I have always booked my Disney vacations by calling Walt Disney World directly. I make my own hotel, ticket and dining reservations because I love the planning process. I have never used an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. Until recently I didn’t even know anything about their services. Well, I have been reading many of Terri’s posts here on WDW Hints about the benefits of hiring a vacation planner and put it in the back of my head as a possibility for the future.
One day, a few weeks before our trip, Tabitha from “Mouse”cation had a special promotion that would double her normal gift card bonus for booking or transferring a trip to her. That would mean a $50 gift card for us just for transferring our reservation. That sounded great, but I was nervous. I really didn’t want my reservations to get altered right before our trip. So, I asked her a few questions. Ok, a lot…
The post goes on like that for a while and was followed about 8 million more questions sent over email. And, Tabitha answered them all (patiently) and assured me nothing would change.
So, I crossed my fingers, hoped for the best and I decided to transfer my reservation to Tabitha. All I had to do was fill out a form she emailed me and send it back to her by email or fax. Then about a week later the reservation transferred to her and NOTHING changed. Well, one thing. I had $50 more to spend at Walt Disney World!
Along with the gift card, Tabitha sent me a customized itinerary based on our schedule with suggestions of which parks to visit on each day along with park and parade hours. She offered to do our online check-in, but again, we wanted to do that ourselves and she was fine with that! She sent a number of helpful emails and offered to help in any way we could.
One of the great benefits of using a Disney Vacation Planner for me was having someone who is just as excited about Disney as I am and who was happy to email back and forth about Disney World. Tabitha was happy to chat about schedules, New Fantasyland and dining reservations. What a bonus!
So what’s in it for Tabitha? Disney pays her a commission for the reservations that she books or manages. That way she is able to book vacations for people at the same prices that they can get by booking through Disney.
I was skeptical moving my reservation, but in the end, it was a really fabulous experience for me! I’ll be sure to call Tabitha when I book my next vacation to Walt Disney World. (Hopefully my husband is ready to book soon!)
~Amy
Tabitha Woodard is a Disney Vacation Specialist at “Mouse”cation. To learn more about Tabitha, you may read our interview with her here.
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