Bad Experience getting quotes thru AAA

[dansdad]

Also, what is an ADR?

Advanced Dining Reservation. Recommended for just about any of the table service restaurants.

 

[davedmaine]

Sounds like you just had a bad agent. Before we purchased DVC, we always made our resort reservations through AAA -- the deals were always better than whatever special Disney was offering.
I might suggest you just try doing it online at AAA next time.

 

[Herfnerd]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience.

We have used the same TA at AAA for years to book all our vacations. She know our preferences and is a Disney expert (Disney College I think?). She is also a Disney fanatic.

Really depends on who you get and sounded like you had gotten a dud

 

[Ginny Favers]

I used an AAA agent the first time I booked and thought it was great. The second time I booked, I realized I knew more than she did and she was not helping me at all-- I had to let her know of new discounts before she would apply them to our reservation. This year, I did much better using Magical Vacations. I don't think I will go back to AAA as their discounts are not that great.

 

[SA mom]

We've had similar crap shoot experiences with AAA travel agents, but I finally found one in the know. Although she has thorough knowledge of AAA rates/packages, she isn't very knowledgeable about the parks in general.

We had one travel agent that failed to inform us that the pool of our resort would be closed for renovation. If you book through a TA, those notifications come through them and not directly to you.

I think with any vacation, Disney or otherwise, you have to educate yourself on the options so you can ask good questions of the travel agent.

Better luck next time!

 

[Bob NC]

With all my WDW trips and all my time on the Dis, I think AAA would be hard pressed to find someone more knowledgeable than me sitting in one of their cubicles.

I bet that's true for a lot of people here.

 

[gillenkl]

If I book online (room only), can I call Disney and ask them to apply a AAA discount to my ressie if there's one available?

 

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

I am sorry you had a bad experience. I use AAA but I use a Disney expert at my branch. He has booked 2 wonderful trips for me, and he is very knowledgable. I agree with PPs that not everyone is knowledgable though. The first trip I booked with AAA, the agent knew very little Disney specific information. But we still had fun

 

[nkereina]

Anyone know if we can use out of state AAA Disney experts and if so anyone have names they can offer?
Also, what is an ADR?
Thanks for your patience with a newbie.

Why do you want to use an out of state AAA agent as opposed to going to a local office where you live? If you go to an AAA agent outside of your region, they don't have the ability to look up your membership since you are not in the same club. There are forms that can be filled out to have you transferred to their club but you wouldn't want to do that since you aren't moving. It would probably be easier to utilize an agent in your home club, for membership reasons alone.

 

[jperrot1]

I love my AAA membership, and have been a member since I was 18 (now 42). I have AAA make most of my hotel reservations except for Disney or Universal. That's because, like most everyone at this forum, I just know too much more about WDW (than most AAA agents) and want to have the control myself.

 

[fadingjamie]

I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a great experience. We just booked through AAA and our agent was wonderful. I think it helped that she was a Disneyphile herself and was willing to do all the things I asked (that I learned on these boards) to maximize our money. Liberty Travel would have none of what I was asking them to do because of the "rules". I guess it's just the agent you're dealt.

However, I have to say... if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[Hadjii]

For the first time in 20 trips I decided to book my May trip by myself. I've been using either AAA or Liberty Travel,exclusively for every Disney trip. So with my sister's help, we got quotes from the travel agencies then went on Disney's site and priced out the exact same package. They were almost exactly the same (going thru WDW actually saved me $30, and that's a nice character breakfast ). They only required a $200 deposit which I used an AmEx gift card to pay for (I like to use credit cards as little as possible and save them for all that shopping at WDW lol). Also, got luggage tags, Magical Express, Disney Quest admission for 2, PH coupons and some free arcade game play at my resort Port Orleans Riverside). I was really nervous about doing it myself and all these years though I was getting a deal using the agency but nope, I wasn't. So give it a shot and try it! Have a magical trip!

 

[CanadianGuy]

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