My Recent Experience Booking through Touring Plans Travel Agency

Walt Disney World
#1

Back Ground: Five days ago I created a topic here asking about the Touring Plans Travel Agency. My question, specifically, was about the travel professionals that are currently associated with Touring Plans. There have been other threads asking about working with travel agents in the past and for the last few years I have said I will always work with a TA but it is important that I trust my TA. I think we all have to find the professionals that we respect and trust. There are a couple of amazing liner TAs not working for touring plans, and there could be some liner TAs that might not work for you. (Please support people in the travel industry!).

Although I am posting this under WDW, as a DVC owner, I generally will only book room for a couple of nights with a TA to extend a DVC stay and right now, that won’t happen for a couple of years. So this booking was for a short Universal stay in the fall- I AM GOING TO HHN!

Len posted the list of Touring Plans Travel Advisors in my original thread:

  • Stephanie Hudson
  • Sarah Goff
  • Missy Blair
  • Alex Cenac
  • Michelle McKnight
  • Nicole Rosen
  • Kelly Ybarra
  • Gina Akin
  • Jennifer Upton
  • and Annette (Owens) Jackson

Any liner that found touring plans or lines through the original wdw today knows, trusts, and respects Annette Jackson. BUT I started working with Michelle McKnight when I booked my first cruise. I had first reached out to another liner at that time and after 6 weeks of trying to get a quote I found Michelle through a cross check of the liner TA list and referrals from the RC Blog forum. Michelle had me booked within hours and she repeatedly sent me those amazing emails “your price dropped, I have rebooked you- your new invoice is attached”. Of course, those emails never came with a Disney cruise…but that is Disney, not Michelle. I trust Michelle and she never questions my craziness (a trait I treasure).

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TouringPlans Travel Agency
TA Recommendation
#2

The booking process: I did not use the Touring Plan link. I emailed Michelle directly (she sent me a card during the holidays and an email). When I first reached out to her I asked about putting 5 adults in a RPR CL room. (She didn’t even ask “are you crazy”) she had to call and talk to Universal to find this details since in theory it said you could online, but she couldn’t price it out.

I have two groups going on this trip. My sister, niece, and I are going no doubt. This is a weekend trip, two nights for HHN and I have studios booked at BWVs. The other two people are my son and his girlfriend. As school employees they are not talking off the three school days I am so I am concerned that one part of their booking will have to be cancelled.

Quote#1: 5 people in a RPR CL room, 2 day tickets

Michelle then started talking to me about modification, cancellation of that reservation if my son could not come…

Quote #2: 1 room for 3- RPR CL 2 day tickets
1 room RPR standard 2 day tickets

Quote #3: room #1 changed to 3 day tickets

(For everyone scared that they would “bother” a TA, please note- all of this was before I booked :wink:)

The process to complete booking was a little different.

Michelle sent me an overview of each booking for approval. Then, she sent me a link to my invoice for approval. Once I approved each reservation, I could follow a look to a secure portal to make my deposit. If I preferred I could have called her with my credit card info.

Michelle has since sent me updated invoices and I will email her when I want to make additional payments and she will apply that payment.

I am completely booked and counting down a new trip!

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#3

Great you could get it all worked out!
What fun to have a trip planned!!

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#4

Thank you for this review. I just reached out to Michelle through the Touring Plans link. We originally really wanted to rent DVC points at BLT and BWV, but there is so much uncertainty with COVID and vaccines, that I just felt that renting DVC without being sure that we would be able to go as planned was too risky right now.

We decided to just plan for 2 rooms at Contemporary and hopefully BWI - assuming they will be open in 2022. I am so excited to plan again and to have a TA that someone else has worked with and recommends. :sunglasses:

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#5

In the past few days I worked with Touring Plans travel agent Alex Cenac to book Wilderness Lodge for March 2022. Our family is excited!!

He was great… he asked questions to get to know me, he answered all my questions, made additional recommendations, everything went smoothly. I usually speak with the travel agent directly but my work schedule has been a bit crazy the last few days. I will touch base with him at a later time.

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#6

I am anti-TA in general, but very pro-Liner TA.

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#7

I am 32 days away from my HHN stay at Royal Pacific.

This week I received a package from my Touring Plans Travel Agent Michelle McKnight. In the package were these:

68437CFA-2D76-4A3A-98D9-EEBFB280F0BD
68437CFA-2D76-4A3A-98D9-EEBFB280F0BD.jpeg3910Ă—2516 4.27 MB

There are two bags (we have two reservations) and a Touring Plans charger.

Our travel documents are inside the bags.

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#8

How nice!!!

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#9

Very nice!!

#10

Very cool.

Even though I do like to control 90% of my Disney travel and booking, I am happy to hear how wonderful this is going for you. If I was not worried about getting a race bib for MW in February, I would have definitely used TPTA. Now that agents do not seem to be able to reserve bibs anymore, TPTA will be at the top of my list for the next trip.

I can’t wait to see what you think of Royal Pacific. I took my DS there for his graduation a few years back.

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#11

Awesome! We are checking in at RPR in exactly 32 days as well :rofl: I wish I had thought to use Touring Plans to book that portion of our trip! We’ll be coming over from a DVC stay, I forgot that was even an option. Will keep them in mind for our next Universal Trip (this is our first).

#12

I am going to RPR for HHNs before a weekend DVC stay!

I have stayed at RPR and my sister is a Universal (not Disney) fan. Club level at RPR is her thing. I do love that resort.

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