What's the difference between room only and package pricing with AAA?

[pat fan]

We used Small World travel last trip and got the AAA rate on the room portion. AAA now has an office near us and I could do the whole thing throigh them and get the AAA package deal. What's the difference?

The plus for using AAA is that they are close and I can pop in whenever I want to. The minus is the have a new TA who knows diddly about WDW.

The plus for SWTA is they know WDW and us. the minus is it's all done through e-mail and not very personal that way. I also have to wait for them to back to me, etc etc etc....

So, any difference in the $$? This is for 2010 BTW.

 

[brentalex]

There should not be any difference. If you book a package through AAA, you can get the same discount on the room portion of the package that you could get with a room only reservation. If there is a special package going on, like free dining or something else, then you can't get the AAA discount on the room no matter who you book with.

 

[pezaddict231]

The rate through Small World would be the same rate you could get if you called Disney directly and asked for a AAA rate.

AAA also has their own discounts for booking directly through them, I believe 10-20%. It can be booked as a package but the discount is only on the room portion. We did this last year and got 20% off DVC room and had a MYW package with deluxe dining. AAA will probably have more availability, last year I called Disney and they didn't have any rooms left at a AAA rate but when I called AAA I had my choice of many different resorts.

 

[RMulieri]

The only difference is that you can book room only AAA thru Disney, all AAA pkgs have to be booked by AAA.

 

[Happy99]

The biggest difference for me for SWV and the AAA agent were these.

AAA office are not open on Sundays, some aren't open on Saturday's either, and 99% of their agents are not on the phone at 7am applying discount codes to your reservation since they don't open that early. My SWV agent was available at 7am on the day the discount became available no matter the day of the week.

If the AAA agent isn't familiar with WDW he/she may not know to look for codes for you and may not automatically apply it as would an agent that speciliazes in Disney.

My TA also does my restaurant reservations for me when I don't feel like doing them myself or simply can't be on the phone at 7am on the day they can be reserved.

The only thing that AAA can do that other agents can't is to book a package that includes the dining plan and still give you the AAA discount on the room portion.

My TA has a phone number I can call anytime, I know you said you don't like email but your TA should have a phone number too where you can contact them.

You will still have to wait for the AAA agent to get back to you. Even if you just pop in they may be with a customer or not in the office, etc.

 

[Happy99]

last year I called Disney and they didn't have any rooms left at a AAA rate but when I called AAA I had my choice of many different resorts.

It could also have been that the cm that looked for you didn't apply the correct AAA code or the system was having issues. I have had that happen a lot and when I call back, before I used a TA, another cm was able to find the AAA discount.

 

[pezaddict231]

I think they just didn't have the rate available anymore at that time, I contacted a TA and asked too but there was nothing. That's why I was so surprised that AAA had any resort I wanted. We also love the dining plan, so I would not make a reservation where you couldn't add that on.

It depends on what you need them to do for you. I spend a lot of time Disney planning so I don't need her to be an expert for me. I'm aware of any codes that come out and she never has a problem checking to see if they were available. I'm too much of a control freak to let someone else make the dining reservations. If you are relying on a TA for their expertise, it may not be the way to go. To me, saving money was the most important thing and I like not having to call Disney with my room requests, I just have her add those on for me.

 

[pat fan]

Thanks.....although I still don't know who I'll go with! I sure wish you all had been very one-sided in your answers Oh well.....