How Travel Agents Can Excel at Selling Disney

It’s a big year for Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts and it could be one of the best years to be selling Disney vacations.

With the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the parks open their doors to a whole new base of fans. But that’s not all. Disney vacations run the gamut and there are new tours, cruises, river cruises, experiences and opportunities in the parks and around the globe.

That’s where travel agents come in. Selling your expertise as a Disney travel agent will come in handy this year with so many important new opportunities for families who can barely keep up with everything available—so how can agents excel selling Disney as the company dominates the spotlight?

One key point advisors should capitalize on is passion. But make it more than a hobby. If it’s truly your passion, you can make it a career.

“I don’t believe hobbyists will make a lot of money selling Disney,” said Greg Antonelle, chief brand officer, Mickey Travels, LLC. “It pales in comparison to agents who focus on Disney 100 percent of the time and make it a full-time job. We’ve had agents quit their nursing, teaching and banking jobs to sell Disney full-time. They were making as much money and having more fun.”

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With everything that Disney offers—cruises, river cruises, tours, destinations, theme parks and more—keeping up is a full-time gig.

“If someone were in this business just as a hobby it would be tough to keep up with all the current promotions and make sure you're getting your guests the best possible deals, even after they have already booked,” said Jonathan de Araujo, owner, Vacationeer. “We have dozens of agents that do this full time and they've been able to grow thriving businesses with strong customer bases for years of reliable repeat and referral business.”

To excel at selling Disney vacations—and travel as a whole—it’s key for travel agents to distinguish themselves with their clients.

“It's all about adding value,” said de Araujo. “The customer already trusts Disney, but they have to have a reason to choose you over calling Disney's call center direct or booking online.”

Antonelle adds that it is important not to simply be an order taker.

“Partner with the client and make their vacation as special as possible,” said Antonelle. “Successful travel agents, including our agents at MickeyTravels, treat each client’s vacation as if it was their own vacation. We book more than 10,000 Disney vacations each year and the majority of them are from word of mouth referrals.”

One of the ways in which travel agents can further add value is to be an in-the-know advocate.

“We search for discounts when they’re released, book hard to get FastPasses and dining reservations and so much more,” Antonelle added.

Travel agents also need to make themselves available to clients.

“We book Fastpass-plus and dining reservations for our customers,” said de Araujo. “That means it's our responsibility to be on the phone or online at 7 a.m. 180 days before they travel to make sure we get that hard-to-book dining reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table or Be Our Guest. It's all about making sure their trip is planned well, and they have as much time enjoying themselves (rather than waiting in line) as possible.”

One of the hardest things for travel agents focusing on Disney to tackle is keeping up with all of the news and updates that are coming at a rapid-fire pace these days.

In order to boost sales, it’s imperative to be well-informed and following several news sources will give agents an unrivaled breadth of knowledge.

“Disney is pretty good about emailing us about new promotions—requires a Disneytravelagents.com account I believe,” said de Araujo. “Alternatively, and it's different for every agent, but I like to keep track of the latest Disney updates by following vlogs like DSNY Newscast on Youtube and be on top of my planning game by using planning tools like the Crowd Calendar and Dining Calculator at magicguides.com”

Travel agents can also turn to social media for live updates.

It’s best for travel agents to follow reliable sources on social media,” said Antonelle. “Disney’s official social media accounts are good, but so are other bloggers like MickeyBlog.com.

Antonelle noted that, when Free Dining broke in January, the MickeyBlog was one of the first to announce it.

“Being a reliable source, our travel agents were able to share the news as it happened,” said Antonelle. “Traditional news outlets like local newspapers, etc. are a bit slower to report breaking Disney news, but there are so many blogs that have the ability to provide up-to-the-minute news and announcements, it is highly recommended to follow them.”

Travel agents interested in becoming a Disney Travel Specialist can turn to Disney’s College of Knowledge and register at Disney Travel Agents.