Travel Agent Fail

[Lee23]

I've had it with the TA I am using for my trip that starts tomorrow.

I have never used a TA before, but I haven't been to WDW in almost seven years. I thought with the advent of Magic Bands and the My Disney Experience stuff it would be beneficial to have an expert on hand.

Turns out *I* am the expert on hand.

This is how it started:
TA was unable to book us in the same hotel for all our nights. We're only there Saturday-Wednesday and didn't want to do a split stay.
With no other options, we agreed to one night at POR, and 3 nights at CBR.

I look every day. Every. Day. on the Disney website for rooms to open up.
Over the past 2 months:

• I found a better fit at POFQ, immediately asked her to change the room. She never got back to me. So I booked it myself, asked her to cancel the POR and filled out a form to transfer the booking to her (even though I did everything).
• I found the same room category at CBR. I contacted her. Nothing. I didn't rebook again. I thought there was no way she could miss it again... wrong.
• I found a room at POP. She said WDW couldn't find any rooms when she called. By the time she got back to me, they were gone for me too.
• I found the same category room this morning. Emailed the TA. No response. Go into a meeting, come out, no response. Room still available for me to book. I'm unsure how close to check-in I can modify, so I call 407WDisney. Tried to change the reservation. Spent 30 mins on hold with WDW reservations only to have them tell me they could do absolutely nothing for me since I had booked with a TA.
• Email her again, asking her to please change the reservation to a Standard room. It will save me $50, and maybe we won't have to move rooms after one night and can combine the reservation.
• Wait.
• She calls. Says she will try.
• An hour later, I get an email saying she's sorry but she couldn't get it.

Someone. ANYONE. Please tell me... What the ever loving heck is the upside of using a TA???
All I wanted was someone to tell me how to get Magic Bands! I told her from Day 1 that I wanted to NOT move rooms/resorts. I check-in tomorrow! It's not like she can just start trying now.

I'm just sick to my stomach. It's not even the $50 or the time I wasted this morning. It's more that I feel that she's taken advantage of the fact that I really didn't need her help at all.

Learned my lesson the hard way. Feels good to get that out! Upside is, we have rooms, we are booked and we leave in less than 24 hours!
Now, on to celebrating Day-Before-Disney

 

[KayaWildfire]

I've never felt the need to use one unless they have some sort of extra discount or convention type rate that can be booked. They can do the same things I can. If you find a decent TA, they actually look for rooms for you, apply discounts, help with booking fastpasses and dining, etc. Sounds like yours stinks, but I hope you have an awesome trip!

 

[sponica]

Did you use a TA that specialized in Disney or just a regular old TA?

Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20. But once you found the POFQ room, you might have been better off just cancelling with her outright....if you're going to do your own stalking of discounts, there's no real upside to using the TA. But like I said, hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Ecomommy09]

I feel you. Did she do FP for you and ADR at least? I am way too controlling for a TA

 

[Lee23]

I've never felt the need to use one unless they have some sort of extra discount or convention type rate that can be booked. They can do the same things I can. If you find a decent TA, they actually look for rooms for you, apply discounts, help with booking fastpasses and dining, etc. Sounds like yours stinks, but I hope you have an awesome trip!

Thanks!

 

[Lee23]

Did you use a TA that specialized in Disney or just a regular old TA?

Hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20. But once you found the POFQ room, you might have been better off just cancelling with her outright....if you're going to do your own stalking of discounts, there's no real upside to using the TA. But like I said, hindsight is 20/20.

A Disney-specific TA.
The kind that are "Fans" of Mickey Mouse, if you know what I mean.

Ha! I'm definitely a discount stalker! I love that!

 

[Lee23]

I feel you. Did she do FP for you and ADR at least? I am way too controlling for a TA

They do that?
No! I did my own.
Was not offered the option.

 

[Ross Kratter]

I feel horribly that you had such a poor experience. If you do feel like using a travel agent again next time, I've had nothing but excellent experiences with Dreams Unlimited Travel. I have used them several times this year.

 

[Ross Kratter]

They do that?
No! I did my own.
Was not offered the option.

Dreams Unlimited does do that, as well as constantly check back for discounts, all at no cost to you.

 

[Lumpy1106]

The only TA I have ever used was at AAA - HIGHLY recommend, and it's free for AAA members. We booked a cruise through them and we didn't have the first clue about cruises so it was a tremendous help. Would I use a TA for a WDW trip? If this was my first time, yes. Now that I know what I am getting into? No way. Just like the OP, I feel like I would be constantly tweaking reservations and doing it on my own anyway, so why bother?

 

[Ecomommy09]

They do that?
No! I did my own.
Was not offered the option.

That’s like the only real reason to use a TA; so they’ll get up at 6 and make reservations.

 

[Lee23]

I feel horribly that you had such a poor experience. If you do feel like using a travel agent again next time, I've had nothing but excellent experiences with Dreams Unlimited Travel. I have used them several times this year.

That makes me feel better. I'm glad it's an isolated incident. In truth, I felt like I was kind of painlessly paying it forward, you know? Like, it's not costing me anything to use a TA, but they'll get something out of it, so why not?

 

[SaintsManiac]

You just got a bad TA.

 

[Lee23]

That’s like the only real reason to use a TA; so they’ll get up at 6 and make reservations.

Son of a gun! Who knew?

 

[Kaleidodad]

We use our TA for non-DVC visits just because we have a great relationship with her and like to give her our business: she responds quickly to every call/email/text (even while on her own birthday cruise!) and she's great at getting our preferred ADRs and FPs while I sleep in past 7 AM on those days. I am still our primary WDW planner, but it's nice to have her expertise on hand too.

 

[SG131]

I have a dreams agent for disney cruise line. That agent also helped me with a super last minute trip to DL and was wonderful. I used a travel agent (not dreams) prior to DVC once for WDW since I hadn't been there in awhile. She let us down a bit in the discount department and booked us the wrong thing. I specifically told her to book free dining not room only even if it was more expensive because there was a good chance I would have a foster placement of two kids (which I did) by the time came and the free dining would then be cheaper. Ah well, we still had a great trip, but I much prefer to be in control of my WDW reservations after that. I also have a tendency to change my plans quite frequently, so I don't have the patience to wait for a TA every time I want to shift dates slightly or change my mind on hotels.

 

[Donzie]

You seem like a lot of us on this blogsite. Way too excited and involved to need a TA for trips to Disney. A big part of the fun of the trip is the planning, changing and tweaking of the trip (whilst visions of Mickey and Minnie dance in our heads).

No one watches your money and time like you will do for yourself. Good for you in trying to save money and have a terrific time. Any question or discount you could ever have or think of is here in some format.

Good news is your going to Disney as an active participant in all phases of your vacation.

 

[SteveH]

I’m sorry about your experience. In the past we’ve done most of our own bookings, this go around we used a “Authorized Disney Vacation Planner” but beyond that the couple is very experienced travelers beyond just Disney. But as Disney nerds (DVC, D23, etc) they really get Disney. They go into the parks on a regular basis and not just staying for part of a day, they stay onsite or in nearby hotels so they know what the tourist is dealing with too.

They helped us plan our entire trip, but they did the leg work. Made our ADRs (got every thing we wanted at some perfect times) and got our FP+ too. They gave us some great recommendation like taking a Carriage Ride on Valentine's Day! Their communication was always good, though like any busy person I did need to check in a couple of times. During our first day we were having issues with our PhotoPass photos showing up and all I had to do was text and it got resolved.

Not all Disney Travel Agents are created equal, anyone can call themselves one but IMHO you need to find out what type of experience they have. At this point, I wouldn’t plan another trip without them. We’re already talking about a trip to Hawaii or the Caribbean, and I plan to use them.

 

[sponica]

A Disney-specific TA.
The kind that are "Fans" of Mickey Mouse, if you know what I mean.

Ha! I'm definitely a discount stalker! I love that!

Chalk it up to a lesson learned? Next time around either just do your own discount stalking or find a better TA/agency.

Travel agents are supposed to make our lives easier, not drive us batty.

 

[AngiTN]

I've had it with the TA I am using for my trip that starts tomorrow.

I have never used a TA before, but I haven't been to WDW in almost seven years. I thought with the advent of Magic Bands and the My Disney Experience stuff it would be beneficial to have an expert on hand.

Turns out *I* am the expert on hand.

This is how it started:
TA was unable to book us in the same hotel for all our nights. We're only there Saturday-Wednesday and didn't want to do a split stay.
With no other options, we agreed to one night at POR, and 3 nights at CBR.

I look every day. Every. Day. on the Disney website for rooms to open up.
Over the past 2 months:

• I found a better fit at POFQ, immediately asked her to change the room. She never got back to me. So I booked it myself, asked her to cancel the POR and filled out a form to transfer the booking to her (even though I did everything).
• I found the same room category at CBR. I contacted her. Nothing. I didn't rebook again. I thought there was no way she could miss it again... wrong.
• I found a room at POP. She said WDW couldn't find any rooms when she called. By the time she got back to me, they were gone for me too.
• I found the same category room this morning. Emailed the TA. No response. Go into a meeting, come out, no response. Room still available for me to book. I'm unsure how close to check-in I can modify, so I call 407WDisney. Tried to change the reservation. Spent 30 mins on hold with WDW reservations only to have them tell me they could do absolutely nothing for me since I had booked with a TA.
• Email her again, asking her to please change the reservation to a Standard room. It will save me $50, and maybe we won't have to move rooms after one night and can combine the reservation.
• Wait.
• She calls. Says she will try.
• An hour later, I get an email saying she's sorry but she couldn't get it.

Someone. ANYONE. Please tell me... What the ever loving heck is the upside of using a TA???
All I wanted was someone to tell me how to get Magic Bands! I told her from Day 1 that I wanted to NOT move rooms/resorts. I check-in tomorrow! It's not like she can just start trying now.

I'm just sick to my stomach. It's not even the $50 or the time I wasted this morning. It's more that I feel that she's taken advantage of the fact that I really didn't need her help at all.

Learned my lesson the hard way. Feels good to get that out! Upside is, we have rooms, we are booked and we leave in less than 24 hours!
Now, on to celebrating Day-Before-Disney

I've never, ever found one.
Sure, there are some good ones out there but way more awful ones. The stuff I hear is enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.