Should I Use A Disney Travel Agent?

Do You Need A Disney Travel Agent?

It’s the question I ALWAYS hear from people who are thinking about a trip to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or any Disney Park.

It’s a tough question, with a lot of factors to consider, but I hope I can layout all the nitty gritty details to help you make your own decision.

Things You Need To Know About Using A Disney Travel Agent:

My Unbiased Opinion

First of all, you need to know that I am NOT affiliated with any travel agency. This is NOT a sponsored post, and is based on my personal experience using a Disney Travel Agent and booking trips on my own.

Most posts you’ll find out there about this subject are affiliate posts, where the writer gets paid a kick back for every referral they send to the agency.

This is NOT one of those posts.

Any recommendations I share are completely based on my personal experience with an agent and with booking directly through Walt Disney World.

Fees For Disney Travel Agent Services

Second, the majority of Disney Travel Agents will not charge you a fee.

When agents book a basic Disney trip, the receive a commission from Disney. If an agent provides additional concierge level services for clients, there is sometimes a fee associated with the booking.

Find out up front from any agent you work with if they are going to charge you for ANY of their services.

Your Responsibilty

Third, before booking with ANY travel agent, DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!

Make sure to read reviews of their services and ask around to your friends for recommendations.

Any Disney Travel Agent worth using will have attended a Disney College of Knowledge. These events give agents everything they need to know to properly book your Disney Vacation.

Make sure you’re using someone reputable from a well-established agency.

Alright, onto the real info you’re looking for!

Reasons You Should Use A Disney Travel Agent:

You’ve never been to Disney World (or whatever Disney location you want to go to) before

Everyone dreams about a magical trip to Disney World or Disneyland, but once you start trying to make it a reality, the details can become overwhelming.

I mean, there are 34 hotels and resorts on Disney World property alone. Just figuring out which one you want to stay at (and even IF you want to stay on Disney property) can freak anyone out!

It’s a Disney Travel Agent’s job to know all about Disney World and help match their clients with the right accommodations and reservations to fit their needs.

If you’re a first-timer, going with a Disney Agent would probably take a lot of stress out of planning your first trip to Disney World.
You don’t plan on going on a Disney Vacation again anytime soon

While there a lot of people (me included), who love going to Disney World year after year, there are some who are just one and done.

Once they’ve met the mouse, they see no reason to do it again.

For those folks, taking the time and energy to learn all the intricacies of every ride and character experience may not make sense.

Using a Disney Travel Agent would likely benefit them greatly.
You don’t have the time or desire to do the proper research

Say you’re a busy mom of 3, who barely has time to think straight, let alone spend hours on Pinterest researching where to find all the princesses in the Magic Kingdom.

If reading about the special snacks available in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge sounds worse than a root canal to you, you probably need a Disney Travel Agent.

For those folks, having a Disney Travel Agent who can plan for you would be a God send.
You have a large group of people going on your trip

Disney Vacations are often a family affair. And by family affair, I mean EVERYONE.

If you open it up to include family, your mama’s cousin’s sister’s uncle will probably want to go on the trip.

The logistics of taking a Disney Vacation with a large group of people can be quite complicated. This is where a Disney Travel Agent is key!

They can manage all those multiple room reservations and dietary restrictions. They’re experts at keeping all the details straight so you don’t have to.

If you plan on traveling with everybody and their mother, I’d definitely contact a Disney Travel Agent.
You want someone else to worry about the details

ADRs, FastPass+, MNSSHP, Memory Maker, Park Hoppers.

If all those words sound foreign to you, you probably need a Disney Travel Agent.

Disney Parks have their own special set of details that can confuse just about anyone.

Disney Travel Agents know how to navigate through even the most complicated requests. They’ll book all your dining reservations, FastPass+ reservations, and explain all the “extras” available to you on your vacation.

It is totally possible to book them on your own, but if you don’t want to take the time to learn all the details, you’re probably better off with a Disney Travel Agent.
You’re worried that you won’t know what to do if something goes wrong during your trip

Just because you’re going to Disney World doesn’t mean everything will fall into place magically.

As amazing as the “cast members” at Disney Parks are, sometimes things go wrong.

If you’ve booked your trip through a Disney Travel Agent, you have a familiar advocate who can help you out while you’re on your vacation.

Any good travel agency will offer assistance to its clients during their travel, and Disney Agents are no different.

If you’re concerned about things like this, you probably want to use a Disney Travel Agent.

Reasons You Should NOT Use A Disney Travel Agent:

You’ve been on a Disney Vacation more than once and know what to expect

Once you’ve been to Walt Disney World a couple of times, you get the hang of how things work around the parks.

If you’ve mastered booking FastPasses on the fly through the MDE app, then you probably could book a Disney trip on your own.

If you know exactly what restaurants you want to eat at and what times are ideal, you probably don’t need a Disney Travel Agent to help you out

The Walt Disney World website is pretty self explanatory, and cast members who take booking calls are extremely knowledgeable.

If you’ve been around the Disney block a time or two, your can probably handle booking a trip without a Disney Travel Agent.
You have the time and the desire to do the proper research on what you want to do while at the Parks

Even if you’ve never been to any Disney Parks before, it is possible to book your own amazing trip. You just have to be willing to do the research.

ALL of info you could ever need about the parks is available online. I have lots of other posts specifically about Disney World and how to manage your trip, and so do a bazillion other websites.

A simple Google search of any Disney-related subject you can think of will yield a ton of results.

If you’re willing to spend the time and energy to learn all things Disney, you can definitely handle booking your trip without a Disney Travel Agent.
You want to be in control of making any changes or modifications to your booking

When you use a Disney Travel Agent to book a trip, you give up a lot of control.

Let’s pretend that two months before your big trip, you decide that you need to shift the dates of your reservation by a day or two.

If you’ve used a Disney Travel, you cannot call and modify your own reservation. Your Disney Travel Agent has to do it.

For a first time visit, this probably won’t bother you. But if you’ve been to the parks a few times and know exactly what you want to change, this may prove problematic.

If you want the ability to change your reservation at the drop of a hat, you probably want to skip using a Disney Travel Agent.
You want to book in a non-traditional way (i.e. rent DVC points or use a discount broker like Undercover Tourist)

There are lots of ways to go visit Mickey Mouse.

Booking directly through Walt Disney World is just one of them.

Some people like to rent Disney Vacation Club points to use for their accommodations through sites like David’s Vacation Club Rentals .

There are also a few reputable sites like Undercover Tourist where you can book park tickets a discounted prices.

If you want to use either of these methods to get into Disney Parks, you may not be able to do it with a Disney Travel Agent.

Should you book with a Disney Travel Agent?

Deciding whether you want to book with an agent or not really all comes down to your own personal needs.

Disney Travel Agents serve a much needed audience, and can do a lot of things for their clients. But they’re not 100% necessary to book an amazing trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland.

If you feel capable of doing it on your own, it’s perfectly possible.

If you’re worried about pulling it all together, contact a Disney Travel Agent. There’s definitely ways to have a great vacation by doing it either way!

My Disney Travel Agent Recommendation

If you DO decided to book with a Disney Travel Agent, I highly recommend Katie Dunn with Travelmation. Even as a seasoned Walt Disney World visitor, sometimes, I just don’t want to worry about the details.

Katie provided top notch service and checked on us every step of the way to make sure she was meeting our needs. She was by FAR the best agent I’ve ever used (and I’ve used a bunch of them!!)