Using an "Disney exclusive" TA

[mrsgthatsme]

I recently requested a quote from a well known Disney "exclusive" travel agency. Their rate was basically between 20-25% off the rate on the disney site. I could hang around and wait to see if disney eventually offers a Room Only discount for our dates (they are not yet at this point) if there is a reason to do so... Is there any disadvantage to booking through the TA other than losing some control over making modifications, etc... without their help? Are there hidden fees or anything like that to beware of? Thanks!

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

I have used TA as well as booking myself online. You must pay through the TA vs online. I did like being able to pay Disney small amounts at a time. If you use TA you cannot see balance. TA needs to send to you. Other than that I have seen no real difference. This will be my second time with a TA, 5 trips through website and one time share rental through a chat board. No real differences for us.

 

[mommajo143]

We quit using TA...used for several trips with no problems, however the last trip we used a TA on she messed up our dates & our flights. Disney wouldn't let us do anything - everything had to go through her. It was a nightmare & once she got stuff wrong I felt panicked about everything & was constantly checking.

 

[mrsgthatsme]

Thanks. I am just a little nervous about making the booking with the TA... I am assuming you can still do all your own booking of fast passes, ADRs, etc.. and that your magic bands will still be linked to your information even when the TA makes the reservation?

 

[momof2halls]

We used a TA this time (i normally book everything online myself). This was our first time as well. I was very nervous to start with. I probably drove our TA crazy the first month we were booked because i had so many questions and wanted to ensure i could still make our own reservations for dining and FP+. She reassured me numerous times. She booked us and gave me the confirmation # and i was able to login to mydisneyexperience.com and link the reservation to our account. I could then see everything that was booked and i was able to see our remaining balance. I was not able to pay on our balance online for a month or so (it would tell me i could only pay the entire balance not smaller increments) but when we had paid about half of it off it allowed me to pay online as long as i paid at least $20 i think. I was able to continue paying online until it was paid in full. When i made our last payment the website said it had emailed our TA the confirmation that it was paid in full. It now shows a $0 balance on mydisneyexperience.com. We have 32 days until arrival and have had no issues at all. I was able to login to mydisneyexperience.com and book all of our dining reservations at 180+10 like normal and our FP+ at 60 days. We will definitely use our TA again for our next trip to be able to secure the huge agency exclusive rates. We were planning to stay at a moderate via Disney but were able to book a deluxe for almost $500 less through this TA.