For our past two trips, we have used a
travel agent (not the one that this website works with so I won't mention any names here) that specializes in Disney Florida trips, takes many trips there themselves for training, and told us the very same thing as you said, rt2dz! I totally believe this is true!
While I really get a kick out of planning all the elements of our trip - daily itineraries, meals, tours, etc. - I go through the TA to get any real information and for the actual bookings. They don't have any special priviliges as far as getting reservations any faster than we do, BUT I think they are MUCH more knowledgable about all the options than the folks answering the Disney phone lines - and they usually have some special benefits of their own.
On our last trip, I got a PIN in the mail offering a considerable discount, and called Disney to see if I could apply it to our existing reservation - the CM was clueless, and eventally said no. So I called our TA, and she dug through the miriad of Disney call center folks until she got someone who actually knew something, and the discount was applied!
The reservations we get using them are DISNEY reservations, with DISNEY confirmation numbers, so it shows up on the website, and can be changed and added to there. And there is no charge to us for their service...LOVE IT!
I will use these folks for all our future Dis trips!