Using a Disney travel agent

[heagen]

I booked our last 2 vacations myself through the Disney website. Is there any advantage to having a Disney travel agent do it for our next trip?

We are planning for end of November 2017

I was just curious of there are things I didn't even think/know of, that  travel agent could help with.

[carolinagirl831]

We use one, because there is no cost t o do so. He helped me book my character meal, when I booked so last minute there was nothing open and he found it. He reminds me of dates and will check for promotions.
so why not?

[heagen]

Jun 27, 2016 13:51:29 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

For us, the benefit of a TA is that he does our ADRs and FPs for us, so I don't have to worry about it, and I can change them up later if I want. He also keeps us up to date on the latest promotions and will change our reservation if necessary so we get the best promotion.

It's nothing I can't do myself, and probably in the future I'll just plan my own trips, but for right now, this ends up being easier.

I didn't even think about a better promotion coming along. I think I might find a TA for this trip!

Thanks!

[miss1180]

i use one, because theres no extra cost to me. They get commission from Disney... which means if you book on your own, some of your money is still going to some travel agent somewhere LOL so you might as well take advantage of their help :-) and help out a small business :-)
for me, it was nice bc our agent got up at 5:45 AM to make our dining reservations for us on the day we could start making them.... so i didn't have t do it :-) same thing with fast passes when it was our day to make fast passes. They disney agents also keep tabs on new discounts that come out and make sure they get applied to your reservation. in our case, the "Free Dining" promotion came out for when we were going. Our agent sat on the phone for who knows all long to make sure it got applied to our reservation so we got free dining :-) she also sends us little gifts for DS before we go, a printed out itinerary, some tips for our trips... its nice :-)

[TamiTaylor]

Do you have to pay all upfront if you book through an agent or can you pay in installments?

[miss1180]

Jun 27, 2016 18:17:30 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Do you have to pay all upfront if you book through an agent or can you pay in installments?

you can pay in installments. you can also still do your own dining reservations and fast passes if you want to. i think pretty much the only thing the agent HAS to do for you is make your payments, and cancel or make any changes as far as hotel or whatever...

[Amy]

Jun 27, 2016 20:11:21 GMT -5 miss1180 said:

Jun 27, 2016 18:17:30 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Do you have to pay all upfront if you book through an agent or can you pay in installments?

you can pay in installments. you can also still do your own dining reservations and fast passes if you want to. i think pretty much the only thing the agent HAS to do for you is make your payments, and cancel or make any changes as far as hotel or whatever...

Correct

[TamiTaylor]

Jun 27, 2016 20:35:48 GMT -5 Amy said:

Jun 27, 2016 20:11:21 GMT -5 miss1180 said:

you can pay in installments. you can also still do your own dining reservations and fast passes if you want to. i think pretty much the only thing the agent HAS to do for you is make your payments, and cancel or make any changes as far as hotel or whatever...

Correct

Do you have to pay half right up front? We had to when we rented points.

[Amy]

Jun 27, 2016 21:35:11 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Jun 27, 2016 20:35:48 GMT -5 Amy said:

Correct

Do you have to pay half right up front? We had to when we rented points.

No, $200 for a package or the price of 1 night with a room only. You can pay what you want whenever along the way. Most of mine just do deposit then final though.

[Amy]

Jun 27, 2016 22:06:07 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Jun 27, 2016 21:58:07 GMT -5 Amy said:

No, $200 for a package or the price of 1 night with a room only. You can pay what you want whenever along the way. Most of mine just do deposit then final though.

Can you rent points through a travel agent?

Nope

[lala]

FYI, when we rented our most recent points through Davids we did the Paypal credit option which gave us 6 months interest free to pay. I don't know if that's available to everyone but it was great b/c we locked in the studio at the Grand Californian but waited until DH got his bonus to pay for it a few months later.

[TamiTaylor]

Jun 28, 2016 7:52:42 GMT -5 lala said:

FYI, when we rented our most recent points through Davids we did the Paypal credit option which gave us 6 months interest free to pay. I don't know if that's available to everyone but it was great b/c we locked in the studio at the Grand Californian but waited until DH got his bonus to pay for it a few months later.

DVC Rental Store requires half upon booking and the final balance is due 45days before check-in.

[lala]

Yeah, I've only used David's, so I have no experience w/ DVC rental store. But good to know!

[revolution]

I'd definitely use a TA. It's at no cost to you and they do as much or as little as you want.

-last trip, we were stuck in an airport overnight due to a snowstorm and the TA called and let disney know about our delay, took care of cancelling what dining reservations had to be cancelled, and generally calmed me down that it would be ok.

-currently, we just booked last week and am now getting ready to email her my dining reservation requests. For the most part, I know what I want, but she does all of the work for me. YAY! Oh, and it was a $200 deposit per room. The rest is due 45 days before we arrive.

I'm a control freak. I have spreadsheets and research and all that nonsense. I like to plan. But it is nice to have her to make the reservations, make sure I'm getting the best prices, and know I am getting the best we can get.

[bronxgirl]

Jun 28, 2016 7:34:42 GMT -5 Amy said:

Jun 27, 2016 22:06:07 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Can you rent points through a travel agent?

Nope

this would be the only thing that I would consider using a travel agent for. Although it's probably easy, I'm still a little intimidated by the DVC rental process. Aside from that, there's nothing a travel agent can do for me that I can't do myself, so I'd rather just take care of things on my own.  That being said, I can understand why some people would find the planning tedious and rather just have someone else take care of it.