Shades of Green has shared their Official Policy regarding Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets that cannot be used due to the current situation.
There is also Universal and SeaWorld info at the end…
Shades of Green has not yet posted this information on their website, but it cam to me via an email from their Manager of Attraction Sales.
The Policy
Shades of Green understands that due to military or health considerations, you may not be able to reschedule your trip during the 2020 Disney Armed Forces Salute. If you can’t or don’t want to schedule a trip to use your tickets by 18 December 2020 you have 2 options, get a refund (under certain circumstances) or upgrade your 2020 Salute Tickets.
Shades of Green’s policy is:
- No Refunds. However exceptions can be made under the following conditions:
- Official deployment orders (tickets cannot be expired or used).
- PCSing and will not be able to use the tickets for a future visit (tickets cannot be expired or used).
- Illness of self or immediate family. Documentation must be provided.
- Unused Disney Military Promotional (Salute) Tickets purchased from Shades of Green can be upgraded to next year’s promotional tickets or to a Regular Military Magic Your Way Ticket.
- Shades of Green can only upgrade tickets purchased from Their Ticket Office and only if they have not been upgraded or changed by Disney.
How and When to Do This
The Shades of Green Resort and their physical Ticket Office remains closed. But the Ticket office is responding to emails. You can contact them at: [email protected] for assistance in your particular situation.
Shades of Green asks that everyone be patient and they will contact everyone that has sent an email as soon as possible.
As mentioned above, if you do not fall under one of the reasons to receive a refund, Shades of Green is offering the opportunity to upgrade your 2020 Salute tickets to the 2021 Salute tickets (If a Salute is offered in 2021 – which is pretty much a sure bet as the economy will be in the tank) or the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets.
To upgrade to 2021 Salute tickets, first Disney must offer the 2021 Salute and Shades of Green will then need some period of time to be able to sell these. The last few years new Salutes have been announced late in September and shortly thereafter Shades begins selling the new tickets.
A price increase is expected for a 2021 Salute offer. You would need to pay the price difference to upgrade your tickets.
You will need to hold on to your 2020 Salute tickets until you can exchange them in late September/early October.
You may desire to exchange for the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets. There are very limited situations in which you would want to do this as at the 3 to 6 day length the Salute tickets are cheaper.
You might want to upgrade (and pay the price difference) if:
- The eligible member can no longer go
- You are separating (not retiring) from the military and will not be eligible for Salute tickets
- Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets do not require activation with a current ID
- You have decided to increase the number of park days on your new trip to 7+ days
- You new dates fall between 19 December 2020 (the end of the 2020 Salute) and the start of the 2021 Salute (probably 1 Jan 2021)
There is no need to wait to upgrade to the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets (other than the wait for Shades of Green to reopen) they are available now
Kudos to Shades of Green for this good policy that will support the community!
Related Ticket Information:
Tickets Not Purchased from Shades of Green
Those who have pre-purchased their tickets from Base Ticket Offices other than Shades of Green will need to deal with your Ticket Office or Disney if they ever come up with and publish an sane official policy on 2020 Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets.
Bases
Right now most if not all Base Ticket Offices are closed. You’ll have to wait until they reopen it they have not published a contact method on their official web presence.
Through reader feed back MDT is aware of the following Ticket Offices that were giving refunds peior to closures:
- Camp Pendleton
- Great Lakes
- Norfolk (March tickets only, when reported)
- Orlando ITT
- Quantico (asking you to surrender tickets and say they will ask Disney about a refund)
- Elgin AFB ITT
- NAS Corpus Christi, for planned to travel in March, April or May, contact [email protected]
Disney
Disney has been silent to uncaring on this predicament for your community.
I have reached out officially to Disney on 3 separate occasions to try to get them to resolve this for our community. I’ve received no official reply, only an off the record chat in which the Disney rep said:
“Disney advises you to return tickets that you cannot use due to your military schedule to your Military Ticket Office. When you are told that the tickets are non-refundable Disney recommends asking again. If all else fails Disney says to call their Reservation Number at 407-939-5277 to ask for assistance.”
Thats the silent part as in they have no official policy.
The uncaring part is that Disneyland has gone so far as to post on their website: “There are no changes to the Military Salute Ticket offer. Tickets may be used on non-consecutive days and expire on December 18 2020.”
Other Theme Parks
Shades of Green also shared the following info about the other Orlando Parks:
Sea World is not allowing refunds!
Universal Orlando’s 2020 Military Promotion is valid through December 31, 2020. Universal tickets can only be upgraded to a non-promotional ticket that will expire 1 year from the date of purchase. If you still have days left on the 2019 Military Promotion, those have been extended through 18 December 2020.
Over to You
Share your thoughts and intel reports on refunds/exchanges in the comment section below please!
Our collection of posts related to the current situation:
- Disney’s US Parks and Cruise Line Closed! Plus DoD Travel Ban!
- When Will Disney’s Theme Parks Reopen?
- Disney Armed Forces Salute Ticket Refunds
- Shades of Green Salute Ticket Info
- Shades of Green Re-Opening Extended
Planning a Disney Trip? Want to get the best military discounts that are available? Feeling a little confused? Get Our Email Newsletter 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
Disney Guidebooks By MDT
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Thanks for the update, Steve! Any word on when Shades will be back in touch regarding summer reservations to fulfill ticket orders? I emailed my ticket order as I hade done in the past to secure tickets and get my numbers to I put for fast passes, but no clue when they will be doing those or if they will while they are closed. Just trying to be prepared with fast passes, but obviously I can’t book them until I have ticket numbers.
Hi Danelle,
Right now they are dealing with the same working from home issues that many of are. Being at home they have no way to issue tickets as you might imagine. Once they get back on property they’ll have to work through all of their backlog of requests and then move forward.
I’d contact them now to outline your timeframe and ask if they want you to provide eligibility and payment info now. I imagine they would then put you in the queue for once they re open.
Thanks! Yes, I assumed as much but just didn’t o ie if they were possibly issuing ticket number emails while away. They have my order, and I assume proof of ID noted from last recent visit, yet great idea to see if I can make sure and get that part in while we wait. Thanks again!
Hi Steve,
Thank you for all your hard work in obtaining and getting this information out!
We’re in the process of rescheduling and it’s great to know SOG will work with us with tickets towards next year if we end up not being able to go. Hopefully, those who purchased from base offices will have similar options.
Working on when my family will be able to use our 2020 Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets. Our back up dates would run December 16 – 21. Can we use the tickets as long as they are activated by the 18th or do the tickets expire from use on the 18th? I am a little confused, first time using military tickets here. Thanks,
Hi Tara,
Unless Disney makes a end date change they have to be used by the 18th
This is great information!
I purchased the Universal Military promotion tickets. Sounds like “upgrading” to a non promotional ticket may mean paying the difference?
Yes that’s correct Taniesha
Good for Disney and SOG. We have a 6 day ticket with one day used but are probably canceling our October trip. Hopefully we can get that credited towards 2021. Thanks Steve.
This is the same for us!! Used one day in February, have 5 days left we’re supposed to go late May. I still am hoping but not sure what we will do if we can’t go in May. My husband is going to OTS in October. I’m
Not going to Disney in the summer. Too hot!
We used 2 days in January and were wondering what would happen if we couldn’t use both days left. I would happily pay the difference to upgrade to 2021 tickets. Since they were bought at base ticket office but already activated at Disney, who do we contact?
Hi Wendy,
Since you’ve used some of it the only option would be upgrading it to a more expensive option that won’t expire. Typically for a Disney Armed Forces Salute ticket that is only an annual pass. And you’d need to do that before it expires.
Unless Disney comes out with better options for these tickets.
You purchased from Shades right? Emial them to ask what they’ll do. Note responses are very slow right now.
Unfortunately the cost of an annual pass is out of the question since we aren’t FL residents. Our tickets were purchased at Ft. Bragg leisure travel office. So glad we only got the 4 day.
When Bragg opens back up, I’d go by and ask them what they can do. These are uncharted waters and I’m hearing that some ITTs ate helping folks. Can’t hurt to ask!
If you hear from any other bases regarding any refund or upgrade offers, would you mind posting them? We hold tickets purchased at MCLB Albany and have already had to reschedule our spring trip twice due to closures.. I am not confident our third one will happen either but we do plan to go Dec 18-22 so would love the ability to exchange them over for regular military tickets if possible. Thanks
Yes, I absolutely will Laura.
Steve we purchased From shades of green five four day hopper tickets for our April visit. We were doing the Star Wars race on the 17th. The virus closed everything down. Hotel refunded our dollars for our stay. Been trying to find out since park closed when we could get our money back for tickets. We have no idea when we can go back for another trip. We sent emails and left msgs but no response Any help would be aporeciated
Hi Kathleen,
So Shades current reasons that they will refund ticket’s purchase price are listed above. If you fall into one of those “exceptions” they will give you a refund.
They are working from home like everyone else these days with no access to their ticket terminals/registers. So I believe that actual refunds can’t take place until they return to work.
I’m surprised that they haven’t answered you though. I’m sure they are swamped. They are slow to respond even in normal times.
Do you know of any open ticket offices accepting phone orders? We arrive June 15th but we didn’t get tickets prior to the base shutdowns. I am wondering if it’s even worth it at this point and if we should rebook for September.
Hi Kim,
I have not had any reports of open ones since the general shutdown everywhere.
Has there been any word on if you can exchange Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets for Salute tickets in 2021? Unfortunately I am holding 3 10-day MYW tickets I cannot use in 2020 along with no dates in 2021 where we could potentially go that long. We purchased direct from Shades. Their emailed responses have been less than helpful.
Hi Heather,
Magic Your Way tickets whether form Shades of Disney will retain their value. Disney’s official policy is: “Unexpired multi-day tickets with unused days, … will automatically be extended through December 15th 2020. If you are unable to visit by December 15 2020, you may apply the value of a wholly unused ticket toward the purchase of a ticket for a future date.”
Your tickets probably expired at the end of the year anyway, but they will retain their value indefinitely towards equal or more expensive ticket choices.
Shades should abide by this policy for MYW tickets they sold, but if they don’t Disney will.
Peterson AFB
ITT IS CLOSED FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE due to COVID-19.
All refund inquiries are on hold until further notice.
***All parks are allowing refunds, as long as the tickets are unused.***
All Tickets are not date specific. (For Disneyland Tickets, a date is provided so that our system knows you aren’t arriving on a black-out date; the date provided is not attached to the ticket and the tickets are valid anytime until the expiration date.)
We will post once we are operating again. Please stay safe and we will see you soon.
Thanks for sharing Mike,
Just a word of caution to everyone. This is not official Disney policy!
Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets do expire and lose all value on that day. Disneyland has stated on their site that there is no change to this.
Base Ticket Offices do have to option to try to get a refund foe unused non-expired tickets via sending the tickets physically back to their regional buyer who then tries to get a refund from Disney. This is a long process.
Has anyone filed a complaint with G9 or Department of the Army IG office regarding Shades of Green “no refund policy” on Disney tickets? It isn’t anyone’s fault the park is closed. The price of the tickets must be refunded if the customer requests.
We bought tickets and had a vacation planned for June. Since parks and resorts are closed indefinitely, it is impossible for us to go during this time. This was our only window of opportunity to travel with this group of family. We will not be able to use these tickets through no fault of our own. We have received refunds from Universal for resort and tickets and also received a refund for our airline tickets with no problem from any of these places. Shades of Green however just tells us they have a no refund policy! They need to re-evaluate given the pandemic and current situation.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your info. We purchased 4 day PH Military Salute Vouchers at the PAFB ITT office for our May trip and have them linked to my MDE. Have a trip planned for Nov. In the event we have to cancel again what if any is the word on the vouchers? Kicking myself for not doing mail order thru SOG and having activated tickets.
Hi Nancy,
So Disney has been silent on vouchers and Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets…
Patrick may be willing to refund if you can’t use them (when they open). They’d need to be unlinked and unused.
WDW tech support can unlink for you: Disney Internet Help Desk at 800-848-6413, option #3