Last month I reported that I’d received info that Disney was now allowing an unlimited number of Armed Forces Salute theme park ticket purchases.
UPDATE – The offer keeps getting changing. See here for the most up to date details
But, I have new information that changes this unlimited amount, unfortunately to a total of 12 tickets.
This 2011/2012 extension of the 2009/2010 Military Ticket Discount has been constantly evolving since it was first announced and contacts both official and unofficial that I have within Disney have at times contradicted each other.
But all my sources agree on this important new update to the military ticket discount offer.
From the Disney Military Sales Dept.
“Qualified Military Members are eligible for twelve total “Salute” tickets throughout the life of the promotion (October 3, 2010-September 30, 2012). They may never purchase/activate/utilize more than six per day.”
Disney will continue to collect military Guest information during the ticket booth activation process in order to track proper utilization.”
I started receiving info on this a week ago but held off releasing it as the details I received from Disney Military Sales were discriminatory towards those who had already purchased some Salute tickets. Their initial email said that there would be a limit of two purchases/activations with a max of 6 tickets each. So those who hadn’t purchased salute tickets since 3 Oct ’10 could buy a total of 12, while those who had purchased tickets (like me I bought 2 last fall) could only buy 6 more as the second visit. I queried them on this part of the policy and they decided to change the offer to be equitable to all as stated above.
I was also able to get a confirmation today on the Disney Military Room Discount Blockout Dates. They are exactly the same as the ticket blockout dates.
Disney World Room & Ticket Blockout dates:
26-31 December 2011
1-12 April 2012
4 July 2012 (Magic Kingdom only)
Disneyland Room & Ticket Blockout dates:
24 December 2011-2 January 2012
17-19 February 2012
2-14 April 2012
4 July 2012
This “extension” of the 2009/2010 offer has been frustrating, as the details have been constantly changing and hard to discover. Hopefully we are now at a point where the offer won’t change any more.
One thing to be aware of is that Shades of Green and your local Base’s ticket office must abide by the contract they have with Disney as to the ticket sales process. With these many changes since the offer was announced, who knows the way that contract reads and when or if it will be updated to match the most recent Disney decision. So it might be that the only way to use the offer as stated above is to use the Disney ticket offices, as your Base and Shades may be working off old info.
For full details see this web page on the 2011/2012 Disney Armed Forces Salute.
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Here’s another thing Steve. Can you use only 6 tickets during each activation period, (once in 2011 and once again in 2012)? Or could you in theory go for 12 days at once, and buy six tickets twice in the same year?. My problem is I am travelling with a group of fourteen and I think I can only by six tickets for our stay in August. We will only be there six days. My wife also has an I.D. card but I am sure she can’t buy tickets after I do.
John you can use the tickets at any time during the whole period (Oct 10 – Sep 12). They are no longer considered 2 different offers. So you could do 8 days in a row for 6 people. Or more days for less people.
Your wife has a dependent ID with your SSN? those couldn’t be activated until the others were done.
what about the exception for families with 5 or more kids?
Hi Carrie,
Disney’s ticketing policy reads: “Exceptions should be made for immediate families larger than five people. For example, if a family has six children, please allow all
members of the family to purchase 4-Day Disney Military Promotion Tickets.”
This is what the ticket sellers have in their booth.
Steve,
I want to be clear as I have seen much conflicting information. Originally the 2010 program ended September 28, 2011 with tickets purchaseed then to be used no later than Oct 1, 2011. The 2012 program did not begin until late October 2011. My vacation is Oct 2-7, 2011. Are you now telling us that the original “ending” dates for 2010 have been eliminated? In other words, can I use this discount Oct. 2 -7, 2011??
Thanks
Mark
Hi Mark,
It was the 2009-2010 offer which ended on 30 Sept ’10. The 2010-2011 offer didn’t start until 3 Oct ’10 (this was the room discounts, the ticket part was really a couple of weeks later) so there was a gap.
But the 2010-2011 offer was still in progress on 18 April ’11 when they announced that it had been extended through 30 Sept 2012.
So you will be able to use the offer with no problem on 2-7 Oct ’11.
I called Shades of Green and they said I could only buy a total of 6 tickets. I called ITT Orlando and she said 12 total. I called Disney and she directed me to the website disneymilitarysales.com, which says only 6.
I bought 5 in December 2010, and want to buy three more for mid July… I am totally confused on what I can actually buy and what I can not buy.
What is your source for the 12?
Thanks for the info!
Mike Hi,
I know its frustrating, see this part of my FAQ for some insight. Shades is just going by their contract. But their ticket office is referring guests who need more than 6 to the Disney ticket windows.
The Disney military sales website hasn’t been updated since Nov 2010…
I have several sources, Official Disney, Unofficial Disney, and friends with boots on the ground as I’m not Orlando local.
I correspond with the Manager of the Disney MIlitary Sales Dept. they set the deals and negotiate the contract with the military resellers (like Shades). I also get info from an unnamed source who works frontline in Disney Ticketing. Often through the past few months these two have disagreed as to Disney’s current policy, with tickets lagging.
The latest from tickets is you may participate 2 times up to 6 tickets each time.
From Dis Mil Sales, a total of 12, no more than 6 active at one time. This should become the ticketing policy when they catch up.
Steve,
Thanks! So if I can still buy the tickets for the second trip, where would you recommend that I buy them? Shades, the ITT Office in Orlando, or can I get them directly at the Disney window?
The woman that I spoke too at Shades, did quote the contact to me, in fact she read it verbatim when I asked about 12 or 6 issue…. I just don’t want to buy the tickets and then be out the money. We are going regardless, just trying to get the best deal that I can.
I appreciate the help and info!
The best way to ease your mind is to just buy them at the Disney window. You’ll pay tax but you’ll know you are good to go. No third party…
I’m so excited abt this great deal! Just found it today and we have a trip scheduled for mid November. I have a question regarding the tickets. My husband will not be going with us but from what I understand I as the spouse can still purchase the discounted tickets. First question – how does Disney confirm that my husband is in fact an active military member and I’m his wife. Second question – can I purchase only 5 tickets total since he won’t be with us? I guess I don’t understand how they would know how many tickets I purchased using my husband’s name. I really need 8 tickets. Wondering if I can purchase say 4 one day and 4 the next day but we all go in to the parks together. Do they ask to see ur idea each time u enter a park? I mean do they have some sort of database that has the names of all active and retired member with a tracking of how many were purchased? That would seem impossible to me – to have a list at all disney parks plus shades of green plus locals. Thanks so much for any info you can provide. And thanks for what has been provided thus far.
Wow Holly lots of good questions! Everything is done by the sponsor’s social. You use your dependent ID with his ssn on it to buy the tickets. When you activate them they record the ssn, that’s how the track everything.
You then enter the park like any other guest, with your ticket and finger print.
As far as the number you need did you see my new ticket FAQ? look at this Q&A specifically
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Does anyone know if family members of deceased military personnel are allowed to utilize this discount?
Hi Tim the deceased member would have had to been retired or permanently disabled and the spouse have a miliraty ID.
When we were just there in June, I activated 5 all at once making it a total of 7 for the year.. all the CM said at that time was that the limit was “6 at once” I’ll guess this is more recent than mid-June? I guess I only need 2 more, so I’m still under the limit.. Crazy these rules.
I know, funny how they keep changing the rules. It’s really a win/win, Disney gets more attendance yielding more revenu and the military gets a great deal. You’d think they wouldn’t limit it…
Hi Steve! I have a quick, or at least I’m hoping it’s a quick, question for you. If my husband and I already purchased two tickets and we tend to go as a couple only when we go, does that mean we could theoretically purchase 10 more tickets to be used on 5 different occasions by the two of us? I guess I’m unclear as to how many different times we can go to the ticket counter and have tickets activated under his SSN. Thank you kindly:)
Hi Gladys,
Yes according to the Disney Military Sales Department you could do just that, but compare the cost of buying all those tickets to upgrading the initial two into season passes. There comes a point where passes would be the cheaper option. The only thing is that the season passes would expire 1 year from the date you first used the Military Salute tickets.
Thanks so much for the quick response:) Now that I have that cleared up, one more quick one:) We just got back from Disney World last night and so have already used the first set of tickets. Do you mean after we purchase a next set we can use those new, unused tickets towards the purchase of season passes?
Gladys, If you decide an annual pass (or FL resident annual pass) is the right choice for you, then when you return next time bring the ones you just used and ask if you can upgrade those. If they’ll let you upgrade the already used tickets then you won’t be out that money.
This is a great question and I’m going to do a post to expand on it. I’ll be able to use more space than I could here. Look for it very soon.
Steve
I am planning a trip for Dec 26-31. The actual disney website does not list those dates as blackout dates. Do you know if those dates have been removed from the blackout since your report on this matter a month ago?
http://bookwdw.reservations.disney.go.com/ibcwdw/en_US/specialOfferDetails?name=Promo&promotionCode=fy11military&market=fy11military#important
Hi Kendra,
Each year Disney has had similar blockout dates. They are due to the large numbers of people in the parks already who are paying full price. Disney doesn’t need to attract any more people during those times. The Disney Military Sales Dept. gave me those blockout dates and I’ve also seen internal documents from the Disney Tickets Dept. which have them too.
I’d say the omission on the page was a mistake. Disney has done such a bad job getting the details out this time. It’s frustrating, I know.
Ok so I have a question here. The wife and I bought 4 passes back in March of this year (2011). We are headed back in October and plan on buying 2 more. We recently made a last minute decision that we would be going in December as well and will be needing 4 more tickets to accomodate the length of stay. My question is this, when we go in October, will we need to buy all 6 of the tickets that we need for the rest of the year or can we buy 2 in October and 4 in December? That would make it buying tickets 3 different times.
I am just unclear on if I have to buy the tickets I want in only 2 different transactions or is it unlimited transactions as long as it is 12 or less passes?
Hey Justin,
The latest policy at Disney’s ticket windows is 12 tickets total Oct ’10 -Sept ’12, no more than 6 active at a time. So you are fine to buy the three sets as you described.
Hi Steve! So much GREAT information.
Planning on going to DW next week. We have a large/blended family…2 adults +7 kids. Do you know if DW will honor tickets purchase for large families with the military discounted tickets? My kids prior to our marriage have a different last name. So will they let us activate the tickets that we purchase on the military base at the DW ticket counter without a problem.
As far as activation…
- what information do they take and retain? I know they track by SSN for military member. But do they take DOB and any other private information from me and kids?
- I didn’t know about the finger print. Is that done at the ticket booth too? Because my kids (different last name) will not be there when we initially activate the 4 day passes. They won’t be there until later but I know you have to activate them all at once.
Sorry so many questions!!
Thanks…any help would be great!
Hi Fay,
Thanks!
You should be fine on the number of tickets, their policy is to allow large families what they need, the last name shouldn’t matter, they’re your kids. They do track the member’s ssn and as I recall they Looked at ID/driver’s licenses for others who had them and recorded names.
Not having everyone there when you are activating the tickets could be a issue. Disney’s policy is that everyone be there to prevent reselling tickets. What I recommend is on the first day activate tickets for just those there then when the others arrive go back and explain the situation that you already have an active ticket but need to activate more for the kids joining your party.
The finger scan takes place at the park turnstiles every time you enter a park.
Hope this helps!
Just for a bit of clarification…the initial finger scan doesn’t happen until the go through the turnstile?
That’s correct!
my aunt brought us 9 ticket at navy exchange for a day at disneyland,seaworld and universal respectively.can we still use the tickets even if she can not go with us. thanks
Hi ludia,
You should be fine with the Sea World and Universal. The Disney tickets, it depends on what kind they are, If they are just the regularly military discounted tickets (from 1 to 10 days) you should be fine too, but if they are the 4-day Armed Forces Salute Tickets your aunt needs to be there to activate them with you.
thanks steve
Has anyone had any luck activating more than 6 tickets in a week at the Disney parks?
Thanks,
Jen
I’d like to elaborate my question. we are a family of 4 and are going to Disney in October for 8 days. So to go into the parks every day we would need to activate 8 tickets. Someone at Shades of Green told me if the person at the park gate won’t activate all 8, just 6 like the rules say, then go to another booth till we find someone who will activate the other 2. Have you heard of this being done?
Another option is if we decide to go with only 6 tickets and lets say my husband and my son activate 2 each and my daughter and i activate 1 each, can i go in another day using my husband’s 2nd activated ticket and my daughter go in using my son’s 2nd activated ticket if my husband and son aren’t with us?
Thank you so much for your information.
Jen
Morning Jen,
Current guidance by Disney at the ticket windows is no more than 6 active tickets at one time, but you can buy up to 12 in the 2-year period. You only need 4 active at once so I recommend activating 4, use them up, then activate the next 4.
Have a great time!
Thank you!!!
Hi Steve,
Just wanted to know if you activate the tix (let’s say during Thanksgiving) but you only use 2 days or visit 2 parks…..can you in essence use the same set of tix in let’s say February as we want to visit again in February or do we need to purchase a whole new set of tix at the $138 price. I have gotten two different answers from Shades of Green. We will only be there for a day or two and wont be able to do all four parks with the passes on the first visit so I was told that we can hold on to that set and use them again as long as it is before Sept 2011. Do you know if that is true or if anyone has had an experience with that.
Also, are the tix good for all WDW resort theme parks and can we visit them on different days without purchasing the park hopper. We don’t want to go on the same day but perhaps Magic Kdgm on one day and then Animal Kdgm on another day, etc. Thanks
Hey Denise,
The 4 days of the tickets do not need to be used in one visit. Just last week I used the last day remaining on a ticket that I got last Nov. I used 2 days then 1 later and the last day just now. every day on the ticket is good till the end of the offer.
THe tickets are good at all 4 WDW parks and for the $138 you can select either the park hopper (you don’t have to hop) or the Water Parks and More options. There is no base ticket available with this offer.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks so much. This information has been so helpful as I have called Disney but they told me contact the Travel Center and when I did I got two different answers on two different occassions but one did also say the same as you so seeing as you have had an experience in using them over time…I will go with that. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer. What a wonderful or “MAGICAL” holiday it will be
I have a question. My boyfriend bought 8 tickets from the base in ft stewart over the phone and well be mailed to us. But i just noticed it said that we can only activate 6. My whole family is going so we will be using all 8 tickets which 2 include children.. What do we need to do to all get in. We were wondering if he goes in with 5 and then comes back out and gets the rest of us in. well that work?
Hi Isabel, your boyfriend is only allowed to use 6 tickets at once (including his). He has to activate them prior to use at a Disney ticket window where they’ll input his ssn. Disney tracks how many are active in their computer system, so you can’t come back out for more people.
Sounds like from your description (you aren’t married and you have 6 adults) the tickets aren’t for immediate family. ( husband, wife and kids).
If some of the ticket are for non-immediate family i.e. his girlfriend, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. or friends then he isn’t supposed to use more than 6. But you could possibly talk the ticket booth worker into allowing it or rolling what he paid for the tickets into the cost for regular tickets.
Good luck!
Hi Steve!
Great site!
Planning to visit Disney World and staying at Shades for four days in Jan 2012. We are having a family reunion with a total of nine people. Three of them are arriving for just two days. Can I buy 6 tickets (138 hopper) on the first day and then buy 3 more a day later? Activate six tickets on first day and then three a day later??
Thanks!
Hi Betty,
Technically no. You can buy them all at once (most likely, some sellers still get confused), but Disney’s limit is 6 active at once.
I recommend you buy the six and when the other three get there go to a Disney ticket booth and plead your case you might be able to talk them into it. If you get a no try another booth and keep trying. The ticket sellers seem to have wide latitude on what they do. The reason I recommend you do to a Disney booth (and pay the sales tax) rather than buying tickets ahead is you’ll know before you pay if you can activate them.
Good luck!
My father is retired and is going to purchase tickets for me and a couple friends. He’s not coming though. I have a military ID as I am a dependent. Since it has his SSN, will I be able to activate the tickets without him? From a couple of the comments it looks like I should be able to.
Hi Brent,
Well, that is actually against Disney’s policy. Only the member or spouse may buy and then activate the Armed Forces Salute Tickets.
That’s not to say that you might not get lucky and get them activated at a Disney ticket booth, but you’d be rolling the dice. You could get there having paid for tickets you won’t be allowed to use. There are no refunds on these, again you might be able to convert them into regular tickets but you might not…
Sorry
I purchased and used 2 days my passes in April 2011. I am pretty sure that I no longer have the tix as I thought they would expire in September and they remaining days would go unused. Can Disney somehow look up the info and reissue tix for the remaining unused days?
They sure can Lori,
When you activated the tickets they associated your ssn with each and also associated each person’s name with a ticket.
We recently exchanged my wife’s ticket which we bought in Nov 2010. it had 2 days left on it and had passed the expiration date. The guy looked it up in the system and all our info was there. He did swipe the old card to look it up but could have done it with her name or my ssn.
You need to go to a guest relations window to do this not a regular ticket window.
Locations listed here
Hi Steve,
I saw above you posted to Jennifers question about activating more than 6 tickets per week. I have a party of 6 including my active duty husband and we all want to enjoy Disney for 8 days total. I just want to be clear because according to bookwdw.reservations.disney.go.com they say “no Eligible Service Member or spouse may purchase, activate and/or use more than six (6) Disney 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets during any single week of the promotion” Are you saying that after me and my family use our (6) 4 day Salute tickets that it is possible we we can then go activate another (6) 4 day Salute tickets if we can find someone at a ticket booth to do so? If so how likely is it that someone will?
Thank You For Your Help!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Like I mentioned to Jennifer, parts of the Disney company don’t seem to talk to each other. I’ve been told by a contact in Tickets that their written policy doesn’t mention this 6 per week limit. That is the only info I have. As no one has reported to me from the parks on this exact situation.
I’ll reach out to him again and try to confirm.
Whenever I make a recommendation on anything out of the norm I always mention trying different booths because, early in this extension there was so much confusion and people were being refused what they were really allowed. Again due to poor internal Disney communication.
Hi Steve,
We havent been to WDW in 3 years , but are looking at going sometime in December 2012 like the 3-9.. I know the offer expires sept 30 2012, if we buy the tickets before the expiration date can they be used in December of 2012?
question… is there another type of military ticket that differs from the armed forces salute tickets? Thanks!
Hi,
No, sorry the Armed Forces Salute tickets have an expiration date of 30 Sept. 2012. That is unless they extend the Salute again or make a different offer.
If there is no fantastic offer like the AFS they we’ll be back the the regular military discounted Magic Your Way tickets which are available at your local base ticket office or at Shades of Green. Or Shades also offers their Stars and Stripes passes.
Here are a couple of links to check the current prices on these tickets:
Military MYW tickets
Stars and Stripes tickets
Hi. I am planning a trip to Disney for parts of our family in February. I was just looking through discounts and came across this great website – thank you. My (daughter and) son-in-law and nephew and their families (who are all coming with us) are both retired from the military and are both now active law enforcement. I don’t believe that either of them has kept their retired status/cards “active”. I could be saying this wrong, so I’m sorry.
Can they still get the discounted Magic Your Way tickets?
If so, what would they need – just their expired military card?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Tina,
Glad you found and like the site!
If your daughter and her husband have retired after 20 years service in the military they will have retired ID cards. These are what they will need for any military discount, such as the Armed Forces Salute, which is much better than the regular military discounted Magic Your Way Tickets.
But based on your question I’m not sure if they retired or not. If they just got out after a few years then they aren’t eligible for most military discounts. The only one that they would be eligible for in that case is the Shades of Green offer in January for non-retired vets.
Hope this helps!
My dad is in the military and has bought 6 tickets for himself and our family. My question is once he goes and activates the tickets, will he have to be with us each time we want to get in the parks? We have a couple of othe adults and may not want to stay all together the whole time.
No, once the tickets are activated you can all go your separate ways, no need for the whole party to stay together or your dad to be there the whole time. Different parks, different times, whatever.
Have fun!
So say you activate 6 in one week and on one ticket still have a remaining day – then activate another 6 seven days later, will the one from the first 6 still work??
The AFS tickets are considered active until all days (and admissions for the waterpark & more option) are used up. So that one ticket will still be active and you’ll only be able to activate 5 more until it’s used up.
That is the basic answer Kay, there are lots of variables which could change the answer, such as how many people you are buying for, make-up of the party, etc.
Thank you for the reply! Gets so confusing!
We have the 4 day military tickets with hopper plus the waterpark and more option. Can we go to the 4 major theme parks and then still have an additional 4 days to use at the water parks?
Thank you!
Hey Erin,
You sure can! The 4 waterparks & more visits can be used any way you want. So if you want to use those for 4 visits to the waterparks and stretch your vacation that will work out great.
We have a friend who is retired military and lives in Florida who is buying four of these tickets for our family of four. I have two questions.
Does he also have to buy a ticket for himself at the time he buys ours? I thought I saw something in the policy that indicated that.
Does he have to be present at the parks each day for us to enter the parks?
I just don’t want to get these tickets for him and get stuck at the gate.
Thanks!
Hi Anthony,
Both things you said are correct for the 4-day Special Armed Forces Salute Tickets. The military member must purchase a ticket for themselves and physically activate all of the tickets with their ID at a Disney theme park ticket window. They do not need to enter the park though.
But if your friend is going to get you the regular 1-10 day military discounted Magic Your Way Tickets which offer only 4-15% discounts based on length and options then you can use these on your own, IF the tickets he buys are ready for use and do not need to be exchanged at the parks with a military ID. Base ticket offices get sent either of both kinds of tickets from Disney.
So if he buys the tickets for us and one for himself and activates them at a ticket window, then he can go home for the rest of the trip and we will have no problems getting in the parks for the next four days? Do I understand that correctly? Thank you so much for your help.
Yes, You’ll all need to go together to the park ticket window where he will activate all the tickets. Then he can leave and you can proceed on to the park entrance and use your tickets at the turnstile.
Hi. My father is retired Air Force. Can he purchase tickets at the local base for me and my family and NOT actually go to the park with us? I understand I can’t personally purchase the tickets but was hoping he could and give to us. Thanks for your help.
Hi Amy,
Well… Yes there are tickets that he can buy at the base and you can use yourself without him. But these tickets are not as good a deal as the Armed Forces Salute Tickets.
Prior to the Armed Forces Salute which started in 2009 Disney always offered slightly discounted Magic Your Way Tickets. These are still available. The rates are very similar to these rates at Shades of Green.
There is one very important point for you. That is that base ticket offices get two different kinds of tickets from Disney, depending on what Disney happens to sent at the time. One kind is ready for use, while the other kind needs to be activated at the theme park. You’d need a military ID to activate these. So make sure he asks if the tickets he is buying are ready for use.
Hi, I have a quick question. We purchased 6 tickets in Sept 2010 and 6 in May 2011. Looking at the promotional period running from Oct 2010 through Sept 2012, does that mean I can purchase 6 more this June? Since the first 6 were purchased before the promotion started in Oct 2010? Thanks so much for your help!
Hi Crystal,
Yes the Oct 2009 – 30 Sept 2010 and the current 24 Oct 2010 – 30 Sept 2012 are two separate offers. Any tickets from the prior offer do not count against the current offer.
So the tickets you used prior to 30 Sept 2010 won’t count against your 12 for the current offer.
Enjoy your trip!
Hi, Great site!
Just out of curiosity- Do they use the sponsor’s SSN to verify that the are ACTIVE, or just to keep track of how many tickets they have purchased/activated?
I’m asking because it seems like an awful lot of “security”- allowing them to record your SSN just to go into a theme park.
thanks!
M
Hi Mike,
Turns out they use the service members name, so the dependent’s/friend’s name and sponsor’s will be on the their ticket and just the military member’s on theirs. I believe the tickets also have the sponsor’s address as well.
They do hold your CAC while activating the tickets, but I don’t think they record the ssn.
Thanks so much for the quick reply, Steve!
That’s good to know… So how do they verify that the member is active then? (I guess you wouldn’t be if you didn’t have the ID, but who knows?)
Really glad to know about the SSN. I wouldn’t feel comfortable having someone “collect” it, as other posters have indicated.
It’s my pleasure, I love running this site!
Yep it’s just the ID. They are looking for a valid CAC, dependent (spouse) ID, or retired ID.
Hi again, Steve.
Saw this in another thread… Does it sound right to you?
“Certain information from the service member’s ID will be entered into ATS (Name, Birth Date, base where assigned and e-mail address) and the names of all Ticket holders will also be entered and tied to the service member.”
I’ve also read that they ask for the addresses of each ticket holder?
M
Some of that stuff is of course not on the ID and you’d have to volunteer it.
Here is the best WDW ticket resource I’ve found on the DISboards written by a Disney ticket castmember. THe link is to the specific post on the military ticket, but the whole thread is great.
Disney tracks all their customers by name/address and they want your email to send offers and reminders to come back.
I’ve been getting these tickets since 2009 plus when they did it in 2002.
Hi, I just have a quick question.. We have a friend who is retired military and he wants to buy us tickets. Does he have to buy a ticket for himself too even though he doesn’t want to go inside the park..? He wants to buy the tickets in the ticket booth in Disneyland and willing to be there when he has to show his Id.
Hi Jo,
As in everything, it depends…
There are different kinds of tickets available at a discount to the military.
He can buy the slightly military discounted tickets at his base for you. He needs to ensure that they are “ready for use” and don’t have to be exchanged at the park (that would require a military ID). If they are ready for use you can use them without him.
Then there are the Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets, a current special offer, highly discounted which expire on 30 Sept. These are $99 3-day hopper tickets. These he can buy at his base or the DL ticket windows. Besides yours he must buy and activate one for himself. Activation can only be done at a Disney window. Once activated you can part company, he does not need to go in with you.
Have fun!
How many discounted 3 day hopper passes can we get at the $99 rate?
Mel
Hi Mel,
The quick answer is 6, check out the full details and FAQ
yes, I am a 20 year old dependent that has a militray ID, I visiting Disney in the next two weeks with my family I have a total of 12, can I activate these tickets with my military id even if my father doesn’t attend. Pleas respond ASAP, so I can let my family know, and we are on the way. Thanks
Hi Towanna,
Sent you a reply to your email too.
Sorry, but only the military member or their spouse is allowed to activate the Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets. Dependent children are not allowed to do it.
Are your father and mother not coming with you?
Did you already buy the tickets?
Hi Steve,
My Air Force buddy is going to buy and send me 3 of the 3 day hopper tickets for my family vacation next week. I have a current contractors mil ID but, the rest of my family does not have them as I’m the only one deploying back and forth overseas. Would this work and for the my family?
Hi Eric,
I assume you are referring to the 3-day Armed Forces Salute tickets. These tickets have to be activated at Disneyland in person by a military member. One for themselves and up to 5 guests.
But if they are the (very) slightly discounted military tickets make sure they are ready for use and don’t need to be exchanged with a mil ID.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the update. Yes, its the three salute tickets. I had called the Disney and they said that i would need an active duty member present. Then i told them i have military ID and they said that would work. I was on the fence about this till your response, i might just purchase regular ticket’s. hate to get there and have an issue, it is a vacation. Thanks for you input.
You bet Eric. But just to be clear you do not have a military ID, you have a contractor’s. ID.
Your friend would need to go with you to be within the rules.
Hi there! Awesome site!
I have a twist of a question for you. I have a spouse ID and my mother in law also has an id. Could I purchase 6 under my husbands information and my mother in law purchase 4 under her information and then could I activate them all?? Is there anyway that could work??
Thank you!
Hi Lynn,
Thanks!
You are only allowed to activate 6 Armed Forces Salute tickets, based upon your husband’s benefit. You didn’t mention your mother-in-law’s status. Is she a military member/retiree, or is her husband? In any case she would need to go with you to activate the other tickets plus one for herself based upon the military member’s eligibility.
Are you trying to take 10 people or lengthen a stay for less people?
You’ll need to consider the regular military discount tickets.