What is the difference in cost between booking a disney trip yourself or using an agent?

Question

I have a special needs daughter and we are planning a trip to Disney. I have not found any thread that talks about Disney vacation insurance. If there is, please let me know. She has many special needs and I am concerned that if something pops up medically(they usually do..)that we will be at a loss of money and a vacation. People tell me if you go through an agent they have this insurace for medical emergencies to safeguard you. We are working with a fixed budget so I am concerned what the cost may be. If anyone has any suggestions on how to help..I had thought my parents would keep the baby but it looks like she will be coming with us. I will take any advice you can throw my way. Thanks!!

Answer 1

The price of insurance varies based on what you need. Since you may need more cover medically, it may cost you a little more. Disney offers vacation protection as well, that you can book directly through them, however, you really should call and discuss the situation with them to find out what will be covered and what won't be. There are other companies as well that may cover more of what you need, you can get plans that are suited more for you, than the Disney plan which is one that the same for everyone, one cost, same coverage. So, before buying their insurance, it would be very beneficial to you to make sure everything would be covered. I don't know of any good info on insurance, for Disney, online, but I will look around and see if I can find anything.



As far as an agent. Agents don't cost you anything. Your cost will be the exact same whether you use a travel agent or book the trip on your own. But, an agent may be able to save you money in other ways, with insurance, transfers and things like that. Also, they will be there to answer your questions and take care of any problems, which you need to take care of on your own otherwise. The problem with answering your own questions is that you don't know what information you find is accurate and what isn't. You can spend a lot of time trying to verify what you find and read. You can also ask other people questions, but again you may be getting false info. You may find that one question you ask gets your 3 or 4 completely different answers, then you need to decide which one is correct. Some people even answer other people's question incorrectly, on purpose because they think it is funny to give false info. An agent's info is going to be accurate and up to date, that is one of the biggest benefit.


Also, since you will be traveling with a special needs child, there may be additional things you need or have to make sure is arranged ahead of time. Agents work with this type of thing all the time, so they know how to handle things so that everything works perfectly for you.


You can book the package on your own and get the same price you would get with an agent, but then you are on your own, that is the main problem. A lot of mistakes can happen with Disney, if you don't work with them all the time, you may not notice them or know how to handle them. Also, you would need to find out all the info for making sure all your needs are taken care of, if you have ever worked with Disney Travel Company, you may already know that the agents aren't always willing to help you with your questions. Each person has their own opinion of whether or not to book with an agent, but personally, I would and always do book with an agent. Since it doesn't cost an extra penny, I think it is the best way to go.


Hope this helps!

Answer 2

If you have a busy schedule and do not have the time to search the net for flights, accommodations, rental cars, advice, etc... put a travel agent to work for you. It does not cost you anything additional to hire a travel agent and the agent can customize all of your travel needs for you. A good travel agent will work with your budget to make the most of your vacation dollars.
Travel insurance is one of those things that you should consider to protect your vacation plans. We use Insure My Trip which is pretty good.
No matter where you are planning on staying, the resorts are usually really great in helping you with any needs you may have.
Also if you do find that you have a medical emergency while on vacation, let them know you want to go to Celebration Hospital. They are a state of the art hospital and they are very very good with dealing with people who have medical emergency while on vacation.

Hope this helped

Answer 3

You might consider using an agent who specializes in Disney such as DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com or Small World Vacations at wdwvacations.com. I have used personally used Dreams Unlimited. It does NOT cost anything to use these services. Two services these agents offer which I think you might find of value, are personalized trip planning, and automatic application of discounts. The personalized trip planning includes making any dinner or activity reservations and any extra arrangements you might need. This is great if you want to get hard to obtain reservations to eat inside Cinderella's Castle, etc. They can send you a full itinerary or even maps with handicap accesses highlighted. As for automatic application of discounts, this service is AWESOME!! It saved me almost $1,000 on our last trip (10 nights at deluxe WDW resorts). Disney frequently releases discount codes for certain dates and hotel rooms, however you have to be lucky enough to know about them and request them. And sometimes by the time you hear about them they are sold out, or Disney will not allow you to change a reservation booked directly with them to the new lower rate. Either of these travel agents will find out about the discount first and automatically apply it to your reservation if it will save you money. It is awesome to suddenly get an email that you room price has gone down by $60 or $80 a night or that suddenly all your meals are paid for (when Disney offers free dining)! These agents know ALL the discounts and really work to get you the best price.

I would definitely stay on property with a special needs child. Disney will take you of you very well.

As far as insurance, Disney does offer some but you can find cheaper travel insurance elsewhere. I usually use Travel Ex, but have heard good things Disneys insurance. The agents can help you with that too.

Disboards.com is a great resource for planning a disney trip. They have a specific forum for travelling to Disney with special needs, as well as forums on choosing a resort, discounts, where to eat, etc, etc.

Answer 4

I would assume that booking anything yourself is cheaper than using a middleman that requires payment. However, an agent might know about deals that aren't widely known. I found this on a web site that devotes itself to disney vacation info.

Qoute:
Disney sells trip insurance, but it's expensive and it has major exclusions. For instance, it does not cover pre-existing medical conditions, most airline delays, terrorism or unemployment -- but there are many policies available from other companies that will cover these things. You can almost always get better insurance than Disney provides, and at better rates, by buying it elsewhere.

end qoute

The second link is to faqs about Disneys policies. The 3rd link is for vacation insurance sellers. & the 4th link is for vactions insurance reviews.

Hope you have a wonderful vacation!

Answer 5

I recommend Last Minute Travel at http://www.lastminutetravel.com

They offer the same protection for a WDW Vacation, but at a much cheaper cost than booking with Disney directly or through most other agents.

Answer 6

If you go to Disney.com you can book yourself right on line and they do offer insurance. The easiest is to stay right on Disney property in my opinion. We have 3 children and drive a long way from Mich. we have stayed outside, but staying on there property made it so much easier. I work with disabled kids so i understand all the way around. If you stay, we parked our car the whole 5 days and right outside our room we could catch buses that came through every 5 minutes. The buses are large, you can take strollers, wheelchairs,etc. as needed. They drop you right off front at the main entrances, it works great. When we had a child acting up, my husband would stay back and i felt comfortable getting on the bus with my other children. If you let them know ahead of time that you have a special needs child they will help you with anything you need. Our hotel had a nice pool, restaurants right there, small store,etc. We saved money by bringing cereals, bread , lunch meats,etc. oh and when we got there they had sippy cups in the rooms that you can buy ( kinda of expensive ) but you can refill them as much as you want and with my 3 - in the end it saved us and they had a souvenir! Hope i help some!

Answer 7

There are travel agencies you can use that cost no extra. I noticed that someone suggested Dreams Unlimited Travel, I booked a trip with them and canceled because my agent would not respond to my requests or even acknowledge my requests and this company is completely web based so all arrangements, other than taking payment over the phone, are done through email.

We then switched to Dreams Unlimited Travel and our agent was Jenny and she was awesome. She talked with me for over an hour for our consultation and she had answers for all of my questions and made all of my arrangements, even for people who weren't on the package we purchased for Disney. She helped us to make arrangements for the sites we wanted to see outside of Disney. She was a former cast member and made many suggestions we would not have thought of. She just really helped to make the experience magical.
She even found us a discount for the lodging that our previous agent failed to notify us of.

Answer 8

The difference is that you are wasting your money. All you have to do is call Disney, tell them what hotel you want to stay at, what packages you want, and some meal reservations. They can even make your flight reservation. Seriously I would not book with a travel agent.

Answer 9

Disney is very friendly with people with disablities. They offer tons of special assistance and amenities for guests with disablities. To recieve the best advantage of these benefits I strongly recommend you book directly with Disney, you should call Disney directly and notify them of your situation when you make your reservation and they will be ready to assist you with all your needs. Here is a link to their website:
http://www.disneyworld.com
or call them directly at [phone]