Using a travel agent/Disney planner? Should I?

[ChristopherFamily]

So here is the honest truth.... I like control. I like to know that I did everything I could to get the fast pass/dining, etc that I could get. With that being said... Are there perks to using an agent?

I am planning a trip for December 2020. We get the military discount on resort & tickets so I'm not sure if the agent can get us a better price. We are driving so no air travel to worry about. I have a friend who is an agent but worry if I use her I'm 1) gonna bug her to death 2) be angry if she doesn't get something I wanted for dining/fast pass.

So PLEASE tell me is there something the agents can find discount, perks wise that I won't be able to?

I haven't been to WDW in 8 years and my husband has NEVER been!

We will be traveling with our 3 kids (9,7,1) and plan to stay at AOA in a family suite.

Thank you!

 

[rdaky]

I think you should book it yourself. A Disney planner only has access to the same deals that the public can access.

I was just reading on another thread where an agent forgot to actually book the trip after placing a hold on it. Mistakes are possible and if it's going to upset you (it would upset me!) best to handle it yourself.

They can't book restaurants or fast passes any fast than you can. As long as you know the ropes and you know how to watch for deals, how/when to book dining, and how to prioritize fast passes (like don't waste your fast pass on Small World) then you should be fine to do it yourself. I have never used an agent and I don't find it difficult at all.

 

[Disneypro1]

We do it ourself. Too easy not to. All the codes and discounts are easy to find if you don’t get them in your own email. I have never found a reason to use a travel agent. Not just Disney. But any vacation.
So I say always do it right. Do it yourself. You can get any discount they can. No matter what anyone tells you.

 

[lorenae]

I think travel agents are great for the non-planner types or those who are brand new to WDW. But with military tickets and rates that can’t be beat, a travel agent won’t be able to do anything that you can’t easily do yourself.

 

[KayaWildfire]

Travel agents have no more information or better access to anything than you. I'm like you as well and prefer to do it all myself. And the military discount is probably the best discount out there, but feel free to check out all the offers. It is fairly easy to do so on the wdw website.

 

[ChristopherFamily]

Thank you all! I am so worried about messing it up I just don't want the trip to end up being a mess. LOL

 

[dansdad]

So PLEASE tell me is there something the agents can find discount, perks wise that I won't be able to?

Nope. The only exception is those Agencies that have convention rate rooms booked. But they come with restrictions.

 

[Hi Pluto]

I've used a TA on the last few trips and I love her. She gets the good deals or will use Disney discounts if it is cheaper. I still do all my own reservations, fastpasses, planning, etc. She offered help, I told her I got this.

You can use one for the booking process without pressure to use them for planning.

 

[kylenne]

A travel agent can be a second set of eyes. You can make all your own decisions, but have a consultant to answer questions and help with anything.

A good Disney TA is checking your reservation for deals as soon as they come out, possibly even before you wake up.

This! Our TA emailed me at 5 am when the latest discounts dropped. I was dead asleep, not on Disney’s website lol. I woke up to the message and after 5 minutes of emails she changed our Poly reservation to CL with a crazy AP discount I never would have thought to look for because CL was never on my radar.

Also, I’m busy, and if for some reason I need to call Disney for something, I don’t have time to spend forever on hold. Perfect example was on our 180 day when I ran into technical problems trying to book Savi’s and Droid Depot online. Phone hold time was obscene as usual and I had to go to work. I shot my TA a quick email and asked her to do it for me, with the card I keep on file with her, and by the time I got to work an hour later, she replied with our confirmation numbers. That was hugely convenient considering we booked for May the 4th. (Savi’s is sold out now for that day)

There is no reason you can’t be totally in control of your planning if you use a TA, good ones take the client’s lead. 99% of the time my only interaction with mine is giving her gift card numbers for our payments. But that other 1% of the time she’s really come in handy, and it cost me nothing.

 

[TheCars16]

This! Our TA emailed me at 5 am when the latest discounts dropped. I was dead asleep, not on Disney’s website lol. I woke up to the message and after 5 minutes of emails she changed our Poly reservation to CL with a crazy AP discount I never would have thought to look for because CL was never on my radar.

Also, I’m busy, and if for some reason I need to call Disney for something, I don’t have time to spend forever on hold. Perfect example was on our 180 day when I ran into technical problems trying to book Savi’s and Droid Depot online. Phone hold time was obscene as usual and I had to go to work. I shot my TA a quick email and asked her to do it for me, with the card I keep on file with her, and by the time I got to work an hour later, she replied with our confirmation numbers. That was hugely convenient considering we booked for May the 4th. (Savi’s is sold out now for that day)

There is no reason you can’t be totally in control of your planning if you use a TA, good ones take the client’s lead. 99% of the time my only interaction with mine is giving her gift card numbers for our payments. But that other 1% of the time she’s really come in handy, and it cost me nothing.

Exactly! I've gone through Magical Travel the past few trips and its been great. I tend to plan everything to the T, i will send our agent all of our ADR details and FP about a week before they need to be in and she has sent me the confirmations on everything before 6am the day of. Never had an issue with getting our requested reservations and shes always been great with any questions or changes.

 

[nkereina]

As PP mentions, there are some agencies that run "exclusive agency only" promotions, but those come with certain restrictions. All that is is a block of rooms the agency held at a group rate and they are re-selling the rooms within their block to customers at a discounted rate. But otherwise, agencies do not have special access to any other discounts or promotions.

You can book through an agent but opt to book all FPs and ADRs yourself. In fact, most agents (non-Disney ones) won't even book FPs and ADRs for you at all because there is no commission in doing that for you. The ones that will book these for you are doing so as a courtesy. So I imagine an agent would love it if you booked through them, but wanted to do your own FPs an ADRs. The benefit to booking through an agent in this case would be that the agent would be on top of upcoming promotions and will apply it accordingly to eligible clients. A second set of eyes, as PP mentioned.

I will caution that if you are the type of person who will be changing resorts, adding/changing room requests, etc. then it may be easier to book yourself. If you book through an agent, you will not be able to phone Disney yourself and all communication would need to be done through the agency.