Are any of the Timeshare "free Disney tickets" legit?

[DisneyTampa]

I have a friend who found some places online that give you free Disney tickets if you sit through a timeshare presentation. This sounds really shady to me. In my opinion if these deals were legit wouldn't everyone be going to Disney for free?

Anyways, if anyone has done this before who did you go through? What all is required? What was your experience like? I don't want my friend to get ripped off.

 

[Miniefan]

I have a friend who found some places online that give you free Disney tickets if you sit through a timeshare presentation. This sounds really shady to me. In my opinion if these deals were legit wouldn't everyone be going to Disney for free?

Anyways, if anyone has done this before who did you go through? What all is required? What was your experience like? I don't want my friend to get ripped off.

In 2006 I went to wdw for 10 days. I had a friend of dh and his gf who really wanted to come down for a few days while we were there but they didn't have a whole lot of money, so they drove down and planned on just staying at the hotel not doing any of the parks. The 2nd day we were there they were in town eating lunch and someone in some kind of booth asked if they wanted to participate in a time share and in return they got a 2 night stay at a hotel in dowtown disney and 2 one day tickets to the park of their choice so they did it and got tickets to Islands of Adventure and spent an extra 2 nights at the hotel, no problems to report.

Kim

 

[vicki_c]

They're not "not legit" in most cases, but do you want to sit through a 3-4 or more hour high pressure sales presentation to buy a time share on your vacation?

I've read nothing but bad experiences -- not with the tickets -- but with the timeshare salespeople.

 

[maccagerl]

I have a friend who found some places online that give you free Disney tickets if you sit through a timeshare presentation. This sounds really shady to me. In my opinion if these deals were legit wouldn't everyone be going to Disney for free?

Anyways, if anyone has done this before who did you go through? What all is required? What was your experience like? I don't want my friend to get ripped off.

This was years ago, but my then DH and I went to one of those timeshare talks just to get the WDW tix.
Well, after holding us hostage for hours as they tried to wear us down, they finally let us go - BUT - instead of the promised Disney tix they tried to foist this horrible plastic vinyl carryon-bag on us.
When I told them we wanted the Disney tix, they said that all they had were the cheesy bags.
I had brought the ad with me, and showed them where it clearly said they would be giving out Disney tix, and really held my ground.
They ended up giving us cash right out of their pockets- enough for us to buy the tickets at the gate, with a little extra left over!!
So, buyer beware and be prepared if they try the bait and switch on you!
Good luck!

 

[Brian Noble]

They are only free if three hours of your time has no value.

 

[DisneyTampa]

Well I am feeling a litter better about knowing that free Disney tickets realy do exist. I must agree that I would not want to sit through one of these presentations on my vacation but I guess to each their own.

Miniefan - Do you remember the name of the place or where they were?

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I did one and got free tix to USO, and it only took an hour. The guy was manipulating numbers to project the cost of 20 years of vacations. When I called him on it and did a real projection, they immediately gave us the tix and escorted us out.

 

[Miniefan]

Well I am feeling a litter better about knowing that free Disney tickets realy do exist. I must agree that I would not want to sit through one of these presentations on my vacation but I guess to each their own.

Miniefan - Do you remember the name of the place or where they were?

I am sorry, I am actually telling you this from them telling me, so I don't know the name but I know that it was close by the place they were eating- Buffalo Wild wings- in a shopping center that is at the disney gate you come in and go past DTD, I am sorry I am not sure if this is correct but I want to say apopka vineland, I am sure someone else can chime in to correct me if I am wrong about the road- but definitely at the shopping center where that wdw gate dead-ends to. HTH

Kim

 

[maccagerl]

I did one and got free tix to USO, and it only took an hour. The guy was manipulating numbers to project the cost of 20 years of vacations. When I called him on it and did a real projection, they immediately gave us the tix and escorted us out.

Ha! I love it!!

 

[inkkognito]

The best way to shorten a timeshare presentation is to bring out a string of resales at whatever place you're going to. They can't match those or even come close, and they won't want you talking too loudly about it so the other suckers...er, prospects can hear.

 

[DisneyTampa]

Thanks for all the information everyone! I will pass it on.

It's nice to know that these tickets really do exist but I will agree with everyone else that it all depends on how much your time is worth to you.

 

[summermac]

My parents arrived a day ahead of us for our trip in '01 and they did it for the free tickets - I believe it was 6 day hoppers. I think it was about 3 hours but hey, that's what, more than $75 an hour. Not too shabby for my time. LOL!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Most timeshares will state a 90 minute requirement to get whatever they are offering

However... When you get there you will be invited to go into a lounge for snacks, coffee, etc.

When you are finally taken to the salesperson is when the clock starts. You will be invited, after a movie or something, to tour the property. Ths will be in a golf cart. You will be far from the sales office when the 90 minutes is up.

Once you get back you will still have more to go through, possibly a "manager" coming in to offer a better deal than the original salesperson.

Actual total time from arrival to departure will be closer to 2.5 hours rather than 90 minutes. Add in travel time both ways and how much time will you be spending?

Calculate your vacation time and hourly cost.

Take the total number of hours from the time you leave home until the time you return. Then subtract out the time sleeping or otherwise spent in your room. This gives you actual vacation time in hours.

Then take the total cost of your trip, transportation, tickets, lodging, meals, etc. Divide this by the number of hours. This gives you a cost per hour for your actual vacation time.

Now look at what you are getting, and consider how much it is really costing you.

BTW, almost any Disney ticket you get from a timeshare promotion (especially if you get a voucher) is NOT upgradeable; I know this as I am involved in selling tickets at WDW.

 

[vorpalswrd]

My parents arrived a day ahead of us for our trip in '01 and they did it for the free tickets - I believe it was 6 day hoppers. I think it was about 3 hours but hey, that's what, more than $75 an hour. Not too shabby for my time. LOL!

That is exactly what I was thinking and I have an MA in counseling psychology! lol

 

[harriettb]

We took advantage of a timeshare deal last December that promised Disney tickets and after we sat through the whole thing and said no, we ended up with a Visa gift card instead of tickets. We had one day left on some park hoppers, so we still got our day in the park, but if we every do another timeshare deal I will get it guaranteed before we start that we get the tickets no matter what our decision on purchasing.

For what it's worth....the only "timeshare" I would consider purchasing would be DVC.

 

[footballmouse]

We did the timeshare deal last May. The place was beautiful and very spacious for our family of 5. Our "talk" was supposed to be for 2 hrs. We sat in the lobby for an hour before a salesperson came out to get us. I told her that we already waited an hour so she had an hour for her presentation. We were offered lunch but we declined that b/c I knew that would have added more time. Believe it or not she had us out of there, including the little salespitch from the manager, in 70 minutes. We received our tickets and had the rest of the week there. We would definately do it again.

 

[Metsoskil]

For what it's worth....the only "timeshare" I would consider purchasing would be DVC.

There's nothing wrong with timeshares, just timeshare salesmen. You'd have to be insane or uninformed to buy directly from a developer. Why pay tens of thousands for something you can get on e-bay for a couple hundred or less in many cases?

 

[monetnj]

One of the most awful experiences of my childhood was being trapped in one of these timeshare places while my father endured the high-pressure salesman just so we could score some of these Disney tix on our annual family vacation. Worst thing is my dad did it to us again on a timeshare in the Poconos. Don't do this to your children unless you want to leave life-long emotional scars!

 

[Goofy Guy]

To each, their own, I suppose. We did the timeshare last November and it worked very well for us. Yes, you have to endure a one to two hour sales pitch, but that's fairly easy if you keep saying no. And know what you're getting into. Make sure you read the websites, go there expecting to endure a lot of sales pitches and knowing, by the end of it all, you'll be walking out with tickets and a nice savings.

We went to Florida Ticket Station which provides tours at the Liki Tiki resort. For $100, we received two 2 Day Touch of Magic tickets + 1 ticket to Blizzard Beach (well, that's what we used it for.) They also offer additional ticket packages for $130 which includes all the above. In addition, they also will give presentations to singles for something like $20, you receive one 2 Day Touch of Magic tickets.

Another place you might try is Tickets for Time. For only $20, you receive the same two 2 Day Touch of Magic Tickets. We didn't go here and discovered the site upon returning home. Drats.

For us, the savings is excellent considering we did the presentation on our 'day off' and saved a bunch of money. Well worth it, if you ask me.

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes the tickets are "legit", unless the timeshare staff is overtly trying to defraud you.

When (and that is usually) the timeshare Disney tickets are not upgradable, it can be a bad deal for you if you need more tickets to finish your vacation.

Example. Touch of Magic tickets (common timeshare prize) give you two theme park days. If you need four more days, comparing your ticket budget with a 6 day pass and no timeshare visit, you saved about seven dollars.

It's not as bad if there are two of you and you get two prizes; one of you can use both timeshare tickets and the other buys a new ticket at the gate.