Dodged a bullet back in '04.

Back in December of '04, my girlfriend Tawny and I visited my family in Orlando.  While there, we stayed a couple of nights over in Kissimmee, within a short driving distance of Sea World.  After checking in, a lady with a kiosk set up in the lobby of our motel told us of how we could get 5-day passes to Sea World at a discount rate if we attended a 90-minute presentation at Orange Lake Resort (OLR).  Yes, it was a time-share scam.  In retrospect, I now realize the lady at the kiosk was the prostitute, and OLR was the pimp.  That may be an unfair characterization, as with a hooker and pimp, she's upfront with you about the fact that you're gonna get screwed.

Tawny talked me into agreeing to the whole deal, as she was confident that I could resist the sales tactics.  And I did.  But had the salespeople not backed down when they did, OLR might be infamous these days as far as spree killings go.

Our "vacation counselor" Tim could not keep the script straight as to whether it was his second or fourth day.  He seemed harmless enough until we joined him in a large, spacious room that was a very well-disguised interrogation chamber.  Then the arsenal of tactics was deployed.  My armor went up, and as they tried to wear me down, my attention wandered to the other suckers/victims/"customers", many of apparently substantially less means than Tawny & I, being put through high-pressure sales tactics at other tables, my bemusement was replaced by anger.  I became a New-York lock in the face of such tactics:  The harder they pushed, the firmer I held.  They brought in the sales manager, whose affectation for gaudy gold cuff-links, a watch, and at least one molar, made it hard for me to keep a straight face when looking at him.  They left the table at least once, to give Tawny and myself time to discuss it amongst ourselves.  I think her question was something like "Please tell me you're not going to fold."  In reality, I think the salespeople were getting worried about the frequency of that pesky "no" word coming out of my mouth.  When Tim returned to the table, he softened his approach, put his hand on my shoulder as if he was the stereotypical used-car salemen.  I could just picture him saying "UltraC, what's it gonna take to put you in to this time-share?"  A moment's glare from me told him his physical contact was unwanted.  He continued his soft-pedal approach, even in the face of my saying "The decision is made.  The answer is no."  When he demonstrated a selective deafness, I'd had it.  I stood angrily, in full view of the other suckers/victims/customers, going in one moment from "hard sell" to a disruption that did not escape the attention of the other suckers/victims/customers.  After that, they couldn't get rid of us quick enough!  After getting our discount passes to Sea World a full 2-1/2 hours after the adventure had started, Tawny and I walked through the parking lot back to our car.  It was only then that I realized how angry I'd been, as my hands were shaking from adrenaline withdrawal.

Like I said, we dodged a bullet.  Five years later, there is a plethora of websites devoted to complaints about OLR.

Like the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true...