Who do you book through, or do you book yourself?

[laura001]

Who do you book through for your WDW vacation, or do you book it yourself?
I have found my AAA/CAA office completely useless, so am wondering who else to use to book my resort room, dining, and passes? Do you book them separately or all together??

 

[PoohGal05]

We book through a local travel agent, which included air, hotel, and park passes. By booking everything together, you get a discount off of the room rate because you're booking as a package. The only thing we did ourselves was the ADRs. The first year we went, I read a lot of books and asked our travel agent a lot of questions, which she didn't know the answers to, as she had/has never been to WDW. That's where this board and others came in very helpful!

Who do you book through for your WDW vacation, or do you book it yourself?
I have found my AAA/CAA office completely useless, so am wondering who else to use to book my resort room, dining, and passes? Do you book them separately or all together??

 

[eblack0409]

It depends on the deal offered....for our trip 2 weeks ago, we booked through AAA...for our trip in September, we booked directly through Disney! If there's not a deal offered, we book through AAA for the room discount...if there is a deal, such as free dining, we book through Disney....whether we book through AAA or Disney, we book the room, dining, and park tickets together!

 

[Unregistered]

I use a vacation planner- they do all the work (except airline arrangements)and there is NO fee!

 

[Redwitch]

I always use my AAA Agent, sorry yours isn't helpful. I have always researched, but find AAA within dollars of anything I can get elsewhere and I like a live person if something goes wrong.
I've had problems with online sites and resolving them takes months!

 

[all4disney98]

We booked through a travel agent two times and since 2000, have booked eveything ourselves directly with Disney. We have never experienced a problem that we could not handle when booking ourselves and I just feel better on our own. Our travel agent was NOT very helpful and by booking ourselves we had more control over the price and could find the cheapest options (package some years, a la carte during other years). I know that there are agents out there that are helpful and you can count on their information and can be confident in them getting back to you. We just had a couple of bad experiences and moved on and go direct now...

 

[HappyLawyer]

i do my own booking, it's half the fun of it all

 

[BillyFeat]

I book everything myself. I enjoy doing the research. It also gives me great flexibility to change my itinerary without penalty if the need arises.

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

i do my own booking, it's half the fun of it all

Same here. I really enjoy the planning process, so for me going through AAA or a travel agency would really take a lot of the fun out of the whole process.

 

[GoingtoDisney]

We booked the resort through The Magic For Less travel agent and were able to use a AAA discount. I made our own meal reservations and airline reservations. I bought the park tickets through a ticket broker that was either recommended here or through Mousesavers.

 

[MammaNicholas]

We booked through a TA. We got a better rate than we were getting from Disney, plus a few freebies for our trip. And since our window to make ADR's opens when my office has 6000 things going on, it will be nice to have her make our ADR's for us. On the plus side, our TA is very into Disney, and has been wonderful giving us advice and helping us to make some decision.

 

[sunnymom02]

What is an ADR???? It is hard to figure out some of the abbreviation that goes on here at this board Thanks

Sunnymom02

 

[helenm29]

We have done it both ways. I have a wonderful travel agency close by that I trust who always does a great job but this time I've decided to do it all myself pretty much although I did go through Disney Travel Company so that I could get Travel Insurance...with travel the way it is and the weather being so strange I think Insurance is a MUST. You can find great prices both ways also! whatever you decide to do, HAVE FUN!

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

What is an ADR???? It is hard to figure out some of the abbreviation that goes on here at this board Thanks

Sunnymom02

ADR = Advance Dining Reservation

You call 180 days before the start of your trip and make Disney's version of a reservation at any restaurants that you would like to eat at. You don't actually have a table waiting for you when you arrive like you do with a reservation at a restaurant back home. But once you check in at the restaurant, you are put at the top of their waiting list and get the next available table.

So if you want to eat at 5:00 at Chef Mickey's, you call 180 days or less from the start of your trip. You tell them you would like to eat at Chef Mickey's at 5:00 on a certain day, and if they have ADR's available at that time, you are given a confirmation number. When you arrive at Chef Mickey's at 5:00 (or probably 5-10 minutes before 5:00), you tell them your name and you will get the next available table. It is a good idea to have your ADR confirmation number, just in case they got your name wrong or something. Hope this helps!

 

[sunnymom02]

Thank you! Where do you get the phone numbers to make your reservations . We were thinking about doing the Chef Mickey's for Supper one night with the kids. I am assuming, if you don't make your reservation time, there is no penalty. But you should have common sense to cancel for the restaurants sake. Where do you get a list of all of the restaurants that you would need reservations for? I have only heard of Chef Mickey's and a few others. Is this only for the people with the dining package? Thanks for all of your help

Sunnymom02

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

I'm glad I can help!

According to AllEarsNet.com --

"Make your Advance Reservations for Disney restaurants by calling 407-WDW-DINE (939-3463) 180 days in advance. "

I believe the policy used to be you had to make your reservation 180 days before your reservation date. But that has changed where you can make reservations 180 days before your arrival date. (But I'm sure someone here can/will correct me if I'm wrong on that point.)

You are correct that if you do not make it to your reservation, there is no penalty. But like you said, common courtesy would tell you to call and cancel so someone else could have that time slot.

Technically, you do not NEED reservations for any restaurant. But it helps ensure you don't wait 90 minutes before being seated. They are recommended for any table service restaurant. I haven't been in this board's Restaurant section much at all, but there is probably a good list of table service restaurants in there. Or AllEarsNet has a good list, too. And the ADR's work regardless if you have the dining plan or not. The dining plan just changes how you pay for your meal.

 

[mamacatnv]

My Mother in Law planned the first trip in 99/00

I planned the second trip direct thru Disney for 05/06 (didn't have a clue about discounts and paid full rack for everything)

This coming up trip I used Melissa @ Magical Journeys. She is keeping her eye out for the discounts and has been wonderful so far. I did a lot of research on TA's prior to going with MJ and have heard lots of good things about them, so far I am very impressed.

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

I haven't been in this board's Restaurant section much at all, but there is probably a good list of table service restaurants in there. Or AllEarsNet has a good list, too.

Ok, go here...http://www.wdwinfo.com/MagicYourWaydining.htm

Any resturant in the two right columns (Table Service and Signature Restaurants) should be eligible for ADR's. (But I'm not sure about ESPN and a couple other ones on there. So call to be sure.)

 

[Princess89]

I usually do all the planning myself. I pick up my tickets at the Disney Store, cause its fun lol. This trip I booked a package with the free dining through mousefantravel.com

 

[all4disney98]

Ok, go here...http://www.wdwinfo.com/MagicYourWaydining.htm

Any resturant in the two right columns (Table Service and Signature Restaurants) should be eligible for ADR's. (But I'm not sure about ESPN and a couple other ones on there. So call to be sure.)

ESPN Club does not take reservations.

I would recommend having an ADR for any restaurant that you would really like to eat at for a couple of reasons 1) like a previous poster, you may end up eating 90 minutes after you decided you were hungry and wanted to eat; 2) on our last trip we did see people being turned away for the ENTIRE evening at a few restaurants we had ADRs and ate at.

The Disney Restaurants forum has LOTS of great posts on different restaurants, ADR policies etc. you may want to check into.