Book thru Agent or direct?

[mapsd]

For the veterans,

Is there a concensus on the best way to book your stay?
Direct thru Disney? Preferred travel agent? on-line?

I've found that the Carribean SuperClubs have agents where the price may be the same as doing it yourself, you wind up getting free upgrades/better room location,etc by using the preferred agencies. Is it the same with Disney?

 

[shoppingnut]

I contacted KK early on what I first started to plan my WDW trip. I found them tobe very informative, knowledgable, helpful and responsive but I prefer doing it on my own. I enjoy calling Disney reservations for my hotel room and dining reservations. It's part of the magic for me. It also helps me plan in "real time". If a certain restaurant or resort is booked, I can make the appropriate adjustments right away. So, like others have said, it depends on how much work you choose to put into the planning yourself. But you can't go wrong with KK.

I use KK's, but choose to do my own dining ressie's. That is one thing I like planning. I don't like dealing with disney on the phone for the hotel stuff, they annoy me and just make my blood pressure go through the roof.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Thank you all for the glowing reviews!

We really and truly do appreciate hearing that we are doing a good job. When you enjoy your job, it makes a great difference in how you perform your job. We all have such a great love of Disney and it shows!

Thank you again!

Pam

 

[jasonchas]

I was very happy with Kingdom Konsultants when I booked my last trip.

 

[RiversideBunny]

I always book on line, directly on the disneyworld web site

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/index

but I think next time I might try Kingdom Konsultants.
They always get good reviews on here.

http://www.kingdomkonsultant.com/

 

[ThinkTink721]

For the veterans,

Is there a concensus on the best way to book your stay?
Direct thru Disney? Preferred travel agent? on-line?

I've found that the Carribean SuperClubs have agents where the price may be the same as doing it yourself, you wind up getting free upgrades/better room location,etc by using the preferred agencies. Is it the same with Disney?

We used a travel agent for our WDW trip last summer.
We booked our Sept. WDW trip ourselves.
Now that we know about the specials, activities, etc., we can book our trips more easily ourselves.
:wave:

 

[stmize]

we always use AAA and they offered to make ressies for places to eat too but like another poster said I like to make those myself. It's part of the magic.

 

[disneytopdog]

I have always booked my own trips in the past. This year I was in the process of booking my Sept 07 trip in April on the day that free dining opened to the general public. The phone lines were jammed, when I finally got but in line on hold with Disney, I gave up after 50 minutes on hold and called KK. Marie had me booked and done in 5 minutes. Got the resort I wanted. I will use them for all future trips.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I love reading about everyone's experiences in booking. I know that there are a lot of people who post on these forums that book with us and I cannot say it enough.

Thank you everyone who has booked with Kingdom Konsultant Travel. We are truly grateful!

Pam:kiss:

 

[spaceghost]

We booked through AAA for our trip in April. I was generally pleased with the service. The agent was somewhat knowledgeable, but I'm glad I did the research that I did. I basically did the planning and she did the heavy lifting of calling Disney for reservations, including dining. We got some free goodies and all of our paperwork was delivered to us in a timely manner. Overall I was pleased with the service.

The main reason that I went with AAA instead of an agent like KK was the discount. Our trip was in the 3rd and 4th weeks of April, a busier season, so I figured the non-AAA discounts would be slim pickings. If I was traveling in a slower travel season, or during the traditional time-frame for free dining, etc., I definitely would have considered another service, like KK. I am conservative by nature, and with AAA you know what your discount is up front... waiting to see if another discount may come up almost seems like gambling to me, so I went with the safe bet of AAA.

 

[cabihler]

no WRONG answer

this is like the question TO DRIVE OR TO FLY.... it depends on what you know and other factors that is tough to say. you have been toward about and excellent agent on these boards. years ago i used an agent once and belore that time and ever since i always do my own. my advice is this especially if you are new to making Disney reservations is sit down with someone who has experience and talk to them... then decide. a REAL GOOD agent will learn about discounts etc beforehand and can have leverage to make it work for you. with that said i much prefer to do it myself... i like the control and i just like doing it...the excitment of making the calls and arrangements seems to somehow extend each of my vacations.

 

[WaltzingMatilda]

I really like everything I've heard about Kingdom Konsultants.

We've used various agents in the past, depending on who was in charge of booking the extended family trip. Now I'm ready to plan one for DH, my sister, myself and my DD, who will be six when we go (I'm planning somewhere around Christmas this year). Does anyone know how detailed Kingom Konsultants gets...for example, can they suggest an itinerary based on ages and desired experience, including dining experiences? The focus of this trip will be DD, since this is really the first time she will be the only kiddo in the group...

And can they plan for things like Keys to the Kingdom Tour ( I think I have the name right??)?

I'd be thrilled to find an agent that could maximize our experience within our budget (or even a little above ), without me having to worry about getting it perfect. As much as I love doing Disney research, it would be such a relief to turn the planning over to someone else.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I really like everything I've heard about Kingdom Konsultants.

We've used various agents in the past, depending on who was in charge of booking the extended family trip. Now I'm ready to plan one for DH, my sister, myself and my DD, who will be six when we go (I'm planning somewhere around Christmas this year). Does anyone know how detailed Kingom Konsultants gets...for example, can they suggest an itinerary based on ages and desired experience, including dining experiences? The focus of this trip will be DD, since this is really the first time she will be the only kiddo in the group...

And can they plan for things like Keys to the Kingdom Tour ( I think I have the name right??)?

I'd be thrilled to find an agent that could maximize our experience within our budget (or even a little above ), without me having to worry about getting it perfect. As much as I love doing Disney research, it would be such a relief to turn the planning over to someone else.

Definately. We will customize it to what you desire. We book dining, tours, cruises. Anything you want. It's like getting concierge service absolutely FREE.

Contact me and I will take good care of you and your family.

Pam

pam@kingdomkonsultant.com

 

[imamouse]

Hooray for KK

I used to book my own WDW vacations until I found Kingdom Konsultants. Now, I give Pam and her talented team my business for each and every trip. More than once, they have worked their magic to book a certain resort for me and I have NEVER been disappointed. I especially appreciate the fact that they will monitor my reservation for a discount and automatically rebook and notify me. Such service!

As Pam is fond of saying, “You wouldn’t travel across country without a road map, and you really should not go to Walt Disney World without using a Disney Vacation Planner.” I couldn't agree more; therefore KK gets my business every time (6 trips total to WDW in 2007).

 

[pinkrose]

Thank you all for your kind words about Kingdom Konsultant! I also have enjoyed reading about everyones experiences with KK. We love what we do and as Pam said... We truly are grateful! :wave:

 

[lcsrig]

I haven't used KK but I am not doubting their expertise.
I have booked our last four trips with Mouseearvacations.com. Chet has done an amazing job making sure that we have the best vacation possible. We even got to meet him on our last trip!
Had to plug.

 

[sboyd1972]

We also used mouseearvacations for our trip in February. It was great having our agent (Sally) take care of all the details for us since we really didn't know what we were doing. She even watched for upgrades and would call us when one would fit our schedule. We are planning a trip next year and will without hesitation be calling on her again.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

As someone stated before, if you work with an agency that specialize in Disney or an agent who really knows Disney, it will go much smoother.

With the variety of resorts, restaurants and recreation to choose from it is extremely overwhelming for someone to plan their vacation especially if they have never been before.

I know that first and foremost I make sure that all of my agents make sure that our clients understand all of the components of their package and are knowledgable enough to answer their questions.

They must all complete the College of Disney Knowledge courses also. I want them on top of their game. I won't accept anything else.

Hopefully with all of the input about using an agent versus not has helped the original poster of this thread.

Again, thank you to all of you who have posted such wonderful comments about my agency/agents. We love what we do and it shows!

Pam:kiss: