I am putting together a package deal for the Disney Yacht Resort. I understand that to get the dining plan, I need to get the hotel, dining and tickets bundled together. I want all of these anyway. I joined AAA just to get the discount for Disney. It's a good deal with the hotel rate. HOwever, when you bundle the hotel rate with the tickets with the dining plan, the "package deal" ends up to be about $300 more than the ala carte prices. I think what happens is you lose the AAA discount on the room rate. Is there a way to retain the AAA rate on the hotel and then get the package deal which would be the AAA rate for the hotel, the dining club, and the hopper tickets? Somehow when you think of a package , you assume that it is cheaper than the thing ala carte. Surprising this does not appear to be the case here.

Thanks for your help!

I think what happens is you lose the AAA discount on the room rate.
I think that is what's happening. I am not sure if you can get the AAA discounted room with the package if you call Disney, or if you HAVE to go through a AAA travel agent to get it. But I think you can get the discount on the package if you use a AAA agent. (Not sure if you can get it if you use another travel agent or not.) Just make sure you use a AAA agent that actually knows Disney, nothing worse then you having to train the agent on the stuff they're supposed to be the experts on!

you can get the AAA discount on room only through any TA. but for a discount on a package, it must be through AAA Travel.

the discount is limited in terms of availability though. so if you get a quote from an AAA agent, consider that the discount may not even be available/applied.

except for possible special promotions (say free dining for example), the Disney package doesn't really save you anything per se. the only advantage to the package outside of one stop shopping is the ability to purchase the DDP.

Thanks for your suggestions!!

I actually did try going through TWO AAA agents. You are right, they don't know much about Disney. However, when all is said and done, they come up with a price that is $300-$500 more than the ala carte prices. When I ask why that is? They say they can't break it down. They don't know. With the second agent, the cheaper hotel room wasn't available anymore, so that accounts for some of the increased price. But even then the ala carte price for the higher room was still cheaper than the package.

I thought I might as well just not get the dining package. $300 can buy a lot of extra food!! The dining package is such a good deal, I hate to pass it up, but just can't get the package to price out right.

What are your thoughts on the Disney meal plan? Worth it? Seems like a great deal!

disneymania4444, I moved your thread to the "Where to Stay" forum as it was origionally talking about hotel rates, etc.

What are your thoughts on the Disney meal plan? Worth it? Seems like a great deal!

You should consider searching the WDW:Good Eats forum (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/forumdisplay.php?f=68) as this is a popular question. You can also any dining / dining plan question in that forum as well.

What are your thoughts on the Disney meal plan? Worth it? Seems like a great deal!

If you have smaller kids that qualify for the kid’s price than in my opinion it is a good deal. It was a lot better deal when it first came out in 2005 but it was still a good deal for us last year as well. We have younger kids and still do character meals and would do them even if we did not get the meal plan so the table service meals pay for those along with some nice meals at other places. When I calculated it out (and I am an accountant so I used actual amounts), the cost of the table service meals and snacks paid for all but ~$150 of the total cost of the meal plan which included an allocation of tax – again I am an accountant. We stayed 8 days so 2 kids and 2 adults ate a total of 12 other (non table service) meals for that $150 dollars or $12.5/meal for all four of us. We did not spend any out of pocket dollars on meals except for a couple of specialty snacks that were not covered by the plan.

The key is we rarely each got a full counter meal so often we used just 2/3 punches (for lack of a better term) during one counter service meal so we were able to make the counter meals last the entire trip. Since combos count as one meal we could usually split a combo between two of us. Some places have huge combos like Comic Ray’s at MK which had a $14 rib/chicken combo that counted as just one meal but easily feed two of us.

Not sure if this has changed but from the plan’s inception through last year, counter service meals were pooled together for your entire party and not separated out between adult and kid meals. There has been talk about WDW changing this but as of last year it was still pooled so what this means is out of the 32 counter service punches the four of us had for our 8 day trip we used about 20 of them on adult meals and only about 12 of them on kids meals. There has been a lot of discussion on if this is right or wrong but a CM our first trip pointed this out to us and it was reinforced our last trip by a CM so if the CM’s let you know about it than Disney knows about it.

The key is you have to use every meal and snack up. If you do not use everything up, than it is not worth it. Plan your table service meals out and share meals when you can. You get a ton of food for each meal.

As a side note for our 2005 trip four of us ate 10 counter service meals for a total of $63 with no out of pocket costs for meals. The cost of the plan has obviously gone up and they have become more strict on what you can get. In 2005, breakfast included a desert and you could get practically anything for the desert like sides, salads, cereal etc. but by 2007 they eliminated the desert for breakfast meals and restricted what counts as a desert.

to answer your question about AAA discounts AAA is the only travel agency who gets a Discount when booking packages. they are called Magic Moments discount but like all discounts there is a limited number of those available, without knowing the specific details of like when and package components its real hard to tell if you received the Discount. The easiest way to tell would be to call your AAA travel agent and ask them, another fee to watch for Insurance 66.95 per adult if you have 5 adults in the party that could be the $334.75….

As westman said-make sure you're comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. The AAA website for your state should be able to give you a quote for a disney package. They did for me last week-no obligation and it took only about 24 hours to get back to me.

Once you have the AAA quote, or even before, call Disney's CRO directly and ask for a price on the same package. You can do this on the Disney website too if you don't want to call. Make the days are the same; the resort categories, the insurance/no insurance question. The length of tickets and the ticket options are all the same. That way, you'll be comparing the same thing.

Last year, the AAA package saved me about $200. A general public package code was released for my dates that would have ended up saving me about the same-but there's no way to know if that will be true this year.

Couple things to note-as Drince mentioned-get a TA that KNOWS Disney. And, if you book with AAA, they own the reservation-you cannot call Disney CRO and discuss any package details-such as if you're room requests were noted; how much is money is left to pay on the package; date payment is due-nothing.

And, if you book with AAA, they own the reservation-you cannot call Disney CRO and discuss any package details-such as if you're room requests were noted; how much is money is left to pay on the package; date payment is due-nothing.

This is true if you book through ANY travel agent.

Tis true Drince...

The same is true at DL; I just recently booked the room seperate and will purchase the tickets seperately; I am saving a few hundred dollars. I mean, I won't get the really "nice lanyards" or, I think, a coin or medal or something, and my tickets won't be tied to my room card, but other than that, I would prefer to save money buying the items seperately.

Now at WDW, getting the package, to me, would be worth it because I love the dining plan. But to each his/her own.

Sorry, I haven't gotten on for awhile to read all of your answers.

Thanks for all your input!

I just changed my plans from the week before Easter to travelling in June. I did the same thing, priced out the room only and added the ala carte prices for the basic dining plan and the park hopper. Once again the package cost $368 more than adding them up ala carte. Of course you can't get the dining plan ala carte, but $368 can buy you an awful lot of food!! The Disney agent said that once you get a package, you lose the AAA discount for the room, even if I used a AAA agent. She also said I would pay commission to the AAA agent. So, it appears that it is better to just pay for the room only and buy the hopper tickets there. Am I missing anything?

I would actually contact a AAA agent. Aside from airfare, I have never heard of the client having to pay a commission to a travel agent, so that makes me VERY suspect of anything else that agent may have said to you. And I'm pretty sure that you CAN get a AAA discount on a package.

This is true if you book through ANY travel agent.

If you use a AAA agent, you can still do your ADR's yourself correct?

When I am on Disney's site, the cost of getting 2 adult and 2 kids park hopper only tickets for 9 days is $998 prior to check out. When I add those exact same tickets to a room as part of a package they are 1062.90. The difference is exactly 6.5%. Is it a matter of the tax is added to the package but not added to the tickets until you checkout?

If you use a AAA agent, you can still do your ADR's yourself correct?
Yes, you can - but you can't add anything onto the reservation yourself - can't even check on your balance or due dates or any of that jazz.

When I am on Disney's site, the cost of getting 2 adult and 2 kids park hopper only tickets for 9 days is $998 prior to check out. When I add those exact same tickets to a room as part of a package they are 1062.90. The difference is exactly 6.5%. Is it a matter of the tax is added to the package but not added to the tickets until you checkout?
I am pretty darn sure you're seeing a tax included/not included issue. That's why you always need to makes sure you do an apples/apples comparison!

Yes, you can - but you can't add anything onto the reservation yourself - can't even check on your balance or due dates or any of that jazz.


I am pretty darn sure you're seeing a tax included/not included issue. That's why you always need to makes sure you do an apples/apples comparison!

Thanks. As far as using AAA in reading thei website on WDW packages, it sounds like you can book a normal package with Dinning through them as a Magic Moments package and get the AAA room discount as part of the package, but based on this form it sounds like that is not always the case. Is it just the fact that they only can do so many packages but the room discount is always offered?

Cathy,
I did check with 2 AAA agents and they had the same discrepancy of paying $300+ more once i made a package deal. I will maybe contact a AAA agent in yet another office and go thru the whole thing again. I was very careful about comparing apples/apples and making sure I compared WITH taxes. I read somewhere (maybe one of the unofficial guides) that when you do a package, it is for convenience and it will cost you. You normally think of package=money savings.

Who would pay the commission for the AAA agent? WDW said they don't pay it.

This WDW agent spent a lot of time and appeared to be knowledgeable. However when she emailed me the confirmations, she ended up sending 3, one that was totally wrong. one was close, and the other was my spring break trip.The confirmation number she verbally gave me over the phone ended up to be cancelled already. So, that was confusing.

Gusman,
Thanks for the link to search for Good Eats. I'm new at this, so that was helpful. I did learn a lot about the DDP.

Who would pay the commission for the AAA agent? WDW said they don't pay it.

They do. It's a cost of their doing business. The traveler does not have to pay commission to AAA (or any travel agency) for booking packages or room-only reservations at WDW. The WDW Agent was mistaken.

Part of the discrepency is surely the AAA room discount. The AAA room rates and their discounted package rates are not always offered on every date nor in every room category. Sometimes it's just an AAA room rate but no special AAA package rate going on.

And WDW does pay a commission to the travel agency on both room rates and package rates, whether they are AAA rates, AP rates, Disney promos, or just normal seasonal rates. Travel agents don't mark up your rate to make a commission, Disney gives us they same pricing they would give to you if you called directly.

Some of my clients like to make their own ADR's, others ask me to do it for them. Either way, since I'm a big kid at heart and frequently in the World, I have lots of recommendations and suggestions. True, a client cannot access a reservation our agency makes, just as I can't access one a client makes directly with WDW. It's not so much a "control" thing, just in place to prevent one party making changes and having the other know nothing about it.

Thanks, pixiedust and drince!

The WDW agent told me that you can only get the AAA rate for room only. Once you make a package, you lose the AAA rate. The 2 AAA agents I talked to said they don't know why there is a discrepancy between my ala carte totals vs the package totals. I was repeatedly told that all Disney does is gives them a formula that they plug in. They can't break it down. Obviously you can break it down yourself by just asking for the room rate only and you know the costs of park hoppers, etc.

Good to know about the commission answer though. Thanks! That's what I thought, but when the WDW told me that, I thought she must know...

The WDW agent told me that you can only get the AAA rate for room only. Once you make a package, you lose the AAA rate.

EEK! That just simply isn't true. As stated before, IF you book a package thru AAA-you get the AAA rate for the room and the package itself. What you can't do is stack discounts-so for example-if Disney does a free dining promo-you'd pay the rack rate for the room and get the dining package for free. Same thing if Disney does a general code promo for getting hoppers and water parks for free(like last spring)-you'd get the hopper promo BUT have to give up the AAA rate on the room.

One thing that may be happening is-maybe-AAA doesn't have any more rooms available at your chosen resort at the AAA rate. I believe that there are only a certain number of rooms available for ANY discount-including AAA.

you can get the AAA discount on room only through any TA. but for a discount on a package, it must be through AAA Travel.

the discount is limited in terms of availability though. so if you get a quote from an AAA agent, consider that the discount may not even be available/applied.
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