Magical Journeys

[IloveJack]

I've always done my own trip planning/reservations/etc. But I've been seeing all these posts saying that if you make reservations with MJ, they will apply any discounts later.... and it has me intrigued, at least.
We're wanting to go in December, but I'm really hoping that free dining (if offered) will be extended this year, til/through early December. I'm afraid that if I make ressies with WDW, and free dining comes available, we'll have to start all over.
So tell me...
How does MJ work, exactly?
If I choose a package, do I still owe $200 down, or is it more (or less)?
Will they contact me when/if free dining is offered, or do they automatically change my ressie?
Are they "trip planners" or just "ressie takers"?
I think that's all, for now at least. :blush:

[SBETigg]

They're great. I used to do it all on my own and I was skeptical, but I used them once and became a total convert. I just went back to Denise for help planning a new getaway. Payment works out much the same as it does through Disney travel, $200 down to reserve packages (at least to my experience).

You go to the MJ site and fill out the form (you can go there to look and get an idea of what they need to know). They get back to you via email with quotes and suggestions. You can be flexible with ideas on dates and where you want to stay and they will give you a few scenarios, or you can know exactly what you want and they will tell you what's available at the best price possible. If that changes, they will tell you and make the change to your benefit. They don't plan your vacation. They make and update your accommodations reservation with the best price possible for your travel dates, even if they change after you book.

Example: My last trip, we were headed to the Grand Floridian. I decided to try MJ. The initial quote they offered was the same one I got from Disney's site. So I wondered... hm, why should I book MJ? But I did, because I asked for a quote and felt I should follow through and give them my business. Plus, if a discount came up, I wouldn't unbook and rebook myself. I would probably just eat the cost and miss the discount (as I have in the past). Well, about a month before travel, once I was all paid up and ready to go, Denise emailed that a discount was available and was I interested? Yes! She saved me $600. I kept the same reservation, she just applied the discount. All I had to do was open her email and respond.

My new trip- just came up over the weekend. My husband and I saw a chance to sneak away in April and wanted to keep it under a certain amount. Denise found me a great offer for much less than I expected. She had two cost-saving options for me, actually. One involved the gift card offer, and one was a room discount. I would have just booked the gift card offer on the Disney site, but the room discount actually saved me much more and made the whole getaway more affordable and possible for us. I was flexible on where to stay, wanted to try new places for less money. Denise offered a few options so I could compare. It was easier than hunting down everything on my own by continually trying options on the Disney site. She gave me all the information in one email and saved me money. I love Magical Journeys!

[vicster]

I won't book any other way than using Magical Journeys - I've been using them for years. I now have friends using them also and they love it. Book through Magical Journeys - you can't go wrong!

[deedeebee]

We use Karen at MJ, and we are going in Dec '10. We are all booked and she will take care of any discounts that come up. $200.00 down, just like on the Disney site. They are really good and I like knowing I am booked and good to go:cloud9:

[NotaGeek]

And the best part of being part of using Magical Journeys is it helps INTERCOT ... they are a sponsor of our site! :thumbsup:

[WelshieLover]

I too am a convert to MJ. I used to book direct or use AAA. After reading these boards I thought I would give MJ a try. our 2009 & 2010 trips we used MJ and Terrisue was our agent. I cannot say how pleased I was. For our 2009 trip weeks after it was booked Terrisue emailed us when a new offer from WDW was issued and was able to save us over $1,500. For the trip we just took whenever a new offer came out she would let us know our options the cost between what we booked and what the new offer would cost. She never did anything to our plans without my permission. Every question we had was answered quicly. She helped us weigh the pros and cons of the different resorts we were considering. I think you should give them a try.

[Genie1953]

Magical Journeys is awesome! With Denise's help I believe we have saved around $800 total on our upcoming trip. We were going to do 8 nights beginning 4/10/10 and gave her several different scenarios to price out for us. It was Denise who told us that if you begin your vacation package during peak season then you will have to pay peak rates for the dining plan as well. We really didnt want to cut our trip short and check in on the 11th so Denise suggested maybe do a room only reservation for the first night (the 10th) and start our vacation package the next day. This worked out well because we were planning on doing DTD that first day anyway....and it saved us a bunch on our dining plan costs.

The savings didn't stop there, though...later on I got an email from her telling us about the $500 Disney gift card promotion and she already had it applied to our reservation. :thumbsup: Then just a few days later on New Years day we received another email from her....telling us that a new promotion for room discount had been released. We could only have one promotion though. She had priced out the two promotions and detailed them in the email and told us that she had already applied the room discount since it saved us more money...Room discount of $630 versus a $500 Disney Gift card. However she still gave us the choice and told us to please get back with her if we would prefer to do the gift card promotion instead. Of course we stayed with the room discount so that has saved us around $800 total I think so far. :D

So in the end we decided to add another day to our trip. What better way to spend our savings...right? :thumbsup:

Needless to say we think that Magical Journeys and Denise are just wonderful! You just can't go wrong! :mickey:

[Goofy4TheWorld]

If I choose a package, do I still owe $200 down, or is it more (or less)?
Will they contact me when/if free dining is offered, or do they automatically change my ressie?
Are they "trip planners" or just "ressie takers"?
I think that's all, for now at least. :blush:

The deposit rules are the same for MJ as they are for Disney direct ($200 deposit on a package, or one night's stay deposit for a room-only reservation.) There is NO additional charge to use MJ, you will pay, at most, what Disney charges you if you book direct.

They will contact you any time a discount comes along that you may want to consider. If you tell them in advance "I want free dining" then I am sure they could change your reservation without even asking you first, if that is what you want to do.

I guess MJ are only "ressie takers" as they do not make dining reservations or anything like that. They do rooms/tickets only, as far as I know.

[SBETigg]

I guess MJ are only "ressie takers" as they do not make dining reservations or anything like that. They do rooms/tickets only, as far as I know.

Thank you for clarifying. I said accommodations but I meant booking packages and room tickets and dining plans, too. For some reason, I lump all that together at WDW. Also worth adding that they don't charge you, the consumer, for their services. There's no cost to you in using MJ. That's what convinced me to try them. I didn't see that I had anything to lose. For me, I just had to learn to trust that it was out of my hands and someone else was taking care of it for me. They did a wonderful job for me, so they earned my trust and repeat business.

[pandkx3]

As previous posters have mentioned, I had always booked my own reservations....did all the leg work...until our last vacation last summer. We decided to use MJ after reading several posts on intercot. Wendy was wonderful and patient as we had several family members booking at the same time. She also saved us a huge amount of money on the promo disney was offering at the time. I'll never go it alone again.:number1:

[IloveJack]

Thank you for clarifying. I said accommodations but I meant booking packages and room tickets and dining plans, too. For some reason, I lump all that together at WDW.

Do you mean that you go through them to make ADRs? Or do they give you a ressie number and you call WDW Dining when you're 180 days out?

[JabberJaws]

I used MJ for the first time to help with our cruise. Denise was my rep. She has been great! Very responsive to any question I have (and I am a bit of a detailed planner so I have had a LOT of questions) and very pleasant, knowedgable and helpful. I still plan all our own WDW trips (mostly b/c we piecemeal and don't tend to use the packages or anything), but with the cruise I knew the best way to get the best rate, info, etc. was to go through MJ. I will definitely be using them in the future!

[SBETigg]

Do you mean that you go through them to make ADRs? Or do they give you a ressie number and you call WDW Dining when you're 180 days out?

They book you to get a dining plan with your package or not, they do not make your dining arrangements. They give you your reservation number and that's up to you. Sorry for the confusion. That's why I had just said "accommodations" earlier, because I was afraid you might think I meant they make your dining arrangements. Not the case. You still make your own ADRs.

But I just used the online dining at the WDW website for that, and it was fantastic. I thought it was much easier than waiting on the phone.