Is working with a travel agent worth the extra money

[Marionnette]

Finally received my quote from Dreams and was less than what I could get myself and the other quotes I got from different agancies. Went ahead and booked today my late February 2017 vacation.

I don't think that Dreams gets any kind of special pricing, so make sure that you're getting exactly the same thing that you were looking at on your own (std. room vs.. preferred?, number of days on the tickets? hoppers? water parks?, type of dining plan - if you were considering one).

Using Dreams will be great if you want a TA that will look for discounts for you, book your ADRs and FP+ reservations and arrange DME. But they also control the reservation up to the day that you check in. You will be able to add it to MDE and change ADRs/FP+ if you like but any changes that you want to make to the actual reservation must be made by the TA. This can be frustrating for some people because you essentially ends up doing emails back and forth or telephone tag with the TA assigned to you.

 

[Disneyaddict1973]

If you are the sort who likes to ....*ahem*, adjust things within your trip, do NOT use a TA. I tried that route. Then one night, 3AM. Massive insomnia I searched wdw.Com and found the deluxe I LOVE for $88.00/day cheaper than the mod we already had booked, Yup, couldn't change it myself, had to wait till TA called me back, deal sold out by then. I was told i couldn't call Disney and double book either. If you're a set in stone planner, it can't hurt to use a TA. Good luck!

 

[Eighty8Keys]

I agree, if you tend to make a lot of changes, then a TA is probably not the way to go. By the time I contact our TA, we've already booked our flights, and decided on our resort. We only use her for resort reservations and Magical Express. Before online ADR's were possible we had her make those for us, but now we do our own ADR's and FP+. I do like that she watches for room discounts and applies them if we are eligible. We budget for rack rates and then if a discount comes out, it's icing on the cake. We've used the same TA for our last four trips over the past 8 years and have been very happy with her. A couple of times the dates of our trips coincided with special room blocks that her agency put together that saved us about 20% off rack rates at POFQ.

 

[sunflare]

If you are the sort who likes to ....*ahem*, adjust things within your trip, do NOT use a TA. I tried that route. Then one night, 3AM. Massive insomnia I searched wdw.Com and found the deluxe I LOVE for $88.00/day cheaper than the mod we already had booked, Yup, couldn't change it myself, had to wait till TA called me back, deal sold out by then. I was told i couldn't call Disney and double book either. If you're a set in stone planner, it can't hurt to use a TA. Good luck!

Who told you that you couldn't double book? I do it all the time if I see a better deal than my TA got me online. Then, I call my TA in the morning and transfer the reservation to them, and have them drop the other one. That way, they still get the credit for it.

 

[trambach]

It's great having a travel agent. Mine doesn't charge anything since they are authorized by Disney. I'm a control freak when it comes to planning and I love to make sure I get in all the details. The only difference with having a travel agent handle your reservation is you can't modify or adjust the dates without going through them. Since my dates are set, I don't have a problem with this.

I was able to book my own ADRs if If I wanted, All my FastPass+ if i wanted, or if I wanted to book any tours on my own I could, which means also waiting on hold with Disney

A travel agent works for you to make sure that your vacation is the best it can be, constantly checking for discounts, giving you expert advice from personal and client experiences. Also someone that you can talk to that enjoys Disney as much as you do.

Since it's no cost to you, why not help out someone who makes a living by doing this? They get paid by Disney not you, it's a win win. I've had the same agent over over 3 years and it becomes like a relationship, they know all my preferences and request. And if something bad happens during your trip you have someone to call who will work to make sure everything is taken care of.

P.S. My agent saved me over $500 on this upcoming trip and got me an ADR for BOG dinner exactly at the 180 mark as soon as reservations opened. Also instead of myself waking up at 4am PST to book my Fastpass+, my agent got all of the ones I wanted, while I was still sleeping!

 

[tinka-belle]

As to getting higher quotes from many agencies, I will say that pricing depends on what room category is open, what promotion is applied, and if the TA is using Disney directly or another vendor like the aforementioned Southwest Vacations. TAs all have access to the same inventory and pricing (except for those few who hold blocks of rooms at group rates) at any given time, but getting quotes even a few days apart can affect what promotion or inventory is available, thus the pricing difference. Some TAs are just better at this than others.

If a TA is working directly with Disney, is well versed in Disney trips, looking at the same inventory, applying the same promotion, adding taxes and the same features (park tickets, dining plan, etc.) their rates should be exactly the same. Not all TAs are well versed with the ins and outs of a Disney vacation so may not know to look for promotions, others may include the trip insurance in their quotes as a matter of agency policy. If they look at availability a few days later prices and availability certainly CAN be different due to new or expired promotions or room category availability.

My point is, all things being equal a TA quote should be consistent with others as long as they are pricing apples to apples.

 

[Steelers0854]

A good travel agent is worth their weight in gold. For people that don't like to use them my thought is that you haven't had the right one. The TA takes care of every detail for me, if something is wrong I send a quick email and she resolves it with Disney or any other company that we are using. If I want to change anything at any point in time I send another quick email and it's done. I still control my vacation 100% but I don't have to wait on hold, argue with anyone it's one and done. Plus I usually get better prices, for cruises OBC, and a great experience. It really helps when planning. I send a range of dates, a general idea of where I want to stay (moderate resort etc), or any other details and I get multiple options completely priced out for me to choose from.

So for me, I will always use a good travel agent.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

I used a magical agent for my travels and they offered a better deal than I was able to get from the Disney promotions. I also used him to set my original ADRs, but booked my own FP+ and made changes, both through him and on my own, as the trip got closer. Our next trip will probably be at the end of next August, and I will definitely use that agency again because they have awesome deals for the weeks around Labor Day.

 

[aprilgail]

We personally always use a TA. A Disney authorized agent does not charge you, they are paid by DIsney. Here's one of the main reasons I like it. Once booked, my TA checks daily to make sure when discounts come out or free dining and makes the changes to get me the best possible deal there is. I do not have the time to constantly check for better discounts and so on. Also, at my 180 day mark they made all my adr's (dining) and I did not have to worry about it. My TA takes care of everything tickets, airline, special events and it makes my life so much easier. We spent about an hour phone call planning and they did the rest. So worth it to me!!!

I agree- I can't tell you how much money I saved by using Dreams- every time I have booked with them it was something- for the cruises it was the shipboard credit plus they would check for discounts all the time and one day I would get an email saying "great news some promotions were released and your cruise price is now down 900.00!" Same with Disneyworld- we just went in April and one day I got an email saying they got me upgraded to a better room plus hundreds cheaper! They made all my dining reservations and with the Disney APP I could just switch them if I wanted to or make my own new ones.

Finally received my quote from Dreams and was less than what I could get myself and the other quotes I got from different agancies. Went ahead and booked today my late February 2017 vacation.

You wont be sorry- Dreams Unlimited is great!

 

[CatNipRules]

I love my TA. She handles even the littlest detail for me.

And on our last trip we had an issue with our suitcases being delivered to the wrong resort. The front desk was no help, so I called her and she had it taken care of for us right away. We went to Downtown Disney and by the time we got back our suitcases were there.

Just a side note: Go figure this one. We used Magical express and there was someone on the bus with us with the same exact name. So, our luggage was delivered to their resort. A minor hassle that was taken care of for us by a wonderful TA....