Book through AAA or not?

[Mouseless2Long]

I received an offer from Disney for room only discount good through stays beginning 12/1 through 12/12/13. We were planning a trip then anyway and usually book through AAA for the diamond parking pass.

Since there's no word yet on whether there will be free dining during that period, I wanted to know if AAA can honor the Disney discount, or am I better off jumping on the Disney discount sent to me? Whichever way I go, if they do offer free dining later, I should be able to change my reservation at either AAA or Disney to get it added, right?

 

[clh2]

I received an offer from Disney for room only discount good through stays beginning 12/1 through 12/12/13. We were planning a trip then anyway and usually book through AAA for the diamond parking pass.

Since there's no word yet on whether there will be free dining during that period, I wanted to know if AAA can honor the Disney discount, or am I better off jumping on the Disney discount sent to me? Whichever way I go, if they do offer free dining later, I should be able to change my reservation at either AAA or Disney to get it added, right?

Personally - there is no way I would allow anyone other than "me" to handle my reservation.

Right now, there is a thread on the budget board where a person who used AAA wasn't able to get their trip modified for free dining. The particular thread is HERE. IMHO - the problem was = when the free dining became available - the OP's specific travel agent wasn't available, and the covering TA couldn't or wouldn't try to help.

 

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

I think it depends largely on your AAA office. There is an agent at mine who is fantastic, and I have no hesitation about booking with him. He keeps himself informed on discounts, and has run the numbers for me to compare discounts as they became available, switching when it was a better deal. Other people report trouble with AAA agents.

If you know your AAA people, and have booked successfully with them before, I would say go for it, they can definitely chenge your package to reflect a new discount if one becomes available.

I do my own ADRs, but I would never book the trip myself. Its so much easier for me to sit there while he plugs in the dates, resorts, tickets, etc. and compares the prices for me. I have never had any trouble making changes or payments or anything with AAA reserved trips.

 

[dakcp2001]

I would book my own. There is no way I want a middle man having to relay messages and fix things for me. I would rather make any changes to a reservation myself. I don't find the aaa parking to be that much better. If a new deal comes out, do you want to have to chase the agent, explain it all to them, have them call to change it, then follow up to make sure you really got what you want?

 

[jmartinez1895]

I am the OP of the above mentioned link. The reason that I booked with AAA was for the discount, it was much better than I could get on my own ( almost $400 off ). That plus the few little perks you get for booking a complete package made it worth it to me. You still get to make your own ADRs. My problem came when free dinning was opened. I did get the deal, but only after hours of stress. In the future I will probably book with AAA again if there are no free dinning promos or other good rates out just to save the money.
I also plan that if I book with AAA and my agent drops the ball on a special offer, I am going to book myself so I can get the offer and then cancel my AAA booking and get a refund.

 

[emilyindisney]

I would highly recommend booking through AAA. In my experience, my TA has always cancelled my reservations and rebooked to get an better deal/offer that comes out. If for some reason your agent doesn't do this, I'd cancel and rebook yourself or call a different office and have another agent rebook for you!

 

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

I would book my own. There is no way I want a middle man having to relay messages and fix things for me. I would rather make any changes to a reservation myself. I don't find the aaa parking to be that much better. If a new deal comes out, do you want to have to chase the agent, explain it all to them, have them call to change it, then follow up to make sure you really got what you want?

Mine called me before I knew FD was out, told me he ran the numbers for me and my original PIN was a better discount so he kept it the same and would keep watching discounts for me. I did nothing but answer the phone. The last time (2010), he called to say they had released a GC promotion we qualified for, told us the price for changing resorts (upgrade to AKL or something wasn't much because the GC was higher or something) and keeping them the same, we decided to stay the same but he was ready willing and able to make changes the day the promo was released.

Which was why I said it depends on the AAA office and agent. Some are obviously not good, a person has to know that first. I would rather have someone else run all the numbers, watch the promos, and let me know what the best deal is. I lack the time, energy, and desire to do all that myself, LOL.

 

[JessM]

Forgetting about free dining for a minute, you could book a room only thru Disney and then just buy tickets through AAA. They will give you a Diamond Star Pass for buying a ticket.

 

[jmartinez1895]

Forgetting about free dining for a minute, you could book a room only thru Disney and then just buy tickets through AAA. They will give you a Diamond Star Pass for buying a ticket.

Not all locations do. Some require you to book the package to get the parking pass. You also get a discount card that is good at many location through out WDW, special fireworks viewing area in Mk and a character story time in EPCOT. If you are renting a car with them you get a free child seat as well, but we found a much better deal on rental cars from COSTCO.

 

[ceecee]

I have always booked thru WDW Travel directly. The quotes I got from AAA were always much higher.

 

[TheShea's]

I agreee with a pp, it largely depends on your AAA office. Our local office isn't that well versed in Disney and they are a large office serving a populated area. I had my local AAA office provide a quote for the same itinerary and they were a few hundred dollars more expensive.

 

[mcuoghi]

I agree with the other posters--it totally depends on your AAA office/agent. I've worked with the same agent for the last 6 years on all trips I've planned. He is an awesome travel agent and is VERY well versed in Disney. I knew exactly what I wanted for my Disney trip and he was happy to book it for me. Before I left his office, he told me that if I got a PIN code or if I heard of a new discount to call him and he'd take care of changing my reservation for me. He said that he'd keep an eye out for promos even though he knew I'd be doing the same. So far, every email I've sent to him has been returned with in 24 hours.

That being said, I'd book every Disney trip with this travel agent.

 

[clh2578]

I am currently trying to decide wether to book through Wdw or AAA. What kind of savings does the AAA diamond card save? Will your regular AAA card give you the same savings? We do not have a local AAA office where I live, I have to boom through the Internet sales dept.

 

[Ginny Favers]

I was always a die-hard AAA enthusiast, and booked 2 trips through them. They supposedly saved me money.

However, the last time I booked with them, I found out about the new 30% off deal and emailed her, and she made the changes, something I could easily have done myself. Also, it's great for newbies who have lots of questions, but I know just as much about the parks now as an AAA agent, so she wasn't very helpful to me.

This time, we booked through a travel agency that will not be named on this board, because they had REAL savings I couldn't get anywhere else... basically I'm staying at a deluxe resort for less than moderate prices. We'd been planning on going back next year, but decided to go this year because it was an offer we couldn't refuse. I feel like AAA rates are not all that special.

 

[clh2578]

Ginny, any chance you would pm me the travel agency you used. my AAA person gave me the quote of what seemed to be another families trip. I gave him my information again yesterday afternoon and no response. I would live to use an agency that someone had a good experience with!

 

[Eastern]

I wouldn't use AAA. I tried once and when a discount came out, my TA was out of the office and the person there could not "find it" on the website. So I did it myself and cancelled AAA.

 

[stmize]

I absolutely love my aaa ta in Chattanooga. Trust me I run the numbers myself before so I know when I hear from her if its better than what I have. I email her and she responds usually within the hour. She and I are both members here so we both are aware of any promos usually before they are released. She's always willing to help me with anything. I'm actually a Dvc member but use her now more for extra trips not using my points or for dcl cruises including one in nov for 3 cabins of 3 families for a total of 10. We actually booked 2 cabins then when added the 3rd one aaa was having a special that meant even less money plus an better obc if we waited one day. She emailed me first to make sure I wanted to wait. I told her I did.

 

[jenny105]

Yes AAA will honor it. I work for them and we do it all the time. Make sure you get someone who knows Disney though or you may have a bad experience.

 

[jmartinez1895]

I am currently trying to decide wether to book through Wdw or AAA. What kind of savings does the AAA diamond card save? Will your regular AAA card give you the same savings? We do not have a local AAA office where I live, I have to boom through the Internet sales dept.

No, you AAA card will not give you any discounts any the park ( that I know of, I would love to be wrong tho). When you book with AAA you will be a diamond savings card good for the length of your stay. Some of the things you an expect to receive with it are 10% off at World of Disney in DTD, 10% of purchases at Planet Hollywood, Bongos, Earl of Sandwich and House of Blues, 15% off some of the tours in the parks, a free charm when you purchase a hair wrap, 10% off funnel cakes, and a few more things.
Also if you are driving or renting a car, you can get a diamond parking pass that will allow you to park in a special area, from what I have been told it is normally behind the handicap parking.

 

[mzafrany]

Booked via AAA. The service was amazing.

We changed reservations three times as I learned more about things in this forum and other places and when FD was available for September.

Ended up with a combination of two one night room only and a FD package for six nights.

For the room only got a rate of $77 when Disney site was showing $116.

For FD was able to receive the last accessible room in the resort.

After doing the math, saved us about $500.