DISNEY WORLD MILITARY SALUTE TICKETS AND ROOM RATE DEAL FOR 10/1/2012-9/28/2013
Update July 2013: This deal has been offered for FY 14–October 2013 into September 2014–as well! See this.
Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com broke the news earlier today that there’s a new Disney World offer for US active and retired forces for FY 13–specifically, October 1 2012 through September 28 2013.
There’s two separate deals: on tickets, and on hotels. I’m seeing some inconsistencies, and am missing a fact or two which I’ll fix later, but based on Steve’s scoop and the draft press release which Disney sent him, and he forwarded to me, here’s the details:
NEW 2012/2013 DISNEY WORLD TICKET DEAL FOR THE ARMED FORCES
Tickets can be purchased from 17 August 2012 through September 25 2013, and must be used from 1 October 2012 through 28 September 2013.
(Re the August 17 date–some ITT offices were already selling them last week–I don’t know if that has stopped…but since they won’t “sell out,” give your ITT office a break and wait until the 27th?)
Dates on which these tickets cannot be used are
- 24 – 31 December 2012 (No use of any ticket features)
- 24 March – 4 April 2013 (No use of any ticket features)
- July 4, 2012 (No use at Magic Kingdom)
Only 6 tickets are available per military member (exceptions will be made for larger direct families– e.g. two parents with 5 kids), and they must all be purchased at the same time. It’s unclear right now if they must also all be activated at the same time.
Ticket options and prices:
- Four-Day Park Hopper Tickets or Four-Day Water Park and More Tickets for $156 per person
- Four-Day Park Hopper Tickets plus the Water Park and More Option for $184 per person
NEW 2012/2103 DISNEY WORLD ROOM RATE DEAL FOR THE ARMED FORCES
Disney World resort hotel room discounts for military members for 10/1/2102 through 9/28 2013 include
- 40% off Deluxe Resorts
- 35% off Moderate Resorts
- 30% off Value Resorts
The blackout dates for this offer vary a bit from the ticket offer. You won’t be able to book for
- 22 – 24 November 2012
- 23-31 December 2012, and
- 25 March – 4 April 2013
Unlike the tickets, these room discounts do have a limited number of rooms assigned to them, so may sell out. Moreover, Friday or Saturday arrivals may have minimum lengths of stay required. These rooms, according to Steve, are available for reservation NOW.
I’ll publish more details as they get them–and in the meantime, also check out Steve’s post here.
LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
- Military Families at Walt Disney World
- Deals and Discounts
- Shades of Green
- Other Resources for Military Families
Comments moderated by Steve Bell of Military Disney Tips
Hi Sue,
Dave is right the military member or spouse is required to have one for themselves, but you do not need to use it once it is activated. Your family can tour the parks by themselves and your ticket will be valid through 27 Sept.
There is one exception though, which is passholders (annual, FL seasonal, etc.) do not need to buy one for themselves.
And be sure to ask anyway once there, a reader once told me they were allowed to do it.
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Can I purchase 4 tickets for my family at Disney World and go to the park with them to activate without having to buy a ticket for myself? Or is the sponsor or spouse required to buy a ticket as well.
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Sue, if you are talking about the military salute, the sponsor is required to both buy one for herself/himself and activate them, including his/her own, in person…
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Hi there Paul,
Unfortunately most Disney Call Center Cast Members are not very knowledgeable when it comes to Disney military discounts. The person you talked to was incorrect.
The Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets can be upgraded but not to any other type of ticket.
They can only be upgraded to passes such as an Annual Pass. And when you upgrade the cost of your AFS ticket is deducted from the full price cost of the pass. (side note) passes are cheaper using the military discount at Shades of Green so there is no reason to go this route.
But I suspect a season pass ($597 adult @ Shades) is more that you want to spend on your 9 day trip, so your best option would be:
-The 9-day ticket you already mentioned, $323 adult non-hopper & $381 adult hopper from either your base ticket office or Shades of Green.
Depending on the size of your party you could use the AFS tickets back to back for 8 park days (up to 6 tickets total). That would be $338 for the hopper option.
Hope this helps, let us know if you have any questions, Steve
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Thanks, Steve!
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I am planning a trip to Disney World over 9 days. I was originally planning to go to the base and purchase a discounted 9-day hopper, but was told over the phone by a Disney rep that I could purchased the Disney 4-day Military Promotional Ticket and upgrade at the end of the 4th day to include out entire trip. I asked her the price to do this, and was told that I would have to do it in person at the ticket booth. Have you ever heard of this?
I could not find a phone number for the ticket booth.
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Hi,
My father has passed away but served in the Korean War and earned a purple heart. Would we be able to use the military discount?
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Hi Tiffany, I’m sorry but you aren’t eligible.
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Hi Amanda,
Well, yours is a situation that I’ve not run into yet.
Disney’s Armed Forces Salute rule for “large families” is that they will allow you to purchase the number of tickets needed for the military member, spouse, and their dependent children. So if your kids were all old enough to need tickets you could buy 8.
The wrinkle is of course is that your nephew is not your dependent child.
So by the rules you can only buy 6, 2 for the adults and 4 for the kids old enough for tickets. This leaves you needing to buy one regular military discounted Magic Your Way ticket from Shades of Green or your base ticket office.
4-day kids hopper – $288 (that’s $132 more than the AFS) – http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Tickets/Magic-Your-Way-Tickets.html
Keep in mind that you are saving $1024 off the regular military discounted Magic Your Way ticket rate by using the Armed Forces Salute tickets for the other 6.
Hope this helps
p.s. I do have another thought, but I’d like you to email me to discuss steve@militarydisneytips.com
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Thanks Steve!
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So we are taking a trip to disney and we have 6 kids so we are a military family of 8. 2 of our kids should be free because they are under 2 leaving us still needing 6 tickets but our nephew is also going with us, so since we have a family of 8 would they still allow us to buy the 7 military discounted tickets?
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Hi Kenneth,
The Water Park Fun and More Entries are totally separate from the theme park days on the tickets they are added to.
Think of your ticket with the WPF&M option as two separate tickets in one. One with the number of theme park days purchased and a second with the number of WPF&M entries purchased.
Your WP&M entries can be used on the same or different days as theme park days and can be used multiple times on the same day if you wish.
An Example – You could go to a theme park in the morning (using up a theme park day), then after lunch play a round of mini golf at Fantasia Gardens (using 1 WP&M Entry), then in the evening go to Disney Quest (using a 2nd WP&M Entry).
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Hi Derek,
Dave’s right He will only be able to activate 5 of the Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets for your family as he must activate one for himself.
This can be done at all 4 theme park ticketing areas, the two water parks, Disney Quest, and the Downtown Disney Guest Relations office.
At WDW once the tickets are activated the party may split up, so you can enter the parks and he can go one his way.
(By the way, at Disneyland in California, they require the member to enter the parks each day with their guests, but this is not required at Disney World in Florida.)
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Can you tell me if the Park Hopper Plus Water Park and more Option includes additional days to use at the Water Park and Disney Quest, or is this just a 4 day ticket that allows you access to either the 4 major parks and options. Someone told me that if you add the water park and more option , then you actually get 2 additional days to use at Disney Quest and the water parks, so 6 days total..
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Kenneth, that’s true!
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My friend is in the reserves. His family is going to be in Orlando vacationing but is not planning to go to disney but will able to meet us there to activate tickets. Does he have to go in?
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Hi Derek, the only possible issue is that he may have to go through the turnstiles so that his ticket is then linked to him (this is policy, but not always enforced). That means you’d have a max of five tix for your family–not an issue if there are five or fewer of you…
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My father is retire I planner to go WDW, he buy ticket for my. He haved go a Disney?
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Yes, he has to be there in person to activate the tickets, if they are the Military Salute tickets…
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Hi Jen,
Disney’s Armed Forces Salute tickets can be purchased at most military base ticket offices (every base carries a variety of tickets from different companies based on their location). If you have a base nearby you cal call the ticket office to ask what they carry. You can also buy these at the Shades of Green the military owned and operated resort on WDW property and the Orlando ITT office (near the international airport). at all of these locations you will not pay sales tax as you are purchasing on military property. You can also purchase these tickets at any of the Disney theme park ticket windows, though sales tax will be added.
https://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/02/22/review-shades-of-green-resort-at-walt-disney-world/
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Tickets/On-Base-Tickets.html
There is no military discount for food offered by Disney, in the parks or anywhere else on property. Though there are some locations (non Disney owned) in Downtown Disney which do offer military discounts.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/blog/disney-discounts/downtown-disney-military-discounts-at-walt-disney-world/
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Thanks Steve–Jen, Steve is this site’s expert military moderator…
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Hi Dave!
My husband, my son and myself are going to Disneyworld 3/20-3/24/13. He is retired (20 years) and 80% disabled. We already have our hotel paid for so my question is more towards the purchasing of tickets. When you say you can get them at base, is this any local military base in any state? Also, I printed tips and discounts for restaurants and entertainment, but have a questions about the food discounts in the park. Do we just show our military ID in the park when purchasing food or is this something that we prebook before going into the park? Also do you know if Ohana’s or any of the Character Breakfast events offer military discount? Thanks so much for your help!
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