Pros/cons re: using travel agent

[Jubaby]

I have had wonderful experiences using, Dreams Unlimited. I wouldn't say the prices were that much cheaper than booking with Disney directly, but they continually checked for discounts and applied them to my reservations. They also changed my requests and rooms around a number of times. And I was able to book hard-to-get ADR's that weren't available when I called myself. I was a hard core Disney planner for a long time, but it kept getting more and more complicated as the parks got more crowded and dining plans were added and FP+ was added. Trying to coordinate everything became too time consuming for me. So I've moved to letting someone else do it. LOL!

 

[belle0216]

I would say those who do not have a lot of experience planning a disney vacation would benefit from a TA. If you really know what you are doing it is just convenient. I personally know a TA through a disney agency and she works like crazy to make sure people get exactly what they need... even when they don't know they need it. She has had certain dining reservations open suddenly and couldn't get a hold of her client so held them on her own credit card to make sure that she was able to accommodate their wishes. Some people have no idea how hard it is to get reservations at certain places (even at the 180 mark!) so she goes out of her way to make sure they are able to have the vacation they desire. She has also sent gifts with money out of her own pocket to guests staying for special occasions. It makes me sad to hear less than stellar interactions with TA's because there are certain ones who go way above and beyond for a sometimes very meager payoff from Disney- they just simply love helping people plan their dream vacation!

 

[lelder]

Pros: My TA woke up at 3am to get my ADRs this morning. I got everything I wanted while I slept!

 

[1sttimedisneymama]

I absolutely adore our TA. We are paying roughly the same for CBR tickets and DDP as those who got free dining are paying for the nondiscounted room and tickets. She has really stayed on top of discounts for us and was able to find this deal for. Us 95 days out from check in when we found out POFQ was doing the dining hall refurb and we decided to switch. She has been great and so helpful. I honestly wouldn't go without having a TA now.

 

[Aliceacc]

I LOVE our travel agent!!

I make all our plans, then email them to Tracey. She books our ADRs, as I've requested. She keeps an eye out for discounts. Each of the past two or three trips, I've opened my email during a study hall at school, to find that Tracey has changed our arrangements (with my prior OK) and saved us hundreds of dollars. (In 2014 she moved us from the Beach Club to the Yacht Club-- it's the SAME BUILDING-- and saved us $1000. This year she moved us from the Beach Club to the Boardwalk and saved us $800.)

I typically tell her that I've started us off at the Beach Club, but to feel free to change us to any Deluxe that can sleep 5 with a significant savings. And we haven't been disappointed yet.

Could I have made the same changes? Sure. If I had been home. But teaching isn't the type of job where you can be on the phone with Disney for an hour to sort out the best arrangement. I leave the house at 7 am, and spend the hour before that getting my kids up and ready for school.

On our FP day last month, I was in a hotel in Philadelphia (my son's college placement test) trying to book our FPs on my Ipad. It was the day they opened up Frozen Ever After, and the Jungle Book dinner package, and I simply was not having any luck. I emailed Tracey for advice. She asked what FPs we wanted, ballpark times, and got us everything we wanted! Frozen, the new Soarin', 7DMT, Splash, Space, TSMM, you name it. PLUS the Jungle Book package.

Could I have done it? Well, not that morning I couldn't.

Her advice is solid, she replies to emails incredibly quickly... I can't recommend her highly enough.

And it doesn't cost me a dime.

 

[disneyshan]

I used to book directly with Disney. However, last summer, we used a TA for the first time and it saved us thousands of dollars. I went right back to the same TA for our upcoming trip and while the savings aren't the same (different time of year) - their prices are between 700-1000$ less than anything I can find with Disney directly.

 

[abarriger]

For those that use TAs do you use someone local to you or someone online?

I took a recommendation from someone who had used one.

 

[Farro]

I like to do our own. This will be our 4th trip... use this board and other s for info!

 

[Pluto80]

For years we booked everything ourselves. This year we decided to try a travel agent. I'm so pleased we did. Even though we're coming from the UK, we decided to get APs, and for us, it's worked brilliantly having a TA.
This summer we're coming over for 5 weeks, and our TA has been able to arrange so much for us. For example, we have a room only reservation for the end of August at the Beach Club. We said to her that as long as it was an Epcot resort, when AP rates came out, we wouldn't mind moving elsewhere. Not only did she manage to save us £300, she also got us a room at club level at the Yacht Club! She emailed us with about 5 different options before we even knew the AP rates were out (and we were checking daily ourselves). I think I'd only ever use her from now on. She's been superb.

 

[jenhum]

I have been pretty anti- travel agent in the past, only because I LOVE planning- it's one of my favorite parts of vacation . But this trip, I decided to email a couple of agencies for room only quotes for our split stay. One agent emailed me back 4 days later a quote that was identical to the Disney prices online. The other agent emailed me back within hours, with a agency only discount that would save us hundreds of dollars. So I am now using a travel agent . I really wanted a Poly/BC split stay and just couldn't make it work with our budget before the discount. Booking it is the only thing the agent is doing, I get to plan everything, so I think I would absolutely use an agent again.