[mickey]

Personally, since I am a travel agent, you should book everything through me, no matter what. :p

Honestly, there are some advantages to booking through an agent, and some by doing it yourself.

An agent, if they are familiar with WDW will offer you some insight that you may not know, and can save you some money. Their prices should be as good as you can get yourself, or better, they can do all of the work for you, keep track of changing codes and discounts, as well as make your requests for you, or help you out with any special needs that you have.

Doing it yourself, you can spend time studying, and get a good rate, you can call WDW and make any changes by yourself without having to contact your agent.

Before becoming an agent, I always booked myself. I enjoyed doing the research, but at that time the research was basically calling WDW to find out if AP discounts had been released yet. There also were no Disney only travel agents, and no one around me knew much about WDW.

Now, I think a lot of things have changed. It is much easier to do research, get discount codes, ask questions of others here at DisneyCentral and other places, and you can be pretty sure that you are getting a good deal. Of course, on the other side, there are Disney only agents who plan full time, and know WDW inside and out, and know every possible discount option available.

In the end, you can get a good deal either way. If you book through disney yourself, always book through CRO unless you are booking a package that includes air or if you have to use a Disney Club discount, since it is the best one available. MickeyMac's explanation was great.

If you use a travel agent, make sure you use one who knows more about WDW than you do. We provide a service for our clients, though it won't cost you a penny, and most like, will save you a big pile of them.

Obviously, there is segment that wants help in planning, and needs advice and knowlede, and that is who the travel agents help out. Others like the challange of doing all the planning and doing everything themselves, and there is nothing wrong with that. I guess it just comes down to what you are comfortable with.