Avoiding Timeshare Solicitors

[dannythebaltimoron]

Hello all. This will be my very first trip to Disneyland, after many enjoyable trips to WDW. The one thing I found most irritating in the Central FL area was all of the timeshare solicitors, hackling me for $20 or so down to go view a timeshare presentation for some crummy gift. Granted, most were respectful and let my no mean no, but a few were, shall we say, persistent. Over the time I have been going to WDW, I have learned where they congregate, and as such avoid those places. As this is my first trip to DL, I know nothing about where to avoid these people. Could some of the people here please advise on areas heavily populated by these solicitors so that I may avoid them? I am looking for more localized responses, as I do not wish to avoid Anaheim altogether.

 

[JennHales]

We went to DL last week and this wasn't a problem. Inside the park they have little kisosks where people are selling Disney time shares but I never saw one person working at one.

I don't think it will be a problem for you on this trip. And if you get approached just walk on by.
Jen

 

[LadyShea]

I have never been approached by a time share solicitor anywhere in SoCal.

Orlando exists because of WDW and tourism in general, while OC exists with or without Disneyland, so you don't have quite the soliciting of tourists as you will see in Vegas, Orlando, many Mexican resort towns, some beach resort areas etc.

The DVC CM are very low key at DL and WDW, and I have never seen them approach anyone.

Have a blast!

 

[tinkermell]

I have never been approached by a time share solicitor anywhere in SoCal.

Orlando exists because of WDW and tourism in general, while OC exists with or without Disneyland, so you don't have quite the soliciting of tourists as you will see in Vegas, Orlando, many Mexican resort towns, some beach resort areas etc.

The DVC CM are very low key at DL and WDW, and I have never seen them approach anyone.

Have a blast!

I've never had this problem either.

 

[SamIAm21]

The only time share solicitation you should see ON Disney property is for the Disney Vacation Club. And I don't think I've ever seen them "hawk" people on the street, nor do they offer $20 gifts to come and see their presentation. They have enough interest in DVC that they never need to do that. The solicitors you ran into in Florida were probably not on Disney property.

I stayed on Harbor Blvd in Anaheim, California last year and in my numerous walks to and from the park, I never once encountered a solicitor for time shares. One man was handing out fliers for tours to other nearby theme parks, but I just said no thanks.

 

[CoolPool]

When I'm at WDW I stay in "the bubble" and never venture forth into Orlando; you've just given me another fine reason to justify never leaving the bliss zone. DVC never approaches or hawks onsite either at DLR or WDW; they stand by their kiosks and wait for people to show interest.

I live in SoCal and have never been approached by a timeshare company on the street, but I do get mail which goes right to the trash.

 

[disney-super-mom]

The last time we stayed off property on Harbor, at the Best Western Park Place Inn, we ran into timeshare solicitors twice. They weren't pushy or anything, just asked us if we wanted to take a tour. We'd just keep walking on by and say "No Thankyou."

Other than that one time, we've never ran into timeshare solicitors.

 

[drag n' fly]

I have never been approached by a time share solicitor anywhere in SoCal.

Orlando exists because of WDW and tourism in general, while OC exists with or without Disneyland, so you don't have quite the soliciting of tourists as you will see in Vegas, Orlando, many Mexican resort towns, some beach resort areas etc.

The DVC CM are very low key at DL and WDW, and I have never seen them approach anyone.

Have a blast!

I have never been approached in DL.

 

[jenksdj]

The only "timeshare" people we even saw were DVC people, and they didn't ever approach us. My daughter fell down near one of their kiosks and scraped her knee and the man came over to see if she was alright and to give her a Goofy button to cheer her up. Worked like a charm! I thought he was then going to launch into a spiel for my husband and me but he didn't. What a nice man!

I don't think you will have any problems of the sort you describe.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I've never been approached either, not in DL, or on the property or even off the property. I doubt it's a problem for you.

 

[bumbershoot]

The only time share solicitation you should see ON Disney property is for the Disney Vacation Club. And I don't think I've ever seen them "hawk" people on the street, nor do they offer $20 gifts to come and see their presentation. They have enough interest in DVC that they never need to do that.

Well, in September we got a $50 giftcard for having an hour presentation on DVC (actually it was 2 b/c we were chatty) and they had kidcare for DS during that time, so really, they were paying us to watch our kid....


But other than DVC, I saw no timeshare people.

 

[famograham]

When we were there Sep 19-21...we did get approached by one guy just to the Denny's side of the crosswalk.
He told us we'd get a limo ride and a fancy dinner at some restaurant nearby.
We were too polite to keep walking unfortunately and listened for a few minutes
He wanted us to book a time right there on the spot. His spiel was that this was a new promotion and that Canadians were finally able to partake in.

He was quite miffed when we said no thanks. I would never have taken those precious hours out of our three days.

That was the only time we saw anybody hocking anything..other than a lady handing out Chinese delivery menu's (which I thought was a great idea..business wise. If we'd been there longer, we'd probably have called them)

Linda

 

[lulubelle]

Never been approached at all. Just to chime in.

 

[Mililani Mouser]

we were approached at the kiosk at the DLH, offering a $50 gift card for a one hour presentation for DVC (declined. also, at the hotel driveway next to IHOP at main gate, we were offered a $100 gift card for a 90 min presentation for unknown timeshare company (declined). This was last week.

 

[bumbershoot]

we were approached at the kiosk at the DLH, offering a $50 gift card for a one hour presentation for DVC (declined.

Doing the DVC presentation gave DS some extra souvenirs, and then got us all lunch and dinner that day! Plus childcare with cookies for DS, and coffee and waters for the two of us, and a soft couch to sit on. And it's the easiest thing to say no to (actually not really b/c we really do want to join, but the timing is bad)...we chatted, he laid it all out with the money info, we said "aw shucks we can't right now", and toodleyoo, here's your pretty book and your GC, go drag your kiddo away from his new best friends, and call me when you are ready to buy!

 

[DizMe]

There was a card in our DLH room last week with the $50 offer for listening to a 1-hr presentation. We did not use it but did consider it. However, we didn't want to spare the time so we decided not to go. I saw the kiosk outside the main lobby but no one was actively hawking anything.

 

[keishashadow]

OP - i've never seen TS people in Orlando ; perhaps i'm looking in the right places lol.

don't consider DVC as TS ; they aren't pushy and don't approach you unsolicited @ WDW.

Q: So are any of the "outside TSs" easy to deal with?

We welcome "reputable" TS solicitations. June of '06 the Sheraton Vistana right outside the WDW offered us 4 nights for $150 ($250 less $100 refundable deposit) with NO TS presentation requirement...we jumped on it. I did have to do battle with the senior "shark" in order to get my deposit back. He was good, I was better (a realtor, i've heard it all before).

jik anyone's interested, i'm told the way to get the invite is to sign up for information on the Sheraton TS website; worked for us. btw, resort was great, 1 BR unit beautiful.

 

[SamIAm21]

So DVC is now offering incentives? Is this only in California or Florida too? With California getting a DVC resort at the GC, maybe they are offering the $50 gift card in order to generate interest in something new for them.