Just got home and the final talley is....

[welovemickey]

Hi, I've read all these posts and would like to add my 2 cents (for what it's worth). I agree that to take a family to Disney can be expensive. HOwever, as far as the tours of the timeshare goes . . . I feel that those salesmen work on commission and for someone to go in and take the time for a tour without any intention of buying, is wrong. That time could go to someone who is interested and that salesperson would make his pay. If I misunderstood your post, I apologize. Also, I would NEVER teach my children to do those things. I hope you had a real good explanation for them as to why you went to different resorts to get free tickets.

We go to Disney on a budget every year. We tow our popup and can do the entire trip for less than $2,000. We don't have to go to all the trouble of touring - we just research.

Again, I apologize if I misunderstood your post. But I'm very sensitive to some of these issues.

 

[The Pluto People]

I think doing a timeshare presentation to get tickets to the parks is quite ethical. Many years ago we stayed at a 2 bedroom unit at the Vistana with another family. We agreed to the timeshare tour/presentation because they promised us $100 and big, stuffed Mickeys for the kids. We had NO intention of buying a timeshare when we started the tour but we seriously considered it afterwards. We did not buy. My point is the salespeople know a good percentage of these people do not intend to buy, but some may be persuaded - we almost were!

 

[BethR]

Originally posted by welovemickey
as far as the tours of the timeshare goes . . . I feel that those salesmen work on commission and for someone to go in and take the time for a tour without any intention of buying, is wrong.

welovemickey,

I think that the reason that the tickets are even offered are to get people who are interested in the TICKETS to come in and listen to the presentation. The tickets get them in the door - even without intention to buy. BUT, if an salesman does a great job, they MAY make a sale! If someone was simply looking to purchase a time share, they would not need any "carrot" to get them to listen to a presentation. The whole thing is about getting people in the door.

Unfortunately, I have read too many horror stories about how people are treated in many of these presentations to be concerned about taking up a saleman's time with no intention to buy.

I hope that you are not offended by this, but MANY of these time share presenters are not concerned about people's time or intelligence.

If someone wants to go through all of this to get free or discounted tickets , God Bless Them!

 

[Belle5]

BethR,
Amen, sister! MOST people going on the tours have no intention of buying and yet a percentage do. The timeshare people know this and it's a gamble they're willing to take. Never once when you are being stalked at a hotel to get free tickets to go on some timeshare presentation do they say "only if you're a serious buyer"! If you can handle the pressure without sinking-- more power to ya!

 

[jgates]

Has anyone taken the Marriott time share tour? When we stayed at the Courtyard DD in 8/00, I was offered $100 Marriott gift check (Maybe $75?) to do the tour. I wanted to but I had a friend & her granddaughter with so I didn't want to get in a disagreement. I am seriously considering stopping at the Courtyard and asking if they are offering a promo like that this time. I know I told them my dh was not on the vacation with me and they told me 'we can work around that'. Course I was spending $800 at the Courtyard on that trip, that may have helped.

Any feedback on Marriott?

 

[punky'smom]

We also went thru alot of timeshare presentations the first year we went. Silver Lakes was not high pressured at all. However,Westgate was outrageous. We did end up purchasing on a resale at westgate. It is an end unit in the back(very private) and it sleeps 10 people. Oh but I do hate those so called maintaince meetings. One of our friends once said OK I'll buy and got home from their vacation and canceled b4 the 10 days were up.

 

[kandj2]

Wow it looks like we are really touching on some ethics here on these boards!

Call me the QUEEN of controversy!!!

As far as the timeshare tours go and the ethics involved here is what I was told by a former Westgate salesperson...

The resorts offer these tickets to get people in NOT as a reward for buying but as payment for the 2 hours they take up of your time. The sales people make about $2500 commission on 1 sale so if everyone going in bought they would make about $7500 per day. In reality they sell about 1 per week if they are lucky. Many many people tour for the tickets and many people tour to see the resort. I did both. As I said, we are interested in purchasing through resale possibly if the price is right so we were on a fact finding mission, The sales people don't pay for the tickets out of their own pockets and the resort I buy will get their money from me in other things like food, drinks, blah blah blah. Maybe this is another thing I should feel guilty about but I don't. If you figure, for example, Westgate Lakes has 807 Luxury units in their resort. If they get some sucker to purchase at $20K for a week - that unit should bring in $1 million per year x 807 units! Add on the maintenance fees per year and they go up every single year and you've got a heck of a lot of money. I own my own company and dry runs in sales is just part of the game. If these salesman want to work by the hour they are in the wrong business. If they don't want people to come for the tickets they should work for a company that doesnt offer them. They are making their money or they wouldn't be there and they are making it from maybe 1 in 10 or 20 people that walk in the door. The resorts have found their niche to bring people in. Don't feel sorry for them - feel sorry for the family that thinKs spending $44,000 or more for lodging over 20 years of vacation is a good deal!

We have the luxury of not having to work in the winters. My hubby and I own a landscape company in Ohio so winters are pretty dead for us. We do have the luxury of time for these tours - thats why we could go down early and do it. Most people would lose more in the 2 days off work than we saved by going on them. It was an adventure for us and we really enjoyed ourselves. If you could simply book a time to see the resorts without the sales pitch we may have seen a few more just so we had some more info for when we buy. The free tickets were great and saved us a bundle. If you are considering touring just one or two I would highly recommend Summer Bay and Embassy Grand. They are really beautiful resorts and the staff is fantastic. Not high pressure - but not low pressure. They don't make you never want to come back like Calypso Cay does.

I don't know about the Marriot but I found out about a lot of tours by doing a search on Google.com. One of the people I really enjoyed working with was Ken Fletcher at Fletcher Tours. If you give him a call he can set you up with something or point you in the right direction to tour the Marriott.

I am not interested in getting into it with anyone again regarding ethics. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. As far as my children go, they had a wonderful time and we did not take them on the tours with us. They had no knowledge of free tickets and if they did it would be fine with me. I did not steal the tickets, I did nothing illegal or immoral for the tickets. I took a company up on their offer and met some wonderful people doing it. I think the pop up trailer idea is wonderful and would love to do that one day. With my kids being younger and my elderly mother traveling with us - that is not really a great idea for us now - but one day.

I think everyones ideas on saving money is great!

 

[Alis aka Merryweather]

Hi Kandj2!

Thank you for the report it was great.

Can you explain a little more about the Calipso Cay expirience.
Did you like the look of the Country inn & suites?.
My family are going to stay there in May.

 

[kandj2]

I didn't see the rooms at the CI&S but the lobby looked nice and the free breakfast was good. They share a pool with Amerisuites and if you have kids they will LOVE it! The tiki bar may be open in May - it currently is under construction.

The Calypso Cay timeshare tour lasted longer than any of the others. It took about 2 1/2 hours and the sales person was nice but the Manager was awful. Steer clear of the woman manager with short red hair - lol. I told her the reason I would not consider buying is because the bathroom is off the kitchen and she looked me right in the eye and said (in her snottiest tone) "SO!". My husband laughed and I responded with "SO??? So I'm not buying it!" The tour itself is bareable if you are getting a good deal. The resort is not complete and is under construction. The sales people claimed they have had people buying dirt although I don't buy it. They have a sample of a room you can tour and a miniature of the resort when it is completed. The resort itself will be small - only 4 buildings. I believe they start at 21,000 but I was offered 14,000 if I bought that day. For your pain and suffering ( I am kidding! ) you get ticket vouchers which you have to redeem at a ticket center right around the corner from the resort. The guy at the ticket center is nice and just full of info about good deals.

The best part about the location is the shopping nearby! There are outlet stores and flea markets all around along with nice restaurants and fast food joints. You will need a car to get around - they have shuttles but they do cost money. Disney is pretty close if you take Osceloa Parkway you should get there very quickly.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Kerry

 

[Alis aka Merryweather]

Thank you for the reply
Alis

 

[Barbruka]

kandj2:

There are always going to be people judging you no matter what. You can't please everyone, so just IGNORE them. You did nothing wrong. Everyone else -- lay off! I can't believe how judgemental people are!!!

 

[welovemickey]

Barbruka, in my reply I was not being judgemental, just stating my opinion. Everyone else was stating theirs. I just choose to do things a different way - is that so wrong? Maybe you should reread the posts and stop being so defensive!

 

[Barbruka]

Who's being defensive? I never named any names -- you did. Some people crack me up! Enough of this silliness!

 

[kandj2]

Barbruka thank you for your support! I have a little non disney related story to tell you guys...

When my 12 year old was about 2 I was in a group called Parents as Teachers. It was a group for mothers of children up to 3 years old. Now I grew up and still live in an afluent suberb outside of Columbus Ohio and some of the people here can get pretty uppity. I was sitting in a group of about 20 mothers discussing disapline and everyone was saying things like, "I just feel so mean when I make little Bobby go on time out," and "I had to take away Sally's favorite doll today because she kicked the dog", blah blah blah. Well being the person I am I couldn't help myself and I had to say, "Don't you people ever feel like your children have pushed you to the point where you are afraid to spank them because you don't know if you can stop??" The room got quiet and the woman running the meeting just smiled and said, "Now we get down to the truth." By the time we were done everyone in the meeting agreed that that is how we all feel sometimes and no one ever talks about it.

My point is that it is really easy to be what you aren't but no one says what they really are. Probably many many people who read these boards do tours or carry 3 year olds in the parks or say their children are 9 or under to get the child rate or eat off the childrens menu or maybe worse things I can't think of right now. I am not above doing timeshare tours for free tickets, carrying my child into Disney 2 months after his 3rd birthday and I was thinking of doing the Disney cruise next year and saying my son who will be 13 when we cruise is still 12. I have never shoplifted in my life - not even a pack of gum as a child, I have trouble lying to people (If someone would have stopped me while I was carrying my son into disney I would have bought him a ticket because I really have a problem lying in a face to face situation. If a salesperson asked me if I was there for the free tickets I would have said yes.), I don't cheat on my taxes, I don't cheat on my husband and I don't drink and drive. What I'm trying to say is some people have done the things I won't do and I have done things others wouldn't. It doesn't matter really until people start throwing stones and find their own glass house has shattered.

welovemickey I am not directing this at you at all. I understand what you were saying and with the exception of what you said about explaining it to my children - I was not at all offended. You do have the right to your opinion and I respect that. You stated your opinion very well and your argument has merit. Not that you need me to tell you that... you already know. I just see things differently. You see it as a waste of the salesmans time and I see it as a payment for my time. No problem here. I'm sure there are things you have done that I wouldn't like. I think Barbruka was trying to show support for me and I appreciate that. I needed someone on my side after yesterday - lol.

Don't you guys just LOVE RobinB's picture????

Kerry

 

[robinb]

Don't you guys just LOVE RobinB's picture????

Thanks! The Aristocats is my 2 year old DD's favorite movie. "Kitties Mommy! I want to watch Kitties!" I love that quote from Marie when she's rough-housing with her brothers and her mother tells her "Ladies do not fight!" I'm afraid that my DD is now quoting that part herself {{blush}}.

 

[BethR]

OK, now that we all have kissed and made up, please let's just get back to finding ways to plan our Disney vacation in the most cost efficient manner that we can!
We are ALL ABOUT having fun and helping each other out here!

 

[Ella]

I would like to see you try to say your 13 year old is 12! Duh.......you need a birth certificate to board the ship

 

[kandj2]

Ewww I never thought about that one. Oh well guess I will have to pay adult fares for him. Has anyone ever gotten really good deals on the cruises? Has anyone ever stayed on Level 1 and gotten really good deals on the cruises? I want a big room. On the land and sea packages do you guys feel 3 or 4 days are enough? I would like to do 7 days sea and 10 days land but I don't know if DH would lose his mind on a ship that long. Do you think the farther out you book the better the deals or is it like hotels the closer you book the better?

Any help or suggestions from you veterans?

Kerry

 

[BethR]

Hi Kerry!

We never really have discussed the Cruise Line on this Board. Here is a Link to the Cruise Board where there a lot of "experts " who could help you with your questions.

 

[Mskanga]

I honestly ( and not to offend anyone ) would rather work overtime to buy the tickets than to have to go through any timeshare presentations, I too have gone with "budget vacations" and have kept it pretty much within my budget , it just took me a bit more research and no I will not stay off site, that's just my preference. My vacation time is for me to enjoy , not to waste on timeshare presentations.