Ever do a timeshare for free park tickets?

PrincessSarah314

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
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Yes, I know they are high-pressure but we are DVC members looking to tour some of the other timeshare resorts and figure we may as well get some free tickets thrown in and save some $$$ while we're at it.

We're going in June, just 2 adults, so no need to worry about missing park time with the kiddos. Anyone know of any resorts currently running this promo?

TIA!
 
The first time that I went to Disney World, there was a timeshare across the street from the hotel I was staying at (the one and only time that I stayed off site) and they offered me two free tickets, but I had already bought mine (I was there by myself), so they offered me a Disney gift card equivalent to the two tickets instead. It is high pressure, but just say No repeatedly and if they continue to ask, tell them you are DVC members. We always put that on the paperwork when we sign in and have had a couple of times where the time share people said that they had people call in sick and they didn't have time to meet with us, but that they would give us the free gifts anyway. Many of them know that DVC members are usually pretty happy with what they have and that they will have a hard time selling them on something else.

Just a word of caution, do not do timeshare presentations in other countries, we learned that the hard way on a Disney Cruise to Mexico.
 
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) cannot be upgraded or modified in any way.
 
We did it once many years ago and would NEVER do it again. It is extremely high pressure and while we continually said "no" they just wouldn't let up. I understand that they are trying to sell their product and nothing truly comes for free but, for me, the unpleasantness of the experience completely outweighs the free tickets.......but that's just my humble opinion.
 
BTW, almost any Disney ticket you get from a timeshare promotion (especially if you get a voucher) cannot be upgraded or modified in any way.

To add to this. Will these tickets be enough for your entire trip or are you just going to use them so you don't have to buy so many days?

This is sort of the using leftover NE tickets to complete a trip issue.

If you are going for more than 4 days and you just use these one or two day tickets to shorten a longer trip they will only be "worth" 10 to 20 dollars a piece.
 
Our time is worth more than the freebie tickets. I could not imagine sitting through the entire presentation with no intention of buying. I would just find it unbearable.
 
We did a timeshare years ago for 3 - 2 day tickets to Universal studios. By the time the presentation was over, we had missed half the day at the park and I had a splitting headache which made it very hard to enjoy what time we did have there. The second day was a little better. The worst part is they tried to ship us out a back door without giving us the tickets because we didn't buy. :confused3 They had taken our picture when we arrived & said we could pick it up at the end. They wouldn't give it to us because we wouldn't give them any referrals.:confused3

The second one we went to everyone was fairly nice although very high pressure. We were supposed to get a $100 bill just for going & they tried to back out on it, too. I stood firm & told them that I would tell everyone I saw to not go to their presentation since they were liars. They gave it to me.

IMHO most timeshares just want you to buy their product & they will do anything to get you to.

We bought DVC on our last cruise & I must say, the presentation was interesting and not high pressure compared to the others. We only went to the presentation because they were giving away a $300 on board credit to one person. We figured why not go & maybe we would win. We didn't win, but we did learn a lot. We will be spending our first DVC points in just one week at AKL. Can't wait.
 
We did one four years ago. It was our last day in a park (Universal) when they approached us and they offered us a gift card, I think it was $75 and some other perk (can't remember what it was). It was set up for our next day which was a travel day for us home. We thought, "why not?" NEVER AGAIN! I had a bad earache which turned into a double ear infection in both ears by the time I got home. They would not take no for an answer. Their delicious breakfast they promised turned in to be an early lunch of hot dogs, ewwww!!! It was just horrible. I think we were there 4.5 hours or something like that. I am telling you NEVER AGAIN!!!! Even with me feeling bad they just kept trying to come up with some offer we would accept. It was truly awful.
 
The only one I have ever done was Marriott. I don't think they give free tickets (I got a gift card I seem to recall) and it was very much like DVC. None of the manager stuff etc....
 
I've gotten free tickets from a timeshare but I didn't take the tour. It was back in 2004. It was actually posted about here on the Disboard. It was an advertisment for 2 free 2 day tickets to Universal or IOA for "taking a survey". After taking the survey you were given one of 2 reply letters we thought depending on what state you were from. Some said "required to attend 90 minute timeshare presentation", others said "invited to attend 90 minute timeshare presentation". Mine came back "invited to attend" Playing it safe, I did it on arrival day and arrived at the resort shortly before they were scheduled to close for the day. I filled out some paper work, declined the tour and was in and out in under 20 minutes.

If you're going to do the timeshare route, I'd probably do it for either either Seaworld or Universal. You're more likely to get tickets that can be used as is without hoping to be able to upgrade.

That being said, I haven't seen that offer around anymore.
 
We did it once many years ago and would NEVER do it again. It is extremely high pressure and while we continually said "no" they just wouldn't let up. I understand that they are trying to sell their product and nothing truly comes for free but, for me, the unpleasantness of the experience completely outweighs the free tickets.......but that's just my humble opinion.

ITA. We went early on a Sunday morning and had planned on going to church services afterwards. I don't know if it was because we were dressed for church and they thought we had money, but it seemed like they kept us a lot longer that some of the other participants. Guess we should've just worn tank tops and shorts. Anyway, they kept us so long that we missed the service we had planned on attending. After that, my husband said "Never Again!".
 
To add to this. Will these tickets be enough for your entire trip or are you just going to use them so you don't have to buy so many days?

This is sort of the using leftover NE tickets to complete a trip issue.

If you are going for more than 4 days and you just use these one or two day tickets to shorten a longer trip they will only be "worth" 10 to 20 dollars a piece.

We are at WDW for 7 days but were planning on not doing any park days originally. We have since changed our plans because another couple will be meeting us there. We really only want to do 2 days in the parks total, mostly to dine at BOG, catches Wishes, MSEP, and Illuminations.
 
We have done a few including one in Orlando for a free 3-day cruise. Since we live in PA, we get offers for the Poconos a lot. We don't do them now that we have young kids because the time is just too valuable to us. However, we thought they were great when we were young and poor. We received lots of free stuff. Mostly, I would just tell the salesperson that we had no money and that we would not be able to buy. After that, we pretty much got our free stuff without much hassle. I actually enjoyed touring some of the properties. Sometimes the free stuff isn't worth the time investment. We declined to do the free Disney ticket timeshare because it was just too much time on our vacation. I would think it would be an individual decision based on how dedicated you are to saying "no" and how much time you can afford to invest.
 
A couple years ago I clicked on a link for discounts to Universal and they asked for my contact info. Stupid me put in my phone number and I started getting calls over and over. I had to keep hanging up on them. My fault but I really didn't realize what I was doing. I thought I was just registering for a site to price out trips.
 
Our first family trip to MK was on a stay at Vistana Villages in exchange for a decent rate and cash equivalent to the price of four one-day tickets. DW, DS2 and DS4 (now 11 and 13) and I spent time at DTD one day, then visited MK the next. It was the first visit for everyone but me.

On our last morning, before we headed to the airport, we did the mandatory timeshare presentation. It included the movie, tour, and then the cubicle-farm hard sell time with a salesman.

The hard sell turned out to be pretty easy for us to get through. How, you ask? Did I mention that DSs were 2 and 4? We never let our boys run wild in public--except that day. It's hard for a salesman to focus on selling you property when two preschoolers are playing with his stapler, asking to color, and walking up and down the aisle into other salespersons' cubicles. After about 15 minutes, he just said, "You can take this voucher to the counter for your gift." I think we shaved about 45 minutes off the time they'd said we would be there.

Wouldn't do it again, but it did get us started on family vacations to Disney!
 
Caution: Disney tickets given out at timeshares are not upgradable. If you need more days than the tickets come with, you will be paying top dollar for additional tickets and the effective value of the timeshare tickets can be as little as twelve dollars per person per day. (Compared with not doing the timeshare presentation and just buying tickets for your whole vacation normally.)
 
I just listened to the phone pitch from one the other day, and I will say the stuff they were offering was pretty good. The woman was very nice and I kept telling her that I had to talk with my wife before deciding to take them up on their offer. Now, I should have prefaced that this wasn't one of the free Disney ticket deals. it was 6 day/5night in Orlando at a Sheraton or Double Tree property, as well as an additional 3 nights at Daytona Beach, a rental car, $100 airline credit per person, and 2 tickets for either a Disney park or a Universal Park. This was offered to me for $389 and it was for 5 people total, not per person. We would just have to do the 60 minute tour. Now, I now that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't. So after waiting on hold, while she "Let me see what I can do" about the wife asking issue, her supervisor, Ted, gets on the line. I have been very successful in sales for almost 30 years and love it when sales people try and "sell" me. However this guy was the glowing example of what give sales people a bad name. From the get go it was high pressure with this guy, and this was just for me to get on the trip they were offering to hear their pitch. I kept telling the guy that it wasn't going to happen without me speaking with my wife. When I would try and say something he kept cutting me off and not letting me speak. When I think he finally realized that I wasn't budging, the insults started. This is not a good path with me, especially if you are trying to sell me something. Then he said that I was just a telephone tough guy and what was I going to do. Well, I did lose my cool with him and showed him my mastery of much more colorful language. He still wouldn't relent and he hung up on me. I called them back and found another supervisor who was amazed and even gave me their address. for what Ted was not realizing is I am heading down in 11 days and am planning to show up for the in person sales presentation. To top everything off, a different sales person called me today to try and sell me the package, when I asked him is my original sales person I was placed on hold, and low and behold Ted the supervisor picked up the line, not knowing it was me. I was thrilled!!! REALLY!!! I asked him if he remembered me, and he said sorry, no, did you already fill out the form from us? I said no Ted, do remember calling me the Telephone Tough Guy? Then there was beautiful silence. He tried to be professional and say that I was rude to him first. I simply told him that Ted, I have the address there and I will be down for the in-person sales pitch and I can't wait for it. I know that much of this seems childish and why would I waste my hard earned vacation dealing with this turd, I'm not sure, but there was a big smile on my face when Ted picked up the line today. Oh, we'll that's my story on timeshare sales. So glad I'm a DVC member and that I dealt with professionals. I would love it if anyone posts any similar experience with these folks.
 












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