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View Full Version : What happened to the Disney Travel Company?



richas
06-16-2004, 12:22 PM
Can someone tell me what happened to Disney Travel? I've booked through them in the past, but I can't find anthing about them now. I recently joined AAA and booked our trip to DL this year, but I was just wondering.....

ppmuse
06-16-2004, 12:26 PM
Not a hundred percent sure I'm thinking the same thing that your talking about, but for a while there, there was a club that you got a card and the Disney Magazine. I do believe that you were able to book vacations with them, and in turn get a huge discount. That group faded by the way side a couple of years ago, replaced by the Disney Visa by Bank One. While you can't book vacations with them, they have some good discounts.

There's also the new Disney Vacation Club, I think that's what its called, which is a timeshare. They are stationed in Disney World, and people here in California can not sign up for it, at this time. I've tried, and they won't even send me the video :-(.

Mark Goldhaber
06-16-2004, 06:38 PM
As far as I know, WDTC is still out there. I remember people saying that WDW CRO (Central Reservations Office) was being folded into WDTC, so I doubt that it is totally gone. Maybe they're just lower profile?

Opus1guy
06-16-2004, 07:45 PM
I remember people saying that WDW CRO (Central Reservations Office) was being folded into WDTC, so I doubt that it is totally gone.

I called the main Walt Disney World reservations phone number just the other day and the recording picks up with "Thanks for calling the Walt Disney Travel Company." I thought I dialed the wrong number so I hung up, checked the number and dialed again. Same.

Originally it was a full service public Travel Agency that anyone could use for all their travel needs. Even non-Disney stuff. Of course they specialized in Disney vacation packages.

In Anaheim, they had large offices upstairs above the main Disneyland Hotel store that was by the monorail station. You got to them through doors and stairs back by the airline ticket counters that used to be in the "TravelPort."

At Walt Disney World they had offices in the Sun Bank building, but moved about to other buildings from time to time.

Today, I don't think they have any public retail space and are primarily a back-of-house operation and support unit for the Resorts.

Emma
06-16-2004, 08:07 PM
I always book my trips through AAA and they use the Walt Disney Travel Company.

GoldenEars
06-16-2004, 10:04 PM
Let me set the record straight...the Walt Disney Travel Company is still going strong and is in full operating mode. My sister has worked for them for nearly 25 years and is in management with them now. It's true, their office used to be over the Monorail Cafe and Sgt. Preston's/Neon Cactus at the Disneyland Hotel, before Downtown Disney took over.

Their office is still in Anaheim, but it's located in downtown Anaheim now, near the Disney Ice building. It's a much more modern looking building that host both WDT cast members and the reservation teams for all 3 of the Disneyland Hotels. However, a person could miss the building, because there is no signage anywhere outside that states *Walt Disney Travel Company.* I believe that's for security reasons.

I used to work there for a year back in '93 and it was so much fun!! It was such a family orientated workplace and everyone knew one another. Now, unfortunately, it's so much bigger and much more polictical. The family atmosphere has long been gone and it definitely has a corporate feeling to it now. But at least I was there when it was *really good!*

richas
06-17-2004, 01:48 PM
Thanks fo the info, everyone! I'm looking forward to five days in DL in December. AAA had a very similar package to what I had booked through Disney Travel in the past.

spectromen
06-17-2004, 02:33 PM
I thought there was still a small WDTC office off to the side between DTD and the Disneyland Hotel - it's not very prominent but I'm pretty sure of what I saw. If not, maybe it was a Pelican JetPak location or something similar.

Tinker Bell
06-17-2004, 04:14 PM
I just walk past this one today. When you walk towards the PP from DTD its on your left it said WDTC.