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View Full Version : Booking through AAA vs. Disneyland.com



Mommy2NicknMax
08-19-2005, 06:46 AM
I was playing around with the idea of taking another vacation to DL in December. I went to both the AAA site and DL.com. I had always heard that AAA has discounts so I wanted to see how good they were. Well what I came up with was that Disneyland.com offered the same package at a lower price. Am I doing something wrong here? I'm not a member of AAA (yet) but I did run the info through their website. To get the discount, do you have to log in as a member maybe? Or are their prices really not that great after all?

Thanks so much!

Malcon10t
08-19-2005, 07:16 AM
I was playing around with the idea of taking another vacation to DL in December. I went to both the AAA site and DL.com. I had always heard that AAA has discounts so I wanted to see how good they were. Well what I came up with was that Disneyland.com offered the same package at a lower price. Am I doing something wrong here? I'm not a member of AAA (yet) but I did run the info through their website. To get the discount, do you have to log in as a member maybe? Or are their prices really not that great after all?

Thanks so much!
I'm a AAA member and the prices really aren't that good. I've done better booking myself all the individual parts. With a AAA discount at a hotel, or an Entertainment rate, I can generally beat the WDTC and AAA prices by $200-$500 a trip. I do buy the tickets thru the WDTC and get the Passport Plus package.

Mommy2NicknMax
08-19-2005, 07:29 AM
I'm a AAA member and the prices really aren't that good. I've done better booking myself all the individual parts. With a AAA discount at a hotel, or an Entertainment rate, I can generally beat the WDTC and AAA prices by $200-$500 a trip. I do buy the tickets thru the WDTC and get the Passport Plus package.
Thank you for your help! I think I'll stick to booking individually.

Mark Mywords
08-19-2005, 08:39 AM
This past June was the first trip we'd done without going through AAA. It just didn't seem like their prices were very good.

Although, I did find myself envying the folks in our party (with AAA packages) who had the "Enhanced" Fastpass.

Malcon10t
08-19-2005, 09:00 AM
Thank you for your help! I think I'll stick to booking individually.
A couple reminders, depending on where you are booking, I have found getawaytoday.com to be cheap SOMETIMES. And look for every discount possible. If you belong to any travel groups or are an AP holder, check with the hotel and see if they have a discount. Hojo's offers 15% off to AP holders and the DLR hotels offer 10% off.

pisces
08-19-2005, 09:08 AM
Thank you for your help! I think I'll stick to booking individually.


Do yourself a favor and at least talk to a live AAA agent over the phone. I say "live" because many times an actual person can do a little bit more for you than an automated system, or online.

Just visiting the AAA website, or Disney.com doesn't always tell the full story.

Same thing with calling the hotel directly----they may have special promotions which haven't, or won't, make it online.

I always talk with "live" agents, right up till the day I leave, just to make sure there wasn't a better deal out there, and whether I could get an adjustment, or if rates have gone down since I first booked etc.

Mommy2NicknMax
08-19-2005, 09:14 AM
Thanks again! I'll check out AP rates and talk to a live person. I guess I get so used to booking online that I tend to forget there are real people working there!

shawnarae
08-19-2005, 03:20 PM
When I booked with AAA we got Mickey's Toontown Madness passes (to get in 1 hour prior to regular opening on special days), a coupon book & also a special AAA Pin.

For me the prices through Disney & AAA were the same (for our trip we took last July), there were just a few more "perks" to book with AAA. To be honest.

BUT, for a room only I have called Disney's "room only" phone line and asked for the AAA rate. It has beat out what AAA directly as offered in the past, & also the AP discount rate.

So over all it just depends. Depends who is offering what, what great perks are offered & if there is availibilty on the days I want to go. There has been times when AAA has been sold out, whereas calling Disney directly I learned they had rooms availible. So it just depends. And it may take some time looking online and phoning in. Talking to a live person has helped me 99% of the time. The 1% is when I went to Expedia and saw a GREAT "jaw dropping off-season" rate :) And even then, Disney will usually match it!

Malcon10t
08-19-2005, 03:35 PM
When I booked with AAA we got Mickey's Toontown Madness passes (to get in 1 hour prior to regular opening on special days), a coupon book & also a special AAA Pin.I booked just the tickets from WDTC buying what they call Passport Plus. I bought the 8 day tickets ($193) but these are available with the 3 day tix also. With it, I got the luggage tags, Premium seating for the DCA shows, EE, ESPN, coupon book, WDTC lanyard, and pin. I usually use either expedia.com, or simply call the hotel direct and ask about any specials they can give me.