What’s the Right Military Discounted Disney Ticket for me?
I am often asked some version of this question.
Updated 14 November 2023
A Very Complex Issue
“I’d like to go to Disney World or Disneyland for 5 days, what’s the cheapest ticket to buy?”
This question is typical of those that I receive, and while this is a seemingly simple question, there are way too many variables to give a simple answer!
The Variables, which were left out of the question above that affect the answer are:
- Number of adults in the party (ages 10+)
- Number of children in the party (ages 3-9)
- Dates of the Trip
- Desire to Park-Hop
- Desire for Park Hopper Plus Option (at WDW)
- Have any Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets been used previously during the current offer period?
When answering a question like this I have to shotgun lots of information, which might or might not apply. And it takes a lot of my time.
Deciding the right ticket for your party is a very complex decision, one which will be influenced heavily by your vacation decisions and touring preferences.
The right Military Ticket option for one family might not be the right option for another!”
This is going to be a long complex post, in which I’ll try to lay things out in a logical manner with the intention of guiding you through your decision making process.
Disney Military Ticket Types
Many people are surprised to find out that there are actually two totally different types of military discounted Disney tickets!
These ticket types are
- Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets
- Regular Military Discounted, Magic Your Way Tickets at WDW or Theme Park Tickets at Disneyland
These different ticket types have price increases on different schedules
Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets
These are special, highly discounted tickets which are offered for a specific time period and have exclusion dates. They are often, but not always the right choice.
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. They are listed below. You should read this post about your benefits and then come back to this page.
Facts:
- These are available for purchase at Base Ticket Offices, including Shades of Green or directly from Disney.
- There is a single ticket price for all guests 3 years old and up.
- A limited number of these special tickets are allowed to be used during the offer in which they are sold.
- These tickets come in 2 varieties at Disney World: Park-Hopper or Park Hopper Plus, and just Park-Hopper at Disneyland.
- These tickets come in 4-day and 5-day versions for 2023 and 4-Day, 5-Day, and 6-Day versions for 2024 at Disney World and 3-day and 4-day at Disneyland
- These tickets are usable for the life of the offer and not afterwards.
- They do not need to be used all at once or consecutively.
- These tickets have a set price for the length of the offer and are based upon the general public ticket prices at the time the offer is announced. Their price does not increase if general public prices increase later.
For more info and current prices see: Disney Armed Forces Salute Info
Also See Using Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets in 2021 & 2022
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. Read this info first, then come back to this page to read about the tickets below!
Regular Military Discounted, WDW Magic Your Way Tickets or Disneyland Theme Park Tickets
These are the slightly discounted tickets that have always been offered to the military community by Disney through Base Ticket Offices.
Facts:
- These are almost identical to the 1 to 10-day tickets at WDW and 1 to 5 day tickets at Disneyland, with various options, which are available to the general public, but at a slight military discount.
- What is different is that these tickets are not date based like the general public ones. They are good any day, EXCEPT single day tickets at Christmas time, these dates require a more expensive version.
- There are 2 ticket age groups: child ages 3-9 and adult ages 10 and up. Under 3 is free.
- These tickets come in 3 varieties: 1-Park per day, Park-Hopper, and Park Hopper Plus at WDW and 1-Park per day or Park-Hopper a tDisneyland.
- These are only available for purchase at Base Ticket Offices and Shades of Green.
- These tickets expire 14 days after first use at WDW, 13 days at Disneyland.
- The price for these tickets is based upon the current general public ticket prices. When Disney increases their regular ticket prices, these go up as well.
- These tickets do not need to be used on consecutive days, you can take down days in the middle to relax.
For more info see: Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets
* One-Day Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets Seasonal Pricing Begins
For current prices see:
Disney’s Ticket Pricing
The first few days of tickets for a Disney vacation cost you the most money!
Disney heavily frontloads the price on their multi-day tickets. Your first day costs the most money, followed decreasingly by the second through fourth days. After that extra days cost much less to add.
Here is how much is costs to add each additional day to a Walt Disney World military discounted Magic Your Way, non-Hopper ticket (Hoppers and Plus work the same):
- Day 1 – $130 for the first day
- Day 2 – $111.00 more to add a second day
- Day 3 – $94.00 more to add a third day
- Day 4 – $114.75 more to add a fourth day
- Day 5 – $37.75 more to add a fifth day
- Day 6 – $14.75 more to add a sixth day
- Day 7 – $15.75 more to add a seventh day
- Day 8 – $34.00 more to add a eighth day
- Day 9 – $22.00 more to add a ninth day
- Day 10 – $18.75 more to add a tenth day
Another way to look at this is to average the cost of the ticket by the number of days
- Day 1 – $130 per day
- Day 2 – $120.50 per day
- Day 3 – $111.67 per day
- Day 4 – $112.44 per day
- Day 5 – $97.10 per day
- Day 6 – $83.38 per day
- Day 7 – $73.71 per day
- Day 8 – $68.75 per day
- Day 9 – $63.61 per day
- Day 10 – $59.13 per day
This does not reflect multi-day ticket tiered use date based pricing as this has not yet made the transition to military prices regular tickets. (Apr 2019)
The situation is similar at Disneyland, but you only really save on the 4th and 5th day!:
- Day 1 – $104.00 for the first day
- Day 2 – $176.00 more to add a second day
- Day 3 – $73.50 more to add a third day
- Day 4 – $34.50 more to add a fourth day
- Day 5 – $19.50 more to add a fifth day
Or
- Day 1 – $104 per day
- Day 2 – $140.00 per day
- Day 3 – $117.84per day
- Day 4 – $97.00 per day
- Day 5 – $81.50 per day
This front loading of cost makes combining multiple tickets cost prohibitive in most cases.
This is because when you buy 2 tickets you are paying for the expensive days twice. Only on very limited, mid-length vacations is it cost effective to combine a Regular Military ticket with a Disney Armed Forces Salute ticket.
Determining Your Requirement
So, now to the process of making your decision…
Timeframe – Does your trip fall within the Disney Armed Forces Salute timeframe?
Walt Disney World
- All 2023 WDW Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets must be used by 15 December 2023
- All 2024 WDW Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets must be used by 20 December 2024
Disneyland Resort
- All 2023 DLR Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets must be used by 15 December 2023
- All 2024 DLR Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets must be used by 13 December 2023
Are your dates within Blockout Dates?
Walt Disney World:
- 2 – 15 April 2023
- 19 – 25 November 2023
- March 24 through April 6, 2024
- November 24 through November 30, 2024
Disneyland
- 2 – 15 April 2023
- 2 – 15 April 2024
Eligibility – How many Salute tickets are you eligible for?
Walt Disney World
Up to 6 2023 Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets may be purchased 1 January – 15 December 2023.
And up to 6 2024 Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets may be purchased 1 January – 20 December 2024.
Disneyland
Up to 6 2023 Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets may be purchased 1 January – 15 December 2023.
Note, there is an exception to this 6 ticket rule for large families.
Length of vacation – How many park days?
How many days do you want to spend in the Disney Theme Parks?
What type of touring do you want?
Do you want to do one park per day, park-hop, go to the Water Parks or park hop and water parks? Do you need to park-hop or go to the water parks for your whole vacation?
Note: The Disney Genie+ add on is not discussed in this post as I do not recommend purchasing this as part of a ticket, rather purchasing day-by-day as needed via in app purchase.
Where are you Staying?
It matters at WDW for Early Entry, Extended Park Hours and Disney Genie Individual Attraction Selections.
Are you at a resort eligible for Early Entry? (Disney Resorts, Shades of Green, Swan & Dolphin, or the Disney Springs Resort Hotels).
Are you at a Disney Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resort? You’ll be eligible for Extended Park Hours.
Those stating at Disney Resorts are eligible to purchase Individual Attraction Selections at 7 a.m. the day of their visit, while others will have to wait until the park opens.
Do You Want to Park Hop?
One way to economize and make your ticket stretch is to get a ticket with the Park Hopper Plus Option, and use the Plus visits to fill non-park days on your vacation. A 4-day ticket with Park Hopper Plus Option can keep you busy for up to 8 days!
Once you’ve answered these questions you can begin to price your tickets.
Ticket Price Resources
Here are links to our ticket pricing and info resources
Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets
How Disney Price Increases Affect Military Tickets
General Guidelines
Below are some general guidelines on what your ticket selection might be.
But I encourage you to run the numbers yourself for every ticket combo you can think of to be sure for your specific circumstance.
Walt Disney World
When deciding what would be the right tickets based on price, you are going to want to figure the cost of all combinations possible of every type of ticket. Take into account how you want to tour: Park hopping every day, or just some days; Plus options all, some, or no days.
These are the ticket types and combos there of that you’ll need to compare:
2023 Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets
- 4-day Park Hopper Tickets
- 4-day Park Hopper Plus Tickets
- 5-day Park Hopper Tickets
- 5-day Park Hopper Plus Tickets
2024 Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets
- 4-day Park Hopper Tickets
- 4-day Park Hopper Plus Tickets
- 5-day Park Hopper Tickets
- 5-day Park Hopper Plus Tickets
- 6-day Park Hopper Tickets
- 6-day Park Hopper Plus Tickets
Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets
- 1 – 10 day Base Tickets (only one park per day)
- 1 – 10 day Park Hopper Tickets
- 1 – 10 day Park Hopper Plus Tickets
Things to keep in mind when comparing cost:
Try every option that you can think of:
- Everyone in the party might not use the same type of tickets to come up with the cheapest cost!
- Some of your park days could be non-hopping to save.
- Children’s Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets are cheaper, if just someone in your party is using these then it should be the kids.
- Combining Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets with regular tickets, sometimes this works out as the cheapest route. Try both lengths of Salute ticket and all types of regular military ticket: Base, Hopper, Water Park, both Options depending on your touring desires.
- Regular Military Discounted Tickets for the full length
For an example, below we have compared using Disney Armed Forces Salute Hopper Tickets to Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Hopper Tickets, and a combination of the two.
1 Park Day – The one-day Regular Military Discounted, Magic Your Way Ticket is always the right choice.
2 Park Days – The two-day Regular Military Discounted, Magic Your Way Ticket is currently the right choice.
3 and 4 Park Days – One 4-day Disney Armed Forces Salute Ticket per person is always the right choice. Even though there are 3-day regular tickets, the Salute ticket is cheaper and remains valid through the end of the offer (in case you return).
5 Park Days – One 5-day Disney Armed Forces Salute Ticket per person is always the right choice.
6 to 10 Park Days – For days 6 to 10 the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets is cheaper than doing ticket combos.
In years past, it used to be cost effective to use multiple Salute tickets per person, but with changes to the various prices over the years it is no longer recommended for a single long trip, as the 6-day to 10-day Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets are cheaper than 2 Salute tickets. The only reason to use multiple Salute tickets for a single person is for multiple separate trips during the offer period.
Another old option was mixing Salute tickets with Regular Military tickets. This was only effective for 6 days, but with current prices it is not recommended“
Important note when mixing tickets: When using Magic Bands for park entry, the last ticket linked to each person in My Disney Experience will be the first ticket automatically used for entry by the system. If you will be using your tickets in a different order i.e. for a non-hopping day in the middle you have 2 options. You can go to guest relations prior to entering the park to coordinate which ticket you want used that day or use the physical ticket versus your Magic Band for entry.
Disneyland
At Disneyland there are just the Base and Park Hopper tickets.
1 Park Day – The one-day Regular Military Discounted, Theme Park Ticket is always the right choice.
2 through 3 Park Days – One 3-day Disney Armed Forces Salute Ticket per person is always the right choice. Even though there are 2-day regular tickets, the Salute ticket is cheaper and remains valid through the end of the offer (in case you return).
4 Park Days – One 4-day Disney Armed Forces Salute Ticket per person is always the right choice.
For 5 to 8 park days you’ll be comparing:
Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets
- 3-day Park Hopper Tickets
- 4-day Park Hopper Tickets
Regular Military Discounted Tickets
- 1 – 5 day Base Tickets (only one park per day)
- 1 – 5 day Hopper Tickets
What to compare for 5-8 days (do your own math):
Try every option that you can think of:
- Everyone in the party might not use the same type of tickets to come up with the cheapest cost!
- Some of your park days could be non-hopping to save.
- Children’s Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets are cheaper, if just someone in your party is using these then it should be the kids.
- Back to back use of Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets for all or some of your party, depending on how many people you have. Mix 3 and 4 day for 9 days.
- Combining Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets with regular tickets, sometimes this works out as the cheapest route. Try both lengths of Salute ticket and all types of regular military ticket: Base, Hopper, both Options depending on your touring desires.
- Regular Military Discounted Tickets for the full length
Do Your Homework
As you can see it isn’t as straightforward as you might think!
The important points for you to remember are:
- Decide how you’d like to tour and how many park/water park days you’ll need
- Come up with every possible combo of tickets that you can imagine
- Check the prices and do the math
This MDT Post By: Steve Bell Steve is the the Military Disney Tips Founder. He a retired U.S. Military Member who's been touring the Disney Parks since 1971! Steve's mission is to help military families with their Disney vacations in every way. Check out Steve's Bio. Subscribe to Steve's email newsletter to get website updates and news by clicking this link. |
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
- Resorts/Hotel Overview Page
- Dining Overview Page
- Transportation Overview Page
- Technology Overview Page
- Shades of Green, WDW’s Military Only Resort
Military Disney Tips' Recommended Disney Travel Agent Ears of Experience Disney Only Travel Agency. Military family owned and operated! They know all the ins and outs of Disney military discounts! |
Victoria Cessna says
Hi Steve,
This is all great info. I am wanting to schedule a trip to arrive at Disney on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day this year (12/21) Are there any discounted military tickets that can be used during that time? My husband was previously on active duty, is currently in the reserves on active orders (if any of that matters or helps.)
thank you so much for any guidance you can offer.
Steve says
Hi Victoria,
It’s the being a current Reserve member that counts. His and your IDs make you both eligible and are are used to obtain all Disney discounts.
Disney offers almost no discounts at Christmas time, but there are the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets which are slightly discounted tickets that are always good.
There is a new wrinkle in their pricing though this year. Disney has mead the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets at the normal price not valid at Christmas and added a higher priced version.
See https://www.militarydisneytips.com/blog/military-discount-theme-park-tickets/regular-military-discounted-magic-your-way-tickets/
Liz says
Wow! You have done an enormous amount of work and research. I find Disney a bit overwhelming and really appreciate you breaking it down for me.
Steve says
Thanks so much Liz!
I just love doing this for our community. Glad to be of service.
Michael says
I am having a very hard time finding out where do I go exactly for a 100% total and permanently disabled vet?
Steve says
Hi Michael,
Sorry, I don’t know what you mean, “…where do I go…”. For what?