IS there a perk to booking with AAA that I'm not seeing?

[Disney Lvr of Old]

Hi! I have booked airfare for a ridiculously low sum coming from WNY~! $655 for 2 people RT. Southwest; which I haven't flown in a long time.

I have a booking with AAA for 8 days at a good neighbor hotel but there is absolutely no savings between them booking it for me or me booking it on the Disney website.

Is there a perk I am not aware of?

I have Best Western PPI for 8 days with 5 day hopper. I cannot get a hotel only quote for my dates with this hotel unless I do the package.

I'm locked in now since I have already bought the plane tickets.... EEK!

 

[sherilaine]

Unless you are staying on site - I do not know of any benefit to booking through Disney.

Are you unable to book directly with the hotel themselves? Most hotels in the area offer AAA discounts when booking with them directly.

I'd just book with the hotel if I were you - and buy the tickets separately! If they do not show availability on their site, then call them - they still might be able to help you.

 

[mamapenguin]

That's weird because when you book direct with BW PPI they do have a AAA rate, but maybe the Disney site gets the same discount? Try booking the hotel directly through Best Western and choose the AAA rate. HTH

 

[BatBunny]

Unless you are staying on site - I do not know of any benefit to booking through Disney.

Are you unable to book directly with the hotel themselves? Most hotels in the area offer AAA discounts when booking with them directly.

I'd just book with the hotel if I were you - and buy the tickets separately! If they do not show availability on their site, then call them - they still might be able to help you.

Agreed. Only perk AAA has is layaway payments but it's usually cheaper if you book directly with the hotel itself. Congrats on the Southwest fare, you got an excellent deal! Plus they're an awesome airline to fly with.

 

[LizzyS]

I did book with Disney once at a Good Neighbor Hotel and they charged me the full balance of the stay at the time I booked, so there's that (this was in 2011). Check and make sure if you book through Disney that that's not the case. Wasn't a big deal for me, but I'd rather wait and pay when I stay in case my plans gets changed.

I always book direct with Red Lion these days.

 

[lorijohnhill]

If there is no price difference, and you want to book as a package, I'd go through Disney instead of AAA. Why? Because if there is an issue with the hotel, Disney will handle it for you. When we were visiting last July, we booked an accessible room with 2 queen beds at the Carousel Inn (through Disney). When we got to the motel to check in, we were told that the accessible rooms only have 1 queen bed (there were three of us in the room). The staff just kind of shrugged their shoulders at us. I promptly called Disney and they contacted the hotel and took care of it. We ended up with two rooms, the accessible and a standard, for the price we had paid for the one room. My husband ended up with his own room and loved it!

Anyway, the other reason you may wish to go with a package is the inclusion of luggage tags, lanyard, and pin. I'm not sure if they are still doing the free photo or not, but possibly.

If you don't care about that stuff, you could probably do better, price wise, by booking separately on your own. All of the Harbor motels offer a selection of different discounts. You can also often find discounts booking through Orbitz. Last Minute Travel Club has awesome prices on tickets. You have to join, but you can find a free membership coupon on Retailmenot.

 

[gatorlisa]

I always book with a hotel directly, using my AAA discount. Most of the time, by doing it that way, no deposit is required and it can be canceled without penalty up to a day or few days before check-in. Rates are always as good or better than what I can find through AAA or other travel sites. Will be in Anaheim for a week in May and booked the new Homewood Suites using AAA discount. If you are not tied to a specific brand, it might be worth having a look at. it's just under a mile to DL, but it's right next door to the Toy Story lot, so you can walk over and take the parking shuttle from there if you don't want to walk (or pay for parking at DL).

 

[StormyCA]

Disney used to 'partner' with AAA and most of the time their packages were actually cheaper than booking direct with Disney, at least for onsite. That partnership ended (IIRC) two years ago but no one has ever said exactly why. Now, the prices on AAA vs Disney are exactly the same. If you're staying onsite I think your only option is to book the hotel with Disney, but for offsite I've found you can get better deals with the various hotels. You can get better prices on tickets elsewhere, too.

 

[tarheelalum]

Have you considered hotwire.com or bidding via priceline.com? Often you can get much better deals if you are a bit flexible regarding the location? What dates are you staying?

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

Unless you are staying on site - I do not know of any benefit to booking through Disney.

Are you unable to book directly with the hotel themselves? Most hotels in the area offer AAA discounts when booking with them directly.

I'd just book with the hotel if I were you - and buy the tickets separately! If they do not show availability on their site, then call them - they still might be able to help you.

I've always done packages so I think that's why I am a bit afraid of doing it all separately.

My AAA travel agent said unless I book the package I will not get the "deluxe breakfast" at the hotel but otherwise see no difference.

The other reason I like the AAA package is that I only have to put $200 down and the rest is not due until July 17th.

My dates are 8/16-8/24- it showed the lowest crowds historically. I'm open to any other hotel as long as it is in walking distance. I've been scouring the site for recommendations!

Thank you all so much. I shouldn't be so afraid of this stuff!

 

[StormyCA]

I always booked AAA, too, for the same reason. But since doing it separately can save me up to $100.00 I found a way to just scrimp and pay up front for the onsite hotel first then buy the tickets later on.

But it was so nice to break up the 'pain' into 3 or 4 payments!

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

I just booked the Castle Inn and Suites at the military rate for my 8 day stay. it's $1100 which is definitely cheaper than the AAA amount offered. Doesn't include breakfast but I can live with that. Also booked Del Sol inn for about the same price; looks like it is closer to DL but has much worse reviews. Anyone know anything about either of these motels? Thanks for the encouragement!! Now I need tickets and we are set. Holy crow; I am in the Disney glow and spreading cheer to everyone! (it's weirding out my co-workers...)

 

[sherilaine]

I guess I have never seen the benefit of booking a package - often packages include different cancellation clauses than if you book directly and often when you take all the pieces apart they either cost more of have a negligible saving. For our last trip I booked the hotel directly, book our flight directly, bought our tickets from Flight Centre and they were actually refundable if we did not use them unlike if we bought with Disney and cheaper, booked our car through Costco. If we had booked through Disney or AAA, we would not have gotten the suite we wanted, as they do not offer all the room categories a hotel often offers within packages and we'd of ended up paying more for the car and the tickets. Anything AAA says to you - a quick call to the hotel can likely match.

With the amount of information on the internet today anyone can be their own travel agent and book their trips independently!

Also, I don't see the bonus of having to pay upfront or putting down a deposit etc. It all has to get paid in the end. In fact we saved money by waiting until we checked out to pay for our hotel and car because the Canadian dollar was several cents higher than it was when we planned the trip.

My last comment is to the "showed lowest crowds historically" comment, DLR is setting new records for crowds and I'd not bank anything on what you read on any crowd prediction site these day! So it's best to be prepared for crowds regardless of when you go.

Have fun with the rest of your planning and your trip.

 

[Dr. G]

Hi Disney Lvr of Old: I don't know anything about Del Sol but we stayed at the Castle Inn & Suites at the end of January and loved it. It's nothing "fancy" but it was clean and comfortable. We liked it so much we booked it again for our trip in May. Probably try to stay there in October too if we can find acceptable prices. We love being within walking distance. Both times we've booked through Getawaytoday.com and found it to be lower than anything we could find online with any type of discount. Sometimes they have a 4th night free deal, and prices include taxes. If that's the case, maybe you could book 2 reservations of 4 nights each? A quick look at their website however shows they probably will not be cheaper than what you already have for those dates, but it couldn't hurt to call and ask them. The walk from Castle Inn & Suites was really not bad at all from our perspective. We walk along Disney property to the corner, cross the street, and we were about there. It didn't seem any longer than the HoJo where we like to try to stay (but it's been too expensive lately). Front desk was very nice. Didn't ever try the pool or hot tub. We just like a safe, clean, comfortable place to sleep within walking distance and were very pleased with the Castle, especially at the price! - Enjoy your trip!

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

My last comment is to the "showed lowest crowds historically" comment, DLR is setting new records for crowds and I'd not bank anything on what you read on any crowd prediction site these day! So it's best to be prepared for crowds regardless of when you go.

I know!!! It was such a shock when I went in 2013 after having not gone in 10 years. That's why we are going for as long as we are. I'm much better prepared for this trip than I was 3 years ago.

 

[lorijohnhill]

We really liked the Castle Inn. Clean, large, well kept room and very nice staff.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I always book hotel & tickets separate. I don't pay for the hotel until we get there.

The tickets I buy from Disney with targets discounted Disney gift cards.