Better Prices from Aussie Travel Agents?

[Royal Consort]

We booked our last trip through Disney directly and have put a deposit down for the end of this year through the mouse. However, after looking at the great deals the UK seem to get for WDW (including free dining; albeit QS), I've got the jealousies. Made even worse by also being a British citizen myself *grumble*. I haven't priced a Disney vacation through any Aussie travel agent as I generally find all things in Australia to be more over-priced than their American equivalent. Does anyone know if there are any special Aus only deals (other than the Disneyland 10 ticket option) for WDW? Or have you found that booking WDW in Aus cheaper or more expensive?


I thought I'd check here first before I go and ask someone at Flight Centre as they don't seem to be too aware of Disney.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I think you'll be by the pricing of Aussie TA for a WDW vacay.

If you're a British citizen and have a british address, you might want to check out if you can access the special deals.

Me? I just gnash my teeth in envy.

 

[Royal Consort]

I think you'll be by the pricing of Aussie TA for a WDW vacay.

If you're a British citizen and have a british address, you might want to check out if you can access the special deals.

Me? I just gnash my teeth in envy.

Teeth gnashing is a good option I think.

I thought that the Aussie pricing would be exorbitant. *sigh*. I remember when we actually had a Disney presence in Australia. Made things a little easier.

I could possibly go through a UK travel agent as I've got a UK address but would be paying with an Australian credit card. Which is why I couldn't purchase on the UK disney site. I have looked at using a UK travel agent but the prices I'm quoted on UK sites are much more than Disney are offering directly.

No Animal Kingdom Australia land, no Epcot pavilion (we're a continent people!!!), and now no Disney special offers. Disney hates us.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

no Epcot pavillion (we're a continent people!!!), and now no Disney special offers. Disney hates us.

The whole southern half of the world is really poorly represented at EPCOT

I agree that it's annoying that the E.U. gets such great deals on Disney while we don't. I think it comes down to the fierce competition amongst holiday destinations over there. Cruising is pennies compared to what we pay in the Sth Pacific.

I enquired about booking through the UK Disney website a few months ago. On offer was a deal that included free dining AND 35% off rack rate for OKW or SSR AND 14 day pass for the price of 7 AND a $100 Disney Gift Card. I was pretty annoyed when they got back to me and said I needed to live in the EU. Grrrrr.

 

[Royal Consort]

The whole southern half of the world is really poorly represented at EPCOT

I agree that it's annoying that the E.U. gets such great deals on Disney while we don't. I think it comes down to the fierce competition amongst holiday destinations over there. Cruising is pennies compared to what we pay in the Sth Pacific.

I enquired about booking through the UK Disney website a few months ago. On offer was a deal that included free dining AND 35% off rack rate for OKW or SSR AND 14 day pass for the price of 7 AND a $100 Disney Gift Card. I was pretty annoyed when they got back to me and said I needed to live in the EU. Grrrrr.

I remember seeing that too. It was an amazing deal!!! What more could you ask for?!

May I ask who you were dealing with? Was it a travel agent or Disney directly?

 

[WanderlustNZ]

May I ask who you were dealing with? Was it a travel agent or Disney directly?

Directly with Disney. I've heard though that it is possible to deal with an agent and access the same deals. I just didn't know where to start looking for someone reputable.

In the end I decided to rent DVC points through brokers and have a split stay booked for the BoardWalk Villas and Animal Kingdom Villas. Not as good as the UK deals, but one I'm really happy with regardless.

 

[Royal Consort]

Directly with Disney. I've heard though that it is possible to deal with an agent and access the same deals. I just didn't know where to start looking for someone reputable.

In the end I decided to rent DVC points through brokers and have a split stay booked for the BoardWalk Villas and Animal Kingdom Villas. Not as good as the UK deals, but one I'm really happy with regardless.

That sounds fantastic though!

I agree, it's very difficult when you don't know where to start looking. I priced the usual suspects such as Thomson's etc. It seems I know of the US agents much better than I know any of the UK ones. Considering we'll be flying into the UK and visiting Disneyland Paris first, we'd include a flight to the States in the package - would work out well. Maybe I shall go and do some further investigating!!

 

[Royal Consort]

OK. I've had a look through the terms of the UK Disney offer and decided that, although the offer sounds much better than the US deals, you sacrifice a lot of freedom for it. This includes having to pay a fee for each ammendment to your reservation (I changed my resort and dates a couple of times last trip), having to officially write to Disney in the UK indicating your proposed changes, the loss of your deposit if you cancel your trip (depending on the package but seems to cost a minimum of $80 per person), and the inability to change your booking if a better offer becomes available. Seems like a much more rigid deal than the airy fairy 'make it up and change it as I go along' US Disney deals.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

OK. I've had a look through the terms of the UK Disney offer and decided that, although the offer sounds much better than the US deals, you sacrifice a lot of freedom for it. This includes having to pay a fee for each ammendment to your reservation (I changed my resort and dates a couple of times last trip), having to officially write to Disney in the UK indicating your proposed changes, the loss of your deposit if you cancel your trip (depending on the package but seems to cost a minimum of $80 per person), and the inability to change your booking if a better offer becomes available. Seems like a much more rigid deal than the airy fairy 'make it up and change it as I go along' US Disney deals.

Lucky you that you'll also be traveling to Europe on the same trip. It sounds wonderful.

unfortunately, the better deals do seem to come with stricter cancellation policies.

You should see the cancellation policies for renting DVC points - in short, you can't cancel. I'm committed and there's no turning back. It's the pay-off I guess for paying 60% less than Disney's rack rate for villas.

 

[Lewdannie]

Have you thought of trying Small World Vacations?
http://www.smallworldvacations.com/

 

[Sugarglider]

In 2011, I purchased one of the UK WDW deals through a UK disney specialist travel agent. No problems.
When it came to paying Disney I had two options: either ring Disney direct myself, with the ressie number and just say I want to pay - which i did and they processed it.
OR giving her my cc number and she would ring on my behalf, which she did for something I changed later. She had the cc number anyway cause she was able to pay other suppliers direct (e.g. Universal) and I was paying her for everything else.
All of the disney communications/paperwork went through her and she posted it/emailed it to me. i don't know what address she registered with disney - i can only guess her office!
For my 2012 trip I rented DVC points from a broker and it was even cheaper than the UK deal - again you have to book and pay this in advance and there are no changes. ColinA can give some thoughts

 

[Royal Consort]

Have you thought of trying Small World Vacations?
http://www.smallworldvacations.com/

Thanks Lewdannie. The US ones give pretty much the same prices though as Disney seems to offer. Part of me thinks it would be nice for someone else to sort everything out but I know that in reality I wouldn't manage that very well. I like to control everything about the trip. I'm crazy commando touring person.

 

[Royal Consort]

In 2011, I purchased one of the UK WDW deals through a UK disney specialist travel agent. No problems.
When it came to paying Disney I had two options: either ring Disney direct myself, with the ressie number and just say I want to pay - which i did and they processed it.
OR giving her my cc number and she would ring on my behalf, which she did for something I changed later. She had the cc number anyway cause she was able to pay other suppliers direct (e.g. Universal) and I was paying her for everything else.
All of the disney communications/paperwork went through her and she posted it/emailed it to me. i don't know what address she registered with disney - i can only guess her office!

Sounds like a great idea!! I've got a UK address too so that shouldn't be a problem if I was to go down that route.

My other half has to get a new job in the next month which is why I'm tentative about locking anything in (and checking out the UK terms and conditions). Otherwise we would feel pretty confident about not making changes. If the new job won't allow time off later in the year we'll have to push it back until early 2014. But I don't like thinking that far ahead because it feels too far off in the never never.

 

[ColinA]

For my 2012 trip I rented DVC points from a broker and it was even cheaper than the UK deal - again you have to book and pay this in advance and there are no changes. ColinA can give some thoughts

I will probably have plenty of points to rent, will know soom. Sugarglider is the first in line. PM me if interested in renting.

 

[aussietravellers]

Teeth gnashing is a good option I think.

I thought that the Aussie pricing would be exorbitant. *sigh*. I remember when we actually had a Disney presence in Australia. Made things a little easier.

I could possibly go through a UK travel agent as I've got a UK address but would be paying with an Australian credit card. Which is why I couldn't purchase on the UK disney site. I have looked at using a UK travel agent but the prices I'm quoted on UK sites are much more than Disney are offering directly.

No Animal Kingdom Australia land, no Epcot pavilion (we're a continent people!!!), and now no Disney special offers. Disney hates us.

I have an Aussie friend, who booked WDW online through a UK TA, used a UK mailing address but an Aussie billing address and Aussie credit card. It was a bargain! Came with 21 day passes, deluxe resort that was like paying for a mod.

They had no problems at all

 

[dabecs]

We used a UK agent for our trip last November

I am an Irish citizen with family who live over there. I used their address and paid using my credit card (in pounds), the booking stuff was all emailed to me directly.

I was a bit nervous because I had to use my Aussie credit card to book those restuarants that need a guarantee and BBBoutique etc but it was no problem. I did online check in and used my Irish passport but to be honest I don't think it would matter.

We got SSR for 48% discount, 14 day pass for the price of 7 (waterparks, hoppers, disneyquest etc) and free dining. It was a very good deal.

If we go again I would probably do the same again.

PM me if you want any details

 

[WickedDreamer]

I generally find all things in Australia to be more over-priced than their American equivalent. Does anyone know if there are any special Aus only deals (other than the Disneyland 10 ticket option) for WDW? Or have you found that booking WDW in Aus cheaper or more expensive?


I thought I'd check here first before I go and ask someone at Flight Centre as they don't seem to be too aware of Disney.

My sister and myself last year went to a travel agent to price our holiday of 3 weeks to WDW in January 2012, we asked for a copy of the itinerary they suggested and took it home to find out what deals we could get online and if we saved more. We needing booking everything ourselves online for the trip except for our flights, which surprisingly was the only thing we had trouble with for the whole trip, figure that one out .


After doing lots of research online we found out that it would be cheaper for use to buy an AP for WDW and it saved us $560 each as the AP was around $560 and our travel agent wanted to charge us well over $1000 for a pass that covered us for the whole trip.

Also my big tip is to use Expedia, we were pricing a holiday to WDW recently and we could book flights and accommodation together and could save about $300-500 each. Also we have just discovered the website BookIt, and it has reasonable prices for most hotels in the DTD area.

hope this helps

Shannon