Disney people: What are the benefits of a travel agent?

[mrshandy]

So we're planning a fall Disney trip over Halloween weekend. I've been working with Disney travel agent. She gave me some quotes for three resorts, cheap, medium, and expensive. I like the Carribbean Beach. But I'm confused what the benefits of a travel agent. I can build the same package she offered me for like $100 cheaper online.

Am I missing something? She hasn't been the best about answering questions or explaining things. Very brief and doesn't answers all the questions. Do I just not have a good agent? There's no fee from what I understand. Do fee-based ones do a better job?

Thanks!

[redheadk]

There are plenty of free agents that do a great job.

For me, my agent helped me select the best resort for us based on certain criteria, made our restaurant reservations for us, and would have booked fast passes, I think, but I wanted to do that. She also sent us a really nice packet with everything and had great tips for us. It made the trip very easy.

She would have suggested itinieraries but I did those myself. Between my sis running the 1/2 marathon and a toddler, we wanted to plan our days ourselves. She did look over everything to make sure everything looked doable and had some good tips for me (stop and get a fast pass after these rides for this ride, etc).

I know Brie has an agent she really liked, too, and he's free. If you are interested in mine, this is her Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmandaHarris.OfftoNeverland. She's a former cast member, too.

[ssmjlm]

I spoke with the same one Brie used and he was responsive and super helpful. His pricing was right around what we were thinking, but we ended up renting DVC points just due to the size of our party.

www.facebook.com/#!/JohnsJourneys

[Brie]

That's weird.

I had a great experience with John. He made all our FastPass and meal reservations for us (at midnight!) and would call Disney any time there was an issue. We switched our entire reservation to qualify for free dining and he sat on hold for hours to do so for us. He also made suggestions of rides and shows he thought C would like.