The life of a Disney Travel Agent isn’t something that is all happiness and magic and wishes and everything like that. Yes, all of those things are a huge part of our jobs and the reasons we love the jobs we do so much. What people need to realize though, is the end of the previous statement…that this is…our…job!
Yes, this is what we do for a living, and we don’t work for Disney but we work through Disney.
When you’re looking for a great Disney Travel Agent, you will see that just about all of them state their services are free. In a sense, that is 100% true. A number of them offer up their services to their clients without charging them anything extra whatsoever.
But…that is if you book a Disney Vacation Package through them. That includes at least room and tickets, but also many times, including dining.
Once you do that, your Disney Travel Agent (a good one) will take care of your every need and you won’t have to shell out any extra money. All you’ll spend is what you are paying for your Walt Disney World Resort room, your tickets, your dining, and anything added on, such as a Memory Maker.
Now, how do we Disney Travel Agents get paid? Well, Disney pays us directly. When you have your Disney Vacation Package or Disney Cruise Line sailing booked, Disney pays a commission to your travel planner.
See now what I meant earlier by saying we don’t work for Disney but we work through Disney?
Disney Travel Agents will do free quotes for you, free booking, free dining reservations, free FASTPass+ reservations, itineraries, and so much more for you…but you’ve got to book that Disney Vacation Package for us to get paid.
The only time a Disney Travel Agent may actually charge you a fee is if you already have a trip booked or are have reservations through a group or work or something like that, and you ask us for planning help. Each agent may have their own set fee for helping with dining or FASTPasses or plans.
Many hours go into what we do. That includes:
- Putting together plans and itineraries
- Setting alarms to get up early in the morning to do your dining at the 180-day mark
- Setting alarms to stay up late in the evening to do your FASTPasses at the 60-day mark
- Calling in payments
- Checking park hours
- Organizing wait times
- Constantly checking the Disney Dining website for availability for those hard-to-get reservations
Here are some of the worst things you could possibly do to a Disney Travel Agent
1.) If you ask a Disney Travel Agent for a quote and then another quote and then another quote and yet another quote…please, don’t go ahead and book the trip yourself. That’s just a complete and total slap in our faces. We spend a lot of time quoting all the things you specifically request, finding you the best prices, tweaking things to save you money, and writing all the information up to send to you, and we don’t mind. It’s our job. But don’t just take all of our hard work and make it for nothing.
2.) Don’t continuously ask us questions about how to get tickets or how to book a room. That’s what we are here for. We love to answer any and all questions about Disney, but we like to do it for our clients, most of all.
3.) If we’ve quoted you before and you ended up booking your own Disney trip, please don’t e-mail or call us to ask for advice or information while you’re in the Disney Parks. That’s really incredibly rude and rather insulting.
Look…we love our jobs. We love to put together magical Disney trips for anyone and everyone. We don’t take away the fun of planning a Disney trip from you; we simply make it easier. Everything you request as far as dining, days in the parks, FASTPass+ selections, and more will be the full basis for how your trip is set up and organized.
What we do is simply take the stress and grunt work out, but love doing it.
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Wow, I would never book through a travel agent with that attitude. That is that nature of the business. If you can’t take it you are in the wrong job. Sometimes you have to let a few go and hope they will come back next time because you do such a great job. Not every person is going to make you money and if you take that as a slap in the face, you might be in the wrong business.
I don’t think it is an attitude more of an explanation of how things work from the side of the travel agent. No one wants to invest a great deal of time or money in a prospective client only for them to take the commission off the table and then turn around and want more free help. If you were a carpenter would you draw up specs or buy materials for a potential client and then walk them through the DIY project? I doubt it. I don’t think this article was intended to insult but rather educate. I typically book on my own but have had the wonderful help of a travel agent before.