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View Full Version : Discounted tickets and timeshare touts



esprit
09-03-2002, 02:53
The main parks do not really discount. You may see special deals when you are in Orlando such as 2nd Day free at Seaworld. There are also discount vouchers in the information booklets such as Best Read Orlando and I love Orlando which you can pick up in information centres, restaurants and shops. These are not usually discounts on the main parks, with the exception of Disney Pleasure Island, but on the lesser attractions such as Gatorland, Cypress Gardens, Kennedy Space Center, Wonderworks and the Dinner Shows amongst others. The discount is valid for up to 6 people so a family can make a real saving.

You will see ticket booths along the road, in fromt of shops and in the reception area of restaurants. They often advertise big discounts on the normal price or free or half price tickets to Disney, Seaworld or Universal, Be wary of these. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Heavily discounted tickets are often unused tickets on multi-day passes bought from departing holiday makers and they may or may not work when you get to the gate. A guest in my villa got stung on this by a guy with a booth outside the Ponderosa. When she said the ticket did not work, he said 'prove it'. I now have a warning on my information sheet.

Free or half price tickets to the big parks are usually an incentive to attend a vacation home presentation. In other words timeshare. They tell you it will only take an hour and you get a free breakfast. In fact it takes somewhat longer and is a gruelling experience. We attended one of these on our first visit to Orlando. The whole experience was slickly professional. We should have known what to expect when they insisted on seeing that you had a major credit card before they let you through the door for your free breakfast buffet. What followed played on every human emotion -from sucking up to emotional blackmail, persuasion, cajoling and finally to veilled threats and derision. A number of people succombed and bought whilst we were there. Or they may have been plants ( who knows?) We did finally get our two grudgingly given Universal tickets and escaped intact. With travelling time, it took up five hours of our precious holiday. It was not worth it.
Buy your tickets from the link at the top of the forum before you go. That way at least you know what you are getting.

Julie Carty

orlandobabe
11-03-2002, 00:28
Guests got stung to the tune of £500 on dud tickets-wish I knew where they went and could warn guests reading these pages.

They then thought they would try and get that money back from me by moaning and complaining about every little thing!

I'm afraid I drew the line at 'the towels are too new!'

There are a lot of sharks in Florida-and they are not only found in the waters around the coast!

Orlandobabe

esprit
11-03-2002, 02:39
I now put a big warning on this on my fact sheet. At least then the guests cannot say you did not warn them if they get done. If they get a sour taste in their mouths at Orlando in general, they will find every little thing wrong with the villa as you say. I am guilty of this myself. I once got mugged in Spain - bag nicked with money and passport in ( never had anything like that happen in Florida) I could have been staying in the Ritz after that and I would not have liked it. Spain just stank for me and that was that. We have never been back.

Julie Carty

porky
11-03-2002, 13:43
I went to 2 of these tours one year with hubby and the 2 kids. This was in the days before we knew about villas.
We actaully managed to get ourselves thrown out of the Orange Lake Country Club because hubby (who gets rather loud when he knows he's being ripped off) started pointing out to the sales rep just how much the weeks were going to be, with interest rates, maintainence etc. One guest on the table behind us ending up in tears because she'd just signed what she thought was a good deal. We were given our Disney dollars and quickly ushered out of the building with the words I think you'd better leave now!

Bought a timeshare at the next visit, but again only after pointing out all the faults - the sales rep had actually quoted us the lower rate first and then had the cheek to up it. We were taken to see the manager who was not impressed with the rep, asked what we thought was a good price and was then shown a town house in Palm Beach at just that price. You should have seen her eyes light up when we said we'd have it, you could almost see her counting the interst. We had the last laugh when hubby laid his Am Ex card on the table - no interst for them.

We're still trying to sell this timeshare after 3 years, not so easy to do to beware people if you're really thinking of buying one.

Jacqui