I have a question to TA’s, those who use specialized Disney TAs, and those who do there own plans. I have not been to Disney in 20 years, booked through AAA thinking that would be ok. They mentioned that if special offers come out etc they can call and switch etc. So, with the RO discount this morning, I had to wait until 9 am when AAA opened, to find out my TA did not come in until 10. I left a message explaining I wanted the 15% RO discount at AoA Lion King suite. I call back around 12 she says she called Disney and they said it was not applicable to AoA. I emailed her the url of the disney site and screenshot explicitly stating that 15% was applicable to AoA Family Suites. By 5 pm she still had not gotten through. I asked if I can call them myself, she said to go ahead and try - so I get through after a 2 minute hold, but disney will not do anything since they say it must go through the TA since it was booked through TA. So frustrating - I still do not know whether I can get or not, and am questioning what I should do next time. Use a specialized Disney TA, or book myself? So frustrating as she got through this morning and was told AoA not in the offer. For those who go to Disney often, how do you book?
I’m not a travel agent and I do t use travel agents very often but right now if the AoA room with discount is better than what you have with the agent I would call disney back and reserve it for yourself. The tomorrow you cancEl the aaa reservation, if you can get all your money back, that is. If the agent isn’t doing the work they should not get a commission.
That being said, there are many many liners who are travel agents and that is probably a list that should get out in the forums somewhere.
Sadly she doesn’t have incentive to do well. I remember when AAA agents were wonderful. 
I would go through a recommended agent here or just do it yourself in future. Also agree if you’re more than 45 days out book it yourself and cancel hers tomorrow.
If I’m doing a stay on points, I book it myself of course, but for cash stays, I have built a rapport with an agent from MEI/Mouse Fan Travel. I drop her an e-mail or give her a call and say what I want, she sends me a quote, and then I can electronically sign for everything. If the price goes down or additional offers come up (which has happened for a cruise before), she’s usually really good about making the adjustment to my reservation. If I came across something that wasn’t on the TA’s radar for some reason, I know I could drop her a note and have her apply it.
I do remember the days when AAA was amazing for their travel agents, but I’ve been very disappointed with AAA on all sorts of things lately.
I had a similar situation happen last year when I booked through AAA. I Almost lost out on the free dining promotion, due to the lack of my assigned TA not being on top of things. I had to go through a different agent at the same company to get it booked. I’ll never do business with them again.
Assuming you can cancel without penalty with AAA, I would call disney back ASAP and book the suite for yourself. While some AAA TA’s are good, I have also heard a LOT of horror stories on Lines over the years about some that seem totally out of touch and don’t even bother trying to apply the discounts. Call disney asap and hopefully there are some discounted rooms still available.
Either way though, I’d ditch that TA. She doesn’t deserve your business IMO and there are tons of TA’s on here that would do a way better job.
I used a TA for our trip thinking I could get my questions answered and a little help figuring this whole WDW thing out. My TA booked the trip but really never had time to answer questions except via email. Which I sent about 4 questions and she did answer but you could tell she was super busy. I think the price was about the same as booking with Disney. This online community has answered all my questions and helped me greatly. In future I might get a quote from a TA, but if it’s the same price I’ll just book with Disney .
I also used a AAA for my upcoming trip and will not use them again. I’d rather book everything myself and deal with Disney directly.
This is my first Dis trip and friends said “just go through AAA, they’re great!”. Well, so far they have been pretty good. I am a planner and thanks to the great tips and info here on Lines, I was half expecting an RO discount to be announced in the a.m. yesterday. So…. I email my AAA agent and wait…. Then finally I get a little antsy and call them directly in the afternoon… turns out she is on vacation today. So I ask one of the other travel folks to help me see if I can get a lower rate on my early Dec trip to AKKV ressie… she didn’t call Disney, but rather looked online (perhaps something more exclusive than the straight up Disney site customers can view?) and confirmed that I already had a better deal through AAA. Apparently, the deals offered through AAA were closer 20% off rack rate when I booked earlier in May so the new 15% deal for AKKV would have increased my price. So, I was grateful that the person who was not assigned to my reservation took the time to investigate upon receiving my call and pleased to know that I already had a better deal through their “Magic Moments” promo.
Bottom line: my AAA experience so far has been good in that I got a deal that has yet to be matched and they have been responsive to my questions. But, I know that it is up to me to stay on top of things and be proactive with the planning to ensure I don’t miss anything.
Thanks everyone for your responses - I will not use AAA again. I was not able to book the room on my own as some of you suggested - not available - I got an email the next day with a pin code that was more % off, my DH went to AAA in person to see about getting it applied, as she never returned any of my calls. They did not have anything, And again told him it was not good at AoA suites, then he showed her the proof I had printed and then she was mumbed something. We ended up re-booking through them with pin code to CBR, saving us $1000. A suite would have been nice, but saving the $1000 we feel is more beneficial right now. I think next time I would book on my own so I can feel in control; now that I have gone through this process once, I do not think there was anything beneficial she provided that I did not learn on my own through web sites, friends, and awesome Liners!
When one aaa agent was less than helpful, I called a different aaa location and got a new agent. AAA is great when they know what they are doing, but if they are mediocre, it can be painful
Just had a similar experience with AAA, ended up working with two agents, would not do again.
Not a good experience for me either- won’t use them again.
that really sucks that your agent was so bad. we went back to our AAA agent (following her to another location) because we were so pleased with her for our last trip. She was on hold for hours last time, and successfully got us a free dining plan with an awesome upgrade (saving us lots of money because it was a long trip). I was disappointed to hear that they got rid of the AAA parking spaces, as we are driving instead of flying this time around.