Can someone explain the advantage of booking disney through a travel agency?

[MAPOrocks]

I always though that if I just booked through Disney and kept up with any great offers they had, I would be fine. But after looking on this board, it seems many people book their vacation through a travel agency. My assumption is that this would ultimately cost more. Can anyone explain the benefits?

We live in Georgia, so we will drive to Disney. We would just need accommodations at Disney, tickets and possibly dining.

 

[lvloopingbag]

You don't have to be up and on the phone for hours starting at 7 AM on a discount code day......

 

[tinka-belle]

Using a travel agency should not cost more! Disney pays agencies a commission to handle the guests bookings, questions, payments, etc. Agents have the same access to promotions and discounts, and in some cases can save you money or provide small extra benefits (for example the AAA parking pass for those who drive).

For some people it's a time saver.... let the TA spend the time on the phone, keep checking for promos, make ADRs, check for room/resort availability or cancellations if your preference for room category or resort is booked when you first looked. A TA can often price out several scenarios for you much faster than you can on your own. Others rely on the TA's expertise and recent park visits for info. Sadly, some TA's know little about the ins and outs of booking WDW, but there are many really good ones! And most of the good ones will get on the compter at 6am or the phone at 7am for you.

Then there are some people that like to book everything themselves and want to retain control of the reservation. They've been to WDW before, know their stuff, frequent boards like these, and have the time to do it all.

It's mostly just personal preference. Many people have a TA they go to for various types of vacations, not just their Disney ones.

 

[amyh1028]

When you book through AAA you usually get some kind of member benefits, things like special parking, storytime, or discount diamond card good at Downtown Disney Merchants. The travel agent also keeps track of the promotions that Disney offers and then they switch your package over to the one that would save you the most money. It doesn't cost anything plus you get free stuff...win win.

 

[amyh1028]

Just a quick aside, any travel agent that is authorized to sell Disney, must complete the Disney College of Knowledge to earn comission. It is a very intense online training class. So while its very possible to get a travel agent that has not personally been to Disney, they have still all completed training.

 

[traylorc]

Personally I avoid the TAs and make my own reservations. As someone else mentioned, it all comes down to personal preferences. Can a travel agent save you time by checking for discounts, making ADRs, and checking room availability? Maybe...but for me half of the fun is planning my own trip. Additionally, when I have compared the costs of my planned trips, and compared them to quotes from TAs...it was more cost effective to book the trip myself. To each their own...

 

[fairytalelover]

I have booked our Disney vacations on my own and through a travel agent and I have to say that I love using our Disney travel agent. Our agent is Kathy Atchue at Small World Travel and she specializes is Disney vacations. On our last vacation which was the first time we used her, she went above and beyond to make our trip perfect. We gave her our budget and she worked hard to find the best rates for us. We were going to pay for an inside stateroom on our Disney cruise to save money but she found us a stateroom with a balcony for less than the inside stateroom. One day she had to go to a family funeral but she went out of her way to find time to work on our trip calling Disney to sort a few things out for us and we never expected that from her. We got on board credit on the cruise from her too. Now I don't see any reason not to use her for all of our Disney vacations. She takes away all the time and stress of trying to find the best deals and if anything goes wrong on the trip I have somebody to call to help.

 

[Happy99]

see my post about today's discount
My agent had my room changed to the discounted offer, saved me $1300 all before it was posted anywhere else. Love my TA, we bought into DVC and don't use her as often but when not using our points I always go back to her

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3087264

 

[davids68girl]

Personally I avoid the TAs and make my own reservations. As someone else mentioned, it all comes down to personal preferences. Can a travel agent save you time by checking for discounts, making ADRs, and checking room availability? Maybe...but for me half of the fun is planning my own trip. Additionally, when I have compared the costs of my planned trips, and compared them to quotes from TAs...it was more cost effective to book the trip myself. To each their own...

There should never be a difference between what you are looking at online and what your TA is quoting you. TA's get their commission from Disney-not from the customer so there is no reason there should be a difference.

I think the best client for a TA is a very busy one who doesn't have time to make ADR's, etc. or a first timer who needs direction for their first trip. Then there are the clients who stick with a TA b/c the TA has brought something extra to their trips (I hope I am one of these TA's!).

 

[nellyru]

Just a quick aside, any travel agent that is authorized to sell Disney, must complete the Disney College of Knowledge to earn comission. It is a very intense online training class. So while its very possible to get a travel agent that has not personally been to Disney, they have still all completed training.

This is good info to know.

I was not aware of this.

 

[msjprincess]

I'm using a TA for my upcoming trip. They had an agency exclusive deal. I'm saving almost 50% on room and tickets.

 

[traylorc]

There should never be a difference between what you are looking at online and what your TA is quoting you. TA's get their commission from Disney-not from the customer so there is no reason there should be a difference.

I couldn't figure out the reason for the differences either....hence I have elected to book my own trips. Like I mentioned earlier, IMHO half of the fun of the trip experience is putting it together myself.

 

[sjs314]

I'm using a TA for my upcoming trip. They had an agency exclusive deal. I'm saving almost 50% on room and tickets.

I rarely use a TA last time being 2007 for a trip to Vegas and DL having never been to either before but like the above poster did for my Fall trip as I also was able to get an agency exclusive, saved $$$ and dd not have to wait and see what Disney offers for November

 

[cherokeemamma]

It is up to you how much your agent helps you plan. They should be able to help you as much or as little as you like. In other words, if you are thinking about your dining reservations...they can book for you or you can book your own dining. There should not ever be a charge for using a TA.

 

[allthingsmickey]

My TA not only offers to help me plan our itinerary and make dining reservations, but she sends little fun facts emails every once in a while along with some of her tips (many of which you would find on the DIS or other sites, but you'd have to do the research) and she usually throws in a gift card and/or sends little gift bags to the resort. Those extra little pixie dust touches aren't huge, but they make our trip even more magical.

 

[nonsmom]

There should never be a difference between what you are looking at online and what your TA is quoting you. TA's get their commission from Disney-not from the customer so there is no reason there should be a difference.

I think the best client for a TA is a very busy one who doesn't have time to make ADR's, etc. or a first timer who needs direction for their first trip. Then there are the clients who stick with a TA b/c the TA has brought something extra to their trips (I hope I am one of these TA's!).

I agree. When I book my clients I always treat it as if it were my own vacation. I do their dining too, just because I cannot imagine someone going to WDW unprepared & not having a magical vacation.

 

[mommyrosa2]

Some folks like using a TA so they don't have to think too much about all the planning - I have friends who still do everything through a TA. I, myself, am too much of a control freak so I prefer to book everything myself and not have to depend on anyone else. But I also have been booking all our travel (not just to Disney) for years now by myself so it's not a big deal for me, in fact, I think the last time I used a TA was back in '93.

 

[Conkozan]

My travel agency announced that they are doing a gift card promo for any April bookings that can be combined with Disney offers. So that would be like getting a double discount IMHO. You can find the information over on Intercot.

 

[fairytalelover]

I couldn't figure out the reason for the differences either....hence I have elected to book my own trips. Like I mentioned earlier, IMHO half of the fun of the trip experience is putting it together myself.

You can still put your trip together yourself and then hand it over to your TA.

 

[lisatav]

I choose to use a TA for the convenience to me. It gives me an extra person to bounce ideas off of. On my last trip I have an issue with Magical Express and the CM at the desk was useless. I called my TA and she took care of the issue while we went to play in the park. She even called our hotel room and left a message on our room phone not to bother us in the park. I also like the idea of someone outside of Disney having all our adr reservation numbers so if I forgot something I had someone to contact easily.