bsmartin2000
Active Member
I have always booked my own trips. Can someone tell me the pros and cons of using a travel agent? What does it cost to use one?
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Travel agent or not?
- Thread starter bsmartin2000
- Start date
BAChicagoGal
Well-Known Member
I have never paid to use a travel agent, and now I use them regularly when I travel to WDW. I usually research hotel costs, and ticket costs first. I then check online availability, and prices on the official WDW website. After that I ask for a quote from an agent. The two agencies that I have used were recommended on Disney sites similar to this one. So, I knew people had great satisfaction from those agencies.
It's nice not to have to call Disney, and worry about a price. My quotes have almost always came back close to the online price.
Agents sometimes know about discounts that I have not become aware of, and they will notify you, if they think you might be interested, or qualify. Such discounts might be, free dining, or a Visa Promotion. It is also nice to have an agent when you might want to make a change. This could be adding a person on to your reservation, or switching dates, or changing a ticket to a park hopper. They can then call Disney for you, saving you the time it would take you to do it.
I am presently planning a WDW trip that begins in just 43 days, and my agent has been super. I have had to make a number of changes, and she has been wonderful. She is handling my Disney trip, and our additional stay at Universal.
Hope this helps.
It's nice not to have to call Disney, and worry about a price. My quotes have almost always came back close to the online price.
Agents sometimes know about discounts that I have not become aware of, and they will notify you, if they think you might be interested, or qualify. Such discounts might be, free dining, or a Visa Promotion. It is also nice to have an agent when you might want to make a change. This could be adding a person on to your reservation, or switching dates, or changing a ticket to a park hopper. They can then call Disney for you, saving you the time it would take you to do it.
I am presently planning a WDW trip that begins in just 43 days, and my agent has been super. I have had to make a number of changes, and she has been wonderful. She is handling my Disney trip, and our additional stay at Universal.
Hope this helps.
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normbalko
Member
I've never used a travel agent when going to WDW (other than a little assist from AAA), and I'm planning a trip for January right now, and I've been working with Summer at Kingdom Konsultants. She has been fantastic, really knows her stuff, and since this is my first trip there since all the magic band stuff, her insight and suggestions have been very helpful. She's going to book all my dining and fastpass reservations. And it doesn't cost a thing! There's really no reason NOT to use them.
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Pirate Magic
Well-Known Member
I use to book mine too!!! Now I have a great travel agent, it's for free she keeps up with all the discounts, she lets me know when there is something available and she is well known on the forums. She is "WannabeBelle". She works with Kingdom Konsultants. They are fantastic.
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JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
You have to make sure you have a TA thats really in the know about Disney things. I havent had any cons with our latest TA, but had another one that wasnt very Disney savvy. She was great about trips to other countries but wasnt up on WDW. We had to fill her in on things.
A good TA can make your life easier by doing the leg work for you. Ours was able to get things arranged for us that we couldnt get worked out. Maybe TA's carry some influence with Dis CM's that the ordinary guest doesnt have. It used to be that they were more informed about discounts or special rates and deals that would be available but now with the internet you usually can keep up on whats coming out and find out info just as quickly as they do. We continue to use a TA but we make sure we are up to date on prices and deals before we book. And using a TA over and over again, weve develop a relationship and she knows pretty much what we want each time, so each booking gets easier. She has gotten us some extras in our package that we might not have gotten had we gone on our own. I really dont have any cons other than making sure yours knows Disney well enough to serve you properly.
A good TA can make your life easier by doing the leg work for you. Ours was able to get things arranged for us that we couldnt get worked out. Maybe TA's carry some influence with Dis CM's that the ordinary guest doesnt have. It used to be that they were more informed about discounts or special rates and deals that would be available but now with the internet you usually can keep up on whats coming out and find out info just as quickly as they do. We continue to use a TA but we make sure we are up to date on prices and deals before we book. And using a TA over and over again, weve develop a relationship and she knows pretty much what we want each time, so each booking gets easier. She has gotten us some extras in our package that we might not have gotten had we gone on our own. I really dont have any cons other than making sure yours knows Disney well enough to serve you properly.
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PineapplePrincess
Well-Known Member
I've only used one once, but only because we joined DVC shortly after that. It was great...no cost to us and took a lot of pressure off of me. We used Kingdom Konsultants.
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aw14
Well-Known Member
We have used a TA for the last several trips, and it makes a world of difference imo. We tell her exactly what she wants, and she does her absolute best to accomplish. In all honesty, she has never failed with it.
Would never go any other way tbh. She takes all the stress out of it. All we need to do is our countdown
Would never go any other way tbh. She takes all the stress out of it. All we need to do is our countdown
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Kingdom Konsultant Travel are the travel sponsors on WDWMagic. We've been here for over 12 years and many of the agents can be found on here too! We do not charge a fee for using us, we watch for any discount that comes out to try to save our clients money and customer service is our #1 priority!! I personally have been booking my friends on WDWMagic for years! @wdwmagic If you have questions please feel free to contact me. pam@kingdomkonsultant.com
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ARO
Member
We used AAA once. Seemed OK, but discounts became available and she went on vacation. You are not allowed to contact Disney yourself if you booked via an agent. (I got through in a matter of minutes.) Finally got hold of a different AAA agent on the next day who claimed it took her over a day to get through to Disney. In the end we saved a couple dollars, but did not get the hotel we wanted. (it was avail when I called directly, but they couldn't/wouldnt do anything)
Can't speak for any other agency. We have fun planning and booking ourselves.
Can't speak for any other agency. We have fun planning and booking ourselves.
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Disneykings
Active Member
Done it both ways and would never book through an agent again. You loose so much of the planning, as you have to rely on a stranger to make changes etc. Part of the Disney fun is all the planning. I always book direct no mater what park we go to. Disney cast members are amazing, they can answer any question you have, make personal suggestions and give tips. I've even had one suggest this forum for up to date information and news. Not sure about in the USA, but we get free calls so doesn't cost a penny to call up and ask a quick question.
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Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
If you have a really good TA (see the recommendations above), and if you'd rather somebody else take care of the planning -- it's wonderful!
If you don't have a really good TA -- if your TA is sluggish in responding to you or lacks the time or creativity to manage your booking to your best advantage, and/or if you like to be heavily involved in the planning to the point where you're sort of looking over the TA's shoulder all the time -- then it can be a frustrating experience (for both of you!), since you will have less control over your reservation, and the TA will feel like you're second-guessing them.
If you don't have a really good TA -- if your TA is sluggish in responding to you or lacks the time or creativity to manage your booking to your best advantage, and/or if you like to be heavily involved in the planning to the point where you're sort of looking over the TA's shoulder all the time -- then it can be a frustrating experience (for both of you!), since you will have less control over your reservation, and the TA will feel like you're second-guessing them.
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I use to book all of my own stuff, but I started using Kingdom Konsultants around a decade ago. I can not imagine going back to doing it myself.
All I do now is send an email to Marie (@wannabeBelle) with my dates, dining, where I want to stay and I am done until it is time to go on the trip.
I am not stuck searching over and over again for promotions and waiting on hold to re-book or make my dining reservations. Marie does all of that for me. If a promotion comes out I qualify for she automatically re-books me. When I hit 180 days, she is the one online at 6:00 AM making my dining reservations while I am still toes up in bed.
All I do now is send an email to Marie (@wannabeBelle) with my dates, dining, where I want to stay and I am done until it is time to go on the trip.
I am not stuck searching over and over again for promotions and waiting on hold to re-book or make my dining reservations. Marie does all of that for me. If a promotion comes out I qualify for she automatically re-books me. When I hit 180 days, she is the one online at 6:00 AM making my dining reservations while I am still toes up in bed.
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Roakor
Well-Known Member
I am for the first time using an agent, Kingdom Kunsultants, Betsy is my agent. I have not had any issues making changes myself to ADRs if I wanted to. Only made one, we had wanted a lunch ADR for BOG that was already gone at 180 days so I would just log in randomly and see if one opened up. Betsy was looking too. As luck would have it one was open one day when i checked and so I booked it, no problems. I don't know if that is the norm or not but that is one thing I liked about Kingdom Kunsultants is I could still make changes on my own if I wanted too. That was a big hesitation of mine, turning over all the planing to someone else. But I have to say so far I am very pleased with the service.
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DisneyGirlNY
Member
I use a TA, but I am a rabid Disney planner and I have my excel sheets and really do everything except the actual booking. The reason I use her is: A) if a discount is announced AFTER I have booked my trip, she will be up at dawn on the announcement day waiting on hold with Disney to get all of her clients rebooked with the discount, while I go about enjoying my day, B) They agency may have a block of rooms at a discounted rate or know of some form of discount that I may not know, C) They almost always include a little extra "thank you" gift, i.e. a resort credit, a gift card, toys or autograph books for the kids, food sent to the room, etc. and D) Since she is constantly researching and booking trips, she can get the information I need quicker than I can. Also - they help with getting 3rd party trip insurance and with getting alternate arrangements if flights are delayed/cancelled or bad weather changes plans. Those are my reasons...they receive commission from Disney so there is no charge on my end to use them.
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Pirate Magic
Well-Known Member
Last year Marie re-booked me about six time until she got me what I wanted. She does all the work. She is the greatest!!!
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