Using Travel Agency vs Planning Yourself?

[hmhs]

I've always booked online packages, but wondering if it would be beneficial in any way to use a travel agency? We want to go in October and I'm noticing a lot of the resorts are full. I feel like I'm capable of planning the trip myself (done it many times before), but just wondering if I should go another route?

How much do travel agencies usually charge? I've never used one before.

Thanks for any info!!

 

[bizeemom4]

Reputable agencies don't charge anything additional for their services. I provide custom designed travel plans for my clients, book all the ADRs and Fast Passes so you don't have to. It's all free of charge.

 

[Capang]

Using a Disney TA saved us a ton of time. We book all our trips with her even though I am more than capable of doing it myself. I enjoy planning but it is time consuming and she does all the searching for available resorts and such. Same with the ADRs, we let her know our choices and presto, it's booked.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just because you use a TA doesn't mean they do all the planning for you. When we used a TA for a WDW stay it was because we got a little deal, but she did none of the planning or arranging for me.

Some TAs will do everything and some will just book the basic trip. Know what you want from a TA and hire the one that meshes with what you want.

 

[buzznina]

We do both. If our TA is running an "agency only" special that fits in our time slot we will go with them, because they usually beat out the Disney discounts. But, we actually like doing all the searching and planning ourselves, so if our TA does not have any specials going on we will plan everything ourselves. A good example is I was looking for an ADR and when I looked there were no times available, but I checked a couple of times daily and one opened up I just do not know if a TA would be that dedicated to check a couple of times daily for an ADR.

 

[Octoberbaby]

I have always booked directly through Disney until this year. I don't think I will ever book myself again! Why? The TA has better prices and she was able to get a room for us last minute when Disney showed no availability. I still book our FP and ADRs.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Reputable agencies don't charge anything additional for their services. I provide custom designed travel plans for my clients, book all the ADRs and Fast Passes so you don't have to. It's all free of charge.

Where's the fun in that? The planning is the start of the excitement. I'll bet there are a lot of folks who really hate it though. Kudos to you for being there for them.

 

[Aerinha]

I read posts on various social media formats of people who rave about TAs and all they do for them and all the extras they get for them and scratch my head wondering if I always get the duds or others get the exceptions who are powerhouses. Every TA I have ever used has basically been me doing the trip by remote control and adds stress that doing it myself would not entail.

To keep this on topic about Disney, I will say reading a good guide book before my first grown up trip had me prepared for adrs etc. As for booking, their website, bugs aside, is pretty idiot proof. The only reason I used a TA for my upcoming trip was the huge amount their agency special saved me. However, working with her has made this trip way more of a headache than any other Dis trip.

For two weeks after booking, my tickets wouldn't show in MDE and she was just "wait and see, it is Dis they have glitches". Did they turn up? Yes, but I had the stress of daily checking because one of us had to and since it was my money on the line I did it as she wasn't going to. Her calling them would have put my mind at ease and maybe gotten them showing sooner.

To make a payment I have to contact her vs going online and doing it quickly. She rarely answers my calls and has never once returned a vmail I left. Finally she started letting me make payments via email, which worked twice smoothly but now she doesn't respond so I have to prod her. Once I get her to acknowledge me, I then have to wait for her to send me the confirmation from Dis so I have proof my payment posted. I cannot wait to pay it off so I can stop chasing her, but I am honestly nervous about arriving at the resort and learning there is a problem.

I swear using them is why I had such an adr headache. I know, glitches, but I never had it refuse to acknowledge my dates when booked through Dis. Had to be MDE not recognizing the weird conf code the agency gave me. I had been going to have her make them for me, but had a bad feeling as she didn't seem on top of things and did it myself thankfully. When I contacted her on day 180, upset because I couldn't book a thing, I expected her to tell me not to worry and take over. Nope. She would put what I didn't get (which was all of them) on a watch list. So at 7 I called and got all but two myself. I let her know and never heard a word from her about the two she was supposedly watching for me even though I got one on my own.

In short, if you can use an outstanding TA a friend has used and can vouch for, it might be worth it, but picking one blind is not worth it IMO.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I always use a Disney TA and I still plan everything on my own- do my own ADR's, book my own FP's, plan my itinerary. That's the kind of stuff that is fun and builds the excitement for me. I like using my TA because it is super easy and I can go to them with any and all questions.. If a discount comes out, they are on it at the crack of dawn and I don't have to worry about calling Disney and being on hold for hours on end. Of course my TA offers to do everything for me, I just choose to do the fun stuff myself. I have been going through the same TA since 2008, so the trust is there and the whole process of each trip has been stress-free and breeze for me, so I will continue to book my trips that way.

 

[bluezy]

I used to book everything myself, but for the last 10 years I've used a Disney TA to book our room/package simply because we usually book our trip more than 6 months in advance -- way before discounts are released for our travel dates. When discounts are released, she takes care of getting them applied to my reservation and sends me an e-mail to let me know it's done. She always contacts me a day or two before discounted rates are bookable so that we have a game plan if the discount isn't available for the specific resort/room type I've booked. I still take care of all of the planning (ADR's, FP's, etc.) but it's nice not to have to sit on the phone on hold the morning that discounts are released.

 

[Ydnameht]

I booked things myself for WDW earlier year and it was fine, but I also did it only 3 months out. I booked a trip to Disneyland for July and went through a TA, but mostly because they offered a $50 Disney gift card with the booking and hey, why pass up a free $50? That paid for my meal at Blue Bayou! I ended up doing about the same amount of work myself for both trips, aside from DL being less intensive planning to begin with.

I'm trying to plan another WDW trip for next April and considering going through a TA for that just so I have someone else who can go through the hassle of applying a discount when(if) it's released. I'll probably still do ADRs and FP+ myself. I like doing that sort of planning and I'm not sure a TA is going to want to check 3x/day for an ADR for me whereas I was totally into the (ultimately successful) hunt for a Be Our Guest dinner this year.

 

[hamilkm]

I have used an agent when there were agency exclusive deals. It was also nice that they were able to book a package with only 1 ticket for my dad since mom and I have annual passes, but if there are no special deals I prefer to book myself either straight through Disney or with Orbitz. I generally just go with whoever has the lowest price for what I want, but I book all my ADR's and FP myself because I really enjoy it! Half the fun of a Disney vacation is the planning! (I do realize many do not share this opinion. I have always been an OCD planner about most things. I also do know I have a problem,lol!)

 

[5kidsmommy]

This year I was going to use a TA but I decided not to when she quoted me several hundred dollars more than the Disney site. I told her the room type, the dates, the options I wanted, and all of that but for some odd reason she said it would be more. I decided I'll just do it myself. I'm a bit of a control freak so I don't think I could have my plans in someone else's hands anyhow, so it probably worked out for the best.

 

[happymommy]

I'm also a bit of a control freak, so I do all the booking of our many vacations (to Disney and elsewhere).

I've only used a travel agency once for DIsney, but really it was Orbitz, so an online one! The reason was that on top of the 30% off, they were offering an extra 15% off of our BWI room. It all worked out to save us money, and I was still able to be in charge of it all on MDE.

Other than doing that, or any other agency that gets blocks of rooms and is able to pass the extra savings on to you, I don't see a point. I book my own flights, too, never have in my life used a travel agency for that (okay, maybe I did once for one ticket 24 years ago, but he was my parents' travel agent back in the day, and they did a lot of international travel so he got them flights to Japan a lot at a discount).

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I've always booked online packages, but wondering if it would be beneficial in any way to use a travel agency? We want to go in October and I'm noticing a lot of the resorts are full. I feel like I'm capable of planning the trip myself (done it many times before), but just wondering if I should go another route?

How much do travel agencies usually charge? I've never used one before.

Thanks for any info!!

If you want to go in October and you are finding resorts are full in October, the only way a TA can help you is if he/she works for an agency that has a group block of rooms set aside during your travel time frame - basically any agency that is running an agency exclusive during that time frame. Otherwise, the TA you contact will be seeing the same availability in Disney's inventory that you are seeing online. You could also check Orbitz as they are a wholesaler that has blocks of rooms set aside for them as well.

With a good Disney TA, you can have as much or as little control over your FP+ and ADR's as you want. Most will do ADR's for you, some will do FP+ and some will not as, quite honestly, WDW frowns on TA's offering this service to clients as they want the guest to know how to navigate that system once they are onsite.

What you cannot control is any changes or cancellations to your reservation - the TA has to do that for you.

To the PP who had a bad experience with their TA, I would suggest contacting the owner of the agency and letting her know or even picking up the phone and letting your TA know you are stressed about your trip and would like a quicker response to communication.

 

[TeamSy]

I never use a travel agent for anything, but did for the first time this year for Disney. I still did my own planning, FP+, dining, but the agency discount was better than anything disney was offering, park tickets included! My brother and his girlfriend just paid around $700 for a 3 day ticket with water park option through Disney. We paid $700 through out TA for a 5 day ticket with water park option. You just can't beat the agency exclusive deals. I went on line and changed the address so our Magic Bands shipped to us. The only other thing aside from booking the hotel/tickets she did was arrange Magical Express. That paperwork was sent to her and she just mailed it to us.

So yes, I'll use a travel agent if there is a big enough value in doing so, if not, I enjoy doing it myself.

 

[calismic]

Like many others I do both. I've found as my life gets busier, I enjoy the simplicity of having a TA to handle all of my bookings. If a discount comes out, I don't have to jump online at midnight to try and grab a room; my TA handles it for me. If I need to add a special request, I don't need to fax Disney and hope it gets there, or spend time on hold; I just e-mail my TA and everything is done. When I'm going Deluxe and we decide to skip out on the dining plan, I will generally book myself. With the Orbitz discounts available (constant 15% off the already discounted Disney price) and the ticket discounts that can be found through various services, I find the savings is enough to handle the hassle.

 

[plainoldt]

Our agency does everything, from soup to nuts for your trip. I know of many agencies that don't. Many only book the package and give you the numbers to call or websites to book but we go the extra mile.

We create a customized itinerary specific for your family. We get up extra early to book the ADRs at 180 days+ as well as get up at midnight to book the Fast passes. We keep a wish list of hard to get tours and ADRs and check the entire list several times a day.

Honestly, I loved planning our Disney trips so much, in inspired me to open an agency. Don't get me wrong, we are a full service agency but I LOVE Disney so much that it doesnt feel like work.

 

[LilyWDW]

I refuse to use a TA. I want control of my reservation and don't want to deal with having to go through someone else to make changes. I also want to make my own ADRs and FP+ because sometimes things happen and I have to make a change to my plans on the fly. I like having that flexibility, that control.

I will also join the Facebook group for the time of the year that I am going. They are very helpful when it comes to planning and it's great having a large source of information. I will personally help other members with touring plans and itineraries for free as will many other people.

I just see zero reason to use a TA to plan a trip.

 

[BabyFu18]

This year we are using a TA for the first time, but I knew what I wanted from her before I even booked. All I wanted was for her to book our room only reservations (because the agency had a special better than anything I could get). Our TA has been great, she booked our room(s), then kept a lookout for a different resort when I wanted to change and booked that for me when it became available. Everything else I've done myself, ADRs, FP, etc. has been fine and I've been able to plan without a problem. It's been great so far and I wouldn't hesitate to use our current TA again.