Free Disney tickets from timeshare presentations: saving your money or wasting your time? (Walt Disney World Resort Florida in general)

Member Name: annar1008

Product:	Walt Disney World Resort Florida in general
Date:	05/11/08 (496 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Big saving on theme park tickets

Disadvantages: Pressured selling and at least 2 hours of it!

Wandering into the lobby of our Florida hotel we saw the sign that everyone there wants to see: "Half price Disney tickets!"

Wary of scams, having read extensively the forums regarding illegal ticket touts, we cautiously approached the rep. He explained to us that the cut-price tickets were offered as an incentive to get people to take a tour round a holiday resort close to Disney World. And no, he assured us, this was not a time share - just a new resort that wanted to advertise. All we had to do was spend 90 minutes there and the cheap tickets would be ours!

7:30am the next day we set off excitedly for our resort tour and complimentary breakfast - aiming to be finished in time to get to the Magic Kingdom when it opened at 9:30am. On arrival at Orange Lakes Resort we were assigned a representative who would be our guide. She informed us that she was specially trained to deal with people from the UK (?!) and, after plying us with tea and coffee, began to ask us what we knew about time-shares. When we showed our surprise and told her that we had been assured by the hotel rep that this was not a time-share she was quick to explain: "no, don't worry, it's interval vacation ownership". If anyone can work out how the two differ then please let me know!

Then came the sales pitch...

First the calculation of how much one would spend in a lifetime on holidays (really shocking! made us think about giving them up entirely!!) and then the resort tour. It is, for the record, an incredibly beautiful resort with amazing accommodation and facilities.

Now, this is in no way a review about the pros and cons of timeshares (there are some great reviews about that already) - and we were very tempted - but as my partner and I are still attempting to get on the property ladder, this is not the time spend thousands of pounds (even if it may save us money in the long run). So the battle to leave began...

By this point we had been there 90 minutes and no mention of costs had been made. We gently tried to hurry the process along and eventually sat down to discuss figures over breakfast. We explained straight away that there was no way we could invest in a time-share at this point and reiterated that we had been mislead about the true nature of the resort when we signed up for the tour.

An hour later, after being passed through four sets of salespeople (who offered more and more offers and became increasingly persuasive) we emerged triumphant! (The anti-drug campaign slogan 'Just Say No' comes to mind!) We were the proud owners of 2 sets of half price 3-day,3-park Disney tickets.

So is it worth it? 2 1/2 hours of your time for a saving of about £100, a krispy creme donut and a cup of coffee.

In the end, I think it is. As long as you go into it with your eyes open and know from the start exactly how much money you can afford to spend then you will be fine. Theme park tickets are pretty pricey and can really push up the cost of the holiday so it's a great way of travelling on a budget. You can even find some timeshare companies on the internet that offer not just a discount but completely free tickets!

If I ever find myself back in Florida and feeling brave, I may just pay them another visit...

Summary: A great way to save money if you stay strong and don't get convinced to buy something you'll regret.