Book thru AAA or WDW Directly?

[fenfur]

Here's my dilemma..... I have AAA and I can use that to book my trip and save approx. $200, or I can have the convience of dealing with WDW directly. When I called AAA yesterday to get a quote for 14 nights, dining plan, and MYW tickets, they came back and told me the dining plan could only be booked for 10 nights Even though my trip was booked for 14 nights. So I called WDW and they said they could book for the 14 nights dining. I will be needing to make payments, and part of me says it will be easier to book with WDW and just call and make payments, but saving $200 sounds nice too. Also, I don't know how good AAA will be about applying discounts codes, because we are going Sept 2007 and SOMETHING will be offered (I'm hoping for free dining ).

Anyone with any ideas?

I won't be using AAA for airfare, because I'm going to play the Southwest *How cheap can I get my ticket* game.

 

[mdhkitten]

I've always just booked a room through WDW and had my AAA discount applied. Could you book a room (with AAA discount) through them and then add the dining and tickets? I'm not sure because like I said I've only done the room before. It wouldn't hurt to call and check, though. Good luck!

 

[MEK]

I think it depends on your AAA agent. I got hooked up with one from MidAtlantic and she is awesome. I like having just one person to deal with, since I made several changes to my last booking. I have booked 3 trips through her and I am always satisfied. She was able to apply discount codes for me. For example, she applied free dining for me in 2005 without a problem.

If you have the AAA credit card, it is really to your advantage to use AAA. I have saved $275 on rebates alone just from booking with AAA and using their card. Those are my credit card rebates and other certificates they send me when I use my AAA card to pay for my trip.

If interested PM me and I will forward you her name and number when I get to work in am.

 

[Terk-1]

I booked my upcoming trip through my local AAA. We had a slight hiccup (was not returning my e-mails), but found out she had left and I did not know that. Was assigned to a new AAA TA and it's been fine. I save about $200 to start with AAA. When the previous discount code posted about a month or so ago (ZBD I think), I called and she was able to apply the discount code (saved me an additional $320) on top of the AAA discount I received to begin with. Unfortunately, POFQ was not available with this code and had to change to CSR. When the newest code came out, it did not save me any more $$, BUT, POFQ became available with this code and I was on the phone with AAA as soon as I found out. I ended up speaking with another AAA TA (as my local office was closed and I called the 800 # on the back of my AAA card) and she was WONDERFUL!!! She found my reservation, took down the code and my wanting to switch back to POFQ. She called WDWTC directly, made the change and called me right back and was very happy to tell me she got it and made sure that WDWTC faxed the revised confirmation to my local AAA TA, plus made notes in my records letting my local AAA TA know what was going on. I confirmed everything with my local AAA TA the next morning.

For a savings of $520, I have no problem using AAA. If you do not care for your local AAA TA, call the 800 # on the back of your AAA card OR call a different AAA office.

 

[fenfur]

I've always just booked a room through WDW and had my AAA discount applied. Could you book a room (with AAA discount) through them and then add the dining and tickets? I'm not sure because like I said I've only done the room before. It wouldn't hurt to call and check, though. Good luck!

When I called WDW directly, they told me that they could only apply a AAA discount to room only reservation. I will be needing the whole package, so I won't get the AAA thru WDW.

Thanks!

 

[lookingforward]

It most certainly depends of the agent and how efficient they are. We are booking a premium package for April and the travel agent I got at AAA was not very knowledgable on the details. It was frustrating.

 

[fenfur]

For a savings of $520, I have no problem using AAA. If you do not care for your local AAA TA, call the 800 # on the back of your AAA card OR call a different AAA office.

LOL, I called the 877 number on the website (I am in So Cal so we have a completely different seperate AAA set up) and got put thru to the main corporate office where they are located and it's just down the street from me, actually closer than my local office, lol. She was an idiot, I don't want to be rude, but she had no clue. I had asked for quotes and she comes back with numbers that were rack rates , I asked her about this and she says, "Oh, they didn't realize I was calling from AAA", my thoughts about this point were that she should have realized it. Then she had to put me back on hold to call them again.

Maybe it was just the TA.

If anyone knows of a good WDW knowledgeable AAA TA in OC in So Cal let me know!! (WOW that was a lot of acronyms !!!!!)

 

[fenfur]

I think it depends on your AAA agent. I got hooked up with one from MidAtlantic and she is awesome. I like having just one person to deal with, since I made several changes to my last booking. I have booked 3 trips through her and I am always satisfied. She was able to apply discount codes for me. For example, she applied free dining for me in 2005 without a problem.

If you have the AAA credit card, it is really to your advantage to use AAA. I have saved $275 on rebates alone just from booking with AAA and using their card. Those are my credit card rebates and other certificates they send me when I use my AAA card to pay for my trip.

If interested PM me and I will forward you her name and number when I get to work in am.

Did you have to call and ask the discounts to be applied or did she do it automatically?

I like the idea of having one person to deal with, but I'm finding it's hard to find that one person. I keep hearing of other travel agencies that will automatically apply codes and call and tell their customers that they just saved them X amount of dollars. I'm wondering if a AAA TA exists that does the same thing.