Special Info for these Crazy Times:
Big News:
Everything is Different at WDW since it Reopened See these Posts to see what's different!
- Planning and Executing Your Walt Disney World Vacation During These Trying Times
- Our Return to Walt Disney World
- Our Second Trip Back to Walt Disney World
- Using the Walt Disney World Theme Park Reservation System
With Walt Disney World’s new FastPass Plus (FP+) advance reservation system, the pre-purchase of Disney Military Discounted Tickets has become essential.
Note: FastPass service has been suspended for the time being in favor of Theme Park Reservations.
In order to make your FP+ reservations ahead of time you need to link the temporary tickets (or vouchers) that you purchased from a military reseller (Base Ticket Office) to your My Disney Experience (MDE) account.
Once linked you can then make your FP+ 60 or 30 days prior depending on where you are staying.
- Disney Resort and On-Property Guests – 60 Days Prior to check in
- Off Property Guests – 30 Days Prior to each desired day of fastpasses
Getting Your Tickets
The first thing you must do is to buy your tickets and have them in hand prior to the date you need to make your FP+ reservations.
There are several ways to do this.
- Buy them from your (or a nearby) Base Ticket Office (allow 2 extra weeks for them to order tickets if necessary)
- Buy your tickets from Shades of Green, Camp Pendleton, or another base via phone/FedEx (allow 2 extra weeks for them to order tickets)
Paper Vouchers or Tickets
Disney Armed Forces Salute Paper Ticket Vouchers
When buying Disney’s Armed Forces Salute tickets from a Base Ticket Office, including Camp Pendleton you will be given one of 3 different products:
- Plastic Tickets that are non-functional
- Paper Ticket Vouchers that look like the green ones depicted here
- A n 8.5″ x 11″ Paper Voucher
In all cases these are what Disney calls Exchange Vouchers. They are called Exchange Vouchers because they must be exchanged once you arrive at WDW for your actual tickets during the activation Process. Note if you have Magic Bands you may not be given physical tickets during the activation process (unless you ask for them).
Shades of Green sells their tickets pre-activated. If you purchased from Shades this activation procedure is not required.
Note: Regular Military Discounted Disney Tickets do not normally need to be exchanged upon arrival.
Both types of the paper ticket vouchers and non-functional tickets can be linked to your MDE account! Once linked you may, on the correct, date, make your FP+.
You can link your vouchers/tickets by typing the individual number printed on each into the MDE website or by scanning the barcode with your MDE Smart Phone App.
Rest assured that your FP+ selections will carry over to your actual park tickets after activation!
Your FP+ selections are made against the names of those in your party, not their ticket numbers. The linking of the tickets merely allows FP+ selections for the number of days on the voucher/ticket. When the actual ticket is linked to the individual their FP+ selections will be usable on the ticket/magic bands linked to their name.
Ticket Linking Directions
Note:
All Salute tickets (vouchers) should link just fine with the directions below.
But if you experience any trouble you can always call the tech support number and they will happily link them for you. Disney Internet Help Desk at 800-848-6413, option #3
First you need to have a My Disney Experience account – Get one here
Link your Disney Resort Reservation if needed, by typing in your conformation number and last name – On the My Disney Experience menu click “My Reservations and Tickets”, then on the next page “Link Resort Reservation.”
Next add the other members of your party if needed, (On the My Disney Experience menu (right side) click “My Family and Friends”). If you’ve linked a resort reservation, everyone on the reservation will already be in your account.
Before You Link Your Tickets – Write the name of each person in your party on a ticket. This will aid in telling them apart, which you will need to do during the activation process.
The easiest way to link tickets is using your My Disney Experience smart phone app. Just scan the tickets!
If the tickets won’t scan or you want/need to use your computer follow the directions below.
Note: you can disregard any references to ages 10+ both during linking and while using MDE for these tickets afterwards. Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets have only one type of ticket for ages 3+. Everything will function properly!
Link Your Tickets – On the My Disney Experience menu click “My Reservations and Tickets”, then on the next page “Link Tickets.”
If you have plastic tickets or the paper vouchers, use the page that opens to add your tickets.
Plastic Ticket Screen – Click for larger.
On the right side under the big picture of the back of a ticket click on the bottom right “mini ticket” this should change the large image above to an example of a Military Hopper ticket.
On the bottom of your ticket or voucher you will see a group of numbers under a bar code.
Enter all of these in the ID Number box.
Be careful with 0 (zero) and Os!
You will then be asked to associate the ticket with a person in your MDE account. Associate each ticket with the person whose name you wrote on the ticket.
If you run into any problems just call Disney’s Internet Help Desk at 800-848-6413, Option #3
Or you can use your My Disney Experience Smart Phone App to scan in your tickets!
Go to the side menu and then click on My Profile.
Click on Tickets and Passes. You may need to confirm your login here.
Click on Link Tickets & Passes.
Click on Ticket or Pass
Then scan (you must allow MDE access to your camera in your phone settings) or manually enter the long number under the bar code.
DO NOT DISCARD YOUR TICKETS/VOUCHERS!!!
After you have linked your temporary tickets or vouchers Do Not Loose or Discard Them!!!
You will still need to bring these with you for the in person ticket activation process at Disney.
See more on activation below.
My Disney Experience Linking Issues
If you have issues linking your tickets or the number of days on the ticket does not show up in MDE (this can happen with Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets) simply call the Disney Internet Help Desk at 800-848-6413, option #3. They can assist you with getting things right.
Linking Notes:
When linking Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets to children you will sometimes get a message that you’ve linked a ticket for ages 10+ to a child. This is not an issue and affects nothing!
Make your FastPass Plus Selections
Then on the correct date (check-in minus 60 for Disney and Shades of Green guests; and first FP+ date minus 30 for others) you can begin making your FastPass Plus Selections.
See Waiting on your FastPass Plus Window
Buy Magic Bands
Walt Disney World Resort guests will receive complimentary Magic Bands with their Disney Resort stay.
If you’re staying at a non-Disney World resort (such as Shades of Green) and would still like to use Magic Bands here is what to do.
If you have Bands from a previous trip, you don’t need to do a thing. Your old bands will still work!
But if you need to get some you can buy them from the Disney Store online.
Once they arrive you’ll link them to each person in your My Disney Experience account and be ready to roll on arrival. Note: you must also link your tickets to each person.
Magic Bands come in several basic colors and a few special designs.
See Magic Bands for Shades of Green Guests
You can also buy Magic Bands after you arrive from most WDW merchandise shops.
Ticket Activation
Upon arrival for your vacation you must still activate your Salute tickets, linking them to My Disney Experience does not accomplish this. Disney still needs to do an ID check to ascertain eligibility (except for tickets sold by Shades of Green).
See this post on how to activate your Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets.
Was this post helpful to you? Do you have other tips to Share?
Let us know in the comment section below!
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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
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- Shades of Green, WDW’s Military Only Resort
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In the Maryland area. Fort Meade MWR has an ample supply of vouchers usually. I Just did mine a couple of weeks ago. took me a couple tries, but I love the new barcode scanner feature..
Thanks Steve great update!
Thanks Walt!
Question for you…I am first staying at All Stars Sports and then transferring to SOG. I got the Salute tickets and have linked them to MDE. I will also have Magic Bands which, I’m guessing, my park passes will be on them. If I have to activate my vouchers, how does that work with the Magic Bands? Do I still have to go to a Guest Relations window to activate all of my tickets? Thanks in advance!
Hi Jocelyn,
You will link your vouchers to your MDE account to make your FP+ reservations. You will get magic bands in the mail from WDW, you have to customize them in MDE and confirm your address first. these will be linked to each person as will the vouchers.
When you arrive at WDW you will still have to activate your vouchers, as in the past and get your actual tickets.
Once you do you will be all set!
Steve we are making our first trip to WDW and I just want to make sure I’m clear so this is to my best understanding:
We are staying at SOG in December. I plan on getting a 6 day park pass. The first night we are there I have MVMCP Tickets so I do not also need a park pass that night just the ticket for the party itself in the Magic Kingdom beginning at 4:00 PM. My first day for my 6 day park pass will begin the next day when we go to a park.
45 days out from my stay I should expect an email from SOG to arrange to get my 6 day park pass. Once I purchase them SOG will give me the number from the tickets so 30 days out from our visit I can start using the Fast Pass+. If I want to tie My Disney Experience into one of those very cool wrist bands I will have to wait and purchase those once I get to the park as I cannot get those through SOG.
Let me know if I’m off base anywhere as I want to avoid to many surprises.
Thanks….
You are 100% on target Harry, on all counts!
Steve
In the past, we have stayed on property and purchased Stars and Stripes tickets at SOG. Is there a way to pre-order Stars and Stripes tickets so we can make fast pass reservations prior to our trip? Thanks.
Only if you stay at Hades Heather.
See: http://www.militarydisneytips.com/blog/shades-of-green/pre-order-disney-theme-park-tickets-at-shades-of-green/
Awesome information on the site. We just bought four 4-day Park Hopper Salute tickets which are for us and my sister+husband. Would you know if I have to register ALL of us on my MDE account or can my sister have her own account to set up their FastPass+ stuff? Since I have to be present when all our tickets get activated at the gate I am unsure if she will be able to have her own MDE account.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
She can set up her own account using the ticket numbers you give her Wade. You can then activate them when you all get there.
Loaded my tickets at the 45 day mark once sog emailed the voucher. Tonight was day 30 and it won’t allow me to make a FP selection past the first day (day 30). Any guess why? Anyone else having problems? Of course it’s passed midnight so I can’t call. Ughhhh. Any help is appreciated.
Hi Diane,
Sorry but that is how the 30 day FP+ window works, one day at a time.
Every ticket linked in MDE has a rolling 30 day window. Each new day the 30th day out opens for FP+. This works for everyone, because without a Disney reservation in their system, that have no idea where, if, or how long you are staying. The FP+ system does not know you are 30 days out from your arrival at a non Disney resort.
Today you can make FP+ on any day within the next 30 days, up to the number of days on the ticket you have linked in MDE.
Only Disney resort guests have their whole stay only open up at the 60 day mark because Disney knows their check in date, length of stay and number of days on their tickets.
Thanks
You guys are the best. I just picked up my tickets at the Fort Rucker MWR and wanted to link them to my MDE account. When I realized I had exchange certificates instead of actual tickets, I wasn’t sure how – or if I could – set up this link. Your website explained things perfectly. In another 8 days, since I’m not staying “on post”, I can begin making FP+ reservations. Then it’s on to the Food and Wine Festival!
Awesome to hear Bob! Thanks.
Enjoy, the F&W is great.
Hello. My husband is a disabled Veteran and so is my father in law. We have 4 little ones. I wanted to know if we can still be able to take advantage of this offer or is it only for active duty?
With the oldest being 11yrs and youngest being 2 yrs, we can never afford going w/o help otherwise.
Please help.
Thank you,
Janet
Hi Janet,
It depends on his disability percentage, see this part of the FAQ: http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Disneys-Armed-Forces-Salute-FAQ.html#Am-I-Eligible
Just scanned our green “Exchange Certificates” (tickets) and linked them to MDE! Awesome. Gonna get FastPasses next. Can’t wait to activate and hit the parks! Thanks for the scanning tip. I thought I had to activate first, then link these amazingly discounted tickets.
Awesome Diana, have a great time!
Hi Steve,
I just linked our 4 day park hopper military salute tickets to my disney experience. I found the process very confusing. My first tip would be to use the website and not the app to link the tickets. From the website use the older ticket method. The scanned tickets that were sent form shades of green to my email were so small I was unable to read them correctly. I found it difficult to distinguish the proper codes to enter. I ended up talking to shades of green on the phone to help. The lady from shades was very nice and very helpful. I still had to call Disney to help link the tickets. The man from Disney was very helpful. Finally linked the tickets. One mistake I made was changing O for 0. Capital O for zero. Trip planned for 3rd week in Dec. 2014.
We really appreciate the website.
Thanks for the feedback Sara!
Glad it worked out in the end!!!
All, today I did exactly what Sara did with minimal trouble, on the website, and it picked up that these were 4-day tickets without the
Shades of Green TIcket office sent good instructions, but I was also hung up by the Os and 0s (letter “oh” and zero). If you have trouble, change your letter O to the number zero and you’ll be off in a jiffy.
Go to:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/convert/match-layout/
Pick the upper right ticket. and the first part of the ticket number is DKM0E where the 0 is the number zero.
We go at the end of this month and are looking forward to it. Questions:
1. I’m curious to know if this step means they’re instantly linked to our Magic Bands from last year, and if we can skip the 20-30 minute process of activating our tickets. Anybody been able to avoid this?
2. Do you find that you really need to make FastPass+ reservations 30 days out? We’re about 20-25 days out now, last January I was able to reserve most anything I needed the same morning. Just curious, we can adapt if need be, I imagine it’s in widespread use now compared to last time we went (Jan 2014).
Also I just want to add my youngest son is severely (and obviously) physically handicapped, and we have had an almost completely positive experience in our two previous trips to Disney World. Disney’s workers (cast members) are helpful and understanding, not to mention well-trained. The new system (as of January 2014) where the attraction/ride workers write a return time on your card worked pretty well for us. I am sure this trip will be no different.
Thanks as always for an excellent and informative site, Steve!
Thanks for the update Mark!!!
And for your questions…
Your bands should be linked to each person in MDE, you can log in and check that. If so you are all set as your tickets are now linked to each person too.
There is no avoiding the Disney Armed Forces Salute ticket activation process, Disney has to check IDs in person. We always do ours the evening of arrival at Downtown Disney.
As to the necessity of making FP+ it depends on the time of year! Busy times, Christmas, Spring Break, etc. it is required 60 days out. I made mine 60 days out for 24 & 25 Dec at 5am eastern and all the big attractions were used up through 6pm or so, some unavailable. But with late Jan dates you should be fine except for the most desired (Frozen meet and greet, Mine Train, and Toy Story Mania).
Hope you guys have a great time!
Thanks Steve! I may try Downtown Disney or another spot for activation- the morning of at Magic Kingdom is always (understandably) crowded.
I meant to write above that I didn’t have to call Disney’s Internet Help Desk to make the tickets 4 days- they showed up as 4 day tickets automatically.
A quick review of the FP+ options confirms your advice- the mine train and Frozen are full up. Did not try Toy Story Mania but that figures.
My family and I really enjoy the SoG winter specials- the parks aren’t very crowded (nor is SoG) and the rates are great. We went the week after New Year’s in 2013 and 2014 but the marathon seems to be getting to be a bigger event each year. SoG gets crowded, as do the buses and parks. So we’re trying the last week of January this time.
My favorite tip from this site is: if you’re going to the Magic Kingdom (MK), walk or shuttle to the Polynesian monorail, which cuts out the TTC. The bus drivers are SoG are wonderful but you have to get out there early to have a seat, and they’re required to take you to the Ticketing and Transportation Center, which then requires a ferry or monrail ride to the MK. It’s a nice walk, and there’s a crosswalk across the busy road. http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Shades-of-Green/Polynesian-walk.html
Thanks so much Mark!!!
I was at Shades during the marathon weekend last year. It was busy, but I loved seeing all the marathoners come back to Shades with their medals.
We too enjoy the off times, so much easier to do more in a shorter time!
I’ll be down there again weekend after next.
I just tried linking our 4 day park hopper military salute tickets (vouchers) and got locked out of the system b/c I tried so many times and was unsuccessful. I then called the number that was provided which was to Disney Guest Services. I was told that I would have to wait 24 hours to log back in and that linking military vouchers must be done thru the phone app. She said it can’t be done on the computer. Is this correct? I tried following the directions on this website but was still unsuccessful. Help please!
No that is not correct Tania, I have linked them on the computer and the app.
And they could have done it for you over the phone.
You should have been talking to the internet help desk not Disney Guest Services. Did you dial 800-848-6413, and then select option #3?
Help…I linked my tickets to my account. But how do I link it to my hotel reservation so I can make my FP+ 60 days out?
Hi Sandy,
Very similar to linking your tickets in MDE.
Once logged in to the website, click on “My Reservations” in the “My Disney Experience” drop-down. When the page loads click on the “Link Resort Reservation” button, then just enter your Disney Resort Confirmation number and last name.
I have the resort one in there. I’m just wondering how it will know that I have tickets as well for those hotel dates so I can make my FP+ reservations. Or will it just know when we get there.
Oh then,
It knows that you have the resort reservation for what days. If you also have a valid ticket linked (which you do) then 60 days prior to check in it will open up your dates for FP+, up to the number of days on your ticket.
It all works together as long as you have both room reservation and tickets linked.
Great article! Also good to note that if you unsuccessfully attempt to link your tickets a certain amount of times it will lock you out for 24 hours and not even internet help desk can override it.
Thanks for that info Mallori!
This is very helpful, but before I link my vouchers, I am wondering if anyone has tried to do this for only three people using more then one voucher each? As in, there are three of us staying 8 days so each person has two sets of vouchers. I am trying to figure out how this is going to work before I do something wrong.
You shouldn’t have any problem Christina, it is possible to link multiple tickets to an individual.
I received my salute tickets early from Shades of Green and added them to MDE. I purchased the magic bands online and now I can’t figure out how to link them. Is there a way to link the magic bands online or in the app ahead of time?
Hi Trinity,
Go to your My Disney Experience account and click on “MagicBands and Cards” on the My Disney Experience menu. Then at the bottom of the page click on “Link”
There you can type in the Band ID off of the back of the bands.
Thank so much! Worked like a charm. Love your site! Lots of great tips and very informative.
Thanks Trinity, happy to help.
Me and my family are planning our 2015 fall vacation during our children’s fall break. Unfortunately this falls the week of October 5-10 which is the first week of the new year for armed forces salute. This concerns me because I want to link my tickets to the Fast Pass system but usually the AFS passes aren’t available until august or sept. Is there any idea how early the AFS tickets will be available this year for NEXT years dates? Is there any way around this? We already have our room reservations, but without the tickets, FastPass won’t be available. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Nick,
Coincidentally I was talking to my Disney Media Relations Rep today about this. Disney is aware of the issue and thinking about it. They were really apologetic last year about how the military community was cut out of FP+ during the first part of October.
Moving the announcement date earlier (than mid July) is a big undertaking. THere are lots of moving parts which play int the decision to make a new offer and most are non-military related functions.
Stay tuned, I will share any news as soon as I am allowed (by Disney).
You said you have reservations already. Did the Disney Call Center tell you that you can just call back to have the discount applied? This is not true. My contact groaned out-loud today when I told him the call center was at it again, telling people they can just convert to the mil rate..
See: http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Tips/Disneys-Call-Center-Very-Often-Wrong-On-Military-Discounts.html
No, I book through a Disney travel agent because my family enjoys staying at the grand Floridian and she informed me that I can make my reservation early using a deposit, and once the military discounted rates become available she will contact me and I’ll pay the discounted remainder and she then adds the meal plan we want. I’ve used the same agent since 2010 and she has always been fantastic and gotten us big savings. We just use the AFS tickets because, well it’s too good of a deal to pass up. 🙂
Hi Nick,
I had a call with my Disney Media Relations Rep today and he confirmed that reservations made at the general public rates can not be converted to the Disney Armed Forces Salute rate when and if it comes out. You (or your agent) must cancel the reservation and attempt to get a military rate.
Ok… I’ll keep ya posted and let you know what happens.
My family and my brother’s family will be going in November for 10 days (a few days being resort days). We were just going to get the regular military discounted tickets until we saw on this site that you can do back to back military salute park hoppers. We go often, but this is the first we have heard of this. We want to give it a try, but are nervous about linking both sets to one person and then reserving fast passes. We would feel much better about it if we could hear from others who have done this successfully. We are all for saving a couple hundred dollars, but not if is going to mess with our ability to book our fast passes 60 days out (we are staying at Polynesian DVC villas & SOG). I’d appreciate hearing about anyone’s experience doing this! Thanks! And thanks Steve for this fabulous site!
Hi Melissa,
Thanks!!!
I haven’t heard of any issues linking 2 Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets for 1 person and FP+.
I do know some readers have done this.
Having the 2 afs tickets linked should open up 8 day’s ability for FP+, but if you do run across an issue call the tech support number.
Note: the MDE tech cast members seem pretty knowledgable (where the regular call center isn’t), but if you do run across someone who thinks back-to-back is not allowed, just call back to get someone else.
Thanks so much for all the great info!
Our reservation at our Disney hotel is check-in Sunday and check-out Friday. We were planning on just doing Downtown Disney the day we get there so we can use our 4 day Military hopper Monday through Thursday. Will it let me reserve fast passes for those 4 days or will it only allow the first 4 days of our hotel reservation (Sunday to Wednesday)?
Thanks!
Hi Laurie,
You will have the ability to make FP+ for any 4 days during your stay including your check-in and check-out days.
Thanks so much for your help Steve! This article was so helpful and we are all good to go!
Awesome!
Thank you so much for providing such detailed and helpful information. I was struggling to link my exchange vouchers to My Disney Experience account until I found your instructions. Greatly appreciated!
My pleasure Frances, glad it helped!!!
Just linked our military salute vouchers to our account (my husband and I). Our on-site hotel reservation is already linked too. When I go to fastpass it only shows a 30 day window of fast pass eligibility on the calendar, but we are more than 60 days out for our stay. Will it magically change and show 60 days when our date rolls around or am I doing something wrong? Thanks for all your help and amazing information!!!
Thanks so much!
Yep, you will see your reservation time frame open up on that 60th day out Katie.
It can’t be open now as that is more than 60 days.
I will be buying 6 AFS tickets for Sept of this year. 2 of them will be for my wife and I, while the other 4 will be for close friends coming with us. 2 of those friends won’t get there until the second day, but the other 4 of us are getting a jump start on the parks (the delayed family has some kids and that extra day was a little too much). Will there be any issues if I activate 4 of the tickets one day and active the other 2 the next day? As long as I (that active duty member) is with them both times? Just want to clarify before I purchase — thanks! Great Site!
Hey Zack,
Good question.
No, you’ll have no problem at all.
Alternatively you might try to activate all the tickets at once. WHile technically against the policy, some cast members have been known to accommodate.
If you want to try, for convenience sake, bring copies of their driver’s licenses and explain the situation, might work.
Thank you! I usually receive the actual tickets and knew how to add them. This time I received the paper ones and had no clue.
This was excellent!
Thanks so much Kimberly
I have found this website to be very informative. Thank you ! My question involves linking the numbers on the Green Exchange certificate on MY Disney Experience. We purchased the vouchers at our base ITT yesterday. They are the “4Day Pk HPR W/4FUN MIL SALUTE 15 EXCH” . I understand that we will need to activate the tickets when we arrive at the park, but I am incredibly frustrated right now because I cannot link the tickets to my account. When I tried the older tickets suggestion I got the following message: “This ticket or pass cannot be converted online. You may complete the conversion process in person by bringing the ticket or pass to any Guest Services location at Walt Disney World Resort.”
What do you recommend we do? I tried calling Disney’s wholesale number today because a Disney associate recommended that yesterday. The lady I spoke with was very helpful, but the only suggestion she could make was to call my ITT office and see if they had entered the purchase of the vouchers in their system….since they’re closed today, I can do nothing at present. I also have another ticketing number to call on Monday, but am finding this process incredibly frustrating. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Hi there Rachael,
Sorry you are having such a hard time!
Was the number you called the Disney’s Internet Help Desk at 800-848-6413, Option #3 which I mention in this post?
Thanks for these instructions. The lady at the ITT office said folks were having trouble figuring out how to link their vouchers. I couldn’t have figured it out without the help on this page. I appreciate all the info you’ve aggregated here for us!
Thanks Brandy, glad to help!
Great article. I have a question about FP+ Calender dates.
Im able to make my 60 day FP+ reservation about 6 days after for my upcoming trip (Oct.1-Oct.4)
I have 3-day ticket and I will be staying at Disney’s Art of Animation resort,
everything is linked up on My Disney Experience.
However, currently the calendar is only letting me choose up to 30-days in advance. will this reset to 60-days out on Aug.29th (64 days before the trip)?
Im a bit concerned because my hotel reservation is via Expedia and I bought my park park ticket separately (though both are linked on My Disney Experience).
Don’t worry Kazu,
What you are seeing is normal!
Your vacation dates will not open up until that 60th day prior to check in.
As long as you’ve successfully linked your reservation and tickets as you have, you are all set.
Thank you so much Steve!
I’m going to purchase the freedom salute tickets (6). My wife and I are going to be there a few days earlier than the rest of our group. Can I activate our 2 tickets first and then when the other 4 get there I can be there to activate theirs ? Not sure how this effects us for fast pass dates.
Hi Steven,
Yes you can activate your Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets for the two of you and then the others later.
All tickets should be linked prior to your 30/60 day window opens in My Disney Experience to make your FastPass Plus reservations.
These directions were so helpful, thank you!!
I’m so glad Camille!
Thank you so much for this very informative site; despite our trepidations over visiting Disney in July on split days, you explained the Salute vouchers/myMDE/Fast Pass/Magic Band links clearly, and my family of six had a very smooth, great experience. We stayed off-site, which concerned me as far as FastPass+ 30-day rolling selection basis, but we managed to get the ones we wanted, and had a lot of fun, with no issues whatsoever when we exchanged the paper vouchers with the plastic ticket. Our cast member even confirmed that our Magic Bands were linked properly!
Many thanks for taking the time to explain the process so clearly!
Hey there Adeliza,
Thanks so much! I’m so glad that you had a great vacation.
Hi Steve,
This is the first time we’ve received vouchers instead of the tickets. We usually activate at DTD the night before the parks, but these vouchers only mention MK, EP, AK, and HS. Is it still possible to exchange and activate at DTD? If not, how early does guest relations open at MK (we have an 8 am reservation at BOG with the park opening at 9 am. Thanks!!!
Hey Sara,
I don’t know why the vouchers don’t mention all the locations (they never have) but you can certainly activate then the night before at any of the regular locations: the parks as the voucher mentions, but also DTD GR, Disney Quest, and the water parks.
You are awesome! Thank you very, very much!
I have had a Disney Go/MDE account since 2012. Long time WDW guest- since 80’s. But this new system is quite confusing. My last park visit was 2103. I have my confirmation SOG email for 1 night- no link to buy tickets so I have emailed them. I arrive in Sep.
The second night I am moving over to WDW resort and my neice (adult) and her 2 children (11 and 12) are joining me. Then her husband flies in and they move to his family’s Orlando time share on day 3. I am purchasing a ticket for him as well.
My question is about the linking to magic bands. Does each adult need their own MDE account to link their own ticket on their own magic band?
Right now I see the 2 minor children on my MDE account that I am “managing” (dont know what that means) and I see my adult niece who I “invited” (again, not sure what that means).
I dont want to be the one managing everyone’s magic band reservations. Due to health issues I cannot keep the pace with them all day. Plus I dont have a smart phone – but my neice does.
Can my neice manage herself, kids and husband magic band reservations on her own MDE? Or does everyone get put on my MDE account because they are staying in a WDW room that is in my name? I cant seem to delete the kids or edit them over to be managed their mom since they ” have” a WDW resort room with me on their first 3 days here. I really prefer not to “manage” anyone but me.
Thanks.
Hi Sandi,
If you do not want to manage the fastpasses someone else in the group (your niece) can set up a My Disney Experience account and manage their own stuff. they just need to link the resort reservation for their room and their park tickets to do so.
Oh that is such a relief! Thanks so much- i will let her know.
Thanks for the info…the people at ITT were no help and this site saved me from flipping out.
Awesome! Glad to help Rick.
Steve, do confirmed reservations for a camp site at Fort Wilderness Campground qualify as a Walt Disney World Resort for the purpose of using Fast Pass Plus to get our passes 60 days out on our MDE account from date of arrival? Thank you in advance for this information.
DeLana Tillotson
Summerville, SC
Yes they sure do DeLanna
I bought 2016 salute tickets in the form of an exchange certificate today from the on post travel service. When linking them tonight on MDE, I typed in the 17 characters below the bar code. It appears on the MDE site as a 2014 Military Salute Exchange Certificate. On the certificate itself, it says 2016 Exchange, expires 12/19/16. Should I be concerned about the wrong year – I tried substituting zeros for O’s but it became clear that the way I typed it in was the only way it would work. Do you think I should call Disney or just go ahead and proceed with FP reservations, etc. Thanks so much for your help!
Hi Ashley,
No nothing to worry about! For some reason the system is calling it that, but it will work just fine for FP+ reservations and entry.
We purchased military vouchers for Disney Orlando and were leaving 11/30/2015. On 11/15/15 our son was diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma and is already in the hospital on an aggressive chemo protocol. We’re trying to get a refund on our tickets as we sure could use the money now, however, we are getting the run around. We were told that since we started doing the link to fast pass they won’t refund our money. All we have is a voucher, no ticket and we live in Minnesota so we’re not going to sneak in and use them. I’m not sure why this is happening. Can anyone help me please?
The issue Jamie is that those vouchers have a unique identifying number (which tie to the real tickets) and once linked to your account can’t be linked to someone else’s.
Try calling the tech support number listed in the post above and see if they can unlink them for you. Then try the refund through your base ticket office again,
Hello Steve,
We are staying at SOG starting Jan. 3rd, 2016. I wanted to purchase wrist bands online at the Disney Store for Christmas gifts. When I pick up our tickets at SOG and then go to the park to activate them, can they switch them over to the wrist bands? Using wrist bands look so much simpler than digging our cards out every time we park hop or when we arrive for our fast pass time. Thanks
Hi Teri,
I just love the Magic Bands. Asa you said they are much more convenient!
You can buy then using this Disney Store link: (I’ll get a few cents referral at no cost to you).
Shades of Green can either FedEx you the tickets (for a fee) or email you the ticket numbers.
You can then link both the bands and tickets to each person in your party in your My Disney Experience account.
See:
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/blog/my-magic-plus/magic-bands-and-fastpass-plus-for-shades-of-green-guests/
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/My-Magic-Plus/My-Magic-Plus.html
And above on this page
I purchased salute tickets by ordering from SOG for 2016 and received what look to be actual tickets (green cards with characters) and not vouchers like the last time I ordered tickets. Do these still need to be activated at a park?
Hi Melissa,
No Shades now sells pre-activated tickets.
We purchased our Salute Exchange Vouchers today, and already have a resort/dining plan reservation paid in full. I understand that linking the Vouchers will allow us to choose FP+ reservations that will then automatically carry over to the new tickets, once they have been activated at a booth. My question is this: Will we automatically be able to use our MagicBands to enter the park as soon as the tickets are exchanged/activated? Or, will we have to use the ticket form for the first entry and add the tickets to the MagicBands, via website or app in order to use them for admission?
Hi Erin,
The Magic Bands will be ready to go if you got them mailed from Disney. If you buy them yourselves from the Disney Store or elsewhere you’ll need to link them to each person in your party.
Both your bands and your tickets are linked to each individual person. The person connects them.
I forgot to write down the names of the people in my party on their individual exchange certificates when linking them on MDE. Is there a way I can figure out now which certificate goes to which person? Or will we just have to wait until our vacation and have them figure it out at the ticket center? Thanks for your help!!!
Hey Ashley,
You can find the ticket numbers in MDE.
In MDE go to My Profile, then click on Magic Bands and Cards, there you should see each person and their bands and cards (tickets). The ticket number will be under the picture of each. You can match these to the back of the ticket.
If I purchase and link to my Disney Exprience a Disney World Armed Forces Salute 4 day park hopper and a Disney World Armed Forces Salute 4 day park hopper with fun & more options. Can I use the first ticket for days 1, 2, 5, 6 and the second ticket for days 3, 4, 7, 8?
Hi Jeff,
By default the last ticket linked is the first used at the theme parks. The Fun and More options have nothing to do with the theme parks though. These F&M entrances can be used on any day regardless of any theme park use.
So there is no need to alternate the use of theme park hopper tickets for theme park entry.
See this for more: http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Tickets/Disney-Water-Park-Fun-and-More.html
I found this page so very helpful. Thanks.
Thank you Kristina!
I forgot to write our names on our exchange tickets. We have already received our magic bands, so going under Magic bands and cards it only show the magic band info now. Is there a way to see who I assigned the tickets to now?
Hi Jo,
So to be clear here is what I think your situation is:
You bought Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets and have exchange vouchers (either a 8.5×11 paper or a plastic ticket).
You just received your Magic Bands from Disney in the mail and they came prelinked to each person in your party.
AND you haven’t done anything else i.e. linking tickets to people?
If so, it does not matter which ticket/voucher you link to each person. You will want to keep track after that point to keep the physical tickets straight in case you use them vs the bands.
Hope that is what you were asking, just let me know…
I had previously linked our exchange vouchers to each person in our party in February when I purchased them.
OK, got you.
So go to Magic bands and Cards as you did before.
This will show the band and ticket/voucher linked to each person. The car (ticket/voucher) number is just to the right of the card image. You can compare this number to the voucher paper or voucher ticket. It will be printed on the back of the plastic tickets and Should be on the paper voucher if that is what you have.
If all else fails they can straighten it out for you during the ticket activation process once you get there.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/blog/disney-military-discounts/how-to-activate-your-disney-armed-forces-salute-theme-park-tickets/
My 2017 exchange vouchers have 18 digits on them. MDE app won’t link them and says it needs to be 17 or 20 digits. What’s the secret? Adding 2 leading zeros didn’t work, nor did removing last digit or first digit. Bar codes also won’t scan.
Thanks for any advice as always.
Hi there Steve,
Did you follow the directions above and click on “Add an Older Ticket” vs. using the first add a ticket screen that comes up? If you did, and it still isn’t working call the tech support # listed above.
To update, I had to call tech support and they linked them over the phone using the 18 digit code under the bar code. They stated that members are currently unable to link the military salute exchange vouchers online at the moment and must call tech support to get them linked. It was fairly painless, a 30 minute phone call to link the 5 tickets.
Thanks for the intel Steve!
Thanks for this reply, I have been having issues linking them too. Currently on the phone with customer support.
The glitch is that the 5 Day Hopper Passes are new and they are the ones with 18 digits. The 4 Day Hoppers worked fine for me. I had to call. Disney needs to update the MDE App to accommodate the 18 digit codes.
The online MDE also will not recognize either the 18 digit or “W” numbers for older vouchers.
Currently the only way to link 5 day military salute is by calling.
Great info Susan, thanks so much.
Also had to call in to link 5 day salute park hoppers. Agent wasn’t kind at first insisting I just needed to scan or type in the numbers. I assured her I had done this before and it was a no-go and apparently a known issue with theses specific types of tickets.
After researching my vouchers, she was able to link them to my account and we were able to make our FP selections last night.
Hopefully they will do an update to their app and system soon to make the process as easy as it’s been before.
Thanks for the report Stacy!!!
Steve,
We are in a very strange predicament. We purchased four military salute tickets my husband being active duty. The other couple coming with us one had emergency heart surgery and is not allowed to travel so they cancelled. The tickets were assigned to their names upon purchase in the paperwork. They also had been entered into the app before all went south. Is it possible to use the tickets for extra days for ourselves since they are non refundable? And how do I go about getting them unassigned? Any help appreciated as we leave Friday hehe.
Hi Renée,
That’s a bummer!
You can get the ticket unlinked by calling the tech support number mentioned above, 800-848-6413, Option #3.
But you may not share the ticket, this is expressly prohibited for all Disney tickets and they have measures in place to prevent it.
The only way this particular ticket could be used is by different person could use the ticket or one of you could use it as well as the one they have. The unlinking isn’t needed unless you will then link it to one specific person.
The best option would be for you to take the ticket, sales receipt, and a letter from their doctor preventing the trip to a Disney Guest Relations Window, where you could ask to use the value towards some full price tickets (perhaps a 1-day for all of you). It would only cover about two 1-days…
Steve,
Thank you for your reply but I think I am still confused. So we cannot each use one of the other tickets purchased in conjunction with the tickets we have?
Renee
Hi Renée,
I’m sorry, I seem to have misunderstood your question. Each individual may use multiple Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets. So you can use yours, then another person’s afterwards.
The paperwork is to relevant, you can cross out their names and put yours, it doesn’t matter. the ticket is not really assigned to a person until it is activated at Disney.
Call the tech support number to have the tickets unlinked from them and they can also link them to you at the same time.
I just got finished linking my 5day park hopper with water parks and more. I did not have any trouble so maybe they have the system updated. I did get an error message when I assigned the last one to my 9 year old granddaughter because it said they were for 10+ which confused me because I thought there was no price break for under 10. I decided to just continued and it took it fine. I read your post and learned that that is normal and should not affect the passes. I got a confirmation that they were all successfully added and they appear to be assigned to each person in My Disney Experience.
Awesome Jodi,
Second report of the 5-days linking fine.
Thanks for the intel!!!
My 5 Day Park Hopper Salute tickets will not link on mobile app or on computer just fyi. I will be calling!
Thanks for the intel Jennifer!!!
Seems like they have it working now.
I’m afraid it isn’t working uniformly. I am currently on hold because it will not let me link the tickets on the app.
Oh bummer, thanks for the report Jon!
Just bought my military 5 day Park Hopper tickets this afternoon. It’s still not recognizing the 18 digit ticket number. I’m currently on hold to get the tickets linked to my account.
Update…while on hold I tried it on the computer. That worked. It is just the app that’s not recognizing the 18 digits.
Great Thanks Kim!!!
my father in law who is retired navy and is 82 year old purchased four 4 day passes, we were told to link the the tickets to our account, we did, then we were told after linking the tickets that we needed a military id at the ticket window to activated..tickets. my father in law is not going due to his health. also we tried to unlink the tickets but can not.. what can we do, there $800.00 in tickets we can’t use. also 3 year ago we did the same thing for his 10 year old grant grand child. and had no problems. help !!!
Hi Joyce,
First the legal part: The Disney Armed Forces Salute is a very special offer for military members (including retirees) to spend time with family and friends in Disney’s parks. These highly discounted tickets are not to be given away or sold to those who are not eligible such as yourselves (sorry). If someone got away with it before they were very lucky.
Now as to what can be done.
Are you sure these were the 4-day Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets? They cost $209 for a 4-day hopper. Or are they the slightly discounted Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets (which can be used without the member and do not need to be activated) for $343.00 adult/$324.00 child for a 4-day non-hopper or $416.50 adult/$398.00 child for a 4-day hopper?
If they are the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way Tickets you are all set, but since you got a notice about activating them I fear they are the Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets.
The Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets require the member to be present at the time of ticket activation at the Disney park and to have a ticket of their own.
If this is not possible, Disney may allow you to use the purchase price of the tickets towards full price tickets. I recommend bringing: the tickets, the original purchase receipt, a photocopy of his ID, a letter from him explaining why he cannot attend and that he wants you to use the tickets towards the full price ones, and any documentation to back up his letter as to why he can’t go (doctors notes etc.).
As far as linking and FastPass, leave them linked and make your fastpasses. then when you get your new tickets see if they can transfer the passes for you.
Alternatively, he should have been told at the time of purchase that he had to go with you. If he was not then he can attempt to return these non-returnable tickets where he bought them and buy the slightly discounted regular military ones instead. As they are non-returnable an argument will be required, but if he insists he was not advised that he has to go, then they may cave in and take them back as long as he buys the regular ones.
Hi! Hoping you can help me – We got our green military vouchers from Lackland AFB recently — 5 day Hopper Passes for WDW. We want to book our FP now but don’t know how to get started. Can you help?
Hi Anne, just follow the directions in this post. I just linked my 5-day paper voucher. The linking directions have changed slightly from when I originally posted this so I updated it above.
I am having a problem matching names while linking our Resort reservation. I think what happened was the women who made the reservation for us put my daughter in as “Miss Evelyn” and down somehow as an infant. When I go to profiles it has my daughter down correctly as “Evelyn” and “2”, but since there are differences it’s not letting me match her name and if I do it’s going to replace her age with the infant status. Should I call? I don’t want to mess up linking the Resort! Thank you!
Yes Amanda, just give the tech support number a call. They can straighten it out for you!