Use travel agent or not??

[bsmartin2000]

So we have made 4 trips to the world since 1997. I have never used a travel agent before but I am now wondering if it might be easier? Can you tell me have it works using a travel agent? How much does it cost me? My problem is this time I do not have any discounts that I can apply and I have heard I will have a better chance of getting a discount if a travel agent is doing it for me. I do have Disney Visa to use.


Thanks Shelley

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi Shelley, There are definitely some advantages to using a travel agent to help plan and book your trip. Different agencies handle things differently so the only agency I can speak for is my own, Kingdom Konsultant Travel. We dont charge our clients to book a trip with our agency at all, our commission is paid by the vacation destination you have chosen. The pricing we get for your trip will be the same as you can get through Disney. Once a trip is booked, we do keep an eye out for any discount offers and typically know about anything coming out in advance so we can apply the discounted offers to your reservation based on availability. The Disney Visa card is great to use as there are some discounts that get offered to Disney Visa customers first, and the deposit must be paid with that card to qualify. Those offers all do get offered to the general public after a few days, but it is nice to get a jump on that. All payments do go through our agency and you cannot make payments on your own either by phone or online to Disney. As far as any other aspect of your vacation planning, we are as involved or not as you would like. We can make your dining reservations for you, but if that is something you prefer to do, that is fine as well. You can check in with us for ideas, suggestions or feedback on a particular attraction, restaurant, resort etc. as you would like to. All of our agents have been to Disney multiple times and would be happy to provide insight for you. I hope this information helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them and I will respond. Marie

 

[patch553]

we've been 7 times,travelling from the uk,we find that by ringing Disney and virgin atlantic direct we usually get a 10/15 percent discount,as we travel between Disney and Daytona for three weeks it usually works out better for us to do it seperatley as booking through a travel agent tends to restrict our options.but we have heard good things about kingdom konsultants and mouse fan travel from other guests,always worth a call just to compare!

 

[wannabeBelle]

Patch, Keep in mind that travel agents in the UK do have different restrictions that they work under than we do here in the US. I was working with a specific client from Europe and I was not able to get him a better deal for his DIsney stay as the agent he was working with in his country had access to packages that were not offered here in the US, but I was able to get him a better deal on the Disney Cruise. It does always pay to check all options! Marie

 

[myhappyplace]

I canNOT recommend KingdomKonsultants enough!! I was always adequate at planning my family's trips, but I find using KK to be a life and time saver. Because of my work hours and lack of computer/phone access during my job, I knew I wouldn't be able to get the ADRs I wanted, and Tammy (@Disneyfalcon) was able to get them all for me, including BoG. It just makes the process so much easier, and for this trip, we have 4 separate families going from PA and GA, and it's been a breeze! Seriously, give them a try, they're free!

 

[quirkle]

I booked all my trips for years but I used kk this year and it was great. They worked xtra xtra hard to get us free dining. They compared all the discounts and go us the best one.

 

[quirkle]

Oh and my ADRs were bookable on a Sunday morning - having someone else do it was AWESOME!11

 

[Master Yoda]

I used Kingdom Konsultants before I was an agent there and continue to use them now that I have hung up my mouse ears.

I never have to keep checking for discounts or worry if I have gotten the best deal or not. I can make a reservation and forget about it until I take the trip.

No more getting up at 6:00 AM to make dining reservations. I can sleep in while my agent bangs the phones before first light.

I have one point of contact who is a person who eats, breaths and sleeps Disney that I can reach all the time.

All for the low low price of $0. I can not imagine doing it any other way.

 

[dreamfinder]

So we have made 4 trips to the world since 1997. I have never used a travel agent before but I am now wondering if it might be easier? Can you tell me have it works using a travel agent? How much does it cost me? My problem is this time I do not have any discounts that I can apply and I have heard I will have a better chance of getting a discount if a travel agent is doing it for me. I do have Disney Visa to use.


Thanks Shelley

Shelley,

Keep in mind that the comments posted above all relate to a particular Disney focused travel agency. They tend to offer superior service to what your local travel agent may offer. Some of the general travel agents may be fine, but many don't know all the ins and outs of booking a WDW vacation. That is where a Disney specialist TA comes into play. They usually do most of the hard work for you, you just need to tell them what you want. The TA usually don't have any access to discounts that aren't available elsewhere, but they may offer a bonus for booking through them, some will occasionally offer gift cards, pins, etc. What a Disney specialist TA will often do is pay attention to available discounts, and try to get those discounts applied to your trip without you having to call and ask them to do it. Unless you want to control every aspect of your trip, there is no real harm in working with a good TA.

 

[luv]

TAs can't find discounts you couldn't find, but they will find any and all discounts that you might not find if you weren't working hard at it...if you use one that specializes in Disney (regular TAs are not usually as good.)

They cost NOTHING, so I think using one is a good idea. I've heard a lot of good things about Kingdom Konsultants and will use them when booking my DL trip.

 

[couchpotatooo]

TAs can't find discounts you couldn't find, but they will find any and all discounts that you might not find if you weren't working hard at it...if you use one that specializes in Disney (regular TAs are not usually as good.)

They cost NOTHING, so I think using one is a good idea. I've heard a lot of good things about Kingdom Konsultants and will use them when booking my DL trip.

The TA's know about the deals a week before public usually know about so they can hook you up with the deals before most can even know about them.

 

[Master Yoda]

The TA's know about the deals a week before public usually know about so they can hook you up with the deals before most can even know about them.

Not really. We might get some advance notice, but it is typically no more than "something is coming out on Tuesday" kind of info. TAs can also not book promotional rates in advance of anyone else.

 

[allgiggles]

I used to book my own trips but in 2004 I decided I was too busy to worry about constantly watching for a better rate/discount so I booked through an Earmarked Disney Travel Agent (Magical Journeys). I've been very happy with their service and have used them for every trip we've taken to Disney World over the last 10 years. I will probably never book our trips myself. I like knowing that once I book, my agent is now watching for the best deal for our family. She knows all of our family & travel details so she can quickly determine whether a room discount is better than free dining for us -- or whatever offers are available at our time of travel. And when discounts are becoming available, she has always had a few days notice of what those will be and will send me an e-mail to let me know the discount is coming and she'll apply it the day it's available. She's the one who spends hours on the phone getting the discount applied to my reservation so I don't have to do it. And one year when I accidentally gave her the wrong check-out date (I had us checking out a day earlier than I really wanted to) and didn't realize it until about 3 weeks before our vacation, she was able to get our reservation and discount extended to include that extra day even though the "book by" date for the promotion had already passed. She has also --when asked -- made great suggestions about "special things" to do when we're at Disney.

Like others have said, a Disney Travel Agent doesn't have access to any discounts that you can get for yourself. The advantage is that they may know about discounts that you haven't found and *they* will spend the time getting those discounts applied to your reservation. Using an agent gives me the peace of mind of knowing that I'm going to get the best discount available and *I* won't have to be the one looking for it.

 

[JillC LI]

More praise for Kingdom Konsultants. You can rely on them as much or as little as you like. I am a control freak and do not like to relinquish control over making my own ADRs, but I find it very helpful to have KK price and book my trip and apply any discounts that are released.

 

[couchpotatooo]

I have used Castle Dreams Travel and have had a good experience with them.

 

[luv]

The TA's know about the deals a week before public usually know about so they can hook you up with the deals before most can even know about them.

I'm not sure where you got that information, but am not sure it is accurate. People who keep up will know when the TAs do.

The TAs will always know, though, so you don't need to keep up.

 

[Hot Lava]

I have also used KK and have had a very good experience. I had a lot of changes associated with my plans and ultimately a cancellation. And when I did have to cancel, it was really good not to have to deal with all that myself at that time. In any event, it has been great working with KK.

It does merit to repeat that you need to go with a TA that is Disney specific or very well trained/versed in Disney. I have seen stories around (not just here) about people being very unhappy with TAs they have used that were not geared toward Disney. So while I haven't really had experience with that, I have had very good luck with using a Disney geared TA (KK for me, but there are also other well regarded ones out there).

It will save you time and legwork.