AAA bookings does this save you $$$$

[poochie]

Would booking through AAA save us versus booking a trip right on the Disney site?

There will be 7 of us going 3 generations. So looks like we would need 2 rooms as the suites only hold 6 MAX. Looking at All Star Movies for next August 2014.

Thank you

 

[DznyGal]

Would booking through AAA save us versus booking a trip right on the Disney site?

There will be 7 of us going 3 generations. So looks like we would need 2 rooms as the suites only hold 6 MAX. Looking at All Star Movies for next August 2014.

Thank you

It saved me a little money, and was hassle free. The part I still booked on my own was flights, as they were going to charge a fee for booking those.
There is also a Story time at EPCOT you can do if you have young children that is only for AAA guests.
AAA can also book your ADRs if you want.
For me this was the first time I tried booking with AAA and not just doing it on my own and I was pleasantly surprised how hassle free it was and again like I said slightly cheaper.

 

[bankgirl05]

I don't think it is any cheaper unless AAA is running a special. In June they were offering a $200 gift card for any "package plus dining", but your trip had to be paid in full in the month of June and another discount for packages not paid in full (i think it was a 10% discount?) but then Free dining came out, so it disqualified me from that discount anyway, and I had to pay "rackrate" for the FD.

I have been having a terrible time with my AAA travel agent (first and last time I will ever book through an agent, but I have VOPD) and booking just for the perks of a "storytime" in Epcot, and preferred fireworks viewing are just not worth it to me.

I HAD to book all of my dining myself, as she was completely uneducated in all things Disney,(she tried to tell me that CRT does not accept DDP, and that no restaurants in DTD were TS credits, all CS!!!) and I did not trust her to do it in time.

I know there are other very knowledgeable agents out there, just not mine. And since it wasn't saving me any money, or earning me anything of significant value, I will forego the stress in the future!!!

 

[DznyGal]

I don't think it is any cheaper unless AAA is running a special. In June they were offering a $200 gift card for any "package plus dining", but your trip had to be paid in full in the month of June and another discount for packages not paid in full (i think it was a 10% discount?) but then Free dining came out, so it disqualified me from that discount anyway, and I had to pay "rackrate" for the FD.

I have been having a terrible time with my AAA travel agent (first and last time I will ever book through an agent, but I have VOPD) and booking just for the perks of a "storytime" in Epcot, and preferred fireworks viewing are just not worth it to me.

I HAD to book all of my dining myself, as she was completely uneducated in all things Disney,(she tried to tell me that CRT does not accept DDP, and that no restaurants in DTD were TS credits, all CS!!!) and I did not trust her to do it in time.

I know there are other very knowledgeable agents out there, just not mine. And since it wasn't saving me any money, or earning me anything of significant value, I will forego the stress in the future!!!

I guess I was really lucky my AAA Agent specilizes in Disney Vacations so she was awesome. So sorry you had a bad experience.
The only downfall I had was that if we were going to stay at AoA she couldn't guarentee which section with my free dining pin (we were considering the suites). We ended up choosing to stay at CRB instead so it didn't matter.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I just got a quote today from both my AAA agent and the Disney website. 7 nights at Beach Club, 8-day park hoppers with the regular Dining Plan for 2 adults and 3 kids (2 10+).

WDW site: $7215.70
AAA: $6699.52

Savings: $516.18

 

[kim175]

We have an upcoming wdw trip in November and booked through AAA. They did have a better rate on Bay Lake than going through the disney site. I would have preferred going through dvc but bay Lake was already booked through dvc. Our AAA agent is HORRIBLE and that's an understatement. I wish I had control over my reservations but I can't pick up the phone and call disney to change anything since its booked through AAA. Disney says I have to do everything through our HORRIBLE agent. I won't booked through AAA again.

 

[ellismom]

I used AAA because it did save us some money, but as others have said they aren't great. I took care of all dining reservations too so I could get exactly what I wanted. I just changed my reservation for free dining and basically had to walk them through it, very frustrating. Can't decide if its worth it or not really, we are very budget conscious so for us I couldn't justify not saving money.

 

[ColonelHathi]

I used AAA and it is now saving us about 22%. Originally it saved us about 15%, + we got a $100 rebate for paying in full by March 31st (on Disney Visa). It helped that we booked far in advance before the ticket price increase, so that increased the discount.

The downside, and something to seriously consider, was that when free dining was released for Fall we missed out on our top 10 options - but it was crazy. There were other options available, but not our preferred choices so resort reservation we already had won out over the food. Our AAA TA did try, but she also arrived to work at 8:30 AM, so missed out on the first 1.5 hours that one could call. With a package, the TA has to make the changes.

Since you are looking at next August, you could always call Disney on your own to see if there are any AAA RO discounts available. It's the same discount without the AAA package deal. Only with a dining package can you get the preferred fireworks viewing (if available).

Some things to consider. I do like our AAA TA, she has been great.

 

[mm1971]

Would booking through AAA save us versus booking a trip right on the Disney site?

There will be 7 of us going 3 generations. So looks like we would need 2 rooms as the suites only hold 6 MAX. Looking at All Star Movies for next August 2014.

Thank you

AAA gets you a small discount, but you can usually find better deals. Free dining and room discounts are being offered pretty consistently. If you can't travel when discounts are available, then yes AAA will give a slight discount and a few other perks like special parking, spot for seeing fireworks, etc.... I would ask them when you book or check their website.