Resort Thread STAR WARS: GALACTIC STARCRUISER Official Information & Questions Thread

[floribr1]

That's amazing. I sat on hold for 4 hours, and I'm not really upset about it, since I had a good outcome.
I have read some other's disappointments, however, and using a TA for the future might be an option.
Does using a TA add to the total cost ?? I'm assuming they don't work for free.
& How do they add value to the process? (I really would like to do an analysis of the Pros & Cons of using Dreams Unlimited TA in the future).
Thanks!
ET

There is no additional cost for using a travel agent! Isn't that great? The travel agency receives a commission from the vendor (in this case, Disney), but the cost to you is exactly the same regardless of whether you book yourself or book through a TA. So I think I can lay out the most significant pros and cons:

PROS:
- You have an experienced advocate who knows the ins and outs of the system, and will work on your behalf to get you the best deal
- The travel agents usually have a special line to book travel (at least at Disney), so they are not competing with the thousands of people trying to phone in their own reservations
- Instead of waking up to be on the phone at 5:59am ET, you get to sleep in while your TA does all the dialing, redialing, holding, etc...
- Your TA will explain the entire process to you, and keep track of key dates (e.g., notify you when your pay-in-full date approaches, dates for booking extras such as Savi's Workshop)
- Your TA is compensated by Disney, not by you

CONS:
- Can't think of a single one

 

[floribr1]

Is there a specific email address to use?

There is a sticky at the top of this Disney Resorts forum page:

>> List of Dreams Unlimited Travel Agents (Updated 10/8/2021) <<

Any of the agents under the "Walt Disney World" heading should be able to help you. We used Beth Czada, and she was great.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

There is a sticky at the top of this Disney Resorts forum page:

>> List of Dreams Unlimited Travel Agents (Updated 10/8/2021) <<

Any of the agents under the "Walt Disney World" heading should be able to help you. We used Beth Czada, and she was great.

I looked at the list and I'm like super star struck by the people I know from Youtube haha. I want to email Kathy Werling and ask her to help because I love her on the show.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

There is a sticky at the top of this Disney Resorts forum page:

>> List of Dreams Unlimited Travel Agents (Updated 10/8/2021) <<

Any of the agents under the "Walt Disney World" heading should be able to help you. We used Beth Czada, and she was great.

I just went ahead and emailed Beth starting with "I've been told you're great to work with".

 

[Lloydian]

in about a year..maybe less. We. Will. See. Normal. Pricing

I'm glad you think that. Sadly, it'll take a year to prove you mistaken (I don't want to say "wrong"... that just feels mean).

No, there are only 100 rooms in this thing, and there are people all over the world who will want to do this. One thing that may change in future years is making the trip longer (or offer trips of varying length) without a proportionate price increase.

Guessing an average of 3.5 people per room (assuming 5 for the Captain's Suite) and every room filled, that's just over 64,000 guests per year or one day's attendance at the Magic Kingdom (and not a great day at that). That means maybe 1 in 100 Americans will ever get to visit, and if you expand that to other countries, the ratio is even larger. And while there's almost no chance of me taking a repeat trip, I can easily envision someone better off than I am indulging multiple times.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

I just went ahead and emailed Beth starting with "I've been told you're great to work with".

Beth got back to me already, let me know my complex booking would be fine, and told me to fill out the form with her name and she was already doing a few bookings on the 28th. Thanks for the recommendation @floribr1

 

[Spazz2k]

I'm glad you think that. Sadly, it'll take a year to prove you mistaken (I don't want to say "wrong"... that just feels mean).

No, there are only 100 rooms in this thing, and there are people all over the world who will want to do this. One thing that may change in future years is making the trip longer (or offer trips of varying length) without a proportionate price increase.

Guessing an average of 3.5 people per room (assuming 5 for the Captain's Suite) and every room filled, that's just over 64,000 guests per year or one day's attendance at the Magic Kingdom (and not a great day at that). That means maybe 1 in 100 Americans will ever get to visit, and if you expand that to other countries, the ratio is even larger. And while there's almost no chance of me taking a repeat trip, I can easily envision someone better off than I am indulging multiple times.

I don’t think we need to wait a year to see how it is going to go. We should have a good feel by the end of the month. We will see how bookings go for the public when it opens. And we will also see if Disney releases more dates than they currently have. The reason they are only doing till September is marketing 101…if they allowed everyone to book into 2023 many would….it would allow them to slowly make payments till until it is time to go. Downside would be that bookings would be all over the place and that could possibly mean failure.

Me saying that pricing will go normal is not saying people won’t go…they just won’t have to book at extreme pricing.

 

[mindgame]

Beth got back to me already, let me know my complex booking would be fine, and told me to fill out the form with her name and she was already doing a few bookings on the 28th. Thanks for the recommendation @floribr1

So are you getting a number of options and prices first as you wished or are you just filling out the form with credit card and going from there? Also, I’m wondering (generally) whether if I go with a travel agent like this, do I trust that they will be able to get through or do I also try to get through to Disney on 10/28? I’m more interested in getting the right dates and options than anything else at this stage.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

So are you getting a number of options and prices first as you wished or are you just filling out the form with credit card and going from there? Also, I’m wondering (generally) whether if I go with a travel agent like this, do I trust that they will be able to get through or do I also try to get through to Disney on 10/28? I’m more interested in getting the right dates and options than anything else at this stage.

So I emailed first and said the situation. Then I filled out the form with as much detail as I could and selected her as the travel agent I'd like to work with. After she was assigned she emailed me again and she asked me to rank my departure dates, as well as how important Captain's Table was, and if I'd accept the smaller room as tradeoff to get that. She told me she'd be on the reservation line at 7 am and to be ready to be contacted via text with the pricing information since I wasn't "full steam ahead" on every option and that she'd be working on other people's as well same time. Then after I select my option I want she'd book.

 

[floribr1]

Beth got back to me already, let me know my complex booking would be fine, and told me to fill out the form with her name and she was already doing a few bookings on the 28th. Thanks for the recommendation @floribr1

You are very welcome! My experience with Beth has been great so far, and I am sure that she will continue to take good care of you.

 

[PinkPixel]

I’m on April 12th as well. Little bit jealous of your 6 minutes. I was on hold for 5 hours to get my reservation!

Hi what number did you call? Starcruiser exclusive number? Wondering for general booking. Thanks

 

[CanadianKrista]

I just submitted a request with Dreams as well - the whole thing was stressing me out, and I'm on vacation to spend time with my dad next week - I hope it works out, I've never used an agent before!

Edit to Add - I just got an email and Beth is looking after my request too! She's going to be busy

 

[empedocles]

CONS:
- Can't think of a single one

CON:
You have no personal control over your plans. Want to modify/add/delete stuff? Have to go through the agent. Disney won't talk to you. For some people, that's a big deal.

 

[AmishGuy91]

CON:
You have no personal control over your plans. Want to modify/add/delete stuff? Have to go through the agent. Disney won't talk to you. For some people, that's a big deal.

Agreed, this is about the only con. Not a huge one, especially if you are getting onboard credit with a cruise to use a TA, but in my experience it is just a bit more difficult to make payments with a TA than direct on Disney's website.

 

[mindgame]

Does going through the TA provide any perks? That is the case with some resorts but just wondering here. BTW , thank you to everyone for all the info!

 

[kimwoje]

About the con… I will say that I had a TA book this for me. I then wanted to change my day because I could not get the resort I wanted to stay at post Galactic Starcruiser for April. I called the number that I was provided with and was directed to an e-mail address. I e-mailed and received a call back in about an hour. The CM was awesome and said since I booked through TA that the TA would have to make changes, as noted above. BUT, the CM asked for my TAs phone number and called her directly less than a minute after we hung up. My TA and I communicated via text while they were on the phone and my reservation was changed just like that. I was actually pretty blown away by Disney’s customer service in that regard!

 

[floribr1]

CON:
You have no personal control over your plans. Want to modify/add/delete stuff? Have to go through the agent. Disney won't talk to you. For some people, that's a big deal.

This is my first time using a travel agent, so I actually was not aware of this... Even still, for me the many pros still outweigh this one "con."

 

[foodiddiedoo]

I just submitted a request with Dreams as well - the whole thing was stressing me out, and I'm on vacation to spend time with my dad next week - I hope it works out, I've never used an agent before!

Edit to Add - I just got an email and Beth is looking after my request too! She's going to be busy

I hope not too busy! I am sadly worried about this even after taking the stress off of my shoulders!

 

[mindgame]

I'm going to attempt to convert the points charts into cash equivalents. My assumption is that they're assigning a value of about $8.17 per point (based on $4,809 being 359 points). I should note that I have 560 points annually split between Boardwalk, Boulder Ridge and Grand Californian. My annual dues are $4,205.98, and that works out to about $7.51/point. That means they're asking an extra $0.66/point against the value of the points themselves which makes it look reasonable. So here we go with per person rates:

Category/Season	Value Weekday	Value Weekend	Deluxe Weekday	Deluxe Weekend	Standard Weekday	Standard Weekend	Exclusive Weekday	Exclusive Weekend	Holiday
Standard Adult	2,410	2,582	2,623	2,851	2,623	2,623	2,876	3,015	2,851
Standard Child	2,198	2,369	2,410	2,639	2,410	2,410	2,663	2,794	2,639
Galaxy Adult	2,933	3,137	3,194	3,464	3,194	3,194	3,521	3,701	3,464
Galaxy Child	2,712	2,924	3,252	3,252	2,974	2,974	3,309	3,489	3,252
Captain's Adult	4,101	4,387	4,698	5,090	4,698	4,698	5,278	5,531	5,090
Captain's Child	3,889	4,175	4,477	4,877	4,477	4,477	5,057	5,319	4,877

Additional adults beyond the 2nd passenger are $700. Additional children beyond the 2nd passenger are $490.

My standard disclaimer: I have no inside information. I'm just a geek wasting time here. Please notify me if I got my math wrong somewhere.

Have these prices turned out to be generally accurate?

 

[macnbc]

Have these prices turned out to be generally accurate?

They’re at least slightly over actually. I’m going during the value period late August next year with 8 people in a Captains Suite. The math here would’ve put us around $12,600 but it was just a hair over $12,100.