Do It Yourself or Use A Travel Agent

[JustGottaGoDisney]

Hi! I am new here and am looking forward to gathering lots of information.

We are thinking of giving ourselves the gift of Disney for Christmas. Not sure of dates or anything like that at this point...may even be Jan. or Feb.

We have just begun (like last night) looking into everything.

My question is: Do you get better discounts and deals planning yourself or using a travel agent?

Totally At A Loss!

Thanks!

 

[sahbushka]

I used to be a travel agent, and as far as packages go, if you get a package it will be the same price whether you call or an agent calls. The nice thing about an agent is they can spend the time looking around for you for the best deal, and usually they don't have a service fee for booking a package for you. Also, when your documents come in, they check them for you and make sure everything is all good. If there are any problems, they do all the calling and legwork for you. So, I suggest finding a travel agent who does not charge a fee for doing packages, and let them do most of the calling around for you! You may want to have some ideas of, say, your top three picks for hotels, or at least which category hotel you are most interested in. Actually, if you know that stuff, I wouldn't mind checking into it for you, and then I would just let you know who the best deal is through and you can book it yourself, if you like. Either way, you are going to have so much fun! It's disney, after all!

 

[sjams]

For our big trip this past June, I contacted Small World Travel. It was nice to have someone else do the legwork for me. I did not pay her(Sandy) a fee either. Everything worked out perfectly. I did start planning in October before, but that made things easier for the TA.
I would highly recommend it if you haven't gone or haven't gone in a while.

 

[byoung]

Do it your way.

 

[jimmiej]

I used a travel agent the first two trips. Then I found The Unofficial Guide & the DIS. I (like many others here on the DIS) now know more about WDW than most travel agents. I do my own.

If you use the DIS, http://www.allearsnet.com/, http://www.mousesavers.com/, and/or The Unofficial Guide, you can do it yourself. It depends how much work (really FUN) you want to put into it.

Welcome to the DIS. Be careful though. You may get addicted to WDW like the rest of us.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

I also booked my own trip for WDW next July, as I have done in the past for our Disneyland trips. I always seem to find much better prices then most TA.

 

[ainmama2001]

I always do it myself. Planning the trip is half the fun for me. Some people think I'm nuts! I'm already working on our trip for next November (2006).

 

[Unregistered]

We do it ourselves.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We have booked ourselves for both of our trips. Both times we went to a couple of local travel agents. Both times it was the same price that we had got checking through Disney's online reservation site. If you belong to AAA, they have a Disney discount, but for us it wasn't worth the cost of signing up.

 

[Priorityonecb]

I was a travel agent for years, and have always booked on my own. However, this time around I did the land/sea and I did use a TA. Small World Vacations, Barbara. She has been wonderful! The main reason I did was because with Disney vacations, codes and specials come along all the time and she will keep and eye out for me and adjust my reservation. I check DIS enough as it is...if I felt I had to keep an eye out for every single code out there...I'd never see my family again until we left!

 

[binky503]

My husband loves to make the reservations, he searches for all the best deals.

 

[Andrea]

we like doing it ourselves... we go on about 4 vactions to different places a year... and we love doing it all ourselves

 

[Chrissi242]

I suggest booking it yourself. I am new to DIS and found a wealth of info here. In a few days time I researched everything and even rented DVC points and got a villa at the Wilderness Lodge for $550 in March. If you havent made your reservations yet you want to try the wants trade board and familarize yourself with it. Good Luck!

Chrissi and dh
6 2

 

[aquaticmom]

I booked our upcoming trip (Oct 22 -30th) myself. I enjoy spending the time on the computer every night. My friend booked for the week after us through her travel agent and I have given her information to take to her travel agent at least twice that I have found out about her at Dis. So far I have saved her over $850 dollars that her travel agent was not aware of. So I say if you have the time and or enjoy the challenge of finding the deals yourself then go ahead and book everything on your own. Good Luck!