Disney authorised/approved TA or TA that sprcialises in WDW?

[Princess Jes]

Hi fellow Aussies (and those visiting!
I was wondering if any of the big TA's specialize in Disney holidays?
My sister said that she thinks Flight Centre or Escape Travel (both are owned by Flight Centre) might be Disney authorised TA's?

We are booking a 3 week USA trip with about a week in Orlando, and while I'll most likely be booking the WDW/Universal studios portion myself, I'd like to explore the option with a TA and also so they can help with all the flights and the rest of the trip.

I'm in Melbourne, any help would be much appreciated!

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Hi fellow Aussies (and those visiting!
I was wondering if any of the big TA's specialize in Disney holidays?
My sister said that she thinks Flight Centre or Escape Travel (both are owned by Flight Centre) might be Disney authorised TA's?

We are booking a 3 week USA trip with about a week in Orlando, and while I'll most likely be booking the WDW/Universal studios portion myself, I'd like to explore the option with a TA and also so they can help with all the flights and the rest of the trip.

I'm in Melbourne, any help would be much appreciated!

Flight centre are but I would avoid them they give you so much incorrect info for eg they told me my family of 6 could not get 1 room when the truth of it is their wholesaler only allows them to sell rooms that sleep 4 but you can get 2 rooms even though I knew the hotel room they were trying to sell me slept 6 I booked elsewhere.

Here is an Aussie Disney approved TA

http://www.mypersonaltravelplanner.com.au/

 

[Sugarglider]

frankly, I would avoid the majority of Australian travel agents for WDW. In fact you don't really need a travel agent (unless your trip is complicated with many people and you would rather someone else did the work). I prefer to do it myself.
I have used a disney authorised lady based in the UK. I have experienced that the authorised agents can't do anything better than you can access yourself, but she was able to get good deals with non-disney hotels, like the Waldorf. I must admit, I was deeply impressed with her service - as in immediate! she did everything on her mobile phone which I think she slept with. She was speedy gonzales!

 

[Lei]

Hi, I'm also currently searching for a good, Disney specialized agents. Apparently, even if they're Disney specialized (or certified), not all agents are good.

I've heard a lot of good stuff here on Disboards about Dreams Unlimited, Small World Vacations, and Mouse Tales Travel, to name a few. Dreams Unlimited are from the people who brought us Disboards, so I believe they know their stuff.

I believe your best bet is a US-based, Disney certified TA. That's where I'm heading, even tho I'm a control-freak and normally arrange my trips myself. WDW trip is quite a complicated matter, especially if you're from overseas AND bargain-hunting like me Hope this helps!

 

[cola]

I would not recommend any big one like Flight Centre for Orlando, 99% of their Disney knowledge is Disneyland rather than Disney World.
A smaller one (like the one mentioned above) will often have a lot of personal experience.

If you are thinking you can do Universal and WDW in a week, it might be time to reconsider - Universal is 2 parks, Disney World is 4 parks. You can't do both Universal parks in one day, and you can't cover the Disney parks in 3 days - the distances involved make it ridiculously full on. 10 days is a sensible time frame for a first visit, it gives you a bit of non-park time for breathing. If this isn't a first visit, a week might be ok

 

[Travel Mum]

Here is an Aussie Disney approved TA

http://www.mypersonaltravelplanner.com.au/

I second WAMUMOF4's recommendation of mypersonaltravelplanner and I know she has heaps of personal WDW experience!

 

[Princess Jes]

Flight centre are but I would avoid them they give you so much incorrect info for eg they told me my family of 6 could not get 1 room when the truth of it is their wholesaler only allows them to sell rooms that sleep 4 but you can get 2 rooms even though I knew the hotel room they were trying to sell me slept 6 I booked elsewhere.

Here is an Aussie Disney approved TA

http://www.mypersonaltravelplanner.com.au/

Thanks guys.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the actual WDW portion myself, but need to book New Orleans, NYC and Vegas also and no chance I wan to do that myself!

I'll have a look at that QLD based one!

 

[FireflyFi]

Wow, you're traveling to all the same destinations I went to last year...good choice! Lol

My friends and I booked through flight centre. They were pretty hopeless and had to be monitored every step of the way, but having a third party take care of it made it worthwhile to avoid any arguments between us.

And just to give you an idea we had a week in Orlando, four days wdw, three days universal and we covered it all. Sure, we didn't see or try every single show or ride, and it was exhausting (it was also end of June) but we had a great time. And I'm sure you will too, happy planning!

 

[zanzibar138]

I would avoid flight centre. We've had nothing but trouble when we've booked through them. Also, I've found their Disney knowledge to be very limited, even for dlp. Ours tried to tell us that we needed to pay extra to view the fireworks!

 

[Feej]

If you have the time, I'd suggest doing everything yourself. It's easier (IMHO) and these days with sites like expedia, tripadvisor etc, you don't need a travel agent at all.

I'd also suggest signing up with tripit.com to keep track of dates, flights and reservations. I travel a lot for work, and it's invaluable.

 

[Marlea98]

Flight centre are but I would avoid them they give you so much incorrect info for eg they told me my family of 6 could not get 1 room when the truth of it is their wholesaler only allows them to sell rooms that sleep 4 but you can get 2 rooms even though I knew the hotel room they were trying to sell me slept 6 I booked elsewhere.

Here is an Aussie Disney approved TA

http://www.mypersonaltravelplanner.com.au/

I second mypersonaltravelplanner. I have used her for our upcoming trip and she's also a Disney Lover

 

[Marlea98]

Wow, you're traveling to all the same destinations I went to last year...good choice! Lol

My friends and I booked through flight centre. They were pretty hopeless and had to be monitored every step of the way, but having a third party take care of it made it worthwhile to avoid any arguments between us.

And just to give you an idea we had a week in Orlando, four days wdw, three days universal and we covered it all. Sure, we didn't see or try every single show or ride, and it was exhausting (it was also end of June) but we had a great time. And I'm sure you will too, happy planning!

I would not recommend any big one like Flight Centre for Orlando, 99% of their Disney knowledge is Disneyland rather than Disney World.
A smaller one (like the one mentioned above) will often have a lot of personal experience.

If you are thinking you can do Universal and WDW in a week, it might be time to reconsider - Universal is 2 parks, Disney World is 4 parks. You can't do both Universal parks in one day, and you can't cover the Disney parks in 3 days - the distances involved make it ridiculously full on. 10 days is a sensible time frame for a first visit, it gives you a bit of non-park time for breathing. If this isn't a first visit, a week might be ok

Flight centre are but I would avoid them they give you so much incorrect info for eg they told me my family of 6 could not get 1 room when the truth of it is their wholesaler only allows them to sell rooms that sleep 4 but you can get 2 rooms even though I knew the hotel room they were trying to sell me slept 6 I booked elsewhere.

Here is an Aussie Disney approved TA

http://www.mypersonaltravelplanner.com.au/

I would avoid flight centre. We've had nothing but trouble when we've booked through them. Also, I've found their Disney knowledge to be very limited, even for dlp. Ours tried to tell us that we needed to pay extra to view the fireworks!

I totally agree - steer clear of Flight Centre!

I took in a heap of different domestic schedules and prices (screen shots from airlines) for my various US internal flights to see if they could get me something more workable - so basically, I did almost all of the work for them, and I'm still waiting for someone to get back to me and that was many months ago I used mypersonaltravelplanner and she was great and worked well with me on working out the various flights I needed to book and gave me some great advice.

I did start out our holiday planning using a home based consultant from another big travel agency (that I have used before) and this time the whole experience was totally unsatisfactory all because I ended up finding and booking cheaper and more convenient flights myself. Other than the cruise through this particular agent and the internal US domestic flights I've booked everything myself using plenty of advice and suggestions (and heaps of hand holding through some things) from people on the Dis Doing it yourself does take a lot of time and effort but the more you do it the easier it seems to get

 

[DizOz]

We booked through Flight Centre on my first trip. On the family's first trip I compared flight centre and booking direct it was about $1500+ dearer. I then compared Dreams Unlimited and direct and they charged the same. The only difference was when free dining became available they changed our booking which saved us over $2000.

So I do the flights myself and use DU for my Disney bookings and direct for everything else. It is so easy these days on the internet and you save yourself plenty of $$$$$$.

 

[alicia1506]

i also have nothing but good things to say about my personal travel planner. a fellow disney lover and someone who has travelled there many times so knows the tips and tricks etc.

last trip, i organised 100% of everything myself. saved myself 1000s of dollars, but it also added to the time i spent online researching, reading reviews, asking billions of questions etc.

this year, i'm doing a combination of both -- booking and researching a lot of it myself, but for certain portions, i am using a TA (the above mentioned my personal travel planner) for time, convenience and a reduced stress-factor.

i agree that doing it yourself gives you 100% control and can save you some money over booking with one of the big corporate chains, but by using a smaller, personalised service you can save yourself time, hassle, stress, angst and sleep (omg the number of sleepless nights i've had debating various trip planning decisions) and give yourself a bit of a break. also, personalised travel planners can take advantage of booking cheaper/discount accomodation and travel deals that the bigger chains cannot because of their deals and agreements with certain vendors.

either way, it's entirely up to you as to which you feel best suits your needs... i hope no matter which way you go, you'll end up having an amazing time