ParryOttertheChosenBoy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2017
I am going to take what will probably be the unpopular view here and say that I think Disney travel agents, including the Dreams agents on the podcast, create a lot of these headaches for themselves.
Truth is, pretty much every Disney travel agent markets one of their big selling points as "book with us and we will watch for discounts and apply them to your reservation as they come out." So all those people who do not follow the boards and the web sites obsessively, and don't know all the history and the details and the ins and outs of promotions like free dining, see that this great offer for a free dining plan comes out, and they expect their travel agent can just hop on the computer and apply it to their reservation. And then their travel agent has to explain to them "well, no, in this case we can't just apply the discount to your reservation and, in fact, the fact that you booked ahead of time may actually result in less availability of free dining, hurting your chances." Which naturally results in the client being confused and upset.
So, no, I'm not particularly sympathetic to travel agents who get frustrated over their clients and free dining.
In my (limited) experience this is what I encountered too. Basically just "You'd better book now!! Limited availability! Then I'll get right to work on your reservation when FD comes out." This board has been really helpful explaining the process and now I understand everything much better.
Also, it bothers me a little that some people seem to get annoyed at the clamor over FD. For many of us, it has nothing to do with the thrill of getting something for "free" or being able to stuff ourselves with abandon to maximize our value. For some people, while they might still be going to WDW with or without FD, securing FD would make a huge difference. Money is extremely tight for my family because we are saving for a house. We want to take this trip because we have never been on a true family vacation, and our daughter will be at what we think is the perfect age for her to visit. Sure, we will do it and enjoy it either way, because we have been through a lot and taking the time as a family to do this is important to us. But being able to get FD would help us breathe much more easily and would give us a break from the penny pinching and planning of everyday life. To many of us, that is HUGE. I think some people forget that perspective when rolling their eyes at those of us obsessing over FD.