Vacation Planner

When I first heard of this role, the title made me think of travel agents!  Well I wasn’t quite right although they’re certainly in the same ball park.  Simply put, a Vacation Planner at Disney is someone who sits in the little booths out the front of the parks and sells tickets to guests.  However it is a lot more intense and complicated than it initially sounds. 

First of all, there are nearly 100 different types of tickets and ticket packages available at Disney, and Vacation planners need to be familiar with ALL of them.  And we’re not just talking park hoppers and 5-day passes here either – there are dining plans, group packages as well as tickets to special events like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.  You will also need to be ready to answer a lot of different questions and help guests out with solving a multitude of problems and issues.  This means you will require a solid knowledge of all of the Disney parks and resorts – not just your ‘home’ area.  For this reason, Vacation Planners have the longest training period and there is a fair bit of homework involved in the training process.  VP’s also have a lot of ongoing training once they have earned their ears so that they are able to keep up with the new changes.

Here’s what Disney’s official description of the role looks like:

Vacation Planner

• Selling ticket media to Guests
• Responsible for achieving monthly sales goals and maintaining minimum sales
• Working with a computerized ticket system, offering Guests tickets from a menu of over 128 different ticket configurations
• Strong knowledge of the Walt Disney World Resort and its ticket media
• Understanding the Guests' needs to help them select the right-fit ticket
• Be able to work under pressure, overcoming Guest objections
• Assisting with audience control, including during parades
• May work at all four Theme Parks in any given week

This role is not for the faint-hearted.  However, if you like a challenge and want lots of guest interaction, then this just might be the perfect role for you.  Some benefits of the Vacation Planner role is that it’s predominantly indoors in the air-conditioning and you get to sit down a lot, which could be very nice!

Hopefully I’ll get to know some Vacation Planners on my program and I’ll be able to share more with you about this role in the future.

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