Disney fever has come to Australia, and agents are reaping the benefits if this tale from Mr Chocolate’s Travel is anything to go by.
The small Melbourne-based travel agency had its busiest day on record last Thursday, booking more than 100 cabins on Disney’s Australian cruises.
As a specialist Disney agency and one of the top sellers of Disney holidays in Australia, the arrival of a Disney product down under was a dream come true for the family business, providing the ‘Disney miracle’ they needed after the costly travel disruptions of the past few years.
The agency is run by Disney-obsessed mum-of-six Rebecca Mason, who was one of the first to cruise on Disney Wish recently and has written a book about how to make Disney dreams come true after successfully getting her large family to several Disney parks.
Because of Mason’s impressive track record with Disney sales, Mr Chocolate’s Travel was one of the few Australian agencies offered a direct booking portal to sell Disney cruises and she rallied the troops at 2am on Thursday when bookings opened early.
Her daughter Brooke, who joined her on Disney Wish, took a brief timeout from final exam studies to field phone calls, along with her boyfriend.
Mason said it ended up being a busy and emotional day booking all pre-approved clients in highly sought-after cabins on Disney Wonder.
“We’ve been in the Disney game for a long time so understand the power of Disney but even we were surprised by how desperate Aussie families were to get on a Disney cruise and give their kids a taste of Disney down under,” Mason said.
“For many families, overseas Disney parks are out of reach so there were a lot of tears when we confirmed a coveted spot onboard Disney Wonder during its first Australian season. We made a lot of Disney dreams come true and that makes me so happy.”
Mr Chocolate’s is now working on getting waitlist clients into any cabins that arise as cancellations filter through the system.
Disney Cruise Line announced in early September it would be making its Aussie debut during a limited season from late 2023.
The special sailings aboard the Disney Wonder range from two to six nights and will depart from four home ports: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, as well as Auckland, New Zealand.
In other Disney news, South Australian winemaker and businessman Warren Randall is campaigning for an Australian Disneyland in South Australia, offering part of his McLaren Vale land holdings for a location.
