Once upon a time, in what seems like a galaxy far, far away, there was an existence without Google.  Without smart phones.  Without, gulp, the internet.  Yes!  I speak the truth!  Back then there were things called phone books and land lines.  How, one wonders, did anyone plan a vacation?  From what I remember of my parents planning our family vacations, there were a lot of phone calls made, and, of course a lot of the “set out and pray there is a hotel when we get there” mentality.  The big stuff, though, the trips that required special handling, required a Travel Agent.

Travel Agents were (are) the Expedia with a personal touch back in the days before the World Wide Web.  Your TA could book everything you needed and more, including flights, rental cars, excursions, cruises, hotels, spa appointments, dining reservations, and everything else required for a great vacation.  Without reviewer websites like Tripadvisor, a trusted TA could make recommendations, and the traveler could feel good about booking a place, sight unseen.

So, now that we have a world of information at our fingertips, there is just no use for the trusted Travel Agent anymore, right? WRONG!  It used to be we didn’t have ANY information.  Now we have TOO MUCH.  Try to plan a trip to Disney World for your family for the first time, and you will soon see what I mean.  There are the few of us out there that enjoy information overload, especially when it comes to our favorite, Most Magical Place on Earth, but we are few and far between (and we are usually Travel Agents).  For someone who doesn’t eat, live, breathe and dream Disney, however, it can be an overwhelming mess before the planning even starts.  Oh, and let’s not forget that it’s a pretty expensive gamble at that.  Disney is one of those rite of passage trips – one that just HAS to be PERFECT and MAGICAL at ALL TIMES, right?  So…tell me, traveler…why on earth would you want to shoulder that burden on your own?

There are so many reasons to use a Travel Agent to book your trip(s) to the World (and all other Disney properties as well), but I am going to list the all-time top five of them here.

Ever seen a Disney travel book?

This is where all of that information overload comes in.  Sure, Disney has a decent site, but you would be very hard-pressed to find unbiased opinions on the plethora of products and services that Disney offers on their own site.  It’s a good tool to see some pretty pictures of the parks and to get pumped up about your awesome trip, but a research tool it is not.  There are also tons of forums and blogs out on the interwebs, and their sheer numbers further prove my point and can be perfectly represented in the bulk of the books you find on Disney in your neighborhood bookstore.

The books are huge.  I am a nerd and love reading about the algorithms used to deduct the average wait time of Space Mountain during the month of August, but most people don’t share my love for an 865 page book of single-spaced Disney madness…with no pictures.  I refer to Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa’s The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, and, granted, it is definitely the most text-booky of the choices out there, but you get my drift.

A Travel Agent can sift through this information (in fact, a good Disney Travel Agent has most of it memorized) and, through a quick Q&A with the customer (you), can apply to you only what matters to you.  Want to stay on site?  Then why read the entire section on off-site hotels?  Going during the Fall?  Then why do you care about Spring events?  Don’t know what you want, ie, hopelessly lost?  Even better – your TA can recommend something for you based on your basic info (family size, budget, special needs, etc).  You don’t even have to pick up that book.

Your daughter loves Princesses, your son loves sports, and your husband would rather be fishing.

We’ve all been there.  Family vacations are insane unless you just plan to sit on a beach all day every day (and there is nothing wrong with that).  A regular, normal, everyday family vacation can be what it is – no muss, no fuss, see the sights, go home, right?  A Disney vacation, however, has this aura of greatness about it.  It’s expensive, yes, but so is a good beach vacation (or really any vacation nowadays).  The fact that it’s Disney makes it this otherworldly thing – something to be mastered and tamed – a true rite of passage, if you will.  Most folks will go to Disney as a family once, maybe twice, in their lifetime.  That puts the pressure on the one in charge of the planning (you) to make it count.  So, how are you supposed to make everyone happy all the time?  I mean, it’s the Happiest Place on Earth, right?

Your Travel Agent can tell you.  Tell your TA exactly what your kids (and your big kid hubby) love to do, and I guarantee, a beautiful itinerary can be produced with all of your requirements in mind.  Maybe your son shudders at the thought of meeting Princess Belle.  That’s ok – maybe he and Dad can mosey on over to Disney’s Wide World of Sports while Mom and Daughter take in a character lunch at Akershus to meet Belle on their own.  Your TA has these ideas rolling around in his or her crazy Disney brain – I promise!

Disney is EXPENSIVE, yes?

Yes, Disney CAN BE expensive.  But here’s the deal – a good TA can show you the VALUE of what you are getting for your hard-earned vacation dollars.  Even better, a TA can ADD to that value by putting together personalized itineraries based on what your family wants to do and what time of the year you go.  Oh yes – there is a huge difference between July and November at the World, and you can have fun during both, as long as you have a plan.  And no one says you have to plan the plan, right?  That’s what a Travel Agent does – it’s what we LOVE to do.

In addition to itinerary planning to get the most bang for your buck, your Travel Agent keeps an eye out for any and all discounts that are released by Disney.   If there is ever a discount that can save you money on your trip, your TA will know about it first and can apply it right away.  All you have to do is gladly intercept the good news of all the money you just miraculously saved!

We all have to eat.

Disney dining is an entity in itself in the blogosphere.  If you have told anyone that you are thinking of a trip to Disney World, and that person knows anything about trips to Disney World, he or she will most likely say something along the lines of “oh, you are planning to go in October of 2013?  Then get your dining reservations done NOW”.  Granted, it’s not that bad, but Disney does take Advanced Dining Reservations up to 180 (no that’s not a typo) days in advance of your trip.  And, depending on when you are going and what kind of reservations you want, restaurants are completely booked up to 180 days in advance of your trip.  Don’t know where you want to eat?  That’s ok too – this goes hand in hand with itinerary planning, and a good Travel Agent will know where to point you.  Keep in mind – most of us have eaten at all of these places with our families – that’s where that trusted recommendation comes in.

Do you like getting up at 6:30AM EASTERN and waiting on hold for an hour or more to book dining reservations for 6 months from now?  No?  Then let your Travel Agent do it for you.  Before I became a TA, this was the main thing I loved my TA for – I woke up to a lovely email from my TA listing all of my CONFIRMED dining reservations at all of the restaurants that I wanted, when I wanted them.  This is what Travel Agents do for a living – we are good at it, we like doing it (I know, right?), and a lot of us get a very large adrenaline rush when we are able to do it successfully for our clients.

Just a quick note – I have been at Disney World many times and witnessed a family being turned away from a popular restaurant in the parks because they did not make a dining reservation.  It’s sad, unpleasant and completely unnecessary.  If you have a Travel Agent, this should NEVER happen to you.

Loose ends, everywhere.

To pack or not to pack, that is the question.  Remember when we said Disney was expensive?  Well, guess what?  Band-aids at Disney are expensive too.  So is Neosporin, bottled water, and that oh-so-cute-but-I-wouldn’t-necessarily-buy-it-if-it-wasn’t-so-surprisingly-cold-for-Florida Mickey Mouse sweatshirt.  Sure, you can find packing lists galore on the internet.  And, by all means, if you want to print 5 pages of stuff for every family scenario under the planet and decipher what you really need from it, go ahead.

Your Travel Agent, however, can cut to the chase for you and recommend a packing list based on your situation.  Are you flying?  Maybe bringing a case of bottled water with you isn’t an option.  Your TA can recommend a good grocery option for once you get to Florida.

The same goes for all of the last-minute loose ends of a major trip – park hours, final confirmations, directions, paperwork, requests, etc.  Let your Travel Agent take care of it.  Expect a nifty package containing information on everything you could possibly need to make your trip Magical, and don’t sweat the details.

Okay – this is a top five, but this one is too good to leave out.

It’s free to you.

Hopefully this list has shed a little bit of light on what a Disney-focused Travel Agent can do for you and your family to make the most of your Magical trip to the World.  You can apply all of this to the Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, Aulani in Hawaii, or any of Disney’s theme parks around the world.  Give a TA a try – you won’t regret it.  It will seriously be like starting your vacation early.

Happy travels!

Jennifer Lassiter

jennifer@travelwiththemagic.com