Did you use a travel agent or book yourself

[australiankaren]

hey there

we have been using a disney travel agent since 2003, and shes been awesome. She used to book my dining before you could do it online, shes booked royal carribean cruises as well as MNSSHP tickets, disney cruises etc....
this is my 6th trip using her......
if you find a great agent, never let them go

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I agree with Karen, a great US agent can be a godsend

 

[Figment2101]

If going to WDW, staying on property and dining I would book directly through Disney. All can be done online.

 

[BobbyRach]

Same as busy, we only use and Australian TA for flights, and only after researching like crazy and making them match the best price.

For our Disney component, we used www.mousetalestravel.com. They don't charge any more than if you booked directly with Disney, and they are able to keep an eye on specials and apply them to your booking if it's relevant to your dates.

All accom we either booked directly with the hotel or via Expedia.

Thanks!! Did you book the DW hotels through Mouse Travel?? Can you recommend anyone there??

I just looked at your trip through NY and DW. It looks fantastic - how lucky are your kids. The photos and blog were excellent and i have made notes from it for our trip!! What month did you travel there - we are also adding NY to our holiday!

thanks!!

 

[Tara2004]

We booked everything ourselves , either online or just rang them. Very easy. If you use this forum then you can keep up with deals for Disney. No paying the middle man for nothing. We had booked our disney stay awhile ago and then the free dining came out, so I rang them directly and they adjusted our booking and now we have the free dining added to our stay. Saved $900 or so bucks.

I don't think you really need a Travel Agent nowadays, unless you have never travelled O/S before then use one for piece of mind.

 

[australiankaren]

We booked everything ourselves , either online or just rang them. Very easy. If you use this forum then you can keep up with deals for Disney. No paying the middle man for nothing. We had booked our disney stay awhile ago and then the free dining came out, so I rang them directly and they adjusted our booking and now we have the free dining added to our stay. Saved $900 or so bucks.

I don't think you really need a Travel Agent nowadays, unless you have never travelled O/S before then use one for piece of mind.

hi again,

I used my TA because she kept an eye out for deals ie dining/ cheaper rates and also for getting me great cabin locations on my cruises....

I do love to plan, but she does all the leg work for me.

Now that we are disney vacation club members, I have to chase up my accom reservations/ adding tickets/ dining myself

so now we just use her for our cruises....

17 days, 20 hours till we fly out

 

[Oz-kateer]

We booked everything ourselves , either online or just rang them. Very easy. If you use this forum then you can keep up with deals for Disney. No paying the middle man for nothing. We had booked our disney stay awhile ago and then the free dining came out, so I rang them directly and they adjusted our booking and now we have the free dining added to our stay. Saved $900 or so bucks.

I don't think you really need a Travel Agent nowadays, unless you have never travelled O/S before then use one for piece of mind.

The point with the Disney agents is that you actually don't pay a "middle man" - the cost of using a specialist Disney TA vs. booking direct with Disney yourself is exactly the same.

The beauty of using a TA is for convenience. You don't have to constantly get onto the boards to scan for deals yourself, you don't have to make adjustments to bookings, fax the hotel yourself with requests, book yourself on the ME, or even book your own ADR's (which can be difficult if you're looking for a high demand restaurant or timeslot). You just let the TA do it for you. And because Disney pay their commission, not you, this value added service is virtually free.

And once you build a good relationship with a TA, you can use them for all sorts of things non-Disney, like tickets to Universal, off property hotels etc.

Another reason I use a TA is so I have an advocate on my side should anything actually go wrong. When you book you don't anticipate problems but you never know what may happen with you needing to change dates or even cancel due to unforseen circumstances. TA's are really handy for this. They'll get in there and do your legwork and chase up refunds etc.

 

[australiankaren]

The point with the Disney agents is that you actually don't pay a "middle man" - the cost of using a specialist Disney TA vs. booking direct with Disney yourself is exactly the same.

The beauty of using a TA is for convenience. You don't have to constantly get onto the boards to scan for deals yourself, you don't have to make adjustments to bookings, fax the hotel yourself with requests, book yourself on the ME, or even book your own ADR's (which can be difficult if you're looking for a high demand restaurant or timeslot). You just let the TA do it for you. And because Disney pay their commission, not you, this value added service is virtually free.

And once you build a good relationship with a TA, you can use them for all sorts of things non-Disney, like tickets to Universal, off property hotels etc.

Another reason I use a TA is so I have an advocate on my side should anything actually go wrong. When you book you don't anticipate problems but you never know what may happen with you needing to change dates or even cancel due to unforseen circumstances. TA's are really handy for this. They'll get in there and do your legwork and chase up refunds etc.

+1...i totally agree...my TA has gone beyond the call for numerous things....she's a legend
She accidently sent me a receipt with her commission from Disney on it for our latest cruise, she made around $200..so they are well paid, so now I don't feel bad asking her to do stuff.

 

[TinkPirateMom]

+1...i totally agree...my TA has gone beyond the call for numerous things....she's a legend
She accidently sent me a receipt with her commission from Disney on it for our latest cruise, she made around $200..so they are well paid, so now I don't feel bad asking her to do stuff.

Just as any FYI, the commission listed on those invoices is the total agency commission, not what the agent gets paid. Not saying you shouldn't ask for what you want and be provided with that at all, just wanted to inform.

 

[australiankaren]

Just as any FYI, the commission listed on those invoices is the total agency commission, not what the agent gets paid. Not saying you shouldn't ask for what you want and be provided with that at all, just wanted to inform.

Good to know......although she runs her own TA so its all her's

 

[BobbyRach]

hey there

we have been using a disney travel agent since 2003, and shes been awesome. She used to book my dining before you could do it online, shes booked royal carribean cruises as well as MNSSHP tickets, disney cruises etc....
this is my 6th trip using her......
if you find a great agent, never let them go

Thanks!!

If you don't mind me asking which travel agent did you use? I am definitely going to use an agent as i think it will work out much easier especially with all the extras my nephew wants to do!!

We are still trying to decide whether to go in May or September and once a decision has finally been made will be booking!!

 

[Tara2004]

The point with the Disney agents is that you actually don't pay a "middle man" - the cost of using a specialist Disney TA vs. booking direct with Disney yourself is exactly the same.

The beauty of using a TA is for convenience. You don't have to constantly get onto the boards to scan for deals yourself, you don't have to make adjustments to bookings, fax the hotel yourself with requests, book yourself on the ME, or even book your own ADR's (which can be difficult if you're looking for a high demand restaurant or timeslot). You just let the TA do it for you. And because Disney pay their commission, not you, this value added service is virtually free.

And once you build a good relationship with a TA, you can use them for all sorts of things non-Disney, like tickets to Universal, off property hotels etc.

Another reason I use a TA is so I have an advocate on my side should anything actually go wrong. When you book you don't anticipate problems but you never know what may happen with you needing to change dates or even cancel due to unforseen circumstances. TA's are really handy for this. They'll get in there and do your legwork and chase up refunds etc.

I find there is no such thing as a free lunch. Each to their own. I have no problem doing this type of stuff, we tried using a Disney agent and she hopeless as she took ages to get back to us on things etc. We just found it easier to do it all ourselves. Also if I didn't check this forum regularly then I wouldn't have known about the Legoland free ticket deal. But it ultimately comes down to whatever works for the individual.

 

[shushh]

If you're going to WDW, and a Disney cruise then I would recommend going with a Disney agent. Especially if free dining is involved and lots of ADRs are required to be made!

I say this because most agents will give you extra onboard credit for the cruise, as well as for the host of reasons that others have already mentioned. Our agent Karen from small world vacations is amazing. Emails always come back within 24 hours. She handled 21 people on arriving on different dates at WDW, leaving on different dates and co-ordinated 6 cabins all in a row for us for the cruise. All in a highly efficient manner. Also booked all the other things for us like BBB, MVMCP etc. Made my life a lot easier because all I had to do was send her an email at my convenience.

We also didn't have free dining in our original reservation but when it came along, she adjusted our booking automatically so that we'd have the room discount on the first night and then free dining when it kicked in. All done smoothly with no staying up late or waking up early to make phone calls to the states. We'd always get an email summary the next morning.

With our ADRs, she made them all (we had 14 people) for us. We got most of what we wanted (other than Le Celliers) and we received our email confirmations within 2o minutes. All this for the same price. So why not?

 

[BobbyRach]

If you're going to WDW, and a Disney cruise then I would recommend going with a Disney agent. Especially if free dining is involved and lots of ADRs are required to be made!

I say this because most agents will give you extra onboard credit for the cruise, as well as for the host of reasons that others have already mentioned. Our agent Karen from small world vacations is amazing. Emails always come back within 24 hours. She handled 21 people on arriving on different dates at WDW, leaving on different dates and co-ordinated 6 cabins all in a row for us for the cruise. All in a highly efficient manner. Also booked all the other things for us like BBB, MVMCP etc. Made my life a lot easier because all I had to do was send her an email at my convenience.

We also didn't have free dining in our original reservation but when it came along, she adjusted our booking automatically so that we'd have the room discount on the first night and then free dining when it kicked in. All done smoothly with no staying up late or waking up early to make phone calls to the states. We'd always get an email summary the next morning.

With our ADRs, she made them all (we had 14 people) for us. We got most of what we wanted (other than Le Celliers) and we received our email confirmations within 2o minutes. All this for the same price. So why not?

Thank you so much!!

I am going to check out Small Vacations now!! We have decided on a date so can finally start booking things!

Thanks once again for your help!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Have fun with the planning!

Just remember that with most of the TA's that we've all worked with (and I'm another one of those that loved mine from Small World Vacations), that they specialise in Disney. Even though I had run the numbers, mine ran through all the possible permutation and combinations for mixing days for the split stay so that I would get the best benefit from the deals available at the time. And she did all my ADR bookings plus specialty cruises etc for me without me having to stay up late. Mine also turned around emails within 24 hours.

Dreams Unlimited will be the other company/TA that Aussies may have used for their bookings.

For anything other than Disney, you'll have to do the legwork yourself. As Tara2004 pointed out, things like Legoland or Universal will not be something that they do; unless they get a commission for it.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I would again recommend Bob and Kimberly Hill at Mousetales Travel, www.mousetalestravel.com. They were so helpful and sweet, above and beyond with their service and I have many friends who have now used them as well. It's definitely worth checking out a few TA's to see who you gel with.

 

[Travel Mum]

And I really must recommend Michele at Dreams Unlimited (Michele@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com) because she has been fantastic for us. I just received an email from her 30 seconds ago letting me know that she was continuing to check with Disney to see if we could get a later Fantasmic dining time. She knows I would have preferred a later time that we have and has been consistently checking for me to see if she could change it. Just brilliant!!

 

[Princessbec]

We've booked accommodation ourselves direct through an owner offsite but will likely use a local TA for flights as there are far too many possibilities for us to choose from!

 

[australiankaren]

and I'm not telling ANYONE my TA...she's all mine..... [insert evil laugh here]......

most Disney TA's are awesome, but if you do get a dud, just move your reservation to someone else......mine emails me back within an hour or so...shes

 

[BobbyRach]

I would again recommend Bob and Kimberly Hill at Mousetales Travel, www.mousetalestravel.com. They were so helpful and sweet, above and beyond with their service and I have many friends who have now used them as well. It's definitely worth checking out a few TA's to see who you gel with.

Thanks I am checking them out now!