AP, September RO Discount, and a Disappearing Travel Agent

[themillersdaughter]

okay team disboards, i need help.

i currently have a ro reservation with the general public fall discount lined up for september 17th-26th.

we booked our room through a travel agent back in april. when i first booked there was no ro discount available, i requested a standard room, two adults. we booked at a deluxe resort, but the least expensive option there.

then the ro discount came out, and our travel agent booked us a room, but it was a bunk bed room for two adults. when i asked about it she said it was the only room available- however it was far more expensive than our standard room. so i went on the wdw website, found they had a standard room available with the ro fall discount for far less than what travel agent had booked. tried contacting travel agent,.........72 hours later..... nothing but crickets. called wdw, bam! and in 10 minutes they changed my room, no problem, saved me $300 on my rack rate.

which brings us to today. my plan was to hold out on purchasing a ticket for myself until ap discounts on rooms for september were released. we are going just long enough that park hopper tickets are still less than an ap, but if an ap discount on a room saves us even $150, than an ap will become worth it and it begins to save us money.

the first thing i did was call disney, and they confirmed my hotel (wilderness lodge), my dates, and my room were all available for the ap discount this fall. awesome! but they then told me they couldn't change anything, i had to go through my travel agent. okay. contact travel agent. again she tells me that the only rooms available are the bunk bed rooms. which are more expensive and make no sense for two adults. when i told her disney said they had rooms available and that i had called this morning, she ignored that and repeated that bunk bed rooms were available.

i have no idea what to do from here. i've seen people have posted threads about transferring reservations to a travel agent, but is it possible to have my reservation transferred away from the travel agent? i feel like she is always trying to book me in the most expensive room despite my repeated requests. what are my options here?

 

[GeraldineW]

Cant you just cancel your trip through the TA and book a trip on your own through Disney?

 

[subtchr]

I would ask to talk to a supervisor at the TA's office.

 

[themillersdaughter]

i called disney again- super helpful cast member said i didnt need to cancel anything. just needed to get my travel agent to call and ask for the annual pass discount to be applied to my current reservation. that it wouldnt be an issue, she just needed to do it.

she also said as long as i checked in with the annual pass, it would be fine.

so hopefully i can nail down my travel agent and get her to change it. ive actually read good reviews about this travel agency, i just really hope this is an isolated event.

when you buy an annual pass for the first time, does it become active based on purchase date or based on the first day you use it? i still want to be able to book fast passes, and im a little confused about how that works with an ap.

 

[Lillian Gracey]

Your AP won't be activated until you activate it at one of the Guest Relations I believe. DH and I got AP's for getting married at Disney and we were able to get our FP's just fine. They sent us vouchers, we linked them to our MDE account, and our AP's weren't activated until we went to the Guest Relations at DTD.

 

[owynn]

I would cancel the reservation with the travel agent and just go it your own. It doesn't sound like you are getting anything but a headache from your agent. I had a similar situation. When the fall promotions came out, my travel agent got me upgraded to a river view at POFQ, but no discount applied. I told her discounts were more important and went and booked my own trip, scoring free dining at a different resort. I then cancelled my reservation with the agent. It was easier for me to have control over the vacation than have to keep going through the travel agent.