts at Tully's Coffee and in maps and guidebooks (and cheap passport photos last week) through the year, so I never feel a need to book travel through them. But others might feel differently.

 

[dhardawa]

We booked 7 nights at the Coronado Springs Resort, airfare, park tickets, and the meal plan for three adults and one child. AAA saved us right at $1,000 compared to the price through Disney World.

 

[punkinsmomma]

I was also wondering about the AAA prices. Is it worth it when you are doing a room only and not a room and ticket package? We already have tickets, so we do not need the whole package.

I got a rate of $140 for the Wilderness Lodge for Sept and heard that was a good rate, but I am still curious what kind of savings you get with AAA.

 

[hebbynan]

We booked our trip for this coming October through AAA. Donna saved us $350 over the Disney on-line price. We just use them to book the package and tickets. I'm a big planner and I enjoy all the other aspects of the trip planning. But like a previous poster said, it depends on a lot of things, so my advice would be to check around, compare and GOOD LUCK!

 

[turning40withMickey]

First trip using AAA and a travel agent. I thought the AAA discount was a great benefit, discount off the Disney site rates. But the best perk was that the TA made all the dinner reservations for me. I called yesterday to add another one and found it to be a real pain, takes a lot of time to make a reservation and I didn't realize until then what a timesaver and frustration saver using the TA was! I found the AAA rate to be the best available for me, a non Florida resident without the annual pass. I have always been a "do it yourselfer" but using a TA was a great idea, at least for this trip!

 

[mickeyluvr004]

we are going in sept and we used kingdommagictravel and the agent we used was joyce and she is absolutely wonderful, she gets the best prices and we have used her twice so far once in 2003 and this year and i will continue to use her as i feel that she goes above and beyond what she should do, i have never used AAA. hope this helps