Who plans your Disney vacation?

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Princess_AmyK

Princess_AmyK

Well-Known Member
A little of both but mainly me. My mom and I have always used Magical Journeys to book the trip and keep up with discounts. This give us piece of mind that there is someone who is paying attention to prices and able to give some advice on where to stay and when. However, when it comes to the other stuff like ADR, Fastpasses, etc.. We plan that. Half of the fun is figuring out all of the details!! And not having to worry about the room and discount details, gives me more time to focus on WHAT I will do when I am there.
 
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Sans Souci

Sans Souci

Well-Known Member
I do, because my husband is too busy to do it. I am not as passionate as I was once, though. Once I'd gotten to the point of using spreadsheets, I had to take a step back. Now, I make reservations for things I think are absolutely necessary (e.g. certain restaurants and fp+) and wing the rest. My husband lives by an agenda at work, no need to do that on vacation, too.
 
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Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
I do, because nobody else in the family is capable of (or wants to engage in) juggling all of the relevant booking deadlines, tour planning, incorporating everyone's individual preferences into every decision, consulting weather forecasts, taking note of crowd forecasts, rehabs, and other changes... it's a big job. Fortunately, I totally enjoy it. Sometimes weirdness is good. :)
 
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LowesChevy

LowesChevy

Well-Known Member
Myself..I like to be in control of all of my information. It is easier to forgive yourself for a plan that didn't work so well! Things do not always go as planned, bad weather strikes, or dumb luck hits-I prefer to understand my options or be easily able to alternate my plans.

Back in the day when my mom used to do all of the planning and booking-that's simply all it was. You called and booked your room. Priority seating was generally widely available with the exception of Cinderella Castle or King Stefan's Banquet Hall as it was known. That was the hot ticket in town. Other than that you could actually make a lot of same day ressies for World Showcase restaurants.

Now the technology is far more tedious for mom. I had taken over the planning for over 10 years now, so I learned to adapt to the new technology as it was rolled out. We were even part of the MB soft launch, which was a huge advantage. I love planning as much as I love visiting though- it is all part of the experience!
 
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Herdman

Herdman

Well-Known Member
I do most of the planning and actual booking, but my DW and DD are both involved as to where we eat and what attractions we want to visit. I plan our other vacations as well. I really think I would love being a travel agent and planning people's vacations for them.
 
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wannabeBelle

wannabeBelle

Well-Known Member
As @Master Yoda put it, some agents know the species of trees used in the hub at the MK others are pretty sure Disneyworld is somewhere in Florida. It does depend on the agent in question, although certain agencies such as KK are very picky about the agents they choose. It all depends and you do need to be a bit selective as well. You need someone who you are comfortable with and have some trust in their opinions. Marie
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Planning it...I do that. The number of trips I have taken to WDW is in the three digit range so I know what I want to do, where I want to eat and so on. Now when it comes time for me make my first trip to the Mecca known as DisneyLand, my travel agent will be very involved in the planning because she knows the place first hand while my knowledge is strictly academic.

Booking it....@wannabeBelle, my agent at KK, does all that.

Why on earth would I want to be online at 6:00 AM getting dining reservations or on hold with Disney at 7:00 AM trying to book the latest promotion that I had to search for every day for for 2 months when I have a travel agent that will do all that for me for the low, low price of $0?
 
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DarthVader

DarthVader

Sith Lord
I do all the planning. I prefer having the control of all the details.
I remember years ago, I did a Jetblue getaway and while we had a nice time, there was a screwup with our meal plan. We paid for it, but Disney was not seeing it.. I couldn't call/talk to anyone at Disney but I had to work through my travel agent (jetblue). They eventually got it straightened out after several hours, but it was stressful enough that I now make sure I'm the one responsible. If there's a mess up, its on me.
 
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Disney4family

Disney4family

Well-Known Member
I do and I love every minute of it - even getting up early to book things.
We started with a family friend who is a travel agent - actually it was 2 agents who are married. We were told it would be easier and better that way. We had asked for All-Star Sports. Our agents booked us at the Caribbean Beach Resort because they liked it. Yes, it was nice, but not what we wanted. I also questioned a lot about our meal reservations. We had a very nice time (how could you not at WDW), but I wished I had called WDW directly to fine-tune things.
The second trip came around. It was a biggie. My mom wanted the whole family to enjoy the holidays there together. (We didn't know it at the time but my dad's Alzheimer's was getting worse. My mom kept a lot from us about it.) She used the same agents. I remember asking where our Magical Express tags were. Never got an answer until a few weeks before the trip. Our agents told us Disney was updating their computer system and couldn't process anything so we won't be receiving our tags. I thought - 1) It's Disney, 2) We're staying deluxe (The Contemporary), 3) It's the holidays. Found out they were away on their own trip somewhere and never did anything for ours. I grabbed my DME info from the last trip and called the number. The most helpful CM (aren't they all?) told me not to worry. He connected me with someone who FedExed our tags from NYC (I guess since we live on Long Island). I also called the dining number and started to play around with the meal reservations.
That was it. I've done it all myself since then. I've helped a lot of friends & co-workers plan, but only if they ask. I don't act as their agent. I just show them the magic and fun that awaits them and their families and let them enjoy the planning. :happy:
 
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KikoKea

KikoKea

Well-Known Member
DH decides on the dates (since he has to work around his job) and makes the hotel reservations since he's retired AF and we stay at Shades of Green. Otherwise, I have a lot of fun planning out the rest of our trip. But, I do consult with him about which ADRs he might like and we spend many happy moments going over my plans, FP+, news about WDW, etc. Next trip in Nov, however, I'm going to surprise him with an ADR somewhere. It's our house hunting trip for our move to the area so we'll celebrate.
 
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Dawg4Mickey

Dawg4Mickey

Well-Known Member
Like a good portion of those above have said, I do the planning for the Trip, book the room, the flight, and the ADRs (though I do discuss this with the DW, as there are some places she does not want to go). I get super excited with the planning portion, probably to the point where my DW wants to shoot me, but I think the planning is part of the fun and just count down the days until we can go finally. (148 days and counting)
 
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oneillkat

oneillkat

New Member
I love planning myself. It's definitely half of the fun for me! I get so into it that I make binders and folders. I like the feeling of having complete control of our itinerary as well.
 
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sophie_the_pooh

sophie_the_pooh

Well-Known Member
Tinkerbella16 said:
ME!!! I live for planning our WDW vacations. My family loves WDW as much as me, but they would rather me take the wheel on everything. They know I love making our ADR's and FP's lol. They always joke around with me about it. My Mom loves reminding that the only time I'm REALLY happy, is when I'm planning a Disney trip. :D:p:D
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Exactly the same for me! My husband says the thing he likes the most about a WDW trip is how happy it makes me all year long! I just love testing different personnalized touring plans on touringplans.com, deciding which restaurants to try and getting up early for ADRs, staying up late for FPs, making packing lists and shopping for what's missing on those lists...:inlove:
 
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bee

bee

Well-Known Member
DW likes to have input but doesn't like to sit at a computer or on the phone and book things. So I do most of the research, present her with a few options (resorts, ADRs, FPs, etc.) and then when we decide I do the actual booking. Big things like dates we pick together and we usually fly Southwest so she trusts my judgment in selecting the best flight times.
 
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