So You Want to Be a Travel Advisor | Goofy Getaways Podcast Episode 2.8
"I love Disney, so I should be a travel advisor." "My friends already ask me to plan their trips — I basically do this for free." If either thought has ever crossed your mind, you're in good company. It's one of the most common paths people take toward Goofy Getaways — not as a client, but as a future Travel Advisor.
In this episode of the Goofy Getaways Podcast, Amy Blades sits down with three of our own advisors — Amanda Worsley, Noddea Skidmore, and Aaron Guest — for a candid conversation about what the job actually involves once the excitement of "I get to plan Disney trips for a living" wears off. It's a straightforward look at the work, told by three people who are doing it every day.
In This Episode:
Meet Your Advisors:
What a Travel Advisor Actually Does All Day
Ask three different advisors what their day looks like, and you'll get three different answers, which is kind of the point. Amanda, who's been with Goofy Getaways for over a decade, spends much of her time on the phone directly with Disney, Universal, and Delta Vacations, because she's found she learns more from a real conversation than from an email chain. Noddea, who is also our VP of Onboarding and Company Culture, fits her advisor work around a full-time day job, so her most productive hours often fall between 10 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Aaron, a former Walt Disney World and Universal Studios cast member now working full-time as a teacher, is checking for new Royal Caribbean promotions before 6 a.m., ahead of a full school day.
Different schedules, different systems. The core of the work is remarkably consistent: an initial consultation built around listening first, then building a trip around what the client actually wants, not what the advisor assumes they should want. Itinerary planning, dining reservations, port adventures, and tracking every deadline for final payments and Lightning Lanes. For clients with special needs or medical considerations, there's an entire additional layer of research and coordination that most people never see.
Then there's the part almost nobody thinks about ahead of time: what happens after the trip is booked. As Amy put it in the episode, "the booking is just the beginning." Advisors keep watching for better deals, spend hours on hold with vendors when a modification is needed, and are the first call a client makes when something goes wrong. It's less like handing off a finished product and more like staying on call for the entire life of that trip.
The Work Clients Never See
Some of the best moments in this episode are the small, specific ones. Noddea shared a story about a couple's anniversary cruise, where she made sure Disney Cruise Line's dining team knew their exact anniversary date. The team surprised the couple with something special the night before, on their own initiative, once they'd been let in on it too. She also described quietly updating a new baby's name on a family's reservation the moment she spotted the announcement on social media, so the family never even had to ask.
That sits on top of the constant, less visible work behind every trip: destination and supplier training, staying current on policies that can shift overnight (anyone who booked travel through COVID knows exactly how much), understanding exactly what a promotion does and doesn't cover, and learning new booking systems and CRMs as the agency grows. None of it shows up in a client's inbox. All of it is why the trip goes smoothly.
The Best Part, and the Hardest Part
Every advisor on this episode agreed the best part of the job isn't the travel itself. It's the relationships. It's the photo of a five-year-old meeting Moana. It's a couple who booked their honeymoon coming back years later to plan a trip with their own kids. It's a client trusting you enough to text a photo of their pirate-night outfit, just because they want to share it with someone.
The conversation didn't shy away from the harder parts either, and this is where the episode earns its keep for anyone weighing this decision. The biggest misconception, according to Noddea, is that advisors get their clients handed to them by the agency. They don't. Goofy Getaways provides leads, but as Amy said plainly, "they are not going to be enough to sustain you." Building a client base is on the advisor. And because advisors are paid on commission after a client travels, that work often goes unpaid for months at a stretch. Amanda made $200 in her entire first year. Noddea worked more than 40 hours a week for several months before her first commission check arrived, for $179.
Then there's the part almost nobody warns you about going in: watching friends and family book with someone else, or not book at all. Every advisor on this episode has felt that particular sting, and every one of them has had to learn to let it go.
So How Do You Actually Build a Client Base?
This is where the three advisors' answers diverge, and it's worth hearing in their own words in the full episode. The short version: there's no single formula. Amanda built her business almost entirely on referrals, backed by a referral gift-card program that thanks anyone who sends a client her way. Noddea invests small, consistent amounts of time and money into her local Grand Rapids community, a table at a Halloween event here, sponsoring a small theater production there, deliberately aligning herself with the causes and communities she cares about. Aaron, two years into building his business, has leaned into a polished online presence and shown up in person for the agency, including representing Goofy Getaways at an Epic Universe preview event.
Three advisors, three different playbooks. None of it happened by accident, and none of it happened overnight.
Is This the Right Fit for You Right Now?
Before deciding whether this is the right move, Noddea offered a useful gut-check in the episode: how much time can you realistically commit to a rigorous 30-day training and onboarding process? Do you already have a network you could reach out to the moment that training wraps up? And are you prepared for a stretch where the work is real but the income isn't, sometimes for months at a time?
Answering those questions honestly, before you start, is the whole point of this episode.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If this conversation has you seriously considering a future as a Travel Advisor, we'd love to talk. Visit https://www.goofygetaways.com/join-our-team to learn more about our team, our training, and what building a travel business with Goofy Getaways actually looks like.
And if you're not looking to become an advisor, but you are looking for one: Meet Your Advisors and we'll help you find the right person to plan your next trip.
