GAD + Military Salute Tickets?

[Cheshire Figment]

I think this has to do with Annual Passes, Florida Resident Dream Passes, and Armed Forces Salute Tickets having a specific validity period and are not subject to the normal 14 day after first use limitations. It is the regular MYW tickets which expire 14 days after first use that has the need that the GAD be used first; this is to prevent a person from using the GAD voucher for an immediate upgrade to a MYW ticket and then saving that ticket, unused, for a future trip.

 

[mommyintn]

That was my understanding also, but we just did this on Sunday and did not have to enter the park to validate our GAD vouchers. We went to IG and asked to have our GAD vouchers used towarad a military salute ticket. My mil is a retired military widow and accompanied us to the IG entrance. She did not want to get a ticket for herself and did not have to. We also have a 5 yr. old who did not qualify for GAD. So, we exchanged our four GAD vouchers for four one day tickets, the tickets were then voided and credited toward our military salute tickets, and then we purchased a military salute ticket for our daughter. We added park hopper to our 4 day tickets. Saved us over $1000 on tickets!!! Absolutely amazing.

We had a great trip with great weather. Low humidity and cool temps. Stayed at the Beach Club Resort for 3 nights and had fun with our 4 day tickets. Thanks for the great info on where to go and what to do to get our tickets straight, everyone!

Thanks for sharing your experience! I think it is great that Disney is offering this to the military. Ahhh...the Beach Club I bet it was heaven, I'd love to stay there!

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Can I make sure this is correct:

We have 2 GAD vouchers. We will need 4 military salute tickets.

Can we buy 2 MIL S. tickets at SOG, then upgrade the 2 GAD at a park ticket window to MIL S. tickets? 2 transactions? I hate to mess this up and blow it! If this won't work we can just buy/upgrade all 4 at ticket window.

I know people are asking similar things on this thread, but not sure this one has been answered!

 

[Ash&Wes07]

Can I make sure this is correct:

We have 2 GAD vouchers. We will need 4 military salute tickets.

Can we buy 2 MIL S. tickets at SOG, then upgrade the 2 GAD at a park ticket window to MIL S. tickets? 2 transactions? I hate to mess this up and blow it! If this won't work we can just buy/upgrade all 4 at ticket window.

I know people are asking similar things on this thread, but not sure this one has been answered!

You can purchase the Military Salute tickets at the ticket windows, you just have to pay tax. If you're staying at SOG or the Poly, then it's not a big deal to buy the 2 tickets at SOG and save on tax. If you don't have a car or aren't staying at those properties, it'll probably take you more time to go get the 2 paid tickets at SOG and it might not feel "worth it" to save that tax cost.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

You can purchase the Military Salute tickets at the ticket windows, you just have to pay tax. If you're staying at SOG or the Poly, then it's not a big deal to buy the 2 tickets at SOG and save on tax. If you don't have a car or aren't staying at those properties, it'll probably take you more time to go get the 2 paid tickets at SOG and it might not feel "worth it" to save that tax cost.

Thanks, we always stay at a Disney resort and often get our tickets at SOG. We are 4 hours away and always drive. We "may" be at the Poly and would have time the first day.

It is only $14 (tax) we are talking about, but was just wondering if 2 transactions were allowed in this case. I also hope we can exchange the 2 vouchers into military salute tickets at the Ticket window and don't have to wait, use, and go inside to exchange.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Thanks, we always stay at a Disney resort and often get our tickets at SOG. We are 4 hours away and always drive. We "may" be at the Poly and would have time the first day.

It is only $14 (tax) we are talking about, but was just wondering if 2 transactions were allowed in this case. I also hope we can exchange the 2 vouchers into military salute tickets at the Ticket window and don't have to wait, use, and go inside to exchange.

Does anyone know for a fact if we can buy 2 Military Salute tickets at SOG and then upgrade two GAD vouchers for 2 more MS tickets at a park? This is for the 4 of us.
Thanks.

 

[mommyintn]

Does anyone know for a fact if we can buy 2 Military Salute tickets at SOG and then upgrade two GAD vouchers for 2 more MS tickets at a park? This is for the 4 of us.
Thanks.

Hopefully someone else will chime in on this but my understanding is that you can. The military person can purchase up to 6 tickets during this promotion, so it wouldn't matter if they purchased 2 at SOG and then 2 (upgrading with GAD) at the park.

 

[ttree]

I would love to hear from someone who really knows, but I have read that all tickets must be purchased at the same time?

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

I would love to hear from someone who really knows, but I have read that all tickets must be purchased at the same time?

Since no one seems to know for sure, I think we will just do the exchanges and make the purchases all at once at the park ticket window. Rather be safe than sorry in this case!

In the past, it was worth it to save almost $30 in tax at SOG for the 4 of us, but with 2 it is not as big a deal.

 

[princesspiglet]

Does anyone know if you can upgrade your GAD voucher to the military ticket at SOG? We plan on buying our tickets there and want to use our GAD vouchers to upgrade.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Does anyone know if you can upgrade your GAD voucher to the military ticket at SOG? We plan on buying our tickets there and want to use our GAD vouchers to upgrade.

GAD vouchers can only be redeemed at the four main parks. You would need to redeem your vouchers at will call for one day tickets, then upgrade those tickets to the military salute tickets. The day you redeem your voucher would be your first day of park admission.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

SoG does not have the capability of upgrading non-military tickets. If you want to upgrade a GAD ticket it can only be done at a Park (including water park or TTC) ticket window or Guest Relations Office.

 

[Melknor]

We are recently back from our trip. We did our transaction at AK before park opening. Went to will call and turned in our GAd and told the CM we wanted to apply it to the military salute ticket. She checked with another person who told her it was Ok and she processed the GAD, then had to void that ticket and apply to the military ticket (to which we added the WPM option). We then had to purchase a ticket for DS4 as a separate transaction. In all I think it took 20-30 minutes for all of it. We were there in plenty of time before opening and still had a few minutes to wait for the park.

Make sure you plan enough time when you do this at the parks in the morning.

Enjoy your trips. Due to an upcoming deployment, I don't know when we will get to go back.

 

[mommyintn]

We are recently back from our trip. We did our transaction at AK before park opening. Went to will call and turned in our GAd and told the CM we wanted to apply it to the military salute ticket. She checked with another person who told her it was Ok and she processed the GAD, then had to void that ticket and apply to the military ticket (to which we added the WPM option). We then had to purchase a ticket for DS4 as a separate transaction. In all I think it took 20-30 minutes for all of it. We were there in plenty of time before opening and still had a few minutes to wait for the park.

Make sure you plan enough time when you do this at the parks in the morning.

Enjoy your trips. Due to an upcoming deployment, I don't know when we will get to go back.

Thanks so much for this!! We are doing this for our upcoming trip and I was wondering how long it would take, now I know to add some padding onto our rope drop time.

 

[buffyscrubs]

I don't want to use our GAD tickets if we can't upgrade them to the MIL for the difference.

 

[jthornton94]

It has been confirmed that you can upgrade the GAD to the military ticket, but you can only do it at the parks, not SOG or local bases.

 

[iluvdiscruises]

What proof do you bring with you? I will be traveling with my dad who has an honorable discharge paper from the army. Does that qualify?

 

[mommyintn]

What proof do you bring with you? I will be traveling with my dad who has an honorable discharge paper from the army. Does that qualify?

My dad went with us, he is retired and had to show his military i.d. If you're dad is eligible for military benefits he should have an i.d. and bring it with him. I'm not sure about discharge papers. My dh was in the Navy for a total of 3 months and got a discharge due to health issues but he's not considered a veteran of the armed services and doesn't receive any benefit from his limited time in the military. My guess would be he needs to have I.D. card.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

To activate the Military Salute Tickets a person mush have either a military ID card which shows active duty or retired or a Dependent ID Card (DD Form 1173) which indicates "Spouse" or "Unremarried Widow" in the sponsorship block. Just having discharge papers is not sufficient.

 

[iluvdiscruises]

To activate the Military Salute Tickets a person mush have either a military ID card which shows active duty or retired or a Dependent ID Card (DD Form 1173) which indicates "Spouse" or "Unremarried Widow" in the sponsorship block. Just having discharge papers is not sufficient.

Thank you so much for the quick replies!