To have a travel agent or not to have a travel agent?

[princessreilly]

I have a trip booked with my travel agent in December. I want to start planning my trip for 2008 and was wondering if I should book through a travel agent. I would have to get flight and hotel reservations. I haven't thought about dates or anything. And I have always wanted to stay at CR. I would love to hear any suggestions of your favorites or what works best for you.

Any suggestions???

 

[dopeynme]

You could ask a couple of TAs for a quote and go with the best deal. I have used Magic for Less and been pleased. Also once used AAA. Dreams Unlimited is a sponsor of the DIS and some of the podcasters work there. Also, Mousesavers.com recommends small world travel, but they have never given us the best price. You can ask for airfare packages as well. Then see how well you do on Travelocity or Orbitz.

Good luck with whatever you decide and have a great time!

 

[zima-cheryl]

The thing about travel agents is they keep checking back.

Most our reservations are uneventful, but a few years ago we had made our deposit & had until 30 days out to make final payment on a trip to WDW. Lori (our agent) called well before the 30 days and got us to pay for the air fare...just in time to beat a big jump in price. She had been monitoring the airlines & working her clients as quick as she could to get folks in ahead of the jump. Saved us about $200.


Then a few weeks later she calls & changes our reservation to get us the free dining.



I certainly don't have the time to check every day on the airfare or room deals. Nor do I want the hassel of getting on the phone and trying to change things. A good travel agent will do all that for you.

Personally we use AAA (for WDW and all our other trips) and have been very pleased over the years! I'd highly recommend them.

 

[zima-cheryl]

Sorry for the double post...but I almost forgot.

Travel agents often get you little extra perks too.

On our last trip to Philly, we got a pair of VIP passes to the King Tut Exhibit @ the Franklin Institute.


On past WDW trips we have gotten goodies too (mostly food vouchers/free meal type things I seem to remember). In fact on most trips we book w/AAA we get at least a little something.

I think it is there way of saying "thanks for your business".

 

[Grumpy23]

We used AAA for our honeymoon and it was ok, but we realized on our next trip that we were able to get better deals by doing everything on our own.

That's not to say TA's are bad, I am sure there are small perks like the other poster said, and you can buy the trip insurance, etc. But we have found that on our 5 subsequent trips in the last 4 years, we actually paid less by finding our own deals, booking flights directly through SW, getting the Ding fares credited each time it lowers, booking our hotel (we stay offsite usually), etc.

I am sure there are pros and cons to each side. Some people like having someone just take over and make all the plans for them. I am the opposite, I become a planning fiend for each upcoming trip and we constantly keep checking for the rates/fares to lower so we get a good deal. Someone like me would probably drive a TA crazy.

 

[princessreilly]

I think that's what I am doing. Driving my TA crazy. She doesn't do ADRs. I had to make them while at the lake on vacation. I guess that is good though, because I have added more so many times. I'm just not familar with AAA and how to book airlines or hotel. I'm interested in learning as much as possibe. We will be going to WDW more often. I talked my DH into going every year now!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woot! I'm glad to hear everyones view- Thanks!!!

 

[Dana49]

We've been visiting WDW for the past few years. Every year, I book my own flights on line, and purchase our park tickets from Ticketmania. For our hotel room, I've had Small World Travel make the reservations for the past few years. Room reservations can, at times, get quite confusing, so I prefer to leave that to the professionals.

 

[metsno1]

I guess it's like everything else. It totally depends on which agent you go through. We're leaving for CSR next week, and we used an agent for this trip, but only because we wanted a place to actually pay for the trip entirely with cash......NO credit cards this time!!!

Our plans have changed three or four times since we initially booked, and I think we've thrown our agent for a loop. First, he couldn't get our flights changed, which we then had to do ourselves with a nicely worded email to Customer Relations at US Air. Then we had to tell him how availability at Disney resorts changes almost daily, so sold out one day doesn't mean sold out the next. That was in order to add more days on the front and back ends of our trip.

Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy. But I know ten times as much about Disney and the way that it works than he does. And I'd be willing to bet that holds true for most people who frequent these boards! The info here is probably better than most local travel agents have access to. Now, the national agents who specialize in Disney may be another story entirely.

If you do choose to go with an agent, just make sure you do your own research on codes/rates/specials/etc. You're more invested than they are!! Good luck......and have fun with the whole process!

 

[texasteacher35]

FYI- I got a quote for DL for next year through Dreams Unlimited just to see what perks we could get, besides pricing it out on the disney.com site...and we would get a $150 gift card, VIP seating for a parade and the Aladin show in DLCal and a couple of other little silly things, a lanyard and special pin and a backback of some kind. I think it is worth getting a free quote AND be sure to tell htem if you are a Disney Visa cardholder...

 

[princessreilly]

Thanks everyone for all the info! So metsno1, when I do the research do you suggest that I take that to the travel agent and then have them apply that? There is a wealth of information on here and I do want to be able to take advantage of it.

 

[alloyd1170]

We use AAA and love our agent. We travel often, and she will print out current route maps (which are binded) showing possible delay areas.

For WDW, she is priceless. She went and made all of our ADR's for our upcoming trip. Then we had to reschedule and she went and redid the ADR's. She keeps in touch with us too. In addition, with an AAA package, we get a free diamond parking, discount card for some places (the only one I use is World of Disney), and other perks like story time at MK, discounts on sea raycers, mini golf, Planet Hollywood, a free 5x7 photo from Photopass, etc. Well worth it!

Now my dad does at least 2 international touring trips each year (China, Vietnam, Africa, Anarctica, Iceland, Egypt, Amazon, Macu Pichu, Galapagos....) and has another travel agent that he uses. Again, priceless, especially when it involves such far off places.

 

[metsno1]

But only after letting them develop a quote on their own first. When I first made contact with the TA, I told him that I had put together a package online, and I was hoping that he could beat it. I showed him exactly what I had put together, including my free dining package and airfare, and then let him put something together. As it happened, his quote was exactly the same as mine.

I'm not sure about anybody else's experience, but I don't know of any smaller, local agents that have access to the kind of perks that the larger Disney specialists have. I would find it very hard to believe that you would do any better using a local agent as compared to doing it yourself. Like I said, the only reason we went with the agent was so that we could pay cash. It actually created one minor problem for us during the process. Because the agent had made the reservation, we couldn't access it online, or speak to Disney directly ourselves. All of our communication then had to go through the travel agent. That was a bit of a pain when we decided we wanted to make changes.

 

[metsno1]

For WDW, she is priceless. She went and made all of our ADR's for our upcoming trip. Then we had to reschedule and she went and redid the ADR's. She keeps in touch with us too. In addition, with an AAA package, we get a free diamond parking, discount card for some places (the only one I use is World of Disney), and other perks like story time at MK, discounts on sea raycers, mini golf, Planet Hollywood, a free 5x7 photo from Photopass, etc. Well worth it!

Now my dad does at least 2 international touring trips each year (China, Vietnam, Africa, Anarctica, Iceland, Egypt, Amazon, Macu Pichu, Galapagos....) and has another travel agent that he uses. Again, priceless, especially when it involves such far off places.

If I had asked our TA to make our ADR's, and then make all of the changes that we eventually made, I think the poor man would have had a coronary!! He's definitely not used to someone who looks at a "reservation" as a "work in progress!"

Interesting about the sea raycers, mini golf, planet hollywood, etc. I got all of those discount coupons as well with my reservation paperwork, Magical Express info, etc. Did I get those because I went through a TA? I ask because when I went down two years ago, I did NOT use a TA and I got those things as well.

I wish I had your Dad's travel schedule!!!

If I were travelling internationally like that, I wouldn't dream of making the plans on my own. A knowledgeable TA would be priceless in those situations!!

 

[princessreilly]

It's good to see a neighbor on here! You're not too far from me. I'm in Greenville. I haven't had as much luck with TA myself. I can't complain, but still not completely satisfied. How do you go about using AAA? It seems to save people a lot of money.

We use AAA and love our agent. We travel often, and she will print out current route maps (which are binded) showing possible delay areas.

For WDW, she is priceless. She went and made all of our ADR's for our upcoming trip. Then we had to reschedule and she went and redid the ADR's. She keeps in touch with us too. In addition, with an AAA package, we get a free diamond parking, discount card for some places (the only one I use is World of Disney), and other perks like story time at MK, discounts on sea raycers, mini golf, Planet Hollywood, a free 5x7 photo from Photopass, etc. Well worth it!

Now my dad does at least 2 international touring trips each year (China, Vietnam, Africa, Anarctica, Iceland, Egypt, Amazon, Macu Pichu, Galapagos....) and has another travel agent that he uses. Again, priceless, especially when it involves such far off places.