Epcot Dive Quest discounts?

[parrothead600]

I am in the process of booking a trip to Epcot to take my daughter diving in the Living Seas exibit. I understand that they offer discounts for AAA membership, PADI certification, SSI certification, etc. The only thing that I can verify is the SSI discount, which won't do us any good since we are PADI certified. I also found an "expired" discount coupon from PADI.
I am a AAA member, but the only Disney discounts that I can find there is a "room discount" with a multi-night stay.
Does anyone have any links to discounts that are currently avalible? Any other info would be appreciated.

 

[TravisD]

They really don't check. Just call the reservation line and ask them to check the various discounts to see which one is the best. They can't tell you what they'll accept, but if you start naming them the operator will acknowledge what they have in their system.

Also, check the bookstore first to see what the travel booke (Birnbaum's) has coupon wise. IIRC, when we booked ours the Agency (SSI, PADI) discounts were like 10%, but Birnbaum's coupon was 15% -- can't recall if it was divequest specific or for any "tour".

 

[Jim Lapenta]

AAA was 15% when I did it 3 years ago. I had the PADI coupon as well but it was worth 10%. You need to book in advance anyway so call and when you make the reservation tell them you are a AAA member. They'll give the discount then and there.

 

[F106A]

AAA has been 15% the last few years. NAUI was and probably still is 15%, although their website showed a 10% "coupon" IIRC. I seem to have heard about a mil discount but never mentioned it.

 

[Damselfish]

when I went (pretty long ago) there was also a discount if you paid with Amex, don't know if that's still true.

 

[EvenKeel]

Although I haven't been to the Living Seas exhibit, I can speak to AAA discounts. AAA is wonderful and it's gotten me out of a few jams for considerably less money than I would have paid for towing services.

My wife and a friend were going to a concert, running low on gas and running late. She chose to wait until after the show to get gas. She then left her headlights on in the jeep when they went into the arena. AAA brought her five gallons of fuel and jump started the jeep for the price of the gasoline. I state this simply because I'm a proponent of AAA and recommend it to anyone who owns a car.

However, AAA discounts are problematic in that quite a few places have blackout dates. During the course of my 25 year relationship with AAA, only three establishments have honored the discount; two hotels and a cavern in Texas. During our trips to Disney/Universal Studios/Seaworld, it seemed that every day was blacked-out in terms of discounts.

 

[cyberfed]

Call around local dive shops, they are constantly doing "group" trips there, usually you can pay as little as $90 to do the dives.

 

[Salmonboy97]

The ultimate discount is to do it as a group tour. This is 12 divers for $1,000. Your final price is $83.33 each. I did two such trips this year and the last one was on 11/1/09.

Beware of dive shops charging $150 EACH! Ouch!

 

[Briny Liney]

The guy that owns Seminole Scuba is a Divemaster for them and they take group trips. I think they have one coming up soon.

Yep. They do--
Dive the Living Seas Aquarium at EPCOT. We will be doing group dives on Sunday, December 14th, Saturday, January 17th & Saturday, February 21st.
Home
They should have a decent deal.

But remember, all the money you pay goes towards wildlife conservation. (so they say)

 

[Salmonboy97]

But remember, all the money you pay goes towards wildlife conservation. (so they say)

I dont doubt all the money Disney gets goes to conservation. The problem is Disney only gets $1,000 for a group of 12.

EXAMPLE: (based on some dive shop prices. NOT any dive shop in particular)
If you use a simple calculation of 11 x $150 = $1650 the dive shop puts $650 in their pocket $1000 goes to conservation and their DM dives for free.
Some mark up is OK but prices like in this example just hurts!

I suggest if you CANT get your own group together, you should book as an individual with Disney directly. This way you get an earlier dive time and can enjoy the park and watch the fireworks after the dive. The cost for an individual last time I checked was $130 but I have heard it is going up.
(The group tours are at 6:15 and the individual tours are earlier)