MILITARY DISCOUNTS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Update: the 2019 Armed Forces salute is out! See this.
Military families are eligible, of course, for all Walt Disney World deals and specials available to the general public.
In addition, Walt Disney World often makes special deals available to members of and retirees from the U.S. military, and from related DoD organizations.
The most valuable of these is the Armed Forces Salute.
In addition, Shades of Green, an Armed Forces Recreation Center located near Walt Disney World’s Polynesian resort and nestled among Walt Disney World’s renowned Palm and Magnolia golf course, offers wonderfully low rates for the quality of its rooms.
Shades of Green discounts its already low rates from time to time.
And of course Disney’s general public deals and specials apply to military families as well.
This site recommends Shades of Green for first-time visitors only under a couple of special circumstances. See this for more on first time family visits and Shades of Green.
Steve Bell is the Military Moderator on this site. And Steve’s Military Disney Tips has for years been the go-to site for military families looking to make the most out of their Disney World vacations.
But like every other website (especially mine), finding exactly what you need to know, in the right order, sometimes isn’t as easy as you’d like it to be.
So the great news is that Steve has just published a Disney World guidebook for military families.
With entire chapters devoted to the 2016 Armed Forces Salute, to Shades of Green, and to other deals and perks available to military families, I can’t recommend it enough!!
It’s available as a PDF–probably the most convenient format–here, and on Amazon.com here
.
This book will be a great help to military families contemplating a Disney World visit in 2016!!
LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
- Military Families at Walt Disney World
- Deals and Discounts
- Shades of Green
Comments moderated by Steve Bell of Military Disney Tips.
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
Hi J.
That depends entirely on what type of DD Form 2.
If it is a Retired (blue) or Reserve Retired (red) ID you are eligible.
But if you have one because you are now fulfilling an Inactive Reserve commitment (green) you are not eligible. Those not retired or 100% DAVPRM need to be currently participating.
Hope this clears it up.
Reply
J- Hopefully this will help answer your question (From Military Disney Tips)
“Eligible Service Members” are:
“Active” i.e. current members of the US military from the Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard, Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service (PHS), Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Coast Guard. Reserve and Guard DO NOT need to be on active duty orders (or show any active orders)!
Retired members of the Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard, Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service (PHS), and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and and Coast Guard.
100% Permanently Disabled Veterans are also eligible for this offer. Permanently Disabled Veterans must have a military ID with a DAVPRM status.
Spouses of eligible members are able to participate in place of the member without the member being present.
Unremarried spouses of deceased eligible members as defined above.
Active Military Foreign Affiliates with US issued CAC with a blue band are also eligible.
Not eligible are: Unaccompanied non-spouse dependents (children), prior service members who did not retire, foreign military members with out US issued CAC, DoD civilians, and other service connected disabled who are not 100% DAVPRM.
Reply
Is only a CAC holder eligible for the salute tickets? And not a DD Form 2 holder?
Reply
My husband is a veteran with the Canadian Military and we are having a hard time finding out if there is a discount for Canadians. We see plenty for US members, I was just wondering if you know of ant discounts. Thanks
Reply
Gwen, not that I am aware of.
Reply
Hi Lisa,
First your son is definitely eligible for the Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets!
These tickets are explicitly non-refundable. They are also unusable for entry without the military member activating them in person at the Disney parks with the whole party present.
So, should something arise and he is unable to go with you Disney will most likely allow you to use the cost of the tickets towards full price tickets.
If you need to do this I recommend you bring (besides the tickets) the receipt from the base ticket office, a copy back and front of his CAC (military ID), and anything stating why he isn’t able to attend such as deployment orders.
Once there just explain the circumstances. You should have no issue but if you do, ask to speak to a Lead, Supervisor, and Manager in that order (this is the Disney “Chain of Command). If unable to work the situation out there, go to a different ticket area (another park, Downtown Disney Guest Relations, or Disney Quest) to try.
Downtown Disney Guest Relations, or Disney Quest are great spots to do this ahead of time on your arrival day if you are not going directly to the parks!
You do have until 3 October 2015 to use these tickets.
Reply
Thanks, Steve!!!
Reply
My son is active Army National Guard. We were told he could purchase the Military Salute 4 day park hopper tickets to Disney World. My question…if we buy these tickets in advance at his military base and if there were (god forbid) some extenuating circumstances out of our control..say a death or he gets called for deployment … would we be able to get a refund and/or apply the cost of those tickets to general public tickets ?
Reply
Just remembered why we have two early mornings at HS because the boys want to do the Star Wars Jedi training both those days and I think we need to get there early to register them?
Anywhere else you think we could cut back for more time off? (I know you’re probably going to say we should not do two water parks – just don’t like to miss out on anything!)
Reply
Lara, got you on the Jedis. I think the main things will be to make sure you do what looks like the most fun in the first 2/3 of your trip, so that if you are worn out and need to take more time off, you won’t miss much…
Reply
Oh, great idea!!!! 🙂
The family will love you for that sleep in.
Reply
Oh found it, thanks so much Dave for your reply! And yes we may have over-scheduled you are right but given they are half days most of them (returning to resort after lunch or for lunch) I am hoping we will be okay!?!?
Reply
Lara, you have, for example, two early mornings at HS. Because of FastPass+ you can schedule great rides for late in the day. So at least one of those could be a sleep-in day…
Reply
Thanks so much Dave, got your comment on what to do. Don’t know what I would do without this site, it has helped so very much!
I have now done our itinerary according to your basic itinerary and that of Josh’s favourite dates. Will just run it by you quickly and if anything glaringly obviously bad do please let me know! Kids are 9,7 an 5 years.
25 Sept: Seaworld, 26 Sept: Discovery Cove, 27 Sept: Busch Gardens, 28 Sept: 10 am House of Blues, arrive at Wilderness Lodge then evening Fantasmic Dining Package; 29 Sept: Epcot by 8.15, Akershus lunch, arvo off and Dinner at 1900 Park Fare; 30 Sept: MK by 8.15am, Chef Mickey Lunch, arvo off and dinner at Whispering Canyon; Oct 1: HS by 8.15am; arvo off; Dinner Crystal Palace: MSEP and WISHES; Oct 2 Rest Day (Downtown Disney); Rainforest cafe for lunch, dinner Hoop de Doo show 6.15pm; Oct 3: MK by 8.15am, lunch Cinderella’s Royal Table, afternoon parade; arvo and evening off; 4 Oct: (Move to AK Lodge) HS by 8.15am, arvo off and dinner at Bouma; 5 Oct MK by 8.15am, arvo off, MNSSHP evening; 6 Oct: sleep in and Typhoon Lagoon; 7 Oct: AK by 8.15am, arvo off; 8 Oct: AK morning and Blizzard Beach arvo; 9 Oct Hire car to Legoland; 10 Oct Car to Universal and Illuminations at Epcot in evening; 11 Oct: Car to Port for Disney Cruise.
Phew! Is this all okay do you think? Have I missed anything too obvious?? Shame I can’t do quite in the order of theme parks you would prefer as doesn’t work in with recommended days doing HS before MK and given we move to AK Lodge in 2nd week I thought would be best to leave AK park till then.
Thanks so much! Trip of a lifetime for us. 🙂
Reply
Lara this looks great!!! You might honestly be a little over-scheduled–you have a lot of park days!
Reply
Hi there, I can’t seem to find any information on visiting Canadian military discounts. Is there anyone who knows whether the deal extends towards your neighbors to the North? I recall as a child my father did receive a military discount but I wasn’t sure if this was still the case now or not. Thanks 🙂
Reply
Andrea, I can’t comment on any discounts sponsored directly from Canada. The deals sponsored by the US DOD apply to non-US folk in some circumstances. See http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Military-Discounts/Discount-Finder/Foreign-Military-Member-Discounts.html
Reply
We have a family of four and were looking to go to the park for 10 days. Since the 4-day ticket is automatically upgraded to a five day ticket, can we buy eight of them if we only use four at a time and then just use them back to back? That’s a huge money saver and would allow us to do more with the kids.
Reply
First, the free ticket day is not the military deal, which is four days only. Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing–it’s a different deal…here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/06/disney-world-room-rate-deal-for-well-into-june-2014/
So assuming we are talking about the same deal–not the military deal–you wouldn’t want to do this. The way Disney prices tickets, the first three days are very expensive, and days after three are very cheap. So two four days tix for one adult will cost almost $600, whereas one nine day ticket for that same adult costs $350. So you’ll save ~$150 by person by buying 9 day tix and getting the tenth day free, rather than getting two sets of 4 day tix with two days free. See this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/06/02/walt-disney-world-ticket-prices-summer-2013-to-summer-2014/
Separately, you can’t do it anyway! You can only buy one ticket per person on the room reservation!
Reply
Hi William,
There are no mil discounts on the campground.
The Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets are strictly 4-day, though they can be upgraded to annual or seasonal passes.
For longer stays you’ll need to use back to back Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets (if the 6 limit allows by your party size), the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way tickets or a combo.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/blog/disney-military-discounts/regular-disney-military-discount-for-walt-disney-world-and-disneyland-tickets/
Reply
Dave understand military discount tickets, I think. My question is: (1) Can more than four day park tickets be purchased; 5-day, 6-day, etc.? And (2) Are there any discounts for Fort Wilderness motorhome sites?
Reply