Using a Travel Agent vs Booking Yourself

[The Mad Hatter]

Has anyone used a Disney travel agent such as Dream Come True Vacations, or AAA to book a WDW vacation?

I was curious if an agent could get me a better deal than booking a vacation myself?

Thanks

[Phonedave]

Originally Posted by The Mad Hatter

Has anyone used a Disney travel agent such as Dream Come True Vacations, or AAA to book a WDW vacation?

I was curious if an agent could get me a better deal than booking a vacation myself?

Thanks

I usualy book myself, but my sister-in-law does the following. She puts together a package on her own - Airfare, lodging, tickets, etc. and spells it all out in detail. Then she goes to a travel agent and says "can you beat this?" Most of the time they do, although not by anything super outstanding - $30 to $40 a person, but still, with a family of five, thats $200.

-dave

[CUatDL]

Originally Posted by Phonedave

I usualy book myself, but my sister-in-law does the following. She puts together a package on her own - Airfare, lodging, tickets, etc. and spells it all out in detail. Then she goes to a travel agent and says "can you beat this?" Most of the time they do, although not by anything super outstanding - $30 to $40 a person, but still, with a family of five, thats $200.

-dave

That sounds like an outstanding idea! I usually book myself, and it works out pretty good, but...

Having a travel agent to run inteferance for you if things do not go as planned can help out. Someitmes resorts, airlines and such are more likley to listen to a travel agent as they know that if they P.O. too many travel agents it can affect their business.

Just MHO, YMMV (Ask Wolfy)

CU@DL

Andy

[DreamComeTrueJoe]

Originally Posted by The Mad Hatter

Has anyone used a Disney travel agent such as Dream Come True Vacations, or AAA to book a WDW vacation?

I was curious if an agent could get me a better deal than booking a vacation myself?

Thanks

IF you follow the Disney deals that are released on a day to day basis, check MouseSavers.com religiously for the latest deals and discounts, know the ins and outs of booking room-only vs a Magic Your Way package, and if there are any deals out there to be had - the price you get by calling Disney or using their website will be exactly the same as what you get by using a Disney Specialist travel agent.

These agencies make it a point to keep on top of the latest deals on a daily basis - many will even apply a discount to your existing reservation if it applies when it is released.

There are 2 exceptions to this:

1 - AAA has a contract with the Walt Disney Travel Company to be able to sell rooms at a discount - they can also offer this room discount as part of a Magic Your Way package - a non-AAA travel agent can only book a AAA discounted room only reservation. AAA discounted rooms are not always available, be sure to check the numbers.

2 - some agencies will block a group of rooms (10 rooms minimum) and offer a group rate on the room, this discount is usually similar to the AAA discount (10-20%)

Travel Agencies offer many free services that you would normally do on your own when booking your own vacation - recommending and making advance dining reservations, arranging airport transfers, recommending touring plans, room types and locations, special events, etc.

It depends on if you have the time or inclination to do all of this work yourself - travel agents offer a service - they do the work so you don't have to.

-Joe

[wolfy]

I always use my Travel Agent (oh, that's my hubby)!

Seriously if trouble arises like in it did in Denver last week, it sure is nice to have an Agent to handle it. We were only able to help the people we actually booked. The others were told to call their Agent, and we normally are their Agent, but they did not book their flight with us this time, so our hands were tied. We had to tell them to call who ever they booked with. Most of the time the response was "but that could be hours"!

A lot of times we just try and beat rates found on the Internet by our clients, sometimes we can, and sometimes we can't.

Just depends if you want access to a human in a reasonable amount of time if a problem does happen while traveling.

[DisneyPrincess4590]

We got a quote from disneyworld.com for our June 2006 trip. Then we got a quote from AAA. They were the EXACT SAME THING! I think AAA books through the Walt Disney Travel Co., or some connection like that...

[DreamComeTrueJoe]

Originally Posted by DisneyPrincess4590

We got a quote from disneyworld.com for our June 2006 trip. Then we got a quote from AAA. They were the EXACT SAME THING! I think AAA books through the Walt Disney Travel Co., or some connection like that...

Yes, they do, AAA calls WDTC just like all other agents do.

Either all of the AAA discounted rooms were sold out for your dates and resort, or the agent forgot to ask for the AAA rate.

Be careful, some AAA agencies automatically add travel insurance or a booking or cancellation fee.

-Joe

[dbm20th]

Originally Posted by DreamComeTrueJoe

Either all of the AAA discounted rooms were sold out for your dates and resort, or the agent forgot to ask for the AAA rate.

I'd just like to confirm the validity of this. We booked one year through AAA and they had some discounts left for some nights but not them all. AAA has a limited amount of deals they can hand out.

[DreamComeTrueJoe]

Originally Posted by dbm20th

I'd just like to confirm the validity of this. We booked one year through AAA and they had some discounts left for some nights but not them all. AAA has a limited amount of deals they can hand out.

For any discount, Disney only allows a certain amount of rooms per discount per resort.

Having a single night in the middle of a week/weekend with no discount would make a date range show as being unavailable with that discount - the agent would need to search each subset of dates to confirm.

-Joe

[herb2linda]

No matter which you choose, always take your paper work with you. Copies of email, reservation numbers, mail confirmations and so on. This saved me. Hotel said no way was that the price and view. I showed them the paper work and they honored it. Mind you, this example wasn't at WDW but in Key West, just the same, always take copies of paperwork with you.