Travel Agent or Me to book?

[Papillon]

What advantages are there to booking a Disney vacation thru a travel agent, like Dreams Unlimited, as opposed to me doing it myself? Do travel agents have a better chance at getting AP rates than I do? What kind of deposits do they require? Also, we are staying concierge :teeth: at AKL early next Dec., for a couple of nights then the rest at the Poly, regular room. Will concierge at AKL make all PSs for my entire trip? 8 days? Are we there yet? :hyper:

[Jasminesmommy]

I perfer a TA. Its easier to let them deal with everyone. I have an excellent one if you would like. She put up with a lot for me and was wonderful and always answered right away even once at 1am after I had a queston.

[rflorek]

I always price up the trip I want on Disney's site, print it out, and bring it to my cousin (who's a TA). She enters the same information on the Disney site under her TA codes, and she always saves me between 10-15%. I think it's worth it.

Robyn

[dudspizza]

I will never us a TA. TA's that don't specialize in Disney will give you a quote and be done with you. Disney specialists will work harder for you by checking to see if codes come out and getting your rates adjusted, so that helps.

I will pit my skills against any travel agent, any day! I can find deals that are as good as any TA will find. The good thing about doing it myself is that if codes come out, I can call and have my rate adjusted, immediately. If you book with a TA, you can't call Disney to have your rate adjusted, the TA has to do it. Say a code comes out on a Monday, but your TA is on vacation that week. You may have to wait a week to see if you can apply a code and by that time the rooms are gone.

With some research and a little diligence, you can save yourself a ton of money doing things on your own. Using sites like this one and www.mousesavers.com you can and will save.

Have fun!

Duds

[kellydizfan]

Originally posted by dudspizza
I will never us a TA. TA's that don't specialize in Disney will give you a quote and be done with you. Disney specialists will work harder for you by checking to see if codes come out and getting your rates adjusted, so that helps.

I will pit my skills against any travel agent, any day! I can find deals that are as good as any TA will find. The good thing about doing it myself is that if codes come out, I can call and have my rate adjusted, immediately. If you book with a TA, you can't call Disney to have your rate adjusted, the TA has to do it. Say a code comes out on a Monday, but your TA is on vacation that week. You may have to wait a week to see if you can apply a code and by that time the rooms are gone.

With some research and a little diligence, you can save yourself a ton of money doing things on your own. Using sites like this one and www.mousesavers.com you can and will save.

Have fun!

I AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Duds

[PolyHereWeCome]

I completely agree with dudspizza and kellydizfan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I do like trip planning and keep up pretty well with the discounts & offerings. If I didn't, I'd look into a travel agent that Disney specializes.

However, no one is going to care about your trip as much as you are -- even a commissioned travel agent.

:earsgirl: :earsboy: :earsgirl: :earsboy:

[CarolA]

Keep in mind that Dreams is not a full service TA. They do a very good job on room discounts and helping you plan the trip, but you need to do the air and rental cars etc.

I would use someone like Dreams for my room however. They are better then I am about watching for discounts.

[Papillon]

Thanks everyone. i am leaning toward booking it myself, with all that I have learned from these boards.:)

[kellydizfan]

Hi
You can feel great about doing it yourself and doing it the way you want to do it. All the fun is in the planning and counting down the days. I think I have gotten pretty good with planning trips. I have done several for work and really enjoy it. Maybe I should get out of the insurance biz and into Disney as a trip planner as I have more fun planning other peoples trips - as I just did a friends for her. Enjoy and if you need any help, please let me know.
Thanks!

[Tiggerlover91]

I just have four words for you:

DREAMS UNLIMITED, CATHY MILLER! ;)