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Using a WDW Guide

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Sat, 02/02/2013 - 17:21
UnbalancedLibra
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Using a WDW Guide

Would you hire a virtual WDW guide? - As a newbie to visiting WDW...or if you're a 'veteran' now, think back to your first few visits - were they overwhelming?

What if you had someone who helped you plan your trip, months before you went. Someone you could contact via email, text, or phone, whenever you needed them, to help with the trip - even when you are there?

I don't mean a travel agent, I mean an actual guide.

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Sat, 02/02/2013 - 18:31
Kristen K.
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Like a personal concierge? I would not use one, but then I love research and doing all the groundwork for new experiences myself.

However, if I did want to use a service like that, I would not be satisfied with "virtual" service. I would probably want someone who would or could be there with me.

Sat, 02/02/2013 - 18:36
UnbalancedLibra
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Kristen K. wrote:
Like a personal concierge? I would not use one, but then I love research and doing all the groundwork for new experiences myself.

However, if I did want to use a service like that, I would not be satisfied with "virtual" service. I would probably want someone who would or could be there with me.

Okay, so you'd actually want a stranger on vacation with you instead of a personal contact? There is a method to my madness in this question, LOL

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Sat, 02/02/2013 - 18:53
Kristen K.
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UnbalancedLibra wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:
Like a personal concierge? I would not use one, but then I love research and doing all the groundwork for new experiences myself.

However, if I did want to use a service like that, I would not be satisfied with "virtual" service. I would probably want someone who would or could be there with me.

Okay, so you'd actually want a stranger on vacation with you instead of a personal contact? There is a method to my madness in this question, LOL

If the concierge was working with me in planning the entire vacation as closely as you suggest, they wouldn't really be a stranger by the time the trip came. They would be a personal contact. Would I hire someone to travel with me? If I win the lottery, perhaps. Otherwise I would consider someone local. There are several personal concierge and tour guides that are for hire in the Orlando area. You should google them and check out what they offer.

As far as virtual service, most of the travel agents I know are available to contact via email, text, or phone, whenever you needed them.

Sat, 02/02/2013 - 19:14
UnbalancedLibra
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Posts: 748

Kristen K. wrote:
UnbalancedLibra wrote:
Kristen K. wrote:
Like a personal concierge? I would not use one, but then I love research and doing all the groundwork for new experiences myself.

However, if I did want to use a service like that, I would not be satisfied with "virtual" service. I would probably want someone who would or could be there with me.

Okay, so you'd actually want a stranger on vacation with you instead of a personal contact? There is a method to my madness in this question, LOL

If the concierge was working with me in planning the entire vacation as closely as you suggest, they wouldn't really be a stranger by the time the trip came. They would be a personal contact. Would I hire someone to travel with me? If I win the lottery, perhaps. Otherwise I would consider someone local. There are several personal concierge and tour guides that are for hire in the Orlando area. You should google them and check out what they offer.

As far as virtual service, most of the travel agents I know are available to contact via email, text, or phone, whenever you needed them.

Okay, I gotcha. The reason I ask is because I get a lot of requests to help people plan, and I'm okay with this because I love doing it. I had one person contact me 3 months before his trip. He hadn't been there in almost 15 years and hadn't ever been there with his kids (5 and 9). He sent me spreadsheets with their plans on it - I looked them over, gave suggestions (like, no you can't see the parade in Animal Kingdom and be at Chef Mickey's at 5:45pm for dinner). Explained how Disney transportation works, the best way to get from park to park, park to resort, resort to resort, etc...This spreadsheet went back and forth, like I said, for 3 months. When he got there he sent me a ton of texts asking questions (we're in the MK, parade is in an hour, where is the best spot to see it?). Frequent phone calls as well.

So, I was beginning to wonder if this was becoming a service people would actually really want? I know many WDW travel agents that do the same thing - but their goal is to book the trip. Many times they spend hours in contact with someone, answering questions, offering suggestions, etc., and then the person has to think things over and often never comes back - books on their own or through another agency.

I know there are many resources for people - forums like this one, facebook pages/groups, but even that is time consuming for many people and it's a lot of information/opinions being thrown at someone which could make it overwhelming.

Just pondering....

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Wed, 02/27/2013 - 22:17
coreyp
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The really good services give you plenty of information to go off of while you're in WDW. The service I used gave us a pretty detailed day by day itinerary to use either as a guide, or use the full instructions if we felt like we needed it as well as booknig the trip and the dinner reservations. They also gave us small clip on instruction sheets that you can slip through to take into the parks with us instead of pieces of paper. They gave you a general order in which to do things. (first go get your fast pass to this ride, then go ride this, and that. once you've ridden those it should be your fast pass return time...) so on and so forth, as well as when to go to certain spots for fireworks and parades, and when to start heading towards your dinner or leave the park to have time to get where you need to go. They gave us all of the information we could possibly need and it was up to us how much of it we used based on lines, and our feelings towards the day.

I used www.betweentheearstravel.com

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