First WDW Trip this November! Travel Agent? (Help!)

[Mr.Sticky]

Long time Disney fan and frequenter of Disneyland here. I'm gearing up for my first trip to the world this November with my wife and three kids. (15, 12, and 4 years old)

I'm an old hand at planning Disneyland trips every three or four years, (wish I could go more) but due to the cost of flying from California I have never made it to Disney World.

I'll be doing lots of hands on planning myself, but would you recommend I use a travel agent? I've heard I might be able to get gift cards and other perks if I go this way, but I'm not really sure how it all works.

Any advice, tips, good experiences or bad would be most welcome! I'm not likely to be able to afford this again anytime soon so I want to do everything I can to make this a great trip for my family without breaking the bank!

Thanks for the help!

 

[tnolan]

My one best piece of advice is to book as soon as you can, whether or not you use a travel agent. Good rooms are being snapped up faster than last year, for some reason. good luck!

 

[Mysteryincorp]

I am also heading to WDW this November from California and am a frequent Disneyland visitor as well. I have booked twice with a travel agent and once without. I didn't see much of an advantage with booking with a TA. I learned way more from this site and would rather plan and change things myself than going through a TA. MDE is very user friendly and makes planning your own trip simple! I agree with PP, booking early is vital....

 

[Alesia]

You definitely don't need a travel agent. And using one can definitely add a layer of difficulty if things go wrong.

If you do decide to use one, choose an online agency that only does Disney, such as Dreams Unlimited. This is not a job for your friendly, neighborhood travel agent

 

[mamamelody2]

You don't need a TA.
DH and I went last November after only going in September before. Lovely weather. We really enjoyed it! Of course, if you go the week of Thanksgiving, it's going to be pretty busy.
You are already in your ADR window, so if you have any "must do" restaurants, you should get right on that!
Are you planning on staying onsite? If so, do you have a reservation yet? If not, again, you should get right on that!

 

[anomamatt]

You didn't specify when in November, but it's ~145 days until November 15. That means, as crazy as it sounds, for WDW you are planning "late". As PP said, you are within the 180 day ADR window. You don't need a reservation to book ADRs, so do that right away. And use Touring Plans "Reservation Finder" -- it's free -- for any reservations you want but cannot get.

And yes, you need to look ASAP for onsite rooms. I've not looked at November at all, but October was insane this year for availability (almost nothing for two weekends I checked and I booked them 3-4 months ago).

Good luck! Keep researching and reading here.

And oh, you don't need a travel agent. You can find some with good prices (some have agency exclusives), but for planning, etc. most people here prefer to do it themselves.

 

[slpeters]

I went to WDW for the first time the week before Thanksgiving last year. It was amazing (so much so that I've already got two other Orlando trips planned--and a first trip to DL). Strange as it seems the clock is already ticking--I think the whole dining reservations at 6 months is ridiculous, but it is what it is--but we didn't even start planning our trip until September and it all worked out great. You don't need a travel agent--it seems like all it really does is add an extra layer of administration and make it harder to change your plans when you get a great idea on a board like this.

 

[pooh2001]

We too are looking into November

 

[Nancyg56]

If you really want November, book your rooms now. It is going to be busy, and iunless you stay offsite (I don't recommend that, however it is personal preference) your options are diminishing daily. Rooms are going quickly. At least book ADR's if you have specific restaurants you want to try.

WDW is much larger than DLR, so if I gave any tips, they are to be sure to factor travel time appropriately. My DDIl is a DLR vet and just could not "see" the parks sizes until my DD finally took her for a "walk" here at home to give her an idea how far it is from one side to another, just in Epcot. She had us hopping all over because at "home (DLR) going from one area to another was relatively close. WDW is not.

I send people to touring plans all of the time. There is a planner to use, and while I dont mean for them to use it for the trip itself, I think it is a good resource to get and idea how long it may take to get from one attraction to another, or from one attraction to dinner on teh other side of a park.

 

[rwdavis2]

If you are going November 2018 forget the travel agent. As was mentioned, book a room ASAP if you want to stay on site. Otherwise there are decent vacation rentals in Windsor Hills. touringplans.com is a good site. So is easywdw.com. And don't forget right here. Visit about once a day and check the first 2 pages of the Theme Parks, Resorts, Restaurants, and Transportation board. Also check the "stickies" and the sub-forums at the top of each board.

Don't get too hung up on dining as I don't consider any restaurant a "must do" but that's my opinion. Learn as much as possible about Fastpass+

 

[Sue M]

I find I like using a (Disney specialized) TA even though I’ve booked many trips on my own too. For me it’s easier. I don’t have to worry about what day Disney is releasing room discounts. TA is on it and on the phone with Disney the moment Discounts are released. And since I’m on the west coast I’m not up at 4am waiting on a 2 hr hold when phone lines open up at 7:00 EST. Brutal.
It’s also easier making payments. I just shoot off an email to TA asking her to make a payment. Don’t have to log into WDW and fill out all my info, card # etc.