Do you use a travel agent for you Disney trips?

[MarriedToAPrince]

Nope. We plan everything ourselves.

 

[GrandAdmiralStrife]

I research myself and book thru the website

 

[quagmire0]

Really comes down to different strokes for different folks. I LOVE to plan - and I'm talking over a year in advance. I want to have a good idea where we are going and what we want to do. Having (now 4) kids also means that I stay flexible and accept that some days might be better than others. So, for me, a travel agent would only get in the way and add additional (although sometimes hidden) cost. However, I fully acknowledge that there are many people with little time or desire to plan and who are just overwhelmed with the massive amount of information and just want someone to chart their course for them and make all the decisions. So, it really depends on what kind of person you are and how much time you have on your hands. Because it does take a lot of dedication and time to stay on top of all the news and crowd levels and refurbs and all that stuff.

Honestly, for me to feel like I have a good grasp on things, I've had to read the Unofficial Guide and pour over multiple sites and forums to gather all the information I now have stuck in my head from two previous family trips. And even then, I'm still a complete novice to fastpass+ and wouldn't be completely prepared to book onsite if we chose to because I'm used to booking offsite.

 

[myhoney]

We are using one this time. I love to plan and expect I will do the ADRs and FP+, but we are a family of 6 now, and we had several options we wanted to price out/compare. The TA we decided to go with is very responsive and helpful. I had run quotes thru Disney and hers were the same price. But to bounce our ideas and plans off of her has been great, and we are going when there is a high chance of free dining. To have her change our ressie instead of me will be worth it, so I'm glad to give her the commission.

 

[no one]

I will say it was nice yesterday morning when my TA emailed me to say she was able to get the Spring offer for our April trip that was booked in September and reduced our original price by a $1000. I do plan but honestly with the holidays I was not paying that much attention to the possibility those offers were coming out yesterday. Of course you could book those offers yourself but take a look at the discount threads and you will see various posts of people on the phone for over an hour getting those offers yesterday. What was even more impressive is that the TA did this on her way back from her family trip to NYC.

 

[Lulubelle17]

I usually do it all myself. I make my reservations and call back every once in a while to check on better rates. We get military rates, so I call to see if there are any available. I don't mind calling, they're really nice!

 

[rideswithchrist]

We had a good TA, but we went during the off season, did not have a package and got our room and tickets separate. She did send some good information to us about what rides fill up first and stuff, but really, we just did our thing. I am pretty OCD about planning stuff and being flexible on my own terms too- I used the touring plans app which was perfect for our family.
I was able to find all the info she gave me on here and other sites so, other than helping someone else get paid for me going to DW- it was not worth it and we won't use a TA again. Since we did NOT order a package, we did not get any of her "extras" either so I felt like we more or less wasted her time.

If was going to try and get stuff like dining plans and things, I may use a TA again but I like doing a room only ressie and getting our tickets through Undercover Tourist. (We are going to camp this time anyway)

 

[The Lady Penguin]

If they can get me a better rate then yes.

Last trip I used a TA that buts blocks of rooms at a convention rate and then you can book through them at this rate. I got the poly for 230 a night and BC for 202 a night.

I will most likely use them next time. They already have discounts going through the end of 2016. It's easier for me to book now and already have an awesome discount locked into the resort I want. It saves me time Not having to search for discounts.

It's nice to just send her a message to make a payment, add a request, etc. Im a full time working mom with kids in activities. I don't have time to wait on hold for hours when discounts are released, to make a payment or to add a balcony onto my reservation.

I kept control of all fp+ and ADRs. She never offered because I told her from the beginning I would do them all myself. She did give me the dates of when I could make them.

May I ask which agency you used? I'd really love to get a deal at the Poly!

 

[missbrooke06]

We've used a AAA agent the last three times. We do all our own FP+ and ADRs but when my mom called at 7am the day free dining came out, she already had snagged it for us at YC. I'm really happy with the collaboration.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I used a TA the first time we went (recently anyway), and it was a huge help. I found planning for Disney the first time totally overwhelming. I don't really like planning and arranging. Granted, I could have found a lot of the info online and did, but Disney can be very confusing the first time and with the money being spent, it seems high stakes (my DH said it seemed like planning our wedding). Having gone once, I'm much more excited about planning this time but am still using a TA. it was great that she was the one getting up at 5 instead of me to get the ADRs and she gets informed about all discounts so I don't have to worry about missing them. I do the FPs because it would be too complicated to have someone else do. It's nice to have someone who is always plugged in and it's free. So yay. Granted, I'm not so thrilled with her knowledge on a couple things right now, so I probably won't go back to the same one again, but will use another one next time.

 

[DogwoodDisney]

After planning for our trip in April I have decided that using a TA is probably not for me. I did go ahead and go through one for our original reservation for POR. The spring offer is not available for a preferred room during our week, but river view rooms are discounted. The TA never offered that to me. I found it out on my own and had to tell her I'd like the change to river view for the discount. We then were considering a split stay with YC. There was a standard view available with the spring offer and TA said she'd put a courtesy hold on it while we decided. We decided to go for it and found out the hold was put on for a CL at YC. So we lost out on YC. Maybe I'm expecting too much from a TA? I'm chalking it up to a learning experience. I'm a DIY type anyway so not sure why I hesitated with booking on my own in the first place. In the end it worked out. We're doing a split stay with POR and BC. I kept the ressie with the TA for POR and then got a great rate stacked with Orbitz discount for BC. Can't wait!

 

[Capang]

We used a Disney specific TA. LOVE her. I love to plan so it is more a collaboration. And it is free as the fees are built in to the cost whether you plan yourself or with a Disney TA. I pick out our restaurants, times, second and third choices and create a spreadsheet. She calls Disney while I sleep in. I do the same for experiences, park days etc. she keeps me up to date and the disboards help as well. She has given me her own maps with great places to watch parades, see shows etc. I make our FP. She basically makes the calls. No one else in my family shares my love of planning so I love having her to talk to.

 

[Capang]

I'd like to add that for first timers or people that haven't been in 20 years a TA is probably the way to go. Most of us here stay up to date and love doing this. I've met lots of people that thought they would just show up and didn't quite expect what they got in return.

 

[Mmk1997]

We live in Vancouver and going to a travel agent for disneyworld is useless. When we initially thought of our trip, we visited travel agents around town and all they did was to google stuff. No special websites or anything like that. I had done some preliminary research and when I brought it to the travel agents attention they were surprised at how much I knew and they even asked me where I got the info from. So from that point, I have taken over the planning. It is overwhelming, but at least this way I know what I am planning. The only thing I do not know is if going through a travel agent - can they get my flight any cheaper?

 

[buzznina]

I do most of our bookings myself but I am smart enough to use a "Disney TA" when they have their "Magical TA Only Specials" that beat any discount (even with stacking i.e. Orbitz) that I can get on my own. Our last trip, they had WL for $200 during Thanksgiving week, nothing online came close to even matching it. I had TOTAL control over ADRs, FP+ etc. the only time I needed the TA, was when we wanted to adjust our dates of our stay and she did it the same day I sent her an email

 

[scdak]

I would rather do by Disney planning myself, I have used a TA 1-2 times to plan Disney trips and was not impressed, plus its so much more fun to do it myself, I have the time, I have the knowledge and I enjoy it