For those who use US travel agents..

[5ofus]

How far in advance did you make enquiries? What did you have them book? Did they book internal flights for you? Transfers? Car hire? Did they book other, non-Disney parts of your trip?

We're looking at DL, WDW and a Disney Cruise. Possibly San Francisco. We're still YEARS out (a quick trip to DL next year, but the big one is in 2015), but just want an idea of when we should start making enquiries. I think you can book the cruises almost two years out?!?!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I've only ever booked the Disney portion of a trip with a US travel agent. I know that they do DL, WDW and Disney cruises. I used Bob Hill at Mousetales Travel and he is amazing, he never tires of my questions, me changing things etc and it is no more expensive than booking directly. They also apply any new deals that get released by Disney without you having to chase them up.

I know others on here have used different companies that they have been happy with also.

 

[aussietravellers]

I have used a US TA a few times now ( Magical Journeys Travel) and I have only ever got them to do Disney (DL and WDW). I have always done my own ADR's as I like to do that. But my TA did book the Wanyama Sunset Safari for me at WDW and the Wishes cruise too.

Outside accommodatin I have always booked myself or through an Aussie TA (which ever was cheaper) For flights, I have mainly used my Aussie TA and book an odd one myself. But with my TA being corporate she has often found a better deal that I can find online, if not I do it myself.

 

[Mum from oz]

I have used Dreams Unlimited twice now for cruise bookings. They are ok. We stay offsite so we book that ourselves. Same goes for car hire, WDW and other attraction tickets. For flights I just use an Aussie TA and just compare what prices they can get to what I find online.

Minus the DL bit that is what we are doing in May - WDW, Disney Cruise and SF. How exciting!

 

[5ofus]

Thanks guys. How far out did you contact them?

MumfromOz, awesome! I remember reading your trip report from the US last year. I look forward to reading about this year's trip. Are you going to the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco? I didn't see it mentioned in your PTR. If we have the funds, I'd love to go to SFO, but mainly just for the museum. I went to SFO ten years ago (?!?! yikes that makes me feel old!) and didn't find it as lovely as most do. My DH and the kids haven't been though. Plenty of time to plan and change our minds...

 

[australiankaren]

Hey,

My TA gets an email from me 11 months out..shes used to it....I then change my plans a few times, add a cruise or 2, tickets etc.....shes awesome.

Good TA's are like gold..

If you need a name, PM me and I'll give you mine.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I have used a US TA a few times now ( Magical Journeys Travel) and I have only ever got them to do Disney (DL and WDW). I have always done my own ADR's as I like to do that. But my TA did book the Wanyama Sunset Safari for me at WDW and the Wishes cruise too.

Outside accommodatin I have always booked myself or through an Aussie TA (which ever was cheaper) For flights, I have mainly used my Aussie TA and book an odd one myself. But with my TA being corporate she has often found a better deal that I can find online, if not I do it myself.

Can I ask a bit about the corporate TA. Do you use them for your business travel so they are happy to deal with you personally? Can anyone use a corporate TA?

 

[austraveler]

I book flights myself or use the flight centre if it is a complicated mix of flights. I do spend a lot of time checking the flights myself as they seem to be a bit quick to pick a certain flight when one an hour later is half the price.

For WDW, DL and Disney cruises I use a US agent, Steve from the magic for less. I have booked 18 months in advance and chopped and changed and he is always patient and helpful. Most people using Disney specialists give good feedback and it seems hard to go wrong when the cost is no more (and sometimes there are booking incentives). I think we received $700 in cruise credits for our Med cruise from Steve.

 

[alicia1506]

i've used Dreams Unlimited for our cruise this time around (contacted him in dec for our nov/dec trip this year, so approx 12 months out) and for our Disneyland on property stay & character breakfast... i found Dreams were able to give us the best OBC and overall price, and my TA never tires of my questions. he's been a blessing. i love the reminder emails he sends me about how many days til we travel... i'm sure they all do this, but his come with fun little disneyland and disney cruise lines quotes/did you know facts/etc.

previously i'd done all our booking myself online and just used quotes from TAs for comparison.

 

[aussietravellers]

Can I ask a bit about the corporate TA. Do you use them for your business travel so they are happy to deal with you personally?

I use her personally, but my whole family does and we all travel a lot, so maybe with there being a few of us and bookings are often done from our family company emails we are down as a corporate client but we all book personally . I'm not sure really.
We all usually fly business or first class too, and she gets really good corporate deals for business (still more than Economy or PE but good for business) and often it's for different airlines, one's I wouldn't have thought to use. Like for years we flew to Vienna with Lauda, who flew out of Syd on their new 777 planes. Their business class was amazing, much better than I have ever had with Qantas, but they were half the price. Then they became Austrian Airlines.

Can anyone use a corporate TA?

I am not sure. About 20 or a little less, years ago, she was a regular TA and we (as a family), used her. She then moved to a corporate agency about 15 years ago and as her clients we all moved too. So I am not sure if we are all listed as her clients in our company name or if we are just her clients. As our company PA does a lot of our bookings through her, but then I also have contact with her personally

They don't seem to get all of the deals that retail TA's get, although they do Qantas Holidays as she has booked that for us over the years before.

I'm not really sure to be honest. As a personal traveller, I would not use her for everything, there are things you can get cheaper doing it yourself, but some things she can work cheaper. It all just depends on the trip.

You have a business, so I would think that you could contact a corporate TA

 

[Mum from oz]

I'm glad you got a good TA at Dreams Alicia, mine is mediocre at best. I will not be booking with her next time. I don't get reminder anything, I'm lucky if she even replies to my emails.

 

[DizOz]

I'm glad you got a good TA at Dreams Alicia, mine is mediocre at best. I will not be booking with her next time. I don't get reminder anything, I'm lucky if she even replies to my emails.

Mum, I had a problem when I used Dreams on the last trip where my emails went unreplied at one stage just after I paid in full. I emailed the main email with my complaint and the head of the company replied in less than a day. Never had an issue. Turned out the TA servicing me her email account was bouncing emails.

Overall we had a great experience and they took care of all our dining reservations and even after we paid we got free dining added to our package and a few other dicounts as they became available. We used them to do bookings at CL, WDW, DCL and US

 

[alicia1506]

originally i used the Dreams Unlimited quote system and put through several dummy quotes for various vacations etc. one guy who responded gave us a huge amount of info, and kinda helped us with the pros/cons of our various trip options.

his name is Dan and while he's not overly chatty with the emails, he's been professional and willing to research options for us to ensure that we're getting the best possible deals etc.

we're at 8 mths and 3.5weeks til our vacation, so the reminder emails are pretty few and far between at this stage, but he checks with us to make sure our plans are still on track, sends us emails about how to make our palo ressies, port adventures etc. he also helped us book the disneyland portion of our stay, and is organising our character breakfasts and tours so that we don't have to spend all our time on the phone with disney dining etc. this is the first time i've used a usa travel agent and i must say, i've been really impressed with him so far. his style seems to suit our style, so yay!

i hope that the rest of you are not having any with yours