Has anyone ever used those TA online that specialize in Disney?

[itsewok]

We are using one for our upcoming trip and it has been a nightmare to deal with. Won't give the name of the company yet until we return since we don't want anything to happen to our reservations. We did all the work and it was like pulling teeth to get things done. It always felt like we were bothering them to request anything from them.

We had to request our own Magical Express and make all our dining reservations. They never once asked for our flight info. Didn't realize they were so bad until it was too late to cancel. At first they seemed alright, but after the initial deposit on the trip, it was terrible service thereafter.

The company is American.

We have been to Disneyworld before many times and thought that this time we would get some suggestions from a TA. They were the least bit helpful and we are quite upset they are getting the commission from us. They are so lucky we are not first timers.

Also if you find yourself in this sort of predicament, you will not be able to alter anything to do with your reservation unless you go through the travel agent. The service was so terrible, we contacted Disney to see if we could change certain things on our reservations by ourselves. Unfortunately, they are unable to touch anything to do with your reservation until you check in.

 

[mort1331]

I hope all goes well on your trip.
Please let us know who it is so we can all avoid them.

 

[trivial]

By all means, name names. Personally, I'm inclined to go with Dreams Unlimited Travel, the owners of which run DIS Boards.

 

[disdreams77]

Wow.....that's tough. Just asking....did you ask them to help with dining and Magucal Express? If so, then that's not cool. I was just hoping you guys didn't have a miscommunication of some kind.... Maybe, Before you unblind a name that could totally ruin their reputation? I have a friend in the biz and sometimes it's hard to judge what level of planning assistance difference folks want. At least that's what I'm told.... I know I wouldn't want someone choosing dining times for me. For fear that they wouldnt know my preference for backup plans or alternate choices if my first picks weren't there. I like help with monitoring discounts, dealing with the call center, having a sounding board to ask advice should I need it. I'm not saying your complaint isn't valid.....but perhaps letting the TA know how better to take of something in the future may be a more helpful approach than humiliating them on a chat room forum.

 

[alc571]

Yep. We used Small World Vacations on our first trip and my TA was awful! Since then, we book directly with Disney. I like doing all the planning anyway - it's part of the fun!

 

[kuhltiffany]

Yep. We used Small World Vacations on our first trip and my TA was awful! Since then, we book directly with Disney. I like doing all the planning anyway - it's part of the fun!

We had the opposite experience with Small World Vacations, we've used our agent there for both DW and cruise vacations many times (as does my parents and brother/SIL) and she is absolutely fabulous!

 

[modegard]

Yep. We used Small World Vacations on our first trip and my TA was awful! Since then, we book directly with Disney. I like doing all the planning anyway - it's part of the fun!

We had a very bad experience with Small World our first time too, but switched agents and have booked twice with the new girl. She is awesome!

We only use them for cruises though, if we go to the parks we do it all ourselves.

 

[disdreams77]

That's my point.... Same agency, different agent. Or same agent even.... Different client experiences. I wouldn't want to be responsible for ruining someone's reputation. Unless they had royally screwed something up and I had let them know and allowed them an opportunity to fix it and they didn't.

 

[3pletprincesses]

I think it depends a lot on the person you are working with more than agency. we used an agency once and since then I've been doing everything myself. I prefer being able to know that I've done all that I could do get what I want vs relying on someone else to do what I would like to be done .

 

[trivial]

Reputations are what they are for a reason. It's an agency's responsibility to hire and manage their agents.

 

[shaycamp21]

We used Dreams Unlimited for trips to WDW and Disney cruises. We were very happy with the service we received, however now with booking ADRs on line and MDE we feel we don't need a TA anymore to plan and trip.

 

[cluno]

Our family has worked with Christine at http://www.fairytaledestinations.com twice once in 2008 and once in 2015. She's fantastic!

 

[letsgo!]

Our family has worked with Christine at http://www.fairytaledestinations.com twice once in 2008 and once in 2015. She's fantastic!

We have used both Christine and Karly at Fairytale Dreams and Destinations - every year since our first trip in 2008! They are both fantastic. I have never met either of them, and I have never been to their office. Everything done either via email or telephone. Works fabulously for my busy schedule!! Have recommended them to LOTS of friends, and all have been very pleased with them!

 

[itsewok]

The company we used was Destinations in Florida. I am not going to name the specific travel agent we used.

Our simple requests were never done despite the travel agent confirming that they did everything we asked. We only had them make two of our dining reservations and they couldn't even do that. We asked to have a crib in the room, they said no problem. Upon check-in the person working the front desk asked us whether or not we wanted a pack and play or a crib in the room after they saw us with our baby. The first thing that set off red flags was that our final payment was due and they did not notify us that the payment was due. We almost missed it in a matter of mere hours. While it is not their job to baby their customers, no reminder was sent and we had to pay the travel agent directly. We were unable to get a hold of them when we checked the dates and called Disney directly to make the payment. Too bad you cannot make the payment to Disney as the agent owns the reservation. They blamed Disney for not sending them a reminder about our reservation.

The final straw was that we never received our travel documentation before we left. When we contacted them two weeks prior to our trip to ask about it, they said they just received the documentation from Disney and will be mailing it out. We would have thought Disney would send this out to the TA's much earlier as they would need to get this to their clients in time. I know when you book directly with Disney you receive this at least one month in advance of when you arrive.

Fast forward to a day before we arrive, the so called documentation never got here. The TA claimed it was stuck in "customs". To date we have not received it. It has been over a month since it was supposedly sent out. They apologized and said they will have one waiting for us when we check in. We checked in, there was nothing left for us.

We had tried to be patient with the TA, but after this horrible experience we will now go back to booking our own vacations ourselves from now on.

If any of you find yourself in this sort of predicament, you can actually have the travel agent removed from the reservation. You just need to call Disney directly and let them know you want the TA removed. We contacted them a bit too late so by the time they got to the email they were unable to do it. We were really trying hard to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they let us down in all areas of the reservation and in most regards, blatantly lied to us about what was being done.

I could not in good conscience ever recommend them to anyone and would actively steer people to another provider.

And to cap it off, the TA never even bothered to send an email to follow up about any of the issues or if the travel documentation had been waiting for us at check-in.

Thoroughly disappointed and would be more likely to refer to them as "I'm somewhat capable of calling Disney and booking a room agent" rather than a Travel Agent or Disney Vacation Planner etc.

 

[trivial]

Hopefully this warning will keep people from wasting their time with Destinations. Thank you for sharing.

 

[isabellea]

For trips to WDW, no. I would go crazy if I couldn't control all the details. But we booked our first Disney cruise for next March (spring break) with DU since I don't know anything about cruises and I don't feel I need to control every detail of that trip. So far I am happy with my agent.

 

[declansdad]

We've used Charmed Destinations in Florida for many Disney trips and a few cruises. Liz is fantastic.

 

[Sue M]

I've used Small World, first 2 trips. They have so many agents, I think the one I got was new, I knew more then her. I started booking myself for a few years. Then I used Ears to You, they were great. Was a small agency. I now use Magical Vacations, also great.
All the agencies I've used were good, even Small World. Aside from the fact I felt agent could be a bit more knowledgable, she did everything asked of her.

The only thing I want agent to do is book resort. When discounts come out I expect TA to be on the phone getting me that discount. I have to be at work and don't have time to sit on hold an hour or two, this is where a TA is worth it. Add room requests, book DME, and do the Disney Math to tell me which is the best deal. Also to make my payments. I like making my own Adrs and FPs. But if I'm having problems I will ask the TA for assistance.

 

[flopnut2112]

We just returned from US with accommodations at HRH. We booked through Pam at Destinations to Explore and everything was perfect. We previously booked WDW AKL for this coming Christmas with Pam at the 499 day mark. Pam was able to get free dining applied, all of our ADR's including BOG and CRT Christmas Day as well as Pirates and Pals and Candlelight processional when they were released. Easy email and phone arrangements and prompt replies

 

[alli817]

I've used Mickey Travels. A friend from a message board is a travel agent through there. She's booked two of our cruises. But it's sort of different as I've "known" her for years.