When can we expect News on Disney renewing their Armed Forces Salute past 30 September 2012 end date?

A Little History

The current Disney Armed Forces Salute runs through 30 Sept 2012. It is basically the 4th year in a row Disney has had a special military discount with steeply discounted tickets and rooms. This round of discounts was prompted by the economic downturn, which began in late 2008. Prior to this the last special offer was in 2002 during the post 9/11 travel industry downturn.

On 4 January 2009 Disney announced and started their Armed Forces Salute, which ran through 23 December 2009. This offer included a free 5-day ticket for the member and up to 5 more for $99.

Then on 21 December 2009, they announced the 2010 offer. Tickets had to be purchased by 31 July 2010 (later extended to 31 August) and the offer only ran through 30 September 2010. This time military members could purchase up to six 4-day tickets at $99. The free one for the member was gone.

All through August and September 2009 Disney officials said they would not be continuing these offers past 30 Sept. Then on 4 Oct after the offer had ended they announced a 30-40% room discount through 30 Sept 2011. The 2011 ticket offer was not announced (because of legal issues with the military) until 24 October. So there was no ticket offer for 23 days in October 2010.

A Major Surprise

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Why can’t I use my military discount tickets at Disney World / Disneyland during Spring Break?

I get a lot of e-mail questions and this is a very common one that I’m asked.

Since it’s beginning in January 2009 the Disney Armed Forces Salute has always had days that the special military discount tickets were not able to be used for admission to Disney’s theme parks. Disney calls these days Blockout Dates (some people refer to them as blackout dates).

They are typically a week during Christmas, 2 weeks during Spring Break, and a few days around the Fourth of July. Each year the Blockout Dates have been slightly different.

The remaining Blockout Dates for the 2012 Armed Forces Salute are:

At Disney World

1-12 April 2012 (Magic Kingdom only)
4 July 2012 (Magic Kingdom only)

At Disneyland

17-19 February 2012
2-14 April 2012
4 July 2012

Many very frustrated readers have contacted me both recently and over the last couple of years, to ask why this is so. They always want to know, “Why won’t Disney allow me to use the discount military tickets during the only time I can go to Disney?”

Many feel that since it’s a military salute there should be no date exclusions. They don’t want to pull the kids out of school to use the discount at another time when it is available.

Disney’s Motivation for the Salute

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