May 1, 2024

46: How to Plan the Perfect Disney Vacation with Travel Agent, Courtney Gibson

46: How to Plan the Perfect Disney Vacation with Travel Agent, Courtney Gibson
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Season 3
Planning the perfect Disney vacation can feel like an overwhelming task, which is why Jessica and Brandon put their most recent Disney cruise in the hands of Courtney Gibson, Senior Planner with Pixie Travel Co, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. Courtney made their trip seamless and kept it in budget. If you’ve been thinking about going on a Disney vacation, then this episode is for you. Learn the benefits of working with a travel agent, navigating the cruises, hotels and parks and planning a vacation that doesn’t break the bank, but leaves you with the magical memories every family hopes for.

Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP55O4Ku4dukHcK0kExhpcA

To apply to be a guest on the show, visit 

If you’d like to leave us a question to be answered during future episodes, you can do so at:https://www.speakpipe.com/thesugardaddypodcast

You can email us at: thesugardaddypodcast@gmail.com

Be sure to connect with us on socials @thesugardaddypodcast we are most active on Instagram

Learn more about Brandon and schedule a free 30-minute introductory call with him here: https://www.oakcityfinancial.us

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review.

Notes from the show:
Email Courtney: Courtneyg@pixietravelco.com
Connect with Courtney on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixietravelbycourtney
Visit her website: https://www.pixietravelco.com/

Chapters

00:00 - Disney Planning and Financial Literacy

07:52 - From Teaching to Travel Agency Success

16:52 - Benefits of Using a Travel Agent

28:26 - Benefits of Using a Travel Planner

34:59 - Planning a Disney Family Vacation

44:23 - Planning a Magical Disney Vacation

52:29 - Sugar Daddy Podcast Community Engagement

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.401 --> 00:00:06.775
One thing that I want to let everyone know, because this is obviously a financial literacy podcast how much does it cost to work with you?

00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:08.939
Good question.

00:00:09.141 --> 00:00:13.055
The best part is it actually costs you no extra.

00:00:13.055 --> 00:00:26.419
Exactly, and this is probably, you know, the biggest thing that people don't realize is that when you book any kind of vacation, your travel vendor even just you mentioned Expedia.

00:00:26.419 --> 00:00:32.481
They are building in a travel agent's commission, so there's no catch to working with a travel agent.

00:00:32.481 --> 00:00:35.070
The catch is actually when you don't work with one.

00:00:44.161 --> 00:00:45.924
Welcome to the Sugar Daddy podcast.

00:00:45.924 --> 00:00:46.767
I'm Jessica.

00:00:47.048 --> 00:00:47.729
And I'm Brandon.

00:00:47.950 --> 00:00:53.823
And we're the Norwoods, a married millennial couple, here to help you build wealth so you can live the life you've always dreamed of.

00:00:53.823 --> 00:01:02.493
Brandon is an award-winning licensed financial planner with over 10 years of experience and millions of dollars managed for his clients all over the US.

00:01:02.493 --> 00:01:07.144
Don't worry, we leave all the intimidating finance mumbo-jumbo at the door.

00:01:07.144 --> 00:01:10.251
Stick with us as we demystify the realm of dollars.

00:01:10.251 --> 00:01:11.441
So it all makes sense.

00:01:11.441 --> 00:01:17.066
While giving you a glimpse into our relationship with money and each other, we are so glad you're here.

00:01:17.066 --> 00:01:18.390
Let's get started.

00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:22.222
Hey babe, what are we talking about today?

00:01:22.963 --> 00:01:31.415
Today we have our amazing Disney planner and travel agent and friend, courtney Gibson, with us.

00:01:31.415 --> 00:01:37.000
We thought that it would be amazing to share her wealth of knowledge with our audience.

00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:50.387
I know so many of our listeners have families and kids around the same age as us or as our kids, and Disney is hot on everybody's mind because it's the most magical place on earth.

00:01:50.387 --> 00:02:18.445
But we also know that it's really expensive, and so we're going to get into all the details of Disney how to do it right, spoiler, hire Courtney and go into some of the basic or most commonly asked questions that people have around planning Disney, maybe Disney on a budget, and how to really make it a magical experience for your family.

00:02:18.445 --> 00:02:21.271
So welcome, courtney, to the Sugar Daddy podcast.

00:02:21.271 --> 00:02:22.341
We're so glad to have you.

00:02:23.364 --> 00:02:25.068
Thank you so much for having me.

00:02:25.751 --> 00:02:26.581
Yes, of course.

00:02:26.581 --> 00:02:34.545
So I'm going to get into your bio and then we'll get into your first money memory, because that is how we start every episode with our guests.

00:02:34.545 --> 00:02:38.763
So this way, people know exactly who we're talking to.

00:02:38.763 --> 00:02:44.931
Courtney Gibson is a senior planner with Pixie Travel Company, an authorized Disney vacation planner.

00:02:44.931 --> 00:02:56.050
Her favorite thing to do is to travel and make memories with the people she loves, and she is passionate about planning stress-free vacations for her clients that allow them to do the same.

00:02:56.050 --> 00:03:00.443
So, courtney, what is your first money memory?

00:03:01.887 --> 00:03:10.385
I loved this question and getting to go kind of down memory lane and when I thought about it, the first one I had was from my fifth birthday party.

00:03:10.385 --> 00:03:19.973
I had a father who, from a very young age, was trying to instill a lot of concepts of money, preparing my sister and I for the real world.

00:03:19.973 --> 00:03:23.367
So that was always a part of just everyday conversation.

00:03:23.367 --> 00:03:32.170
But for my fifth birthday party he got this idea that there would not be party favors that kids would just, you know, get as they left the party.

00:03:32.170 --> 00:03:34.889
Instead, they had to earn those party favors.

00:03:34.889 --> 00:03:44.221
And so what he and my mom did was they set up a store with all of the party favors on a table and everything was labeled with different amounts of money, you know.

00:03:44.241 --> 00:03:46.228
So if you want a bouncy ball, it's 25 cents.

00:03:46.228 --> 00:03:47.605
If you, you know all the different things.

00:03:47.605 --> 00:03:58.352
Then throughout the party everybody played their games, musical chairs, whatever, and you were earning money and at the end you had to go to the shop to pay for your party favors.

00:03:58.352 --> 00:04:01.503
So you know it was like oh, hey, Johnny, you want that.

00:04:01.804 --> 00:04:07.311
you know, little toy Should have done better in musical chairs, so it was a lesson for everybody.

00:04:07.311 --> 00:04:21.130
You know and that was a lot of his life, you know, my life growing up was he was always looking for ways to engage us and make it fun, which I really appreciate, that we had those funny experiences.

00:04:21.130 --> 00:04:26.420
I mentioned another one, you know he did a stock market game with us when we were very young.

00:04:26.420 --> 00:04:31.053
We chose businesses that we could follow.

00:04:31.415 --> 00:04:39.302
Disney was one of mine, which is a little foreshadowing Coca-Cola was the other I don't remember the other two and he had us track them in the newspaper.

00:04:39.302 --> 00:04:41.086
Every day we would have to get up.

00:04:41.086 --> 00:04:42.069
He'd made us notebooks.

00:04:42.069 --> 00:04:44.081
I think I was eight, my sister was five.

00:04:44.081 --> 00:04:49.673
We had to track them and if they went up he would pay us at the end of the week, and it was.

00:04:49.673 --> 00:04:53.036
You've never seen two little girls more invested in the stock market.

00:04:53.276 --> 00:04:53.839
So it was great.

00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.949
Oh my gosh, I am obsessed with both of those stories.

00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:04.107
I love that he made your party guests pay for their party favors.

00:05:04.107 --> 00:05:05.653
I love that.

00:05:05.694 --> 00:05:17.369
I actually just saw something on Instagram it's very similar about Easter and people putting dollar amounts in the Easter eggs, like little dollars, like you might have, like a quarter or a dollar, like fake money.

00:05:17.369 --> 00:05:27.454
But then, instead of every egg having a little toy, you would set up a store to say, okay, now you can come and buy this, this and that with you know whatever you got in your Easter egg.

00:05:27.454 --> 00:05:30.362
So I don't know, that might be something we're doing next year.

00:05:30.362 --> 00:05:37.384
But the stock market and then looking at the stock in the newspaper, right, I mean that's incredible.

00:05:37.384 --> 00:05:51.569
And then my other thought around that was I mean you don't control the stock, so you getting or not getting money based on how it performed is really interesting, because you don't control that at all.

00:05:51.569 --> 00:06:02.483
But how incredible that he exposed you guys to that at such an early age, because you know they say you form your money habits around the age of seven.

00:06:02.483 --> 00:06:04.124
So how do you feel like?

00:06:05.064 --> 00:06:08.148
Well, first, what did your dad do for a living?

00:06:08.968 --> 00:06:09.610
Good question.

00:06:10.591 --> 00:06:11.932
So my dad was in publishing.

00:06:11.932 --> 00:06:15.675
I grew up in Nashville and he was in the publishing industry.

00:06:16.255 --> 00:06:16.396
Okay.

00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:21.822
So, nothing to do with money or finance or no.

00:06:21.822 --> 00:06:22.043
Now he did.

00:06:22.043 --> 00:06:22.704
Later in life.

00:06:22.704 --> 00:06:25.752
He did get his MBA and that was something he had always wanted to do.

00:06:25.752 --> 00:06:31.261
As he sort of moved up in the publishing world he took on more of a financial role, but in the beginning it was not.

00:06:32.362 --> 00:06:33.403
Wow.

00:06:33.425 --> 00:06:38.353
How do you feel like that impacted you from a young age?

00:06:38.353 --> 00:06:41.504
Obviously you remember this very vividly.

00:06:41.504 --> 00:06:49.064
What do you feel like like stuck with you and how has this helped shape you now that you're a proper adult?

00:06:50.286 --> 00:06:50.588
Right.

00:06:50.588 --> 00:06:57.125
I think probably the biggest thing overall was that we did not spend money we didn't have.

00:06:57.125 --> 00:07:04.286
So it was all about teaching us how to save, teaching us how to enjoy things within the money we had.

00:07:04.286 --> 00:07:10.571
From the time I was in middle school, my parents would give me an amount of money that was my clothing budget for the entire year.

00:07:10.571 --> 00:07:25.211
Part of that was so they didn't have to deal with the drama of I want this name brand shirt, but part of that was from that age I was having to make decisions about okay, here's the money I have Now, where is it going to go?

00:07:25.211 --> 00:07:37.372
And I think now, as an adult, that has benefited me, as I have been in different professions that you know have not necessarily always been rolling in the dough, always knowing how to live within our means.

00:07:37.372 --> 00:07:51.230
So that's been wildly beneficial, as we see you know other friends who maybe are falling prey to credit card debt and other things to have just learned from an early age how to stick with the money that you have.

00:07:52.581 --> 00:08:03.052
No, I totally agree with that, because I always tell Jess, one of the biggest things that shaped how I view money was once we got to a certain age and we obviously knew that Santa Claus wasn't real.

00:08:03.052 --> 00:08:10.103
We get a few gifts here and there just to open up another tree, but my mom would give us money and then we would my brother and I like to buy clothes.

00:08:10.103 --> 00:08:17.161
So then, instead of just buying us a bunch of clothes, she gave us a certain amount of money and then we had to, you know, determine how much we want to spend on different items.

00:08:17.161 --> 00:08:19.084
You know, do you want to buy this one shirt?

00:08:19.084 --> 00:08:19.704
That's $50?

00:08:19.704 --> 00:08:21.348
Do you want to buy two shirts for $25.

00:08:21.348 --> 00:08:24.413
And that's literally pretty much how I still operate.

00:08:25.173 --> 00:08:26.461
It's very much how you operate.

00:08:26.461 --> 00:08:34.529
Also, now we need to put a disclaimer in for anybody listening to this episode with their kids in the car, because you just said like a really big thing.

00:08:35.211 --> 00:08:38.509
I mean, I find it hard to believe that anybody's listening to this with kids in the car.

00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:40.423
Well, okay, touche.

00:08:40.643 --> 00:08:44.030
I can't listen to a podcast where I actually want to listen to with our kids in the car.

00:08:44.211 --> 00:08:45.594
I know, I know, all right.

00:08:45.594 --> 00:08:47.379
Well, I love those stories.

00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:51.070
I have one more follow-up question then we'll get into all things.

00:08:51.070 --> 00:09:03.552
Disney, when you had your birthday party and your dad set up the store, did the kids love it or were they like why are we having to buy our goodie bag gifts for the end of the party?

00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:08.201
In my memory.

00:09:08.201 --> 00:09:09.063
I remember them loving it.

00:09:09.063 --> 00:09:14.886
I know that I loved it, like I thought it was the greatest thing, and maybe that's now the you know the lens through which I'm like, yeah, everybody loved it.

00:09:15.148 --> 00:09:18.143
I don't know I might have gotten in the car I'm like that was the worst.

00:09:18.143 --> 00:09:23.309
No, I mean because I mean going to the store is a whole nother experience, right?

00:09:23.309 --> 00:09:29.799
So even if it's like, oh, you didn't do well in musical chairs so you can't get that bouncy ball, I mean like that's part of the experience.

00:09:29.799 --> 00:09:33.851
Like if you go to the arcade and you don't have the right amount of tickets, I mean it's the same concept.

00:09:33.851 --> 00:09:35.421
So I love that.

00:09:35.421 --> 00:09:37.662
Shout out to dad, that's fantastic.

00:09:37.761 --> 00:09:39.842
That's right Good job.

00:09:39.863 --> 00:09:47.908
Yeah, so for anybody listening a little background Courtney and I actually met, talking about not rolling in the dough.

00:09:47.908 --> 00:09:53.370
Courtney and I actually met while teaching middle school and we've been friends ever since.

00:09:53.370 --> 00:09:56.231
That feels like literally a lifetime ago.

00:09:56.231 --> 00:10:07.057
I mean, we were well, I wasn't married yet, but we definitely did not have children, and so now we have two, you have three.

00:10:07.057 --> 00:10:16.004
It's like we have a whole new literally new lives, you know, and then also new careers.

00:10:16.004 --> 00:10:16.585
So tell us about how you.

00:10:16.585 --> 00:10:27.514
I know you've had a little, you've pivoted since teaching a couple of times, but what got you into this travel agency realm and what do you love about it?

00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:31.548
Yeah, so out of teaching I was also in.

00:10:31.548 --> 00:10:36.744
I went to the literary side of publishing and was doing that working from home.

00:10:36.744 --> 00:10:59.601
And then we just began when my daughter who's now in middle school when she was three and my youngest was eight months, we started taking trips to Walt Disney World with my in-laws, and it was a time of life when Hunter now he's eight, but when he was a baby I was up countless hours of the night nursing, being up with he was our kid who would not sleep.

00:10:59.601 --> 00:11:06.240
And so during that time in preparation for this first big family trip, I was like deep diving into everything.

00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:09.725
You know, the time that you don't normally have to maybe research all these things.

00:11:09.725 --> 00:11:18.325
I now had, you know, from 2 am to 5 am with this person who didn't sleep, and so we had been to Disney previously.

00:11:18.826 --> 00:11:31.812
But we noticed this incredible difference on that first trip as a family with our two small children, because I had put in literal hours and hours and hours of research and we laughed throughout the trip.

00:11:31.812 --> 00:11:38.123
My husband, adam, would say, oh my gosh, like who knew that these restaurants were so incredible and how you know?

00:11:38.123 --> 00:11:40.657
And it was like, oh, because I did, you know, all of this research.

00:11:40.657 --> 00:11:42.825
I planned this out, you know, the best trip.

00:11:42.884 --> 00:11:47.947
And so when we came back from that trip, we became sort of Disney evangelists.

00:11:47.947 --> 00:11:59.184
You know, to our friends it was like, did you know Walt Disney World can be awesome, you know, and we had just been so surprised that this was not just a trip for our kids.

00:11:59.184 --> 00:12:02.653
We knew that my three-year-old daughter was going to love it.

00:12:02.653 --> 00:12:11.907
You know, she was at that just perfect age where, you know, speaking of things we believe in and don't believe in, princesses were real, mickey and Minnie are real, you know everything.

00:12:11.907 --> 00:12:33.005
And so there was obviously this magic of seeing her experience all of that on this first trip and we laughed she's very, very chatty was back then as well, but with every princess her mouth was just open, you know, staring and couldn't say anything because just she was so speechless in the awe of the royalty.

00:12:33.025 --> 00:12:39.285
But what we were not prepared for was how much we enjoyed ourselves and how much it really felt like a vacation.

00:12:39.285 --> 00:12:51.923
And I think that that's something that maybe is still if you're not kind of in the Disney world where people are talking about that's something that maybe is still if you're not kind of in the Disney world where people are talking about that something people may not realize that it can actually be a really nice vacation.

00:12:51.923 --> 00:12:55.770
And so we came back and, just with friends, I started telling them.

00:12:55.770 --> 00:12:59.809
If I heard they were going, it was like, oh well, let me help you, right, let me help you tell you everything.

00:12:59.809 --> 00:13:03.546
Here's where we ate and here's how you should structure your park days.

00:13:03.546 --> 00:13:09.335
And that just became something I was doing for friends, you know, just for free.

00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:13.030
At the time I did not even realize that was something that I could make a business out of.

00:13:13.030 --> 00:13:22.475
It was in 2021 that we had just gotten back from another trip and a lot changed at Walt Disney World from 2020 to 2021.

00:13:22.475 --> 00:13:32.110
So even people who had gone before now there was this new learning curve, all these terms, genie plus early park entry things they're thinking what?

00:13:32.110 --> 00:13:32.991
What is this?

00:13:32.991 --> 00:13:34.124
What's the timeline.

00:13:34.124 --> 00:13:38.080
So I was meeting with other people and I had this flexible job in publishing.

00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:48.472
But my husband one evening, when he heard that I had met another friend, you know, for lunch to walk her through her Disney trip, he was actually the one who said I bet you could actually make some money from this.

00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:51.528
Leave it to Adam to be like let's make some money.

00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:57.072
That's right, If you're going to take time off your real paying job to go do this for free.

00:13:57.072 --> 00:13:59.881
Let's see if we can turn this into a business.

00:13:59.881 --> 00:14:01.783
So that's how it started out.

00:14:01.783 --> 00:14:14.389
I signed on with Pixie Travel Co, which is an earmarked gold travel agency based out of Atlanta, and in the beginning my thought was it was going to be something that I was doing on the side to my publishing job.

00:14:14.389 --> 00:14:19.232
Very quickly it just snowballed into.

00:14:19.232 --> 00:14:25.876
Now it's my full-time job, time job, and it is genuinely something that brings me so much joy.

00:14:25.876 --> 00:14:34.085
I never would have guessed you know, you just can't predict where life's going to take you right that this is what I would be doing.

00:14:34.085 --> 00:14:48.365
But it is so fun to me to get to show families how they can enjoy Walt Disney World, disneyland, disney Cruise Line, regardless of what type of vacationer they are with, whatever their budget is.

00:14:48.365 --> 00:14:55.711
All of those things I love being able to get to know my clients and then be able to plan a vacation that fits within how they like to travel.

00:14:56.961 --> 00:14:59.645
Well, you are doing that beautifully.

00:14:59.645 --> 00:15:05.525
I will say that, having worked with you for the cruise that we went on in March.

00:15:05.525 --> 00:15:15.768
But I think what you said, too, this goes back to something we say so often on the podcast, which is, if you're looking for a side hustle, what are you already doing?

00:15:15.768 --> 00:15:18.341
What are you doing that is bringing you joy?

00:15:18.341 --> 00:15:20.785
What are your friends coming to you for?

00:15:20.785 --> 00:15:22.470
For help and advice?

00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:24.374
And that's exactly what you said.

00:15:24.374 --> 00:15:25.645
Right, you were already doing it.

00:15:25.645 --> 00:15:27.427
You were meeting with friends over coffee.

00:15:27.427 --> 00:15:31.142
You were giving them your binders full of information and all the things.

00:15:31.142 --> 00:15:39.203
That's the perfect way to segue into something part-time or, to your case now, something full-time.

00:15:39.203 --> 00:15:41.128
So I think that's a great example too.

00:15:42.410 --> 00:15:48.765
One thing that I want to let everyone know, because this is obviously a financial literacy podcast how much does it cost to work with you?

00:15:50.489 --> 00:15:55.065
Good question this is the best part is it actually costs you no extra.

00:15:55.065 --> 00:16:08.403
And this is probably the biggest thing that people don't realize is that when you book any kind of vacation, your travel vendor even just you mentioned Expedia.

00:16:08.403 --> 00:16:14.484
They are building in a travel agent's commission, so there's no catch to working with a travel agent.

00:16:14.484 --> 00:16:21.389
The catch is actually when you don't work with one, because then you're going to be all of these services and this help on the table.

00:16:22.010 --> 00:16:31.493
So what happens is, if you guys had booked your Disney cruise on your own, you would have paid exactly the same price as you paid when you booked it through me.

00:16:31.493 --> 00:16:49.414
But Disney just keeps the travel agent's commission, whereas when you work with a travel agent, you're actually helping a small business, you're supporting a friend and you get all of these complimentary planning services that I'm able to offer because I'm getting that commission.

00:16:49.414 --> 00:16:52.264
So it's a really beautiful thing and it made it a nice transition.

00:16:52.264 --> 00:17:02.927
You know it would have been difficult, um, if all of the sudden my friends were coming to me and it's like oh, I used to give this advice for free, now I'm gonna need you to pay but to be able to still offer that.

00:17:03.028 --> 00:17:15.786
And actually now, because I'm not working my other job, I have even more time to give, create resources, and it's so wonderful and it's my favorite thing to be able to share that there's literally no catch.

00:17:15.786 --> 00:17:23.132
You're leaving money on the table when you don't use a travel agent, and that goes for anything, so keep that in mind.

00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:29.310
Yeah, I must say, because, as someone who does planning for a living, I don't plan any of our vacations Zero.

00:17:29.310 --> 00:17:35.912
No, he does not, I'm a vacation princess, where I just show up and Jess has done everything.

00:17:35.912 --> 00:17:42.773
And in this scenario, luckily a lot of the stuff was able to be done by Courtney, which took a lot of things off the justice table.

00:17:42.773 --> 00:17:46.468
And first thing I said when Jess brought up was like oh, how much does it cost?

00:17:49.496 --> 00:17:52.325
It's like that's my favorite price, favorite number yes.

00:17:52.325 --> 00:18:03.827
So just in case anybody tuned out, it costs nothing to work with Courtney and I will tell you the value that she brings is invaluable.

00:18:04.678 --> 00:18:06.083
Yes, and there are zero catches to this.

00:18:06.083 --> 00:18:09.384
This is not some fee that's going to show up later on.

00:18:09.384 --> 00:18:12.525
It absolutely costs you nothing out of pocket to work with her.

00:18:12.775 --> 00:18:16.026
Yeah, but it will make your experience so much better.

00:18:16.026 --> 00:18:17.682
So we're going to get into that.

00:18:17.682 --> 00:18:19.920
Courtney high level.

00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:21.244
What is a travel agent?

00:18:21.244 --> 00:18:28.903
For anybody listening who has maybe never heard the term or has never worked with a travel agent, or thought that they went extinct.

00:18:29.775 --> 00:18:34.464
Yeah, that's true too, Exactly Because there's so many you can do everything online yourself now.

00:18:34.634 --> 00:18:35.740
So yeah, that's a good call out.

00:18:36.876 --> 00:18:38.627
And I think there has been a little shift.

00:18:38.627 --> 00:18:39.575
That is a great point.

00:18:39.575 --> 00:18:43.425
And you know, you see a couple of terms interchangeably.

00:18:43.425 --> 00:18:52.017
You know you think about back in the day when you used to go to a physical travel agency and now you are thinking, wait, I don't need to do that, I'll just book it myself online.

00:18:52.017 --> 00:19:06.377
And so, even though it's, you know, officially travel agent, you'll see a lot of times the terms travel planner, because really, what a travel agent is now doing and where I see is the value yes, they are helping you actually physically book the trip.

00:19:06.778 --> 00:19:10.448
If you do not book your trip through them, then they can't help you.

00:19:10.448 --> 00:19:21.443
You know, every once in a while, people will hear, oh, travel agents are free and so they'll book a trip on their own and then come to me wanting the services and it's like, oh, no, I only get paid when you book the trip through me.

00:19:21.443 --> 00:19:22.642
So you do.

00:19:22.642 --> 00:19:28.003
But the first thing you know a travel agent can do is actually help you narrow down a destination.

00:19:28.003 --> 00:19:32.820
If you're looking within Walt Disney World, narrowing down, okay, what resort?

00:19:32.820 --> 00:19:37.308
You know, making those kind of maybe traditional things you think about in terms of booking on your own.

00:19:37.308 --> 00:19:53.286
But you have what I like to think of myself as a travel advocate of I'm on, I'm getting to know you, your budget, your interests and so, even from the very beginning, working with you to help you make sure you're choosing the exact right resort, right vacation package.

00:19:53.286 --> 00:20:01.737
But that's really where my job starts, and so if you think, okay, I could do this on my own, I could book it online, you're absolutely right.

00:20:02.198 --> 00:20:08.644
What you're, then, missing out on is someone walking you through the whole process, and that's why I really like the term travel planner.

00:20:08.644 --> 00:20:14.644
That's the term that our agency chooses to use, because we're walking you through every step.

00:20:14.644 --> 00:20:19.030
So, from handling payments, from keeping up with this is another one of my favorite parts.

00:20:19.030 --> 00:20:25.286
If a promotion comes out, if a sale comes out, we can retroactively apply that to your trip.

00:20:25.286 --> 00:20:28.519
You're not having to, you know, keep up with all of that.

00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:38.871
And then, depending on the type of trip, actually, you know, booking dining for you, booking all of your experiences, things that go beyond that initial okay, got it booked.

00:20:38.871 --> 00:20:44.383
Flight reservations here we go, following up all the way through when you're on your trip.

00:20:44.383 --> 00:20:56.923
You know clients who are in the parks have access, you know, to call me, text me, can give recommendations, walk them through everything, so it's really the entire time you have someone on your side who's a resource.

00:20:58.266 --> 00:21:01.099
Yeah, I could tell that it made like everything on her.

00:21:01.099 --> 00:21:16.049
So she booked, she helped us do our Disney cruise trip and obviously, like I said before, I'm not really part of the planning process to begin with, but I can tell you that I saw a difference in how Jess was from a stress standpoint, because everything that she would have done was offloaded off her shoulders.

00:21:16.049 --> 00:21:24.434
And as soon as we got there you know, from getting to the airport, getting there and everything like that everything was taken care of and you didn't have to worry about anything.

00:21:24.434 --> 00:21:29.723
We knew exactly what to expect, you know, and some because there's just certain things that we didn't know.

00:21:29.723 --> 00:21:35.103
Obviously, as first time people going on a Disney cruise, that was extremely helpful to have from Courtney.

00:21:35.443 --> 00:21:41.003
Yeah, and what I will say just to give everybody a background on how Courtney and I worked together.

00:21:41.003 --> 00:21:47.454
I basically said I recognize for us this is going to be a trip and not a vacation.

00:21:47.454 --> 00:21:59.971
A vacation to me and I'm hoping this will change as our children get older and I'm hoping this will change as our children get older but right now, a vacation is me and Brandon, you know, at a pool, at a resort, on a beach, without the kids.

00:21:59.971 --> 00:22:05.827
A trip is, you know, what we did for the Disney cruise, which was lovely.

00:22:05.827 --> 00:22:09.465
I cannot say enough good things about it.

00:22:09.465 --> 00:22:18.742
I did not feel completely, you know, relaxed and rejuvenated coming back, but the joy in our children, you know, absolutely made it worth it.

00:22:18.823 --> 00:22:26.461
But here's what I told we also are fortunate enough that we are in a place financially where we can take our separate vacations and do our trips with our kids.

00:22:26.461 --> 00:22:29.181
So I want to preface that we are fortunate and we understand that part.

00:22:29.474 --> 00:22:29.675
Yes.

00:22:29.675 --> 00:22:37.020
So basically, what I told Courtney is you know, this is going to be the first plane, plane flight, plane ride for the kids.

00:22:37.020 --> 00:22:39.247
You know they love sleeping in a hotel.

00:22:39.247 --> 00:22:46.922
I basically was like I don't want to do a rental car, I don't want to do car seats, I don't want to pack anything except for clothes and sunscreen.

00:22:46.922 --> 00:22:50.516
You know, I want, I want, this to be as easy as possible.

00:22:50.516 --> 00:22:51.439
How do we do that?

00:22:51.439 --> 00:22:53.683
And she was like great, say less.

00:22:53.683 --> 00:22:58.269
We will, you know, make sure that you fly in the day before you'll stay at this hotel.

00:22:58.269 --> 00:23:00.917
You'll do all your registrations in the hotel lobby.

00:23:00.917 --> 00:23:01.819
You never have to leave.

00:23:02.361 --> 00:23:05.508
The hotel literally was attached to the airport.

00:23:05.508 --> 00:23:16.155
So again, you're not getting on a shuttle, you're not having to do Ubers and car seats, and I mean it was seamless.

00:23:16.155 --> 00:23:17.520
Then we got on the charter bus from the hotel to the port.

00:23:17.520 --> 00:23:19.788
That was, I mean, such a great experience.

00:23:19.788 --> 00:23:21.836
And then within an hour we were on the ship.

00:23:21.836 --> 00:23:23.720
I mean it was great.

00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:31.401
We talked about budget, we talked about room size and what's really excellent about working with a travel agent.

00:23:31.401 --> 00:23:35.628
But, specifically, courtney is that she's done all of these trips.

00:23:35.628 --> 00:23:45.186
And so when I said, hey, what do you think about this room, and I don't want to feel crowded and I want to have a little bit of space and a little bit of privacy once the kids go to bed.

00:23:45.186 --> 00:23:46.459
What room do we need?

00:23:46.459 --> 00:23:47.844
Boom, she had an answer.

00:23:47.844 --> 00:23:50.353
Right, is it worth it to get the balcony?

00:23:50.353 --> 00:23:51.517
She had an answer.

00:23:51.517 --> 00:23:56.347
I mean, everything from that standpoint was spot on.

00:23:56.347 --> 00:23:58.298
I know I can trust her opinion.

00:23:58.298 --> 00:24:01.403
She booked all of our dining.

00:24:01.403 --> 00:24:03.928
I mean, we had perfect seats.

00:24:03.928 --> 00:24:07.141
Elsa was right in front of us, anna was right in front.

00:24:07.141 --> 00:24:16.348
I mean, I reached out and touched Olaf as he, you know, rolled by at our first dinner, you first dinner in the Avengers room.

00:24:16.348 --> 00:24:18.983
Roman was able to give Spider-Man a high five.

00:24:18.983 --> 00:24:27.305
We would have never been able to do those things without Courtney's help, because she knew where we needed to sit in the dining room.

00:24:27.894 --> 00:24:29.078
And dining is assigned.

00:24:29.078 --> 00:24:30.143
You can't just sit anywhere.

00:24:30.785 --> 00:24:34.484
Right, and so I mean these were really amazing things.

00:24:34.484 --> 00:24:36.299
And then you know packing lists.

00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:37.403
What should we think about?

00:24:37.403 --> 00:24:39.230
Oh, the walls are magnetic.

00:24:39.230 --> 00:24:49.178
I had no idea you can buy magnets and hang everything on the wall and create more space, and I mean it was really, really fantastic.

00:24:49.178 --> 00:24:52.742
And yes, could you find this information out on your own?

00:24:52.742 --> 00:24:53.324
Sure.

00:24:53.324 --> 00:24:56.368
Can you follow other Disney planners on Instagram?

00:24:56.368 --> 00:25:18.266
Sure, but having access to somebody that you can set up an hour long call with which we did multiple times, you know is emailing you all of the really, really important information, I mean literally the hardest thing I had to do was upload all of our passport information and then read through her super, super, super comprehensive guide, which I did multiple times.

00:25:18.266 --> 00:25:20.068
That was the hardest thing.

00:25:20.234 --> 00:25:27.836
Everything else was handled by Courtney, and I know 100% our trip would not have been what it was without her.

00:25:27.836 --> 00:25:29.799
We had our grandparents come.

00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:37.558
One of the sets of grandparents came, and they also were like this was the easiest thing, and this is a set of grandparents.

00:25:37.558 --> 00:25:41.657
I think, in general, our grandparents, like this, could have been a very stressful thing, right?

00:25:41.657 --> 00:25:47.596
It's like going from the plane to the, to the bus, to the cruise ship.

00:25:47.596 --> 00:25:56.157
I mean that's pretty overwhelming for people you know who are in their 60s and 70s, and even they were like, wow, this was really amazing.

00:25:56.157 --> 00:26:00.607
So thank you to Courtney for all of that and for anybody listening.

00:26:00.607 --> 00:26:09.063
Do not miss out on her wealth of knowledge, because I really feel like you're at Disney every single week, I mean do you even live at home now?

00:26:09.344 --> 00:26:11.127
Marathons at Disney and stuff.

00:26:11.515 --> 00:26:14.170
I know you're doing all the Disney things, so it was.

00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:16.317
It was perfect because of you, honestly.

00:26:18.102 --> 00:26:18.643
Well, thank you.

00:26:18.643 --> 00:26:22.219
It was really fun to work with you and to get to know the grandparents.

00:26:22.219 --> 00:26:22.440
That's.

00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:26.457
Another favorite thing is is when I'm working with multi-generational families.

00:26:26.457 --> 00:26:32.597
To get to know the whole family is is a really fun element, and I love when you can see where we get our crazy from.

00:26:34.522 --> 00:26:35.224
Absolutely not.

00:26:35.224 --> 00:26:37.159
I loved everybody so much.

00:26:37.159 --> 00:26:38.343
I missed everybody.

00:26:38.343 --> 00:26:43.961
It's fun, you know when people will send me emails telling me you know what were their highlights and favorite parts.

00:26:43.961 --> 00:26:49.846
It's just, it's always fun to like predict what I think people are going to love and then to hear, you know their feedback.

00:26:49.846 --> 00:26:55.957
But when you were saying, you know you can go to all these other resources and that's, I think, a great thing.

00:26:55.977 --> 00:27:01.911
You know, there tend to be two types of people who come to me people who don't want to do any of it or don't have the time to do any of it.

00:27:01.911 --> 00:27:04.136
Maybe in an ideal world they would that's me.

00:27:04.136 --> 00:27:07.583
They're very busy and so it's like, can we hand this off?

00:27:07.583 --> 00:27:13.472
But then there are also people who do love, you know, still doing all of that research.

00:27:13.472 --> 00:27:19.195
And I've I've heard a misconception sometimes where people think I don't want to use a travel planner because I want to do the research.

00:27:19.195 --> 00:27:23.965
I like doing all of that and you still can, absolutely.

00:27:24.306 --> 00:27:36.306
You know, sometimes I will have clients who have been on multiple Disney cruises or, you know, gone to Disney World multiple times, but the beauty there is they don't want to get up at midnight to book their activities.

00:27:36.306 --> 00:27:39.753
Princess experience yes, that's right.

00:27:39.753 --> 00:27:46.576
And then get up back at 6 am to book their dining or just to keep up with any changes or promotions they might miss.

00:27:46.576 --> 00:27:48.460
That leaves them money on the table.

00:27:48.460 --> 00:27:57.048
And so I have a lot of clients who are more well versed or keep up with things, but they still choose to use me because there's no, there's no downside.

00:27:57.048 --> 00:27:59.884
You know, you can still do the deep dive as much as you want.

00:28:00.715 --> 00:28:08.846
I mean knowing what I know now, like there, there really is no downside because, like I said before, like most of the time people's biggest hangup is an additional cost.

00:28:08.846 --> 00:28:10.395
There is no additional cost.

00:28:10.395 --> 00:28:15.122
So all you're getting is an additional resource and you can use it Like you said there.

00:28:15.122 --> 00:28:16.865
You can use it as you see fit.

00:28:16.865 --> 00:28:22.131
I mean for me, like, obviously, as a financial planner, you got to pay me like it comes out of your pocket, there's no other way.

00:28:22.131 --> 00:28:26.144
So there is that hurdle, but working with you, that hurdle is not there.

00:28:26.194 --> 00:28:31.041
So I don't, I don't even understand, like, if people know this, once they know about this resource, why they would not.

00:28:31.041 --> 00:28:35.827
I mean, cause, like, one of the biggest things that I love with you know, working with you is how responsive you are.

00:28:35.827 --> 00:28:45.762
That's my biggest thing Whenever I'm working with someone is how quickly do you get back with you know information that I asked about and you know you always had an answer.

00:28:45.762 --> 00:28:48.615
If you didn't have an answer, you had it, you know, real quick.

00:28:48.615 --> 00:28:58.068
So it's just it'd be crazy to me for, like I said, for someone to listen to this episode, know about it, have a Disney trip coming up and not get you as a planner.

00:28:58.068 --> 00:28:58.950
It doesn't even make any sense.

00:28:59.191 --> 00:29:05.627
Yeah, and I've even talked to friends and I'm like did you spend the night at the hotel and then just take the shuttle?

00:29:05.627 --> 00:29:11.762
And the friends have straight up been like nope, because apparently we like to make our life difficult and didn't even know that was an option.

00:29:11.762 --> 00:29:20.517
And I mean when I tell you the fact that we did not need to leave the airport to get to the hotel, which that was the best airport hotel I've ever been to.

00:29:20.537 --> 00:29:22.662
It was a nice hotel.

00:29:22.803 --> 00:29:28.286
It was lovely you had the food court right there for all the dinner and breakfast options and I mean it was.

00:29:28.286 --> 00:29:29.229
It was seamless.

00:29:29.229 --> 00:29:41.981
And to me, booking a rental car, making sure there's car seats, installing the car seats, I mean going all the different places while you're schlepping your kids and all the luggage, and that, to me, stresses me out, like I don't want to do that.

00:29:41.981 --> 00:29:46.987
And if there's an option to not, I'm going to take that every time.

00:29:46.987 --> 00:29:51.023
And I made that very clear to Courtney and she was like, don't worry, we've got this.

00:29:51.023 --> 00:29:54.102
So really, just a wonderful experience.

00:29:54.222 --> 00:30:05.645
And to your point earlier, court, how you were saying if you don't want to get up at midnight because that's when yada yada opens for booking, no, thank you, I do not want to get up at midnight.

00:30:05.645 --> 00:30:20.690
And the fact that you do this for your clients and you're up at midnight and up at three and up at six to make sure that we get the bookings and the excursions and the tables and the princess experiences and all the other things that I'm not even aware of.

00:30:20.690 --> 00:30:24.285
I mean talk about concierge, top notch service.

00:30:24.434 --> 00:30:25.739
Yes, I'm not doing that for anybody.

00:30:25.739 --> 00:30:27.785
I'm asleep at 12.

00:30:27.984 --> 00:30:30.993
Same, so I mean that is fantastic.

00:30:31.075 --> 00:30:31.719
I am on nights that I'm not booking things, yeah.

00:30:31.719 --> 00:30:31.742
So I mean, that is fantastic.

00:30:31.742 --> 00:30:32.596
I am on nights that I'm not booking things, yeah.

00:30:33.715 --> 00:30:43.526
And the thing is, too, is that you know you were speaking about how some people just love doing this and they're like, oh you know what, previously I wouldn't want to work with a travel planner because I enjoy doing this on my own.

00:30:43.526 --> 00:30:49.942
The reality is is that you may enjoy doing it on your own, but you don't do it for a living, so you're not going to know everything thing.

00:30:49.942 --> 00:30:51.083
Like you know with me.

00:30:51.083 --> 00:30:53.987
Like, obviously there's people out there that like to DIY their finances.

00:30:54.326 --> 00:31:08.999
That's great, you can DIY your finances all day, but if you don't do it for a living, I guarantee you, I know some things that you don't know and you're going to miss something new coming out, like you said, courtney, like promotions or discounts, that, yeah, if you're not tracking it, you're going to miss it.

00:31:10.762 --> 00:31:11.404
And that's what I know.

00:31:11.404 --> 00:31:25.922
This applies, I think, to any, to any field business People don't know what they don't know, and that's something I say a lot and, I think, another reason to hire an expert in any field right, but people don't know what they don't know.

00:31:25.922 --> 00:31:36.265
So you might think you're doing the best option, but a travel planner can show you all of the options and to see if there's something that you missed that you didn't know was you know was available.

00:31:37.296 --> 00:31:42.008
I see a lot of similarity between travel planning and financial advising right now, actually, because it has to work planning in it.

00:31:42.454 --> 00:31:45.003
No, but also just yeah, like you don't know what you don't know.

00:31:45.003 --> 00:31:48.144
Sure, you can do it on your own, but is that really the best choice?

00:31:48.144 --> 00:31:50.722
Do you want to get a PhD in Disney?

00:31:50.722 --> 00:31:53.339
Because I certainly don't a PhD in Disney, because I certainly don't.

00:31:53.339 --> 00:31:57.288
So why not utilize the resource that is available to you?

00:31:57.288 --> 00:32:07.377
So let's talk about the elephant in the room, which is Disney ain't cheap.

00:32:07.377 --> 00:32:11.548
So if somebody listening is like, well, I don't have $7,000 to pay for this Disney trip, what would you say to that?

00:32:13.496 --> 00:32:17.376
Yeah, I would say the good news is you don't need $7,000.

00:32:17.538 --> 00:32:22.667
If you come to me with a $7,000 budget, we could plan you a $7,000 trip.

00:32:22.667 --> 00:32:36.364
But Disney's actually a lot more affordable than people realize and I think that's also one of the things that I love the most about my job is helping people take whatever their budget is and building their trip from there.

00:32:36.364 --> 00:32:50.507
I would say, starting, if you can have for family of four $3,000, we can plan you a really nice trip $2,000 depending on the time of year.

00:32:50.507 --> 00:32:51.994
But you can do it Now.

00:32:51.994 --> 00:32:58.207
That is staying at one of Disney's more budget-friendly resorts, that's, you know, maybe less park days.

00:32:58.207 --> 00:33:03.766
But I actually just had a returning client come to me and say, okay, you know, they got the Disney bug.

00:33:03.766 --> 00:33:10.862
They thought this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip and then, literally the day they get back, they're like we have to go back, which is something I see a lot.

00:33:10.862 --> 00:33:14.766
She said, okay, this isn't money that you know we had saved.

00:33:14.766 --> 00:33:17.067
I'm trying to look at, look at numbers.

00:33:17.067 --> 00:33:20.151
Could we do it for, you know, under 2000?

00:33:20.151 --> 00:33:21.436
And you know that's.

00:33:21.457 --> 00:33:27.806
The other great thing about working with a travel planner is I know what times of year are the most affordable.

00:33:27.806 --> 00:33:47.396
You know there's dynamic pricing with everything, both the tickets and the resorts, and so being able to know, okay, well, you know you certainly can't go over a school break for that price, but we were able to look and find them a time actually over the summer for a family of four staying in an affordable value resort with three-day park tickets.

00:33:47.396 --> 00:33:48.941
We had them at $1,800.

00:33:48.941 --> 00:33:55.846
Now, that's not going to be how everybody wants to do Walt Disney World, but it is possible.

00:33:55.846 --> 00:34:01.027
And so from there, what we can start looking at is what matters to you about this trip.

00:34:01.295 --> 00:34:14.367
And when people fill out, the first step when they work with me is filling out a free quote request form, and I have some questions on there where I want to know, okay, specifically about Walt Disney World, what's most important to you in a resort.

00:34:14.367 --> 00:34:15.550
Is it the price?

00:34:15.550 --> 00:34:17.639
Is it having the amenities?

00:34:17.639 --> 00:34:23.117
Because on the other end, you have deluxe resorts that you can even stay club level.

00:34:23.117 --> 00:34:25.704
Obviously, that's at a higher price point.

00:34:25.764 --> 00:34:26.726
So what's important to you?

00:34:26.726 --> 00:34:27.597
Is it important to be?

00:34:27.597 --> 00:34:28.923
Do you have young children?

00:34:28.923 --> 00:34:39.668
And one of the most important things is to be as close to the park as you can so that you can come back and forth for nap time, and so then looking at okay, if that's the priority, then what?

00:34:39.668 --> 00:34:41.418
What kind of budget do we need to look at?

00:34:41.418 --> 00:34:58.996
So it's, it really depends, you know, on on what a family's um, the makeup of who is traveling, ages of the travelers, and then what they prioritize Um of the travelers and then what they prioritize.

00:34:58.996 --> 00:35:16.137
I would say that the you know I plan lots of trips for clients that are in the $5,000 range so still probably more affordable than a lot of people imagine and that's at a moderate or a deluxe resort, that's visiting all of the parks, there's even dining plan options, and so we can really look at what's important to you.

00:35:16.137 --> 00:35:18.222
Let's prioritize those things.

00:35:19.487 --> 00:35:29.400
Yeah, cause I remember we were at at one point in time we were planning a trip actually to Disney and that one South not because of Courtney nothing at all to do with Courtney.

00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:31.108
Nothing to do with family dynamics.

00:35:31.108 --> 00:35:50.586
But, um, I do remember that you gave us that you know all those different options as far as from you know pricing standpoint and, I guess, level of quote unquote luxury in regards to the rooms that we had options to, and I like that because, like I said, like it helps, it really does help you fit into any budget that you know someone's looking for, that you know someone's looking for.

00:35:51.067 --> 00:35:59.572
Yeah, because at that point we were talking about, you know, having two sets of grandparents in not the room, but like, oh, could we do a suite?

00:35:59.572 --> 00:36:07.543
I basically was saying I would love to have laundry, right, so you can pack less and then throw in a load of laundry at night.

00:36:07.543 --> 00:36:21.260
I also loved the idea of, you know, let's get there and let's do an Instacart order, because we have a full kitchen and that way we can, you know, pack snacks and have our breakfast at the, at the hotel or at the resort, and so we were talking through all those options.

00:36:21.260 --> 00:36:31.846
And one of the things that I loved is I basically said to Courtney, like, give us, like, the top tier, right, like give us the, the Escalade, the Rolls Royce, whatever.

00:36:31.846 --> 00:36:42.516
And then when that price came back, I was like, okay, let's go down to the Honda Accord.

00:36:42.516 --> 00:36:42.818
But it was.

00:36:42.818 --> 00:36:48.476
You know you can work with her and you know you can ask for all the things and then see what that comes back at and tier back from there.

00:36:48.856 --> 00:36:53.523
But I think what you said about what's the most important, you know, where do you want to be located?

00:36:53.523 --> 00:36:55.947
Are you traveling with a 10 year old and a two year old?

00:36:55.947 --> 00:37:03.976
Right, like that is going to look very different than if you're traveling with a six and a seven year old, and I also loved what I remember us talking about.

00:37:03.976 --> 00:37:15.402
Certain resorts have different transportation to get to different parts, and you the monorail or the sky rail or I don't remember what it's called.

00:37:15.402 --> 00:37:18.117
You know that's an adventure in itself for young kids.

00:37:18.117 --> 00:37:22.496
Or you can take the ferry over like that's literally a boat ride, like kids love that.

00:37:22.496 --> 00:37:28.596
That's part of the adventure for that day and you know those are again were all things I had no idea about.

00:37:28.596 --> 00:37:30.978
I probably wouldn't have taken the time to research.

00:37:31.458 --> 00:37:33.619
I think ultimately, you know, I know I would not have.

00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:35.240
Well, yeah, that's a given.

00:37:35.240 --> 00:37:43.987
Obviously, we ended up on the Disney Cruise, which I think was the perfect first option for Disney for us.

00:37:43.987 --> 00:37:47.429
But yeah, I mean you've just you answered all the questions.

00:37:47.429 --> 00:37:48.449
You made it seamless.

00:37:48.449 --> 00:37:53.532
You were, you know, we gave you the budget and we basically said, what can we do?

00:37:55.635 --> 00:38:02.367
And it was was excellent, and also one thing I do want to also point out because I think, like I said once again, financial literacy, podcast, aspects of money.

00:38:02.367 --> 00:38:13.416
There was a very gracious if you plan the trip and for whatever reason you needed to cancel, there was a very gracious time period in regards to canceling the trip and receiving your money back.

00:38:13.416 --> 00:38:18.675
So, there was also that option, which I like, because sometimes you just don't know.

00:38:18.916 --> 00:38:31.161
The Disney trip we had to use, but with the Disney cruise, like you know, we knew we were going to go, but it gives you the options Cause I think a lot of people think about when they're planning trips and it's going to have that expense, you know, that larger amount of money that you're paying towards it.

00:38:31.161 --> 00:38:34.586
What is the chance that if something comes up, something happens and I can't go?

00:38:34.967 --> 00:38:36.128
Well, and my dad had to.

00:38:36.128 --> 00:38:42.911
He, you know he was supposed to go and then had to back out because of some health issues and there was no penalty Right.

00:38:42.911 --> 00:38:46.313
So I love the idea, especially when you're traveling with children.

00:38:46.313 --> 00:38:53.478
I mean having having an option to back out if needed without penalty, without losing your hard earned money.

00:38:53.478 --> 00:38:56.307
I think that's fantastic too, yeah.

00:38:57.371 --> 00:38:58.112
And that's right.

00:38:58.112 --> 00:39:04.432
With the Disney cruise, it's typically, depending on the length of cruise, 90 or 120 days out.

00:39:04.432 --> 00:39:20.280
You have up until that point, when final payment is due, to get a full refund, even on your deposit, and then at that point you can make the decision to add travel protection, which gives you then even some more options inside of that time.

00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:29.563
With Walt Disney World, your final payment's not due until 30 days out, deposit's fully refundable and your deposit's only $200.

00:39:29.563 --> 00:39:33.208
So it's pretty low commitment.

00:39:33.528 --> 00:39:50.447
So I tell people often, especially when looking at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, if you have an idea like we're booking right now, through October 2025, at the time we're recording, and so it's like $200, let's go ahead and book something.

00:39:50.447 --> 00:39:56.215
Let's, you know, think further out, for you know what are you trying to save, and we can make payments along the way.

00:39:56.215 --> 00:40:02.449
And then if it doesn't pan out, you know, up until that 30-day mark, you get a full refund of that $200.

00:40:02.449 --> 00:40:06.045
Or we can push out to a future date if you're not ready to travel then.

00:40:06.045 --> 00:40:17.226
And so that's one of my favorite elements as well is that it's not you're not having to pay so much money, you know up front, or you're locked into something that's so far in the future, you know.

00:40:17.226 --> 00:40:20.164
You know upfront, or you're locked into something that's so far in the future, you know you can't know if you're going to be able to do the trip or not.

00:40:20.894 --> 00:40:24.469
Yeah, Because people definitely have paralysis by analysis.

00:40:24.469 --> 00:40:33.099
I've seen it in financial planning and I know people have issues with that when they're trying to book a trip further out, that they get so like oh I don't know if I'm going to make it, I don't know if I'm going to make it, I don't want to lose money.

00:40:33.099 --> 00:40:36.385
And then they just don't plan the trip when the scenario that takes away that hurdle.

00:40:36.786 --> 00:40:43.802
Yeah, well, and it gives you something to look forward to, which I know I'm always in a better mood when I have a trip coming up.

00:40:43.802 --> 00:40:51.831
But also, from a budgeting standpoint, right, if you can say, hey, this is what we want the trip to look like in October 2025.

00:40:51.831 --> 00:41:14.000
I mean, I have more than a year to put 100 or $200 aside every month towards the trip, towards souvenirs, towards whatever again is going to be important to you, and it just makes it so much more accessible to then have the trip that you've dreamed of for yourself and your family, so I love that.

00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:22.518
Ok, there's so many parks and your family, so I love that.

00:41:22.518 --> 00:41:23.079
Okay, there's so many parks.

00:41:23.079 --> 00:41:24.284
Talk to us about which parks are best for which age groups.

00:41:24.284 --> 00:41:29.985
So, maybe, if we have listeners with kids under five and they could pick one or two parks, what would you recommend?

00:41:32.135 --> 00:41:35.927
Yeah, so I love being able to do Disney World.

00:41:35.927 --> 00:41:47.184
We'll focus on Disney World, since we're on the East Coast, but you have four parks Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom and what I love is there's actually a park hopper option.

00:41:47.184 --> 00:42:05.389
So one thing that I like to be able to do for clients is, if they have that park hopper option, then we can kind of let you hop in and do the things that would be the highlights for your crew at each place, Because what you'll find is there are probably things at each park that your kids want to do or that you want to do.

00:42:05.389 --> 00:42:16.909
You know there's some of the biggest attractions if you have roller coaster, thrill fans at each park, but then when you have younger children and they love a particular character or movie, you know, then you want to make sure to hit those.

00:42:16.909 --> 00:42:27.208
In terms of just if you have young kids and height requirements, Magic Kingdom has the most attractions.

00:42:27.208 --> 00:42:29.215
Where there's no height requirement, Any wedding can go on them, even babies.

00:42:29.235 --> 00:42:42.224
Epcot is actually second, which surprises a lot of people, because Epcot is also where you have the world showcase and you know it gets sort of a reputation for being more adult focused, which is not the case at all.

00:42:42.224 --> 00:42:48.385
I mean, it's wonderful for adults great food, great drinks, great hang but there are so many attractions.

00:42:48.385 --> 00:42:51.436
It's the only place to meet Elsa and Anna.

00:42:51.436 --> 00:42:55.764
So you know, you've got some things where it's like, oh we have to go to Epcot.

00:42:55.764 --> 00:42:59.690
I actually love being able to hit all of them.

00:42:59.690 --> 00:43:08.664
If you had young children thrills are not a factor Then I would probably say Magic Kingdom, number one.

00:43:08.664 --> 00:43:11.034
I think it's important to be able to see the castle.

00:43:11.034 --> 00:43:20.099
It's a lot of the classic things you think of when you think of Walt Disney World seeing the fireworks at night, the parade, all of that magic.

00:43:20.099 --> 00:43:24.168
And then Epcot and then Animal Kingdom is really fantastic too.

00:43:24.168 --> 00:43:28.246
You have a lot of shows there as well and also really great food.

00:43:28.246 --> 00:43:31.396
So I enjoy all of the food aspect as well.

00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:33.780
I'm definitely a foodie.

00:43:33.820 --> 00:44:00.942
You always laugh at me because I was trying to tell her I was fortunate that I went to Disney a lot, you know, growing up and I remember, and she I don't think she had even been at a young age, but when I was a kid back I want to say this probably in the 80s when we went there, used to be a thing at the Magic Kingdom where it had, like it was like a Michael Jackson thing, michael Jackson themed movie called Captain EO and it was in 3D, and she was like what are you talking about?

00:44:00.942 --> 00:44:02.842
I was like how do you not know what this is?

00:44:03.114 --> 00:44:05.704
I probably wasn't in the United States at that time, honestly.

00:44:06.175 --> 00:44:11.608
But that was one of my earliest memories of Disney is seeing Michael Jackson as Captain EO.

00:44:12.175 --> 00:44:13.400
Does that ring a bell for you, Courtney?

00:44:14.554 --> 00:44:15.577
It was a great soundtrack also.

00:44:15.597 --> 00:44:20.188
There are lots of funny things to remember, like there was an Ellen DeGeneres attraction.

00:44:23.775 --> 00:44:27.184
Like there's been lots of you know over the years when we were talking about ages too.

00:44:27.324 --> 00:44:36.512
one thing I wanted to mention from the financial aspect as well, that some people don't realize Two kind of key things when you're thinking, okay, when should we take maybe that first trip?

00:44:36.512 --> 00:44:39.940
Children under age three are free.

00:44:39.940 --> 00:44:52.641
So you do not buy them a park ticket when you go to meals, including character meals, which can be rather pricey they are free, so they're getting to meet these characters and eat food for free.

00:44:53.603 --> 00:45:02.978
And so that's fantastic when you've got a family free, and so that's fantastic when you've got you know a family.

00:45:02.998 --> 00:45:16.378
But I always say, you know, if you can catch that magical age where you know your child is maybe you know two, two and a half, creeping on three, where they're into it but they're free, then you really feel like you know, this was a good deal.

00:45:16.378 --> 00:45:23.461
And actually, even if they turn three on the trip, as long as they are two at check-in, they're two the entire trip.

00:45:23.461 --> 00:45:24.204
It's Neverland.

00:45:24.204 --> 00:45:25.027
Time stops.

00:45:25.856 --> 00:45:26.760
Oh, that's amazing.

00:45:27.855 --> 00:45:30.463
So that's one kind of age to keep in mind.

00:45:30.463 --> 00:45:31.800
The other one is 10.

00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:36.887
On the bummer side, disney adults start at age 10.

00:45:36.887 --> 00:45:41.385
Now the ticket prices don't go up much, it's just about $10.

00:45:41.385 --> 00:45:42.467
So that's not a big deal.

00:45:42.467 --> 00:45:44.902
Where it gets you is with the food.

00:45:44.902 --> 00:45:57.402
So at all of the sit-down restaurants you have at places that have a set price, you have a child's price and an adult price, and so if you have a, I have an 11 year old daughter.

00:45:58.385 --> 00:46:00.981
She would prefer to eat off of the kid's meal portion.

00:46:00.981 --> 00:46:05.496
Wise, that's about what she eats, but now we have to pay adult prices for her.

00:46:05.496 --> 00:46:14.626
So we shifted a little bit in how we thought through dining and the meals that she did once she turned 10, to make sure that we were still getting the best value.

00:46:14.626 --> 00:46:16.076
And there will be times still.

00:46:16.076 --> 00:46:27.027
On the trip we just took last week for spring break where I took my youngest to a character meal, because you know, for him the magic is still there, and so he and I just went and did that special thing.

00:46:27.027 --> 00:46:31.164
So I was like I'm not paying adult prices for my middle schooler to come.

00:46:31.583 --> 00:46:33.976
So just some things to think about.

00:46:33.976 --> 00:46:45.217
You know, and I work with my clients even on those decisions and there are meals we have found since we've been going to Walt Disney World since our children were very little Disney.

00:46:45.217 --> 00:46:47.644
The experiences grow with the kids.

00:46:47.644 --> 00:46:50.003
There has not come an age where my kids don't want to go.

00:46:50.003 --> 00:46:53.023
My middle schooler and I still do a trip every year for her birthday.

00:46:53.023 --> 00:46:53.806
She loves it.

00:46:53.806 --> 00:46:55.219
Those things have just shifted.

00:46:55.635 --> 00:46:57.119
Now they're not the character meals you know.

00:46:57.119 --> 00:47:13.981
Now we're doing tea parties or she loves doing more of the kind of fancy you know, bougie little dining experiences and so finding, you know, we look for the ones now where it's not a set price, we're ordering off a menu and I can make sure we're getting the value, and so those are even things that I'm trying to help my clients with.

00:47:13.981 --> 00:47:19.998
There's a dining plan and so, keeping some of those ages in mind on if you should use the dining plan, right.

00:47:19.998 --> 00:47:24.728
So it's a great deal if you have kids who are under nine.

00:47:24.728 --> 00:47:36.822
Financially the dining plan you come out really great Once you have multiple kids who are about 10 or 11, I always crunch the numbers for people and sometimes, based on the restaurants they want to go to, it's not the best deal.

00:47:36.822 --> 00:47:43.949
So it's all those things of you know, you don't know what you don't know, and letting someone kind of do the work for you and figuring out what the best value is.

00:47:44.952 --> 00:47:50.344
Yeah, I'm all about letting you figure out what the best value is and not me figuring that out.

00:47:50.344 --> 00:48:03.376
Courtney, if you wanted to share anything, I mean those last couple of gems about you know under three and the dining plans and all of that those are definitely key standouts that I think people should know.

00:48:03.376 --> 00:48:11.059
But if you could share one or two things that you want our listeners to leave with, what would those things be?

00:48:11.059 --> 00:48:14.277
It could be about the cruise or just in general working with you.

00:48:14.338 --> 00:48:20.846
Whatever you think you'd like to share or just in general working with you, whatever you think you'd like to share.

00:48:20.846 --> 00:48:31.494
You know, I think my biggest thing is more of an overarching thing, which is another thing that I've learned as my kids are starting to get a little bit older is just to take the trip, to prioritize it, take the time to make those memories.

00:48:31.494 --> 00:48:37.427
That really, genuinely, is one of my favorite things to do, and I don't see it as time wasted.

00:48:37.427 --> 00:48:40.922
I want to help you be able to do it in your budget.

00:48:40.922 --> 00:49:00.621
I don't want you to go into debt over this, but I want to create an experience for you that allows you to make these memories At whatever age your children are, and I think that, whether it's a Disney cruise, the Disney parks, what I love about it is it gives you the opportunity to play with your children and I think it brings something out in us.

00:49:01.081 --> 00:49:13.286
I would not actually say in life I'm like a super playful person, but there's something comes out in me, you know, in Disney, and so, taking the time to be able to do that, I want to encourage people to prioritize that.

00:49:13.286 --> 00:49:18.664
Even if you don't think that you're going to become a Disney adult or a family that goes every year, that's fine.

00:49:18.664 --> 00:49:23.161
Let me help you do it once you know, and do it in a way that makes sense for your family.

00:49:23.161 --> 00:49:34.882
On a more practical level, a question that I get asked a lot is when's the best time to travel, whether it be a Disney cruise or Walt Disney World, and so those are all things we can look at.

00:49:34.882 --> 00:49:40.527
Obviously, that shifts some, based on if your children are in school, if they have days they can miss.

00:49:40.527 --> 00:49:45.340
Obviously, it's always more expensive and more crowded when school is out.

00:49:45.340 --> 00:49:48.847
The one exception to that is actually the summer.

00:49:48.847 --> 00:50:00.329
The summer has now actually become the low season on Disney World, so part of that is just your resort discounts and that's actually 100%.

00:50:00.510 --> 00:50:10.670
It is hot and so I do end up planning a lot of trips for people to Walt Disney World in the summer because the kids are not missing school and it's a really affordable time to go.

00:50:10.670 --> 00:50:12.195
There's a lot of resort promos.

00:50:12.195 --> 00:50:15.943
But we plan a different kind of trip because it is hot.

00:50:15.943 --> 00:50:20.577
So the good thing is the parks are open way longer.

00:50:20.577 --> 00:50:22.001
They open early in the morning.

00:50:22.001 --> 00:50:27.942
They stay open some days till 1am, depending on if you're at a deluxe resort with extended hours in the evenings.

00:50:28.523 --> 00:50:36.822
So we plan a really nice trip where you're hitting the parks in the morning, coming back to your resort and enjoying the pools and all of the amenities during the day and then going at night.

00:50:36.822 --> 00:50:38.146
You know when it cools down.

00:50:38.146 --> 00:50:41.063
But I love being able to work with clients on that.

00:50:41.063 --> 00:50:55.307
You know it might be that you're unsure when to go and you're looking at sort of that balance of okay, we, you know we don't want our kids to miss more than a couple days of school, but we don't want it to go when it's the most crowded or the most expensive.

00:50:55.307 --> 00:50:56.278
Can you help with that?

00:50:56.278 --> 00:51:02.876
And those are all things you know we're here to help with and it's it's not necessarily the same for Disney World and Disney Cruise Line.

00:51:02.876 --> 00:51:09.016
So being able to help with both of those things and answering all of those, you know, questions for people.

00:51:10.577 --> 00:51:16.465
Courtney, where can people find you to help you plan their most magical experience?

00:51:17.807 --> 00:51:28.329
Yeah, so I am on Instagram at pixietravelbycourtney, or you can send me an email at courtneyg at pixietravelcocom.

00:51:29.114 --> 00:51:34.036
All right, and we will make sure to link all of that in our show notes so you can just click on it and make it easy.

00:51:34.036 --> 00:51:42.742
If you are planning a Disney vacation of any kind and you are not reaching out to Courtney, you are making a mistake.

00:51:42.742 --> 00:51:46.164
You're making your life way more difficult, absolutely.

00:51:46.164 --> 00:51:55.541
And she can plan other vacations too, like I took a girlfriend cruise last summer and we basically said, hey, this is what we want to do, can you just book it for us?

00:51:55.541 --> 00:51:57.117
And she did that, you know.

00:51:57.117 --> 00:52:04.342
So now we just want to make sure that she's getting her commissions because, like she said at the beginning of the call, somebody's getting them anyway.

00:52:04.342 --> 00:52:06.255
So I'd rather them go to her.

00:52:06.255 --> 00:52:11.956
So reach out to Courtney for any of your travel needs, but definitely she is a Disney expert.

00:52:11.956 --> 00:52:15.726
Thank you so much, courtney, for being with us today and for making this episode magical.

00:52:17.514 --> 00:52:18.985
Thank you so much, Courtney, for being with us today and for making this episode magical.

00:52:18.985 --> 00:52:19.268
Thank you so much for having me.

00:52:19.994 --> 00:52:20.456
Don't forget.

00:52:20.456 --> 00:52:24.963
Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

00:52:24.963 --> 00:52:27.768
You just got paid Until next time.

00:52:27.768 --> 00:52:31.663
Thanks for listening to today's episode.

00:52:31.663 --> 00:52:34.514
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00:52:34.514 --> 00:52:42.742
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00:52:42.742 --> 00:52:47.157
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00:52:47.157 --> 00:52:58.309
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00:52:59.094 --> 00:53:01.400
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00:53:01.400 --> 00:53:04.760
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00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:11.936
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