Top Ten Things You Need To Know About Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Military Room Discounts for 2023

Disney’s Armed Forces Salute is a fantastic discount available to military members and retirees. This discount includes both ticket and room discounts.

Here are the Top Ten Things that you need to know about military discounts on rooms using this offer.

(Updated December 2022)

See our companion post about Military Discounted Tickets here: Top Ten Things You Need To Know About Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Military Discount Tickets

Note to non-retired veterans; you do not qualify for the Disney Armed Forces Salute, however there are Disney Veteran Discounts that you do qualify for.

1. The Armed Forces Salute is a Temporary Offer

The Disney Armed Forces Salute is a relatively recent innovation by the Walt Disney Company. The first version of the Salute was first offered in 2002 for a only part of the year, during the travel industry downturn after 9/11. It ended once people started traveling again in bigger numbers.

Military members then had to again be satisfied with the slight Regular Military Discount on Disney Tickets that had always been available through Military Base Ticket Offices (and still are).

The Disney Armed Forces Salute returned again in January 2009 as the housing crash economic downturn came into full swing and the general public reduced their vacation spending. The Salute offers have been renewed, on a year to year basis, since then with a couple of notable breaks.

So if you are considering a Disney vacation within the next couple of years keep in mind that we never know if the Salute will be renewed again or not. 

The Walt Disney World 2023 Salute Room Offer started on 1 January 2023 and runs through 15 December 2023 at Walt Disney World. 

The Disneyland 2023 Salute Room Offer started on 9 January 2023 and runs through 15 December 2023 at Walt Disney World. 

2. What are the Room Discounts that are available with the Armed Forces Salute?

Disney offers the military community a fantastic percentage off of their regular room rates.

The discounts are on a sliding scale based upon availability. The less rooms available the lower the discount or possibly no discount.

• Deluxe Resorts and Disney Vacation Club Properties receive UP To 40% off
• Moderate Resorts and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness receive UP To 35% off
• Value Resorts UP To 30% off

Why do I say UP To? Read how the Sliding Scale works.?

3. What Dates are the Armed Forces Salute Room Discounts available for?

Disney typically has what they call blockout dates, dates on which these room discounts are not available. But none for rooms in 2021 at WDW

At Walt Disney World these dates are:

• None published for 2023

At Disneyland these dates are:

• None for 2023

4. The number of rooms allocated for the Armed Forces Salute offer is limited.

Many don’t realize that this offer is not an across the board, always available offer.  There are a limited number of rooms at these prices, by date, resort choice, and room type.

The Disney Armed Forces Salute discount availability is based upon how many total rooms are still available by day, resort, and room type.

The cheaper the room category, the more rooms that are initially offered for the discount. The more expensive rooms generally only have very few available to start. Once all of the discounts that are allocated to a specific room category at an individual resort are used up, no more will be given for that date.

As rooms fill up the discount becomes less and less  of a percentage off until it is finally it becomes unavailable by day, resort, room type. For example on a specific date the Salute discount might not be available at all at the All-Star Movies, be available on all room types at the Coronado Springs and Port Orleans – Riverside, while at the Beach Club Resort the discount might only be available on water view level rooms. And in this example a the Port Orleans – Riverside different types of rooms could be anywhere from 10% off to the standard Moderate 35% off.

If only more expensive rooms are available for your dates, that means the discounts on the cheaper ones have already been used up.

If you are looking for a specific price range and the discount is not available for that type room at the Resort you were interested in, you’ll have to try a different resort, or shift your dates slightly to see if you have better luck.

See: How Disney Armed Forces Salute Room Discounts Work

NOTE: in 2022 many have reported a big lack of Salute discount availability, so be prepared to hear this for your dates and check for general public discounts that still might be available.

5. You can reserve multiple rooms at a time.

You are allowed to reserve more than one room using the Disney Armed Forces Salute room discount.

• You may reserve 3 rooms at Walt Disney World
• You may reserve 2 rooms at Disneyland (5 person max in each)

The member or spouse must occupy one of the rooms. All rooms must be at the same resort and check in on the same day.

6. The Disney Armed Forces Salute is available at both U.S. Disney Resorts.

You can take advantage of this great discount on both coasts. The Disney Armed Forces Salute room discounts are available at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

Unfortunately the discount is not available at Disney’s Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island Resorts in the U.S. or any of the overseas locations.

7. You can use the Disney Armed Forces Salute Room Discounts an unlimited number of times.

There is no limit at all on the number of times that you can use the Disney Armed Forces Salute room discounts.

You can use the discount multiple times at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland throughout the offer period.

The Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets, however are limited during the offer period.

8. You can add the Disney Dining Plan to your WDW military room reservation.

Note: The Disney Dining Plan is currently unavailable. When it is offered again the following applies.

A common misconception regarding this discount is that you can’t add the Disney Dining Plan to the military room rate.

This is because normally under non-military pricing Disney requires that you have a room and ticket package to add the DDP. Armed Forces Salute reservations are what Disney calls a room only reservation because they expect you to buy the Salute tickets which have to be purchased separately. Some think that because there are no tickets associated with the room, that you can’t add the DDP. Not so!

Disney makes an exception for these military room only rates and allows you to add any paid Walt Disney World Disney Dining Plan. The occasional Free Dining that WDW offers is excluded as you would be stacking discounts.

The DDP is currently not available!

11 Reasons why I don’t recommend the DDP

9. You will receive the same great Disney Benefits that those paying full price do.

You will be eligible for the exact same Disney benefits as if you’d paid full price.

Check out this list of amenities that you’ll receive when you stay in a Walt Disney World Resort:

• Free transportation from your resort to all WDW destinations via Disney’s fleet of buses, boats, monorails, and Skyliner.
• Free theme park parking, should you decide to drive your car.
• Participation in Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours
• Property wide charging of your Disney purchases (Merchandise, Dining, etc.) to your room.
• Disney Merchandise delivery to your resort (from the theme parks or Disney Springs) Currently unavailable, but WDW offers paid shipping to your home for your purchases (we do this all the time!
• Guaranteed theme park entry on high attendance days when the parks close due to nearing capacity Currently unavailable due to capacity limits
• The ability to add the various Disney Dining Plans to your vacation Currently unavailable
• The ability to book Advance Dining Reservations for your entire trip (up to 10 days) at the 180 day mark Currently 60 days ahead not 180

And here is the list of amenities that you’ll receive when you stay in a Disneyland Hotel:

• Participation in Extra Magic Hour – One-hour early entry prior to the scheduled opening time on designated days to the Disneyland Park or California Adventure. The general public is not allowed in during the Extra Magic Hour so you’ll have much less competition for attractions. Disneyland – Tues, Thurs, Sat. California Adventure – Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun. Currently unavailable
• Charging of your Disneyland purchases (Merchandise, Dining, etc.) to your room. Note: third party vendors like most restaurants at Downtown Disney are excluded.
• A Special Park Entrance – Use a convenient gateway to California Adventure through the Grand California Hotel and Spa.
• Disney Merchandise delivery to your resort (from the theme parks or Downtown Disney) Currently unavailable
• Guaranteed theme park entry on high attendance days when the parks close due to nearing capacity Currently unavailable
• The ability to book Preferred Access Dining Reservations between 60 and 2 days prior to check in.

10. Here’s how to make Disney Armed Forces Salute Room Reservations.

So now that you are excited and ready to get these great discounts for yourself, lets go over how to do it.

You cannot make Disney Armed Forces Salute reservations online!

There are only 2 ways to get this great discount, call Disney directly yourself, or use a travel agent.

Call Yourself

You can use these numbers to call Disney Reservations

• Walt Disney World (407) 939-1936
• Disneyland (714) 956-6425

Use a Travel Agent

I recommend using an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (travel agent)! See why here. Doing so can take the stress out of planning a Walt Disney World or Disneyland vacation, which can be a complicated and overwhelming task.

You have probably seen elsewhere on the site that I recommend Ears of Experience as my preferred Authorized Disney Vacation Planners. They will do all the work for you and you’ll pay the same price as if you did it yourself.

So there you have it!

The ten top things that you need to know about Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Room Discounts.

Many of the above items are questions that I’m often asked via email and the ask a question page on this site.

If you have more questions consider reading the full Disney Armed Forces Salute Information Page, the Disney Armed Forces Salute FAQ, or checking out our FAQ Friday Posts.

Are there any other questions that you have? Leave them in a comments section below!

• Also See: Top Ten Things You Need To Know About Disney’s Armed Forces Salute Military Discount Tickets

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Planning a Disney Trip? Want to get the best military discounts that are available? Feeling a little confused? See Our Great Disney Discount and Planning Info:

• Disney Veteran & Military Discount Eligibility Guide
• The Military Family’s Walt Disney World Comprehensive Vacation Planning and Preparation Guide 
• Military Disney Tips Disney Packing Checklist 
• Disney Military Tickets – Your Start to Finish Guide

Learn about the Disney Armed Forces Salute the best military discount that there is for Disney. See our Topic Overview Pages:

• Resorts/Hotel Overview Page
• Dining Overview Page
• Transportation Overview Page
• Technology Overview Page
• Shades of Green, WDW’s Military Only Resort

   

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