Category — Military Families at Disney World
Veteran’s Day 2011
VETERANS DAY 2011
Thanks so much to all of you who have risked harm’s way to keep this great country free, and thanks to your families for helping you do so.
Happy Veteran’s Day!!
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
November 11, 2011 No Comments
Disney World Military Discount 2012
Military Deals and Discounts Shades of Green Disney Military Discount 2012 Disney Military Discount 2013
DISNEY MILITARY DISCOUNT 2012
The military discount for Disney World in 2012 is up and detailed on Disney’s special offers page.
The Disney Military Discount for 2012 is in effect an extension and doubling of Disney’s military discount for 2011.
Eligible personnel may buy and activate a total of twelve 4-day tickets for $138 each over the period from the beginning of the 2011 program to the end of the 2012 program.
The 2012 program ends September 30, 2012. There’s a different program that begins October 1 2012 and extends into September 2013. Click here for more on the FY13 military salute.
ONE MILITARY DISCOUNT PROGRAM FOR 2011 AND 2012
There is in effect just one military discount program that covers the period ending September 30 2012.
So families that already bought some military discount Disney World tickets in 2011 can now buy more, up to a total of 12 including those already bought; families that have not yet bought any can buy, activate and use up to twelve between now and September 30, 2012.
However, only 6 tickets can be activated or used in any 7 day period.
The price is a savings of ~$100 per ticket compared to Disney’s normal 4-day ticket prices.
Those eligible to purchase these Disney Military Salute tickets include active and (career) retired members of the US Military, including the National Guard, Reservists, and the Coast Guard, and their spouses.
My friend Steve of MilitaryDisneyTips.com notes that permanently disabled veterans with military ID with a DAVPRM status are also eligible for this offer.
Valid military ID is required at the parks themselves to activate the tickets.
For more, see this page.
DISNEY MILITARY ROOM RATE DISCOUNTS
Disney World is also offering discounted room rates to service families. See this page for more.
ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS
Steve’s MilitaryDisneyTips.com is a great resource for military families. He answers frequently asked questions about these programs on this page.
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
August 28, 2011 18 Comments
More Clarity on Total Tickets for the Extended Disney Military Salute
TWELVE TICKETS IN TOTAL AVAILABLE FOR DISNEY MILITARY SALUTE
Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips has posted here that the discounted Disney World Military tickets are not unlimited, as we previously thought, but limited to a total of 12.
Only 6 can be “purchased/activated/utilized” per day for the life of the deal, which ends September 30 2012.
I apologize for causing more than my usual confusion on prior posts about how many total tickets are available! (I probably should have a separate category on this site called “apologies.”)
Disney World’s military discounts site still does not have details of 2012 up, but Steve’s got all the core stuff on this page and its links.
July 7, 2011 No Comments
News on Art of Animation Opening, 2012 Bookings, and Armed Forces Salute
Lots of important news over the last few days…
DISNEY WEBSITE OPEN FOR BOOKING 2012
You can now book most 2012 dates on Disney’s website.
This is a couple of months earlier than Disney has made this possible in past years.
You still can’t book Disney World more than 500 days ahead, so the website only lets you book (as of today) through late October 2012.
This means that most 2012 Disney World prices are out as well–I’ll update this site over the next few weeks based on these prices. You can see the new Disney World 2011/2012 ticket prices here.
YOU CAN BOOK THE ART OF ANIMATION RESORT
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is open for booking, for arrival dates beginning May 31, 2012.
See this on MousePlanet.com for more details.
DISNEY MILITARY SALUTE TICKETS: UNLIMITED USE?
Update 7/7: only a total of 12 tickets can be used over the 2011-2012 period, wth no more than 6 activated at a time.
Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com is reporting here, based on new instructions to Disney ticket window staff that he has seen, that the discounted Military Disney ticket offer can be used multiple times–“unlimited” times–so long as no more than 6 tickets are purchased each time.
The details of the extension of this deal to 2012 are still not on Disney’s website; MilitaryDisneyTips.com has a lot of the specifics of them here.
June 14, 2011 No Comments
Key Details on Extension of Disney’s Armed Forces Salute are Out
Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com has posted key details on the extension of Disney’s Military Salute into 2012.
The details of the 2012 Military Salute are here, including blackout dates.
One key point: families can use both the 2011 program that ends in October 2011 and the program that begins in October 2011 and extends into September 2012.
So yes, you can use the Disney Military Salute program twice, once in the current program year and once in the program year of October 2011 to September 2012.
In case you are wondering, Steve’s post is based on an email exchange with Disney Military Sales, which he has copied me on (we do this for each other to make sure we have the details straight) so this is the real deal!!
May 24, 2011 No Comments
Update on Disney World Deals
A couple of major Disney World deals have been recently announced—an extension of the Disney Armed Forces Salute into the fall of 2012, and the return of free dining for late summer 2011.
DISNEY’S MILITARY SALUTE FOR 2012
Update May 24: key details for this Disney military deal are now out!! Click here for more.
The military salute extension was announced on ABC-TV about a month ago, as part of a White House initiative to show support for the troops and their families.
However, Disney’s web page for military families still reads “Details regarding the September 2012 pricing extension of this offer will be available soon. “
The missing details, while frustrating, don’t mean the deal is not happening. Rather, it’s that the details are still being worked out. Getting the details right means a couple of things—first, coordinating with the U.S. Military about its role in the eligibility setting and purchasing process, and second, getting the right blackout dates for 2012.
My suspicion—based on how the Disney military deals have unfolded in the past—is that coordinating and collaborating with the military is not as quick and simple as it perhaps should be—this will surprise no one with experience of DOD. All could be solved in one day by an empowered E-7…but Oprah has not yet tasked one.
The other issue likely is the blackout dates. These are not relevant to the military alone—blackout dates are about Disney World’s entire 2012 calendar, and I’m guessing that fixing that in stone now is outside of the typical management process, and is also creating some delays.
My belief is that Disney collaborated as a good corporate citizen with the White House to announce this extension as part of the initiative to support the troops, and the operational complexities of actually delivering on the specifics at this time of year weren’t high on anyone’s radar scope at the time the program was agreed to.
E-7s will also recognize this situation…
THE FREE DISNEY DINING PLAN AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2011
The recently announced free dining deal, in contrast, was built to the usual calendar, is in Disney’s full control, and is up and running.
Free dining at Walt Disney World follows the basic structure of the deals of recent years, but with a twist.
Those reserving a moderate or a deluxe resort, and meeting other criteria (dates, length of stay, at least two days per tickets) get the regular dining plan for free. Those staying at a value resort get the “Quick Service” dining plan—still a savings, but not as much of a deal as the regular dining plan.
The twist is that all reservations taking advantage of the free dining option must also buy a ~$100 photopass package—a new development in 2011.
This package reduces the value of the savings by the equivalent amount—at least for those who would not otherwise have bought this pass. Depending on family size and ages, this requirement may in effect wipe out the value of the first day or so of free dining.
This is in effect a surcharge over normal resort pricesduring this period. You could re-state the deal as “get free dining for $100.” This doesn’t make it a bad deal—juts not as good a deal as offered in the past.
This “surcharge” is consistent with Disney World’s current strategy of reducing the scope of the discounting it is offering as the economy continues to slowly rebound.
As noted elsewhere, I’m not yet convinced that this overall strategy will work as well in the short term as Disney hopes it will…but I also expect that enough families will find “$100 for free dining” a compelling enough deal that the best-loved Disney World restaurants—and many others—will book up quickly for the relevant August and September 2011 dates.
May 17, 2011 No Comments
