PHOTO: Lynn Clark, vice president of travel agency sales and national accounts for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.

For families, Disney offers some of the most iconic destinations in the world, whether it’s going to Walt Disney World resort or Disneyland Resort, sailing on Disney Cruise Line, touring with Adventures by Disney or staying at Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, in Hawaii. Indeed, Disney has always been at the forefront of family travel.

We asked Lynn Clark, vice president of travel agency sales and national accounts for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, for her best advice on how you can sell more family travel, especially in a year when Disneyland is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

What has changed in the way travel agents sell family travel today? What is Disney seeing?

What comes to mind immediately is technology. That is certainly changing the way travel agents sell family travel. At Disney, many vacation innovations are in place at our parks and resorts providing more convenience and personalized experiences.

For example, My Magic Plus connects all aspects of the guest vacation experience at the Walt Disney Resort. With the Magic Band, a Walt Disney World guest can enter their resort guestroom and access Fast Pass Plus to experience the attractions in the parks. The Magic Band can be used as a payment mechanism for food and merchandise.

We also see Fast Pass Plus as a way families can lock in their “must see, must do” attractions in advance. My Disney Experience also provides park maps and information about the attractions, show times, dining and more. So it’s easier than ever to explore Walt Disney World using this technology.

What do you see as the keys to selling multigenerational travel at Disney Parks & Resorts?

We’re providing tools that enable families to plan in advance, hopefully making their trip the best it can be.

At Walt Disney World, My Magic Plus was designed to exceed guest expectations and take their experience to the next level. With the introduction of Fast Pass Plus, we found that all of our guests, including families, are enjoying a vacation experience that frees them up to better enjoy the parks and one another at a more leisurely pace, which creates vacation memories that last a lifetime.

For travel agents, we have online tools such as a Disneyland Resort e-brochure. We also provide itinerary planner pieces and other collateral that’s available for print to help with all of their Disney vacation sales activity. So when it comes to families, and multigenerational families in particular, we have a lot of tools to plan and maximize their time together on vacation.

What do you see as some of the secrets to closing a sale to a family group?

We are always taking a deep look into the way people travel so we can design tools that we hope will make it easier for travel agents planning a Disney vacation for families.

At Disneyland Resort, the Diamond Celebration, for example, will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The popularity of Disneyland over the past 60 years celebrates Walt Disney’s dream of a place where families can have fun together in an atmosphere that emphasizes imagination, storytelling and extraordinary guest service — and we really want to emphasize those qualities when we talk to our guests and travel agents about closing the sale with a family group. We have a new itinerary planner featuring the excitement of the Disneyland Resort during the Diamond Celebration.

At Walt Disney World, we’ve developed new websites designed specifically for use with parents of preschoolers, grandparents traveling with extended family, and parents traveling with teens and older kids. This is another great tool that travel agents can use to close the sale of a family group.

What should travel agents focus on when selling families that they may not be doing today?

Our travel agency partners do a great job selling us today, but what comes to mind when I think about this is that many grandparents want to create experiences for their grandkids that they also created for their own children, just as many parents want their kids to enjoy the same or similar magical Disney memories that they did themselves. So if a travel agent focuses on asking their clients about their favorite Disney memories, they can begin the planning process from there.

Where can travel agents learn to become better family-travel specialists?

From an industry perspective, travel agents can leverage social media and digital platforms to discover family-travel trends and read blogs about vacation experiences.

We also frequently update our dedicated DisneyTravelAgents.com website and our College of Disney Knowledge educational program for travel agents with the hope that both of these important tools can help them become better family-travel specialists.

As we kick off the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration, now is the perfect time to visit the resort and reconnect with where it all began and experience all the new offerings associated with our 60th anniversary.

We have a dedicated team of sales managers across the country who are ready to help travel agents drive successful results. With the tradition of innovative, immersive storytelling, we will continue to strive to exceed all our guests’ expectations and deliver the best Disney experience possible.