Disney's Armed Forces Salute 2009

[pixiesmimi]

I went to our ITR and got tickets this morning. As of today, here is the latest on this. I, the spouse, could get my $99 companion ticket with my ID card but couldn't add the park hopper to it. I have to do that down at WDW when we activate the tickets. I hope they are holding to the $25 activation fee on this with the price increases. I would have felt better about doing this here. Although I had been told that I could before when I asked, I was not able to pick up my DH's free ticket without him being there or having his ID card. So he went by later and picked his up. They have to be activated by him or me (spouse) at the gate only the first day. Spouse can activate the tickets but not any other family members if Military Member isn't there. Even though I only got one companion ticket, I can go back and get 4 more if I need to, although the rules said they have to be paid for all at once. She said the rules keep changing and they are constantly updating this. The military member's SSN is tied to the tickets at the time of activation so that they can only be used for one trip. She said Disney actually publicized this discount before the military ITRs even knew about it. Sounds like they jumped the gun and are having to negotiate the rules for it as they go when things come up. Now anyone with an ID card, whether they have activation papers for NG or not, can get the tickets. There was a lot of controversy about this to begin with. Hope this helps some out there with questions on this. 18 more days! Whoo Hoo!

[pixiesmimi]

Man! Did I mess up! I meant to get our Military tickets last month and waited until this week to get them. I needed to add a one day ticket for both of us since we will be in the parks 6 days instead of 5. I knew the price of tickets had gone up and didn't even think about it until tonight. I forgot to get the extra day's ticket before the prices went up. Bummer! I'll have to go back to the ITR tomorrow to get them but now have to pay the higher price. Not cool.

[Melanie]

Here's my story - I bought Salute tickets for my niece, nephews and father-in-law, and we get to Animal Kingdom this past Monday to activate them and I realize I'd left my military ID in the room. DUH! Bless the very kind girl at the ticket window who had every right to say no, but instead activated our cards anyway. She really saved the day!

I, the spouse, could get my $99 companion ticket with my ID card but couldn't add the park hopper to it. I have to do that down at WDW when we activate the tickets.

That's strange. I wonder why? I was able to pay for the park hopper option at our ITT when I bought the tickets I mentioned above a few weeks ago.

[williabt]

We are booking a trip for my family and my parents this November. My father is a disabled vet from Vietnam and has a current ID card and privledges at our local AirForce base. Does anyone know if he will qualify for the complimentary and companion tickets and/or the 40% room discount? I wasn't sure as he's not retired after 20yrs; but is disabled and does have an ID card.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[pixiesmimi]

yes, he should qualify. The girl told me this week that anyone who had an ID card qualifies.

Don't know why they wouldn't add my park hopper at the ITT office. I have gotten them there before. She said I would have to do that at the gate. I called yesterday about the extra ticket I had to get for both of us to see what the price was and asked about a park hopper for it and she again said I would have to do that down there. That is strange to me.

[mallen12]

I have an unused one-day base pass ... can I use that to do an "upgrade" to the military 5-day pass when I get to the parks? I was hoping to use the savings to get a ticket to MNSSHP

I called Disney, but the guy was adamant that you can't upgrade because only disney can do an upgrade and the military tickets aren't sold at the park ticketing areas... but according to Disney's webpage :

"Disney's Armed Forces Salute" tickets can be obtained only at participating U.S. military base ticket offices (including at the Shades of Green Resort at the Walt Disney World® Resort), or at main entrance theme park ticket windows. Tickets are not valid until activated at the main entrance theme park ticket windows.

Am I missing something? If I can get one at the ticket window, shouldn't I be able to use my one-day pass price toward the purchase.

[pixiesmimi]

No, you can't upgrade to this ticket. This is a one time special thing for the military. The military member gets the free ticket and then can purchase up to 5 companion tickets if they wish. It isn't a normal ticket that Disney sells that you can upgrade to. They are supposed to be selling them at the gate but you can't upgrade from something else to it. It is a special purchase.

[Melanie]

Don't know why they wouldn't add my park hopper at the ITT office. I have gotten them there before. She said I would have to do that at the gate. I called yesterday about the extra ticket I had to get for both of us to see what the price was and asked about a park hopper for it and she again said I would have to do that down there. That is strange to me.

It is possible this particular ITT isn't quite sure of all the ins and outs of this promotion?

Have to relay what happened to me last week regarding this - I had purchased companion tickets a few weeks ago at my local ITT, and then we go to activate them last Monday and I had a complete brain lapse and forgotten my military ID in the room. The ticket window CM at Animal Kingdom had every right and reason to tell me no, too bad, go get your ID, etc., but bless her heart she activated them anyway.

[mallen12]

Thanks pixiesmimi for the response. I appreciate you taking the time

The military discount is such a fabulous deal, that really I should just be glad that I'll be able to take advantage of it this year.

Thanks again! I have been a long-time reader of these boards, it's been invaluable in my disney planning for the last 5 years!

[pixiesmimi]

You're welcome! We are actually going to have to buy one day tickets to add to ours because we will be there 6 days. It will cost me almost as much or more for the extra tickets as the originals. I forgot to get the extra tickets before they raised the prices.

Mel, I carry my ID with me everywhere anyway. Just a habit I got into in the military. DH wouldn't let me go anywhere without it in case I needed to get on post somewhere or something. So I even carry it with me at WDW all the time. Glad that worked out for you. I'm expecting something like that to happen to us because it would just be par for the course for Disney right now. I'm just hoping since I have to get the park hoppers down there that I will still be able to get them for $25 like originally stated and someone doesn't screw up. I am going to talk to the ITT office again this week. But, yes, they seem to be very knowledgable in the program. They are the ones that told me Disney is constantly changing the rules on this thing. That is why it scares me. I don't want our trip ruined with something happening like this.

[disneykid@hrt]

Yeah, I'm the one who posted the original question!! I couldn't find it within 4 days!

[starflyer59]

There were a few post about spouses not being able to purchase the park hopper at the military discount rate. Our ITT offered about 5 different price options for the spouse ticket.

We opted for the $97 dollar 5 day ticket for my wife.

[redlegwife96]

We went to our local military office to get the facts. The ticket for the military member (the free ticket) is a Park Hopper/Water Park ticket. The family member tickets are a base ticket for $99 each. If you want to upgrade to have Park hopping and the water parks, then it's an additional $25 each ticket (so a total of $124 per each ticket). Additionally, you can not add extra days to the ticket. It is set in stone that it is five days only. You must purchase an additional park ticket for any days beyond the initial five. You can only use the promotional offer once, then you need to buy a regular ticket. Disney has a system to keep track of the promotional tickets to ensure that no one has used the promotion more than once. You will have to show id at the turnstile and it is a paper ticket, so if you lose it you may be out of luck. Someone in the party must have a military id because you can not transfer the tickets to civilians. Also, you can not convert the ticket to be on the same key as your room or dining. For us, it wasn't a great deal once the free dining came out. We are staying 10 nights, and have a 10 day park hopper. If you are staying for five days, it's a great deal. Hope this clears up some confusion. One last tip...if you buy the ticket at a military base there is no tax but if you buy it at Shades of Green there is tax. I was told that by a SOG customer service rep.

[mudpuppysmom]

One last tip...if you buy the ticket at a military base there is no tax but if you buy it at Shades of Green there is tax. I was told that by a SOG customer service rep.

Hmmmmm, we've never paid tax at SOG before.....I'm wondering why now they are charging tax on tickets?!?!?

[MacGregorga]

Just wondering if anyone could confirm that the activation for the 5-day companion tickets at the park entrance gate only requires the service member to present an ID on the first day. After the companion tickets are activated, are military ID's required for each or the following days or at each different park? Grandad, who is purchasing the tickets at close to 90 years of age, is in amazing shape but not quite up for 5 full days of non stop Magic. Also, do the tickets have to be used immediately when they are activated? Can they be activated the night before you plan to start using the 5-day tickets?

[pixiesmimi]

There were a few post about spouses not being able to purchase the park hopper at the military discount rate. Our ITT offered about 5 different price options for the spouse ticket.

We opted for the $97 dollar 5 day ticket for my wife.

That surprises me. Ours only had one option for $99. They said I would have to do the PH upgrade at WDW. I'm going back today though to see if someone else is there that might know more. I didn't get a paper ticket. I got a card ticket as did my DH on his free one.

[pixiesmimi]

Just wondering if anyone could confirm that the activation for the 5-day companion tickets at the park entrance gate only requires the service member to present an ID on the first day. After the companion tickets are activated, are military ID's required for each or the following days or at each different park? Grandad, who is purchasing the tickets at close to 90 years of age, is in amazing shape but not quite up for 5 full days of non stop Magic. Also, do the tickets have to be used immediately when they are activated? Can they be activated the night before you plan to start using the 5-day tickets?

If the spouse (spouse only) has an ID card, they can activate the tickets at the gate. I'm not sure if you have to have your ID each day to get in (I would carry it anyway, just in case) but once it is activated, that is it. I think you activate it the first day you start. Not sure if you can do it the night before you use it. I think once they are bought, they are good until Dec. 23rd. But don't know if you have a certain time to use them once they are activated. Melanie might know. She just used hers.

[pixiesmimi]

I just got back from our ITT office. I asked them again why I couldn't get a park hopper companion ticket there instead of having to get it at the gate. She said they didn't have that. I told her that other ITT offices did and also had 5 different tickets. She said some bases have different tickets from them. Not logical. She said you could get them at Shades of Green. I went to get extra one day tickets for us since we are going to be there 7 days. She tried to talk me out of buying the extra tickets because "there were other things to do around there". Again, I told her we already had our trip and ADRs booked and I was going to get another ticket for one day and would she please sell it to me. Then she tried to talk me into buying another companion ticket (since we had only bought one) and it would be good until Dec. if we didn't use it. I told her we weren't going back before Dec. and DH needed one too. Two $99 tickets would be more than two one day tickets. What is wrong with this whole picture? Dumb travel agent or are they just trying to push something?

[pixiesmimi]

Just wondering if anyone could confirm that the activation for the 5-day companion tickets at the park entrance gate only requires the service member to present an ID on the first day. After the companion tickets are activated, are military ID's required for each or the following days or at each different park? Grandad, who is purchasing the tickets at close to 90 years of age, is in amazing shape but not quite up for 5 full days of non stop Magic. Also, do the tickets have to be used immediately when they are activated? Can they be activated the night before you plan to start using the 5-day tickets?

Oh yeah, I was told yesterday that either the service member or the spouse can activate the tickets at the gate and after first activation, you don't have to show id at the turnstiles nor does the military member or spouse need to be with them the following days.

[starflyer59]

We got our tickets at the NAS Jax ITT office in Jacksonville Fl. They had a sheet of paper that went over all the rules for Salute to the Military and on the back it listed the different companion tickests that could be purchased. I wish I had it with me but I remember.

5 Day Ticket $97
5 Day Park Hopper $129
5 Day Park Hopper with water parks was something like $170+

There were also two other ticket choices that I just cannot remember at this time.

If you are driving to Disney and coming down I-95 then you go right by the Navy base if you take the I-295 by-pass. It might be worth stopping by there and taking a look at their tickets.


We leave in the morning! Oh yes!!!!