CMs, AAA, and Bears Oh MY !!!

[baloo's girl]

Well, really there's no bears, but I feel like one. LOL Can someone please help me make some sense out of this wacky reservation system. We're wanting to go in December 08. We're flexible on dates.

CMs:
I've called Disney reservations like 5 times-each time I call I get a different quote. I did get the pin code for 20% room rate-so that's not much savings. We want to stay at AKL w/savannah view Dec 7th-13th. The savannah view is not available with the pin code.

AAA:
I went to AAA today and the agent couldn't really tell me what kind of discount he could give me. He said it looked like 5% From all the posts I've read on the Dis-it looks like AAA should be giving a better discount than that. He also said the only dates he could get a savannah view were for Dec 14-20 (which runs into holiday rates). Does this AAA agent not know what he's talking about as far as discounts or availability?

Bears:
I'm so frustrated. Are these my options?

1. book the standard view room with disney 20% pin code and hope for an upgrade

2. book savannah view w/ disney at no discount and hope for a code later

3. find a new AAA agent and get a better discount or dates?

If anyone votes for #3, could they PM me the name of a good AAA agent.


Thank you very much for any imput. The DIS rocks.

 

[MouseFan71]

I would opt for #3. We've used AAA twice and have been very pleased with their pricing and level of service. Both times we used ********** in the Buffalo, NY offfice (*******************). We stay at a value the first week of December and typically save about 10% on our package, Coleen also said if additional codes or discounts come available, they can be applied. Good luck!!!

 

[Tam1067]

I'm a fan of AAA, but you need to find a good agent. I've got one who's saved me about $1200 on three different trips (3 different years), and then another, well, I'm still waiting for the call back with the price she told me she'd have the next day.

Some AAA agents know their stuff, and some do not. Find one who does!

On a deluxe in value season, you should save 15% off the resort price per night. There are different rates off the values and moderates, and the percentage does vary with the season, too. Holiday season is the only one I believe where AAA rates do not apply, and if there are other Disney deals out there, they'll beat AAA usually.

 

[SuperTink]

What happened to the 20% of deluxe? I thought that was what we had last year, but this year I keep hearing 155 off numbers.

 

[Tam1067]

Below is from www.mousesavers.com. I've used AAA for three years, and it's always been 15% off the deluxe. I don't believe that has changed recently, or at least it's not changed at the times we've gone.


AAA and CAA Resort Hotel Discounts
American Automobile Association (AAA) and Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) members qualify for "room only" discounts almost year-round, though there are a limited number of rooms available for each date. You can generally save about 10-20% at the Disney resort hotels, depending on the season.

In general, the discounts run as follows:

During Value Season you can get up to 15% off at the Disney Deluxe and Disney Vacation Club resorts, or 20% off at the Value and Moderate resorts and the Ft. Wilderness campsites.

During Regular Season you can usually get up to 10% off at the Disney Deluxe and Disney Vacation Club resorts, or 15% off at the Value and Moderate resorts and the Ft. Wilderness campsites.

During Peak Season and Summer Season you can usually get up to 10% off at the Disney Deluxe and Disney Vacation Club resorts, or 15% off at the Value and Moderate resorts.

The only time AAA/CAA discounts don't usually apply is Holiday Season (around Christmas) at the Value and Moderate resorts.

You don't have to book AAA/CAA rates through the Auto Club. Room-only reservations with an AAA discount can be booked directly through the Disney Reservation Center at (407) W-DISNEY or a travel agent who specializes in Disney travel. Just ask if there is an AAA or CAA discount for your dates and resort.

AAA/CAA rates for all of the following year are usually released in the summer. 2008 AAA/CAA "room only" discounts were released on August 5, 2007

 

[SuperTink]

Thanks for the info!

 

[*Belle*]

Hi, Baloo's Girl. Welcome The value rack rate for the Savannah view is $290 per night. The AAA rate for Dec. 7-14 ia available for $246.50. This info is on the AAA web site. You can call Disney Central Reservations Office, the CM will be able to book this for you as a room only reservation for $246.50 plus tax per night for each of your nights.

Hope this helps.
Belle

 

[Tam1067]

Another thing is that the AAA discount is only off the room portion of any package. That means if you get the 15% off the room, the percentage off the package in its entirety is less than 15%. My 15% off the Poly ends up being a bit less than 10% off the whole package because the DDP and tickets are not part of the AAA discount. Not all AAA agents understand this.

If you want to book a room only, you can do that through Disney directly or through the AAA website, but if you want to book a package (room, tickets and perhaps DDP if you want), you need to deal with an AAA agent directly.

 

[SuperTink]

Tam,

Can't I buy the tickets myself using the AAA discount?

 

[Tam1067]

SuperTink

You can buy tickets at local AAA offices with a small discount. However, they only sell certain numbers of days, and I believe the number of days available varies depending on the state in which you live. If you want a different number of days on your tickets than they sell or if you want the DDP, you're out of luck unless you want to buy a package.

We like the DDP, and we go for about 9 days, so for us, getting the package works better because our office does not sell 9 day passes.

 

[SuperTink]

From what I cam tell on the AAA website, they sell the number of days we need. And I don't want the DDP this year. So I will just buy the tickets myself and then ad them to the room!

 

[baloo's girl]

thanks for the responses. We want to do a package, so that means we'd need to deal with AAA. Obviously, I'm not having luck with the local office as they didn't know what they were talking about. I submitted an online request for a quote from them and no one ever responded to it-over 2 weeks ago.

 

[Tam1067]

Baloo's girl, call around. Find another AAA office in your area and call them. I have a good agent, but like I posted, I had a not so good experience with another one who didn't return my call. Some offices are run better than others, and some agents are better than others.