The Ultimate Post Deployment Orlando Vacation – Orlando Military Discounts Series

Trying to plan the Ultimate Post Deployment Vacation Getaway?

A Disney Vacation is perfect for getting away and forgetting the stress that’s built up during the long separation of a deployment.

If a Disney vacation is good…

How about an Ultimate Military Discounted Orlando Vacation?

There are lots of discounts available to military members in the Orlando area, at all the big theme parks and also at smaller venues.

I get lots of emails with questions and comments from my readers. Many are from wives trying to plan for a Magical Vacation when their husbands return from a deployment.

There’s lots of information on the site about military discounts, but I’ve never wrapped them all into one package. So I thought it would be fun to plan an Ultimate Orlando, Florida Area Military Vacation.

So the Orlando Big Three (Disney, Sea World, and Universal Studios) all have some sort of military discount. Disney has its Armed Forces Salute, Sea World has its Here’s to the Heroes, and Universal offers discounted military tickets and room/ticket packages.

• Disney offers 4-Day Military Salute tickets
• Sea World offers one day free military admission
• Universal offers Military discounted one to four-day tickets

So here is my idea for a basic plan consisting of eight nights in a resort hotel and seven days in the theme parks.

The thoughts/ideas that went into this are:

• 2 adult Disney 4-Day Military Salute tickets – $312 ($156 extra per child)
  • Hopper Option
• Sea World one day free admission (up to 4 people)
• 2 two-day one-park Universal tickets – $242 ($111 extra per child)
  • It’s possible to do both of Universal’s parks in 2 days
• 8 Nights at a Disney Value resort w/ 35% off using the Armed Forces Salute Discount, or at Shades of Green (Check for discount packages)
• Parking at Sea World and Universal – $42 ($14 x 3 days)
• You Drive your own car to Disney

Like I said earlier there can be so many variables, here are a few:

Disney Dining

You could add a dining plan to your Disney resort price

Resort Hotel Prices

Military discounts can vary greatly based upon resort category and dates of travel. be sure to look for value season rates, the cheapest times of the year, and the Value Resorts are also the cheapest Disney category. Here are some other options.

Disney Tickets

I selected the Hopper option on the Armed Forces Salute 4-Day tickets, these allow you to transfer between Disney parks during the day. You could also opt for the Water Parks Fun and More Option for the same price. This option allows 4 visits to any of the following: Disney’s two water parks, Disney Quest, the Wide World of Sports Complex, or 9 holes of golf. Each time you go to one of these places a visit is deducted. You could stretch it out and use one per day on days you don’t go to a theme park, which could lengthen your vacation and hotel costs. Or you could use multiple visits per day or use them on the same day as a theme park.

Also available are the 4-Day Armed Forces Salute Hopper Option PLUS the Water Parks Fun and More Option for $184 each instead of $156.

Universal Military Discounted Tickets

I opted for 2-Day non-hopper tickets, you could add the hopping option for another $16 per ticket or add more days. See Universal military prices.

Transportation

I assumed that you would drive to your vacation. If you didn’t you’ll need to know your options for getting around.

From the airport to your Hotel:

• Disney World resorts guests are eligible for the Magical Express
• Shades of Green guests will need to find their own transportation to the hotel – Taxi, Lime, etc.

From your Hotel to the Disney Parks:

• Disney resort guests have the use of Disney’s transportation system
• Shades of Green guests have the use of both the Shades transportation busses and Disney’s transportation system

From your Hotel to Universal or SeaWorld:

• Shades of Green operates a shuttle bus to Universal or Sea World. You need to make a reservation 24 hours in advance with the Shades of Green ticket counter. The round trip cost is $ 10.00 per adult and $ 5.00 per child. Under 4 is free.
• Disney resort guests will need to find their own transportation to the hotel – Taxi, Lime, etc.

Car Rental:

There is a Hertz car rental location at Shades of Green.

Other Orlando Military Discounts

A brand new theme park in the Orlando Florida area is LEGOLAND, Florida. They offer military discounts as well (10% at the gate, close to 50% off through an ITT Office)

There are many other options when it comes to finding military discounts in the Orlando Florida area. These discount tickets are available at the Shades of Green ticket sales office.

• Dinner Theaters
  • Arabian Nights Dinner Theater
  • Medieval Times Dinner Theater
  • Sleuths Dinner Theater
  • Pirates Dinner Theater
• Wet and Wild
• Kennedy Space Center
• Fantasy of Flight
• Gatorland (A Florida attraction which predates WDW)
• Holyland Experience
• Ripley’s Believe It Or Not
• Titanic the experience
• Boggy Creek Air Boat Rides
• Fun Spot in Kissimmee (Go-carts)
• Richard Petty Driving Experience

So to wrap it up, I hope that I’ve given you a good basic starting point on an Ultimate Orlando Military Vacation, plus a lot of good ideas and options to make it even better.

What do you think? Post a comment with your idea of an Ultimate Orlando Vacation. Also let me know if there is something that I missed that other readers might like to know!

If you missed the first installments of the Orlando Military Discounts Series here they are

1. Disney Military Discount 2011 – Orlando Military Discounts Series
2. Sea World Busch Gardens Military Salute 2011 – Orlando Military Discounts Series
3. Universal Orlando Military Discount 2011 – Orlando Military Discounts Series
4. There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch – At Some Theme Parks

 
  Did you enjoy this post? If you’d like more like it, please share it through your favorite social media by clicking the buttons below to let me know.