I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on this. I would personally never use a travel agent. They're not always available when you need them. For instance when free dining opens up I'm always calling the minute the phone lines open to try to be sure to get locked in. If you've booked with a travel agent they are the ones that need to make changes to your reservations. You can't call and make any changes yourself.
I think this might be true with dining reservations as well if I remember correctly. I think they may have to set those up as well.
I'm one that wants to handle everything myself. If something is messed up then I can only blame myself.
We book our package through AAA because we like some of the package extras like the AAA "Diamond Parking" Pass - we drive to WDW & normally drive both to AK & to DHS (we use Disney transportation for MK & EPCOT).
We've also, in the past, taken advantage of the AAA Story Time w/ a Character experience.
W/ the AAA package, there are also some merchandise discounts like a 10% discount at the World of
Disney store, discounts at the marinas, some free arcade points, etc.
Additionally, if there are no Disney discounts, there is always a small AAA discount.
We have a really good AAA agent. Last year, our local AAA agent closed early one afternoon due to bad weather, & she stayed in order to get our resort booked. (I didn't ask her to do this!
)
I will admit that I am a little worried about getting the free dining added to our package this year, since we're already booked. Last year, she booked our package for us the day the Free Dining was released to Disney Visa holders (which was on a Friday in early March) & then she added the Free Dining to our package the following Monday when the Free Dining was released to the general public w/ no problem. I hope this year is no different - but, last year, free dining was released in early March. Since it's 2 months later this year, I hope everything isn't more booked already, if that makes sense. I'm going to email her this week & for her thoughts & opinion.
Anyway, I always make our own ADRs.