Should I use a TA?

[pixiedust33]

You all were SO helpful with helping me narrow down my resort choice that now I'm back with another semi-related question. I'm looking for advice on whether I should book with a Disney travel agent and, if so, if I need to decide that before I book a room?

I am not normally a travel agent person because my favorite hobby is planning trips myself. I know Disney is super complicated these days so I have a lot more learning to do, but I find digging into stuff like this fun. My last trip was in late 2019, so I know it's totally different now, but I did a ton of research before that trip and everything went like clockwork. So, I'm very confident I can figure out everything I need to before I go.

But, I'm wondering if there are advantages that you simply can't get without booking with a travel agent, no matter how much you research? Specifically:
1) Can they access resort rooms that the general public can't and/or could they see and compare rates for dates that aren't yet on the Disney website? After research and consulting these boards, I've decided I want to stay at the Polynesian in a club level garden view room. Looking at the availability in that category for days already released, I see it seems to be VERY limited. This doesn't yet include our dates, but I'm just wondering if that means I'm picking a very in demand room category. I saw a reference somewhere that some blocks of room are reserved for certain travel agencies, and that includes Polynesian garden club. Also, our dates are quite flexible - I would ideally like to go in early March 2024 but am open to traveling in late January, February, or later March depending on when we can get the best rate/when crowds are expected to be lowest. I currently can't see rates at all and Disney also doesn't seem to have a functionality that would allow you to search a broad swath of dates to pick the best rates. Do travel agents have that functionality?
2) How much help are they with dining reservations? I've decided on my most desired TS dining reservations, know that my window is 60+ length of resort stay, and have a general strategy to book most popular/most important to me for later in the stay. We're not going for anything super popular like CRT, but I do want a few that I think will be trickier to snag. We're purposefully not going to be traveling at a super busy time (I hope) and have a 7 day stay so can book the more popular stuff for the end though. I'm generally comfortable with quickly grabbing things and checking out for in-demand drops of various products and no problem getting up at my 6am window, but do we think they would do better than me at grabbing the reservations I want?

3) Any other perks to booking with a travel agent that I'm missing? Any downsides?

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

There really isn't a downside in my mind to booking with a travel agent. Typically they work on commission so you pay nothing out of pocket.

It saves a lot of time if you are looking for very specific things for your vacation like hard to get dining reservations, etc. Not that a travel agent is guaranteed to get these things, but they often know the tricks to making things easier.

Some TA's will take your Disney account info and look to book the dining reservations for you, others won't. The best part about working with TA's is that you can find someone who caters to your needs.

In my mind, there is no downside to a TA as long as they are knowledgeable and beneficial. Most will do their absolute best to ensure your vacation is as enjoyable as possible. Customer retention is huge and they will aim to please as their livelihood usually depends on commissions.

The only time I encourage others to do their own booking and avoid TA's is if they insist on making changes themselves and don't want to go through a TA for changes. That always gets messy. If you want to be able to make your own changes, don't go through a TA.

 

[pixiedust33]

The only time I encourage others to do their own booking and avoid TA's is if they insist on making changes themselves and don't want to go through a TA for changes. That always gets messy. If you want to be able to make your own changes, don't go through a TA.

Thank you for this! I am admittedly a *little* bit of a control freak, which is why I think I am kinda hesitant to not handle everything myself. When you say "make changes" - does that mean just to the room stay itself? Or also things like changing dining reservations or park reservations? I wouldn't mind going through a TA if I had to change dates or something, but wouldn't want to have to go through them to modify ADRs or potentially park reservations (based on ADR changes).

 

[fla4fun]

If a big part of your enjoyment is in the planning, how will you feel giving that control to someone else? Think seriously about this. Some people are fine with it and some people regret it. Only you can make that decision.

I have used a TA a couple times. Both times I had things going on in my life that made staying on top of discounts and dining reservations very difficult. For those trips, having a TA was almost a necessity. However, I really prefer being in control of my own reservation. If a discount comes out, and I need to change resorts to get it, I want to be the one jumping in and getting what I want instead of waiting and wondering where I might end up. It’s easier for me to know what my third, fourth or fifth choice of a restaurant or resort is than to give a TA a long list.

So far as I am aware, the TAs don’t have access to any special room or restaurant inventory. They do have a dedicated phone line/department at Disney to use, but the number of open rooms/tables is the same. Sometimes they do get a little advance notice that room discounts are coming, but they can’t book them until they are released.

 

[pixiedust33]

If a big part of your enjoyment is in the planning, how will you feel giving that control to someone else? Think seriously about this. Some people are fine with it and some people regret it. Only you can make that decision.

Oh, I totally agree! Planning the vacation may actually be tied with GOING on the vacation for me haha. So, I'm only willing to give up a piece of that if there is a clear tangible benefit to it (such as being able to secure the specific room category I want). Maybe it's a question for the Poly sub-forum whether the specific room category I want would be hard to secure if I wait for packages to drop and do some weekly price comparisons myself...

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Thank you for this! I am admittedly a *little* bit of a control freak, which is why I think I am kinda hesitant to not handle everything myself. When you say "make changes" - does that mean just to the room stay itself? Or also things like changing dining reservations or park reservations? I wouldn't mind going through a TA if I had to change dates or something, but wouldn't want to have to go through them to modify ADRs or potentially park reservations (based on ADR changes).

Room Reservations, the TA has to make all the changes for the Vacation. Travel Dates, Resort, Room Type, Tickets, transportation (if booked as part of the package) etc. The best part about this though, is reaching out to a TA and then not having to wait on hold yourself to make the adjustments.

Dining Reservations, some TA's will make for you but you are easily able to control these things in the WDW app on your own.

Since it sounds like you are planner (like me!) You can always try things on your own initially and see if you enjoy the planning aspect. I usually encourage people, start out on your own planning and if you get frustrated, reach out to a TA for help and go from there if needed.

Some things like Club level can be easier with TA's since they have that experience often themselves. Staying club level does have the Club Level Concierge Assistance services also that can help with things like dining reservations etc.

Disney recently said that they are holding back some dining reservations for Resort guests, not sure how you access those exactly but they made a point of advertising it. Your mileage will vary. I'd assume if anyone knew how to access this inventory, it would be the Club Level hosts.

 

[R&RsMom]

I’ve used a TA for several trips now. We have had three rooms to book, and I thought it would be easier for a TA to apply any discounts that came out. We book room only; I handle ADRs and tickets, which we get from an authorized reseller. If you want to use a TA, I would definitely do it before you book room or package; they provide services to get a commission, so you need to book something commissionable. I would be sure to confirm with any potential TA that they provide the additional services you want (like booking ADRs) at no cost. Some do, some might have it fall paid concierge services. all that said, I love working with my TA.

 

[Lewisc]

Your typical Disney TA doesn't have access to inventory or rates that aren't available to guests who book direct.
Some may do a good job applying discounts, should they become available. Might do a good job with alternative resorts

 

[reddog21]

I would much rather be in control of my own vacation. Were constantly tweaking our plans especially dining reservations so having to reach out to a TA to change my plans every time would drive me nuts. Using a TA just for hotel reservation seems like a waste of time.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

If you have the time and are fairly good with researching and dedicating yourself to taking time to learn about WDW if you don't already, I see no need to book via a TA. I think TA are good for guests who are not familiar with how Disney works and/or don't have time to mess with things like ADRs or adding a discount to an already booked trip. From what you've shared, it sounds like you have a pretty good lay of the land on Disney. And not all TAs will do dining and not all do the same things. I'd rather be in control of our trip and I have the time so I do ours. If I felt like for some reason, I was grossly missing something, I'd just research it but a TA isn't going to have some magical access to rooms that the general public doesn't or to ADRs so if I can do what they can do, I do it. They wait on hold like the rest of us.

 

[john7994]

In past experience, TAs are great for a "fire-and-forget" approach to booking the basics for a vacation. In most cases, the experience turned out reasonably well especially when we wanted to be hands-off and didn't have time for specific changes leading up to the trip. However, if you are the type of person, like me, that gets a little FOMO for an ADR, some enhancement, or other activity because you saw something here and there while waiting for your trip - trying to "co-pilot" with a TA after the fact isn't always optimal.

While I found my first return trip to WDW a little bit of a learning curve on the do's and don'ts, where a TA could be helpful, the reality was that once I spent a little time learning some of the in's and out's - booking a weekend or a week - over 60 days and even under 60 days - wasn't that difficult. This was especially helpful when I would go to the TA and say - we would really like that - get the message that it was currently unavailable - and sit there wondering if I shouldn't just be checking myself. So, if I am just going to do it myself anyway - I might as well just do it myself.

 

[RogueX]

As a former TA, my advice is this: if you opt to use one, go with someone who specializes in Disney. My agency did not and while I was able to provide assistance in trip planning and all that (this was before it got so complicated), we were a specialty agency.

Also keep in mind that when something comes up that you want to change, you may not get a response right away. It could be hours or days depending on the volume of the agency.

If you can and don't mind handling the planning, I personally would recommend doing it yourself.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I use a TA because I don’t like to try to keep on top of all the discount releases myself. She handles that for me, compares it to what I have booked, and lets me know what the best deal is. And if I want to change something, she does it for me.

I do ADRs myself.

 

[jbharr1]

I have done it both ways. pre pandemic My TA's agency used to get their hands on some seriously discounted room rates. that by itself made it a no brainer. My august trip I priced out on disney website and then contact TA to see what she would come up with and it was the same. I still went with TA because of our past relationship, this is the 4th trip she is booking for us. I am booking two room we'd like connecting or as close together as possible. we have one room starting 2 days after the other so having her work my room requests out felt better to me than me trying to figure out how to request and when. also, when the august room discounts came out, i contacted her about it and she had already run my res through and felt my current booking would still be best deal. ultimately we did change because we were able to book a standard view room only where the package only had river view available. she was right, staying in river view wouldn't have seen savings by changing. she handled the res change for us. i didn't need to figure that out.

my TA has offered to setup dining which i've declined. in the past she was willing to do fp+ i think but declined that too. i am driving but have one member in party flying so will see what she can do about airport transportation.

bottom line for me is I will keep booking thru TA, simply because it takes the mgmt of the room from me. I tell her what i'm looking for and she makes the proper requests. i am staying at riverside and have a stroller, do not want 2nd floor in bayou. she makes request to make sure i'm 1st floor or in mansions with elevator.

there are hundreds of TA's that specialize in all things disney. all quotes are no-obligation. i'd ask for a few and see what it feels like. can always say no and go back to DIY or try another.

 

[QueenofPrideRock]

1) Can they access resort rooms that the general public can't and/or could they see and compare rates for dates that aren't yet on the Disney website? After research and consulting these boards, I've decided I want to stay at the Polynesian in a club level garden view room. Looking at the availability in that category for days already released, I see it seems to be VERY limited. This doesn't yet include our dates, but I'm just wondering if that means I'm picking a very in demand room category. I saw a reference somewhere that some blocks of room are reserved for certain travel agencies, and that includes Polynesian garden club. Also, our dates are quite flexible - I would ideally like to go in early March 2024 but am open to traveling in late January, February, or later March depending on when we can get the best rate/when crowds are expected to be lowest. I currently can't see rates at all and Disney also doesn't seem to have a functionality that would allow you to search a broad swath of dates to pick the best rates. Do travel agents have that functionality?

You may know this already, so apologies if you do, but Disney does bury a rate calendar deep, deeeeep in its website. 2024 rates aren't out yet but it could be helpful to explore the 2023 ranges.

To access it, go to the resort you want (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/polynesian-resort/rates-rooms/room-only/) and then scroll down to the room type and click "Rate details," then "view rate calendar" in the pop up box. You should see this:



Hope this helps a bit in your research! (From a fellow planner who has considered becoming a TA herself at times...)

 

[RoseGold]

I use a paid tracker app for the dining and it has gone great. There were some things I can't get, like Space 220, but I doubt the travel agent could book that either.

 

[nw6675]

I would much rather be in control of my own vacation. Were constantly tweaking our plans especially dining reservations so having to reach out to a TA to change my plans every time would drive me nuts. Using a TA just for hotel reservation seems like a waste of time.

I agree 100%

I like to be in charge of all aspects and don't want a middle person making my tweaks. I change my mind too often and rearrange ADRs, park reservations, resorts too frequently.

Not to mention the thread where Disney changed the resort and notified the TA who in turn (based on info shared) accepted it without asking the client.

 

[pixiedust33]

To access it, go to the resort you want (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/polynesian-resort/rates-rooms/room-only/) and then scroll down to the room type and click "Rate details," then "view rate calendar" in the pop up box. You should see this:

I did not know about this! Thank you! What a great resource!

 

[sheilafri]

It depends on the TA. Some are excellent and in tune with the level of service you want or need. Others can be slow or sloppy or just out of touch. Choose wisely. I’m still upset at an airline ticket purchased for our less than 2 year old that the agent let expire, I think because they didn’t want to admit they had bought a ticket we didn’t need.

 

[_19disnA]

I prefer to do my own planning. If you are totally new to Disney, you won't know your preferences about where to stay, which parks to do when or where to eat. You could spend HOURS on the phone with a TA trying to explain all of the various options. Most of those you really can't determine a preference until you have been to Disney a few times. If you go to Disney frequently, you already know those things so a TA will be of less benefit. They use the same website as everyone else to make reservations. Some TA's are also more up to date on how things work @ Disney. If they have to read a Disney website to understand how something works, you might as well do that on your own.

An issue to consider is once your TA has made your reservation, Disney will no longer talk to you if you want to make changes or have questions. They will only talk with the TA who made the reservation. One more thing to go wrong if you need to make last minute changes, etc.

Paid Genie options can only be made on the day you plan to use them. No idea if TA's offer that sort of service but seems like a complicated way to make Genie selections by working through a 3rd party.