Planning a trip to Walt Disney World is more complicated than it used to be. With four parks, two waterparks, shopping districts, resorts and more, there is a lot to consider. Add to that Fastpasses and restaurants that need to be booked six months out, it’s a lot to take on.
When I was planning our family trip a couple of years ago I got a little overwhelmed. I wanted a deluxe resort but I was on a budget, and there were so many options I didn’t know what to do. So I decided to reach out to an authorized Disney travel agent to see if they could help. And help they did! The team from Click the Mouse put me at ease immediately. They gave me advice, sent me options that worked for my family, and helped make all the reservations that would ensure our trip was as great as it could possibly be. It made everything so easy that I would never book another Disney Trip without an agent.
Here are just a few reasons why you should consider working with a Disney travel agent when planning your next Disney trip.
A Disney Travel Agent will Find the Best Deals
One of the great things about working with a Disney travel agent is that he or she will scour every possible promotion in order to find you the best deal. Sure, you can do it yourself, but why? Savvy agents can also find deals and apply them to existing reservations, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars on an already expensive trip. I just booked a trip for a year from now, and while I’m comfortable with the price I agreed to, it’s exciting to know that the price could still go down by a significant amount.
They Will Help Plan Your Itinerary
Most people will only get to Disney World once or twice in their lives (if they’re lucky!), so it’s almost impossible for the average person to know where everything is and how long it takes to get from point A to point B. A Disney travel agent on the other hand knows how to craft the perfect itinerary so that you don’t waste any unnecessary time. Whether it’s knowing what rides have the longest wait times, which restaurants are closest to which rides, or what parks have extra magic hours when, a travel agent can make sure that you’re making the most of every moment.
A Disney Travel Agent will Reserve Restaurants
Disney World restaurants fill up fast. Fortunately, if you’re staying at an on-site resort you can book them up to six months in advance. It sounds crazy, but believe it or not, it’s necessary. The best restaurants and special character meals can be hard to get, but if you’re working with an authorized agent they can go in and reserve everything for you. And if they aren’t able to get you what you want, they’ll keep going back and checking in case anything opens up. In the end, I decided to do it myself because I kept changing my mind about where I wanted to go, but my agent was always there offering to help and give me advice when I needed it.
They Reserve Fastpasses
This is a big one. I found the whole Fastpass system to be a bit confusing at first, and I simply guessed at what we should do and when we should do it. My Disney travel agent offered to book them for me right at 7am as soon as my booking window opened, and when she saw what we wanted she made some very valuable suggestions. She suggested we change some of our park days around to ensure we got the most popular rides, and then she took care of it all for us. How great is that? And on the last morning when we planned to go to the Magic Kingdom for a half day there was only one ride left that we wanted. She booked it, but then went ahead and booked two more for us (the Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight) just in case. They were awesome! If she hadn’t done that for us we would have really missed out.
Disney Travel Agents are Free!
By far, the best reason to work with an authorized Disney agent is because they are absolutely free to the customer. Disney pays them a commission for any resort bookings, park bookings, etc. that they make. So you’ve got nothing to lose. Honestly, a Disney vacation is not cheap, so you may as well do everything you can to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck. I’m so glad I made the decision last time, and it’s hard to imagine that I would ever plan a Walt Disney World trip without one again!
Photos courtesy of the Covet Files & Flickr
