By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

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Category — k. Special Circumstances at Walt Disney World

Act Today or Tomorrow to Get More than 25% Off on New Shades of Green e-book

Shades of Green eBook Sample PageMy buddy Steve Bell has released a new e-book on Shades of Green, the Armed Forces resort at Walt Disney World.

Shades of Green is not solely for eligible military folk and career retirees.

This is because eligible folk and their spouses can book up to 6 rooms between them most times of the year, one for themselves and five for anyone else they choose.

So if you can do better than being the sixth best friend of a hero, you should be interested in Shades of Green too!

If you use the promo code YFV, you’ll get $4 off the regular price of $14.95! That’s 26.75% off!

But this offer expires midnight eastern time Saturday the 28th of September.

So quit goofing, pilgrim, and get the get the Shades of Green e-book!

(Disclosure: I’m such a fan that I’ve set up an affiliate relationship with Steve, so if you buy the book, he’ll share a bit of pixie dust with me.)

September 27, 2013   2 Comments

New Shades of Green e-book from Steve Bell

Shades of Green eBook Sample PageThe author of MiliaryDisneyTips.com and moderator of military family issues on this site, Steve Bell, has released a new e-book on Shades of Green, the Armed Forces resort at Walt Disney World.

(Click the image for a sample page.)

As you can tell if you click the link, I think quite a lot of this e-book!

(Disclosure: I’m such a fan that I’ve set up an affiliate relationship with Steve, so if you buy the book, he’ll share a bit of pixie dust with me.)

For those eligible for it, Shades of Green has one great positive and one great negative.

  • The great positive of Shades of Green is wonderful rooms at much less than half of the price you’d pay for the equivalent Disney-owned rooms.
  • The great negative is an almost complete absence of the fun theming you will find in the Disney resorts.

For me the  negative outweighs the positive for first time family visitors who may never return (see my review here), but many families just don’t agree that it matters given the low-priced wonderful rooms there.

Steve’s e-book deals with this and all of the other issues and opportunities that Shades of Green presents in a really comprehensive and well-illustrated way.

So if you are considering a stay at Shades of Green, but not completely sure, you need to buy this e-book. It will help you make a decision you will be happy with!

Steve Bell is the Military Moderator on this site. And Steve’s Military Disney Tips has always 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.

Walt Disney World for Military Families

So the great news is that Steve has just published a Disney World guidebook for military families.

With entire chapters devoted to the 2016 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

Comments moderated by Steve Bell of Military Disney Tips.

September 22, 2013   2 Comments

Disney World Armed Forces Salute for FY14

Update July 21, 2014: the Armed Forces Salute has been renewed for another year!

GREAT DEALS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Miltary Families at Walt Disney World from yourfirstvisit.netAs reported by my friend Steve, Disney World has launched a new version of the Armed Forces Salute for most nights from September 29, 2013 through September 27, 2014.

As in past versions of this offering, there’s two parts–you can use either or both.  One is highly discounted four day tickets, and the other is discounts of 20% to 40% off of Disney World hotels.

There’s a lot of complexities and fine print to this offer (and the fine print varies between Disney World and Disneyland), of which the following are most important for Walt Disney World visitors:

  • The offers, are for active duty members, reservists, National Guard members, and career retirees. Almost all vets who don’t also fit into one of those categories aren’t eligible
  • You can get a maximum of 6 tickets–unless your immediate family–think member, spouse and kids–is larger
  • The member or spouse with proper military ID needs to be there in person to either check in to the room or activate the tickets (both if you are using both)
  • So long as the deal is activated by the right person, the other people benefiting from it can be anyone–your non-military family can use tix which your eligible uncle buys for you, so long as he is at Disney World in person to activate them
  • There are ineligible dates both for the room deal and for the tickets.

You can book the room discounts for eligible dates now, but the tickets won’t be available until mid-August–and of course can’t be used until September 29.

Disney’s similar FY13 deal is still available for use until late September 2013.  See this.

For much more detail on the offers and their specifics and rules, see Steve’s stuff and its links beginning here.

For more on military families at Walt Disney World, see this.

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July 28, 2013   2 Comments

Disney Armed Forces Salute Renewed for 2013-2014

DISNEY MILITARY SALUTE RENEWED FOR ANOTHER FISCAL YEAR

Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com has broken the news today that the Disney Military discounts have been renewed for another year, into September 2014.

I’ll update the various material on this site related to this new deal shortly!  But for now–and always for the full details–see Steve’s post and its links here.

July 22, 2013   19 Comments

Military Discounts for Disney World’s Halloween and Christmas Parties

SPECIAL DEAL FOR AND ACCESS TO “MNSSHP” AND “MVMCP” FOR MILITARY FAMILIES

Disney World For Military FamiliesMy friend Steve has posted about military discounts on the two late 2013 Magic Kingdom special parties, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP).

For his scoop on military family deals on the Halloween Party, see this, and for his scoop on the Christmas Party, see this.

Steve has also worked with Disney staff to make sure that these parties don’t turn military families away because of being sold out. The details are in the links–and thanks, Steve!!!

MEMORIAL DAY 2013

And on Memorial Day 2013–God bless our fallen defenders…especially those from our local 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines…

From a different war, I ran across this yesterday from a soldier’s last letter to his mom:

“How often you will have me near you when wood smoke drifts across the wind, or the first tulips arrive, or the sky darkens in a summer storm… Think of me today, and in the days to come, as I am thinking of you this minute, not gone or alone or dead, but part of the earth beneath you, part of the air around you, part of the heart that must not be lonely.”

–Caleb Milne, killed in the Tunisia campaign May 11, 1943, quoted in An Army at Dawn.

Thank you, and God bless…

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May 27, 2013   No Comments

Military Families and Free Dining

My friend Steve has a great post here to help military families choose between the great deals available to them for most of September 2013 vs. the September free dining deal available to the general public.

The short version is that you need to do the math, as the final cost to you varies depending on family size, ages, and which hotel you are targeting!

Check out Steve’s post here.

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May 20, 2013   No Comments