As a person in general – I love to plan. As a travel agent, I get to put my love of planning to good use. My husband, my parents, my friends and probably even my son (even though he’s only a preschooler), will without hesitation tell you that my love of planning out vacations to gain maximum amount of fun and my love of talking about my plans can probably seem a little over the top. But it makes me happy, so I make them listen.
Walt Disney World is a planner’s dream. As an agent, I have access to training and systems and the ability to navigate Disney’s promotional sales a little easier than the average joe. I’ve already taken classes on the levels of resorts, each park, ticket prices,etc, so I can save time for my clients that way. Also – have you ever tried to call Disney with multiple questions? It’s an enormous entity with a lot of tiers, levels, departments, cast members, and locations. I spent some time on hold just yesterday with Disney for a client and then proceeded to sing “it’s a small world” in my head all day (thank you, hold music).
In order to talk my husband into my dream of taking my preschooler to Disney, I had to make that maximum fun potential happen, but on a minimum budget. While WDW can be intimidating, especially if you’re just messing around trying to figure out pricing on a Saturday night in your pj’s, there are some tricks to making it more enjoyable.
First: if you want to go to WDW at school breaks, it’s going to be more expensive. So, just be prepared.
Second: WDW raises their prices every year. In addition, this year they changed their ticket pricing structure. Busier = more expensive.
Third: If you’re going to be a slacker and not plan out your WDW vacation, then you will probably be disappointed. Everyone is busy and sitting on your computer comparing dining, fast pass, or any of the other zillion options can be overwhelming. Your best bet is to book with me, so I can obsess over your vacation and help you plan all those little details that are going to help with enjoyment. If you still want to do it all yourself, be prepared to sit at stare at your my disney experience trying to figure everything out. In my opinion, buying your tickets through a wholesaler really doesn’t save enough money to balance out, but that’s up to you.
Fourth: Pack a backpack. I had a small one I wore the whole time – it carried some water bottles, snacks, sunscreen, wipes, camera and my necessities. I didn’t over pack it so I had room to put some that needed stored throughout day. And it worked beautifully.
Fifth: Use the my Disney experience app. If you’re not, you’re missing out on all the useful information it provides while you’re in the park (like wait times). Also it shows all your photo pass pictures shortly after they are taken, so you can ooh and ahh over them without needing a computer. And I do love instant satisfaction.
Those are just some of the basics I learned from my latest WDW adventure. I planned my little heart out, but I was overwhelmed when we walked in Magic Kingdom on the first day (and I have been there before)! But all my pre-planning and knowledge paid off and everyone had a great time. And I really wanted to do a victory dance when we got home, but everyone talking excitedly about the trip was enough of a victory for me.
Call me at Margaret Roberts Travel at (309) 837-4711 to plan your next Disney getaway!
Margaret Roberts Travel 
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