AAA merchandise discount

ninafeliz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 30, 2001
I have read both in the Unofficial Guide and somewhere on these boards that if you buy your park tickets through AAA you can get a 10% discount on merchandise and maybe some food in the parks. I called our local AAA (in PA) and they have no idea what I am talking about, I know a lot more about Universal Tickets than the guy I talked to did. Does anyone have more info or know how that works? Is it only regional, so buying at a NE AAA won't get you the discount? Or do I just need to keep my receipt to show I bought the tickets as AAA and show that at the participating shops? I thought I had read that you were given a paper or card or some sort stating you had bought your tickets through AAA to show and get the discount, but they know nothing about it.
 
well, I just did a search here (guess I should have done that first - sorry) and it appears that you no longer get a straight up AAA discount but there should just be some random things - like a free app at a specific restaurant, etc. I found one thread from a year ago and that seemed to be the gist. So I guess I would still like some info if you have any, but it seems like if might not be as good as I was hoping. People also kept mentioning discount vouchers, but AAA here has no idea about them. Do you get just a voucher for tickets also, and maybe get the discount voucher when you pick up the tickets at Universal?
 
I am getting my tickets through Tickets at Work. Does your employer participate? I am saving at least $200 on 4 day park to park passes by buying them through there.

It seems if AAA had a discount you should be able to just whip out your card to get the savings wherever you shop in the parks. I swear that was the case the last time we went (which was way too long ago, in 09). I think we were saving on snacks and stuff at the concession and food stands too.
 
I am getting my tickets through Tickets at Work. Does your employer participate? I am saving at least $200 on 4 day park to park passes by buying them through there.

It seems if AAA had a discount you should be able to just whip out your card to get the savings wherever you shop in the parks. I swear that was the case the last time we went (which was way too long ago, in 09). I think we were saving on snacks and stuff at the concession and food stands too.
What I read was it used to be just show your AAA card, then you still got the discount but had to buy tickets from AAA and show a voucher proving you did so, and now you don’t even get a straight up discount, but just a few random things around the resort if you buy your tickets through AAA. But since AAA had no idea I’m hoping some people here will know more and fill me in on details.

As for discounted tickets, AAA is within a few dollars of UCT. I do think I have tickets at work, I’ll have to check there. The huge savings I keep reading about are all off of the gate price at universal, their online prices are less. So the savings aren’t that great, but I guess better than nothing.
 


If nobody has any more recent information you can always call again. I do not know how long you were held, or if you really waited at all. However, sometimes people are brand new, or not well, or fully trained, or simply never been in that particular situation before so are unaware of certain things.
 
If nobody has any more recent information you can always call again. I do not know how long you were held, or if you really waited at all. However, sometimes people are brand new, or not well, or fully trained, or simply never been in that particular situation before so are unaware of certain things.
Our local AAA has maybe 4 employees, and I think 2 run the desk and 2 the travel agency. So calling again might give me the other employee, but I'm guessing when I was on hold he was asking her haha. Maybe I could call a more national AAA number, or try calling a larger office in Erie PA.
 
I was comparing the Universal online price to the ticketsatwork.com price. UC was like a dollar or two more than ticketsatwork.com, pretty negligible if I recall. I just gogled the AAA Universal discount thing and what I see is that if you have a AAA card you can get a 10% discount at a few City Walk businesses. It used to be inside the park too. I don't see that you have to have purchased the tickets through AAA to get the City Walk discounts.

https://ww1.aaa.com/services/cms/te...tateprov=mi&city=sterling+heights&devicecd=PC
 


I just looked at AAA discounts and they are pretty weak. Like only 10 or so restaurants. And of course they are not ones that are prevalent in my area (Michigan). Landry restaurants, like Joes Crab Shack and Bubba Gumps are the only ones we would probably eat at. I mean, regarding our Florida vacation those are the only two we would eat at, and just one is at City Walk. I wonder what the other restaurants would be? Or if there are any there that actually give a discount too.
 
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AAA card can no longer just be flashed inside the parks for a discount. Not sure how they do it but it isn't just your AAA card.
 
For the last few years we have gotten an restauant discount buying tickets from AAA. They gave me a paper to be used at Universal. I called them, but the dept. closes at 4pm. I plan to call tomorrow. This is Mid Atlantic AAA. 1-800-436-4222. I will ask if it nation wide. A person at my local club says they still do it and it has to be done in person.

Damo is correct in the above post.]
 
We bought our vacation package (hotel and park tickets) through AAA/CAA last year. On check in we were told to go over to the Guest Services desk and show our card and they gave us a voucher booklet. I believe it contained a couple small discounts for specific stores/items and in most restaurants on CityWalk. Some it was for an app or dessert instead, if you spent a certain amount. We were also given a card to show (with our AAA card) in stores inside the park and I do believe it was a 10 or so% discount if you spent more than a certain amount. I feel like it was $75 or $80 but can’t remember exactly. I do remember it was more than if you were just buying a single T-shirt or hoodie in the store. We also received a card to show in certain shows that gave us the reserved/priority seating. Honestly most of the discounts proved kind of useless and because they were showing 2-3 items (and carrying them with us buried in the daypack, etc), sometimes when they did apply we forgot to show everything. And, really, if we hadn’t specifically asked about it, we likely wouldn’t have been give. Any of it. We contacted AAA, Universal and asked on the Dis ahead of our trip about what the discounts were and how they could applied and no one had much information. For our package we also got a $50 resort credit through AAA but again it was a limited number of options that were kind of weird.
 
Be careful of price when buying Universal tickets at AAA. The listed price is misleading at least at my AAA in New England. I recently purchased my tickets and the agent at the AAA counter gave me an online link to buy them as they didn’t sell them in the location any longer. While the initial online price was $295 for 5 day 3 park park to park tickets which was way cheaper than the quoted UO and Undercover Tourist, they added massive Convenience fees to the purchase and my final cost per ticket ended up at $320 per ticket. Still cheaper than UT by $2 and cheaper by $14 over UO but not as inexpensive as my work’s discount program.
 
We bought our vacation package (hotel and park tickets) through AAA/CAA last year. On check in we were told to go over to the Guest Services desk and show our card and they gave us a voucher booklet. I believe it contained a couple small discounts for specific stores/items and in most restaurants on CityWalk. Some it was for an app or dessert instead, if you spent a certain amount. We were also given a card to show (with our AAA card) in stores inside the park and I do believe it was a 10 or so% discount if you spent more than a certain amount. I feel like it was $75 or $80 but can’t remember exactly. I do remember it was more than if you were just buying a single T-shirt or hoodie in the store. We also received a card to show in certain shows that gave us the reserved/priority seating. Honestly most of the discounts proved kind of useless and because they were showing 2-3 items (and carrying them with us buried in the daypack, etc), sometimes when they did apply we forgot to show everything. And, really, if we hadn’t specifically asked about it, we likely wouldn’t have been give. Any of it. We contacted AAA, Universal and asked on the Dis ahead of our trip about what the discounts were and how they could applied and no one had much information. For our package we also got a $50 resort credit through AAA but again it was a limited number of options that were kind of weird.
Thanks, this booklet is the newer thing I read about on another thread after I searched, just no one there had seen one themselves. It you got 10% off merchandise for sure I would probably buy tickets there, ditto for restaurants, but if it's so vague and I might not even get the discount I'm not sure buying at AAA makes sense. I would have to buy them, pick up the tickets at the resort, and then might not even get the booklet (It sounds like we wouldn't find out until we got there and asked). I'm sure we would never benefit from the little things, like an app or dessert, since that wouldn't be enough to make me choose a particular return and they are usually at less popular ones, not the ones everyone wants to go to. I did compare prices and AAA was around $2 more than UCT, so I wouldn't be saving any money and I would have to then pick up the tickets at Universal instead of going straight to the gates, if I understand correctly.
 
Be careful of price when buying Universal tickets at AAA. The listed price is misleading at least at my AAA in New England. I recently purchased my tickets and the agent at the AAA counter gave me an online link to buy them as they didn’t sell them in the location any longer. While the initial online price was $295 for 5 day 3 park park to park tickets which was way cheaper than the quoted UO and Undercover Tourist, they added massive Convenience fees to the purchase and my final cost per ticket ended up at $320 per ticket. Still cheaper than UT by $2 and cheaper by $14 over UO but not as inexpensive as my work’s discount program.
Thanks, if I do end up buying from there I'll make sure before I actually purchase. The total they told me over the phone and the one I saw online were the same and about $2 more than UCT, but I didn't go all the way to check out, just took their word for it on the phone and saw the total with tax online. If I go to complete it I won't do it if they add lots more on top of what they were saying is the total - maybe just on principle. I wouldn't be completely surprised, though.
 
I am getting my tickets through Tickets at Work. Does your employer participate? I am saving at least $200 on 4 day park to park passes by buying them through there.

It seems if AAA had a discount you should be able to just whip out your card to get the savings wherever you shop in the parks. I swear that was the case the last time we went (which was way too long ago, in 09). I think we were saving on snacks and stuff at the concession and food stands too.

Wow Tickets at Work has changed if the savings is that much. It used to only be $10-$15 max per ticket. Are you sure you’re comparing apples to apples? Tix @Work advertised prices don’t include taxes.
 
Wow Tickets at Work has changed if the savings is that much. It used to only be $10-$15 max per ticket. Are you sure you’re comparing apples to apples? Tix @Work advertised prices don’t include taxes.
I'm not who you were asking, and I didn't check tickets at work yet, so I can't answer for sure, but from my looking elsewhere I have found that places give these amazing numbers that you supposedly save - but those are off gate prices. Gate prices must be quite a bit more than online pre purchase prices, because I'm not finding anything that is really that much off of Universal's online price. It's really little enough that I might just buy direct from universal and save any chance of hassle, etc. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are savings and when buying 4 tickets I do get to multiply the savings x 4, but it's not like it's such a huge difference I feel like I *have* to buy them elsewhere and not direct from USF.
 
The mention of a savings booklet was tickling my brain. For budget reasons I spread out the purchase of the tickets then the hotel deposit then the airfare. I had bought the tickets and was pretty set on hotel when I got an email from AAA touting the benefits of booking a universal vacation through them. I sent off the inquiry on hotel cost or other discounts but let them know I already had the tickets. They let me know AAA had no savings on offer over the rack rate since I had bought my tickets. I went back and reread that email. Im guessing this booklet is now only available if you book the package as they tout it along with a $50 credit as one of the benefits/savings you get when you book a package through them. The other benefits were negligible and not IMO any better than the benefits I’m getting just by staying at Hard Rock.
 
Thanks, this booklet is the newer thing I read about on another thread after I searched, just no one there had seen one themselves. It you got 10% off merchandise for sure I would probably buy tickets there, ditto for restaurants, but if it's so vague and I might not even get the discount I'm not sure buying at AAA makes sense. I would have to buy them, pick up the tickets at the resort, and then might not even get the booklet (It sounds like we wouldn't find out until we got there and asked). I'm sure we would never benefit from the little things, like an app or dessert, since that wouldn't be enough to make me choose a particular return and they are usually at less popular ones, not the ones everyone wants to go to. I did compare prices and AAA was around $2 more than UCT, so I wouldn't be saving any money and I would have to then pick up the tickets at Universal instead of going straight to the gates, if I understand correctly.

It was pretty much every restaurant on CityWalk. Definitely Margarittaville, the sit-down Mexica one, and Bob Marley. But I remember there being basically everything. There were also some of the hotel restaurants - definitely the sit down one at SF. But There wasn’t much for inside the parks restaurants. There might’ve been a Mythos but not like the HP ones or any counter service. We felt there was decent value in the restaurant coupons that were the discount off your bill - if you do intend to have meals on CityWalk.

We did not feel there was much value in the discount in the gift shops. For us it was because you had to spend a significant amount for the discount to even kick in. Basically if it’s just your kid picking a stuffie or a T-shirt - you aren’t going to pass the therhold for it to be applied. It’d be more if you were doing all your shopping in one store at the end of the trip that it might. I’m sure there was additional fine print but we never got into it since we never were spending the amount in one spot that we could even us it. I’m going to guess that there’d be some sort of fine print about robes or wands - or it just generally not applyi g to anything in WWHP. Just speculating but really wouldn’t surprise me.

We also had a package - not just tickets. So that might be a difference as well. Not sure if it’s available when You just buy tickets.

Our tickets were technically through universal. You logged into the AAA site and had to enter membership info, etc. To then be sent to basically a “travel agent” part of the Universal booking page to book.

If we do a USO again in the future we’d likely just book the hotel rooms any which way and do UT for the tickets.

There was some value to us in some discounts and perks we got for a hotel/ticket package but I really don’t feel there’d likely be enough if just the tickets. Also you likely won’t really have clarity on if/how it works and what you get until you get there. So it’s a gamble.

It’s not just a flash your card kind of thing anywhere. It’s a jump through hoops, invest a lot of time and unconvinced for a minor discount t that’s still a show three random cards they give you (so more inconvenience and dissuade) kind of thing.

Keep searching though. I remember seeing photos of the voucher booklet. They were a few years old but very similar to what was still being offered last year. But definitely see if you can get someone to tell you if you can get it with just ticket purchase or need a package booked.
 
This had me curious so I did some quick Googling for you.

The merchandise discount we were offered was actually because we must’ve used an American Express card when we booked. But it doesn’t look like you have to book a package - just be a card holder and use that when making your purchase. It’s 10% if you’re spending more than $75 at once. And as expected the fine print says you can’t use it in WWHP or DA.

Using the card also gets you some other discounts. You can read about them and check out the fine print on Universals site.

https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/corporate-partners/american-express
To me it looks like the AAA/CAA inclusions are only available with packages but you’d have to double check that. On the my local AAA site it lists the inclusions as the mentioned voucher booklet, priority reserved seating at shows in the park (eg Animal Actors), and a resort activity credit (amount varying on the level of hotel or partner hotel you’re at).

This isn’t the one from last year, but this photo of the voucher book contains coupons very similar to what ours had. It should give you an idea of what to expect.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/428756827000284453/
But I suspect unless you’re booking a hotel-ticket USO package, you’ll likely be best going UT for your tickets.
 
Wow Tickets at Work has changed if the savings is that much. It used to only be $10-$15 max per ticket. Are you sure you’re comparing apples to apples? Tix @Work advertised prices don’t include taxes.

Yes I did. Did you look at the websites and see something different?
 

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