Official 2012/2013 Disney Military Promotion - Updated Post #187

[serene56]

They announced in early July last year I believe. It should be very soon. I'm hoping they announce discounts for rooms soon myself.

i am waiting too. ''''are there black out dates for the military room promotions?

 

[shburks]

i am waiting too. ''''are there black out dates for the military room promotions?

Generally yes. They have changed a bit over the years, but this year there were dates blocked off around Christmas (i think 24 Dec-1 Jan), two weeks around Easter for spring break and 4th of July (maybe on MK for 4th of July). The other dates I believe neither the tickets nor the resort discount were eligible for that period.

 

[Steve TLT]

They announced in early July last year I believe. It should be very soon. I'm hoping they announce discounts for rooms soon myself.

Last year the announcement/press release was on 8 August. I've been told it will be at least 3 more weeks before I hear something..

 

[kramerzoo]

Apologize if this has been asked before...we are going in August and with all this talk about the new Fast Pass system, does this mean either no more Salute ticket options OR miss out on fast passes???
So...does anyone know or heard rumors of how this will affect us military members??
TIA for the help!

 

[ginnygi]

I've been through most of this thread, and read Chesire's summary (THANKS!) but I just want to confirm a few things.

Here is the summary:

~ DB arrives on a Monday - SSR
~ He will pick up Salute Tickets from SoG on Monday
~ DB will go to Park on Tuesday with his family, activating 5 tickets
~ Our Dad will arrive Tuesday evening
~ We have 8:05 ADR at CP on Wednesday morning

IF DB purchases a total of 6 Salute tickets for himself, his family, and our Dad, I just want to confirm that:

1.) DB can activate a Salute ticket for Dad after he arrives even though he won't be there when the first 5 were activated

2.) [Assuming #1 is true] If Dad's flight is delayed, and they can't activate the ticket at DtD on Tuesday night, they will still be able to activate it around 7:30 at MK gate, well before our early ADR.

3.) Dad can go to a park with me one day without DB

TIA

1. Yes. We did this on our last trip
2. Yes.
3. Yes. DB must be with your father the very first time he uses ticket to activate. After that he does not have to be present.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Apologize if this has been asked before...we are going in August and with all this talk about the new Fast Pass system, does this mean either no more Salute ticket options OR miss out on fast passes???
So...does anyone know or heard rumors of how this will affect us military members??
TIA for the help!

FP+ has not been rolled out to everyone yet, and there's no reason at this point to think it will be by August. The Salute tickets are still for sale up until the end of September, and you will be able to use FP with them.

As for how FP+ will be handled with the AFS tickets, I don't know. I will be including questions about that to Disney when I e-mail them about FP+, though.

 

[Steve TLT]

FP+ has not been rolled out to everyone yet, and there's no reason at this point to think it will be by August. The Salute tickets are still for sale up until the end of September, and you will be able to use FP with them.

As for how FP+ will be handled with the AFS tickets, I don't know. I will be including questions about that to Disney when I e-mail them about FP+, though.

I've had a query out to WDW Media Relations for 2 months now on their expected integration of the RFID tickets, KTTW, My Disney Experience, and the FastPass+ with the Disney Armed Forces Salute, but they have been unable to give me anything yet.

I think they are just too far behind where they thought they'd be. They keep beta testing at one resort here and there, must not be working well.

Just a guess, I'd say 2014 at least before we see the whole system for the general public.

Fingers crossed for the military community. For example: How will someone staying at SoG and planning to buy their AFS tickets once there be able to use the whole system. Shades can't even get the magical express or free theme park parking.

 

[kramerzoo]

I've had a query out to WDW Media Relations for 2 months now on their expected integration of the RFID tickets, KTTW, My Disney Experience, and the FastPass+ with the Disney Armed Forces Salute, but they have been unable to give me anything yet.

I think they are just too far behind where they thought they'd be. They keep beta testing at one resort here and there, must not be working well.

Just a guess, I'd say 2014 at least before we see the whole system for the general public.

Fingers crossed for the military community. For example: How will someone staying at SoG and planning to buy their AFS tickets once there be able to use the whole system. Shades can't even get the magical express or free theme park parking.

Thanks for the update! Guess we will just have to wait and see....

 

[Momof6]

Hello, We are going to be at WDW staying at SOG for 10 days. There are 4 of us (dh, me, 2 dds who are adults). Trying to figure out our best ticketing option.

- I understand that my dh can purchase 6 discount/promo tickets. Can the same person use 2 of these, to equal 8 days admission for that person?

- We could then buy the Magic Your Way ticket for one other person, and still have a pretty good rate on that.

- Would that work??? Any glitches with activating tickets, since we would be activating 3 and then another 3 four days later?

Maybe I've just been thinking about this too long, but it's starting to not make sense anymore!

Thanks for any and all help! I started reading through the thread and found myself getting more and more confused. I'm probably tired....


denise

 

[Angel Ariel]

Shades can't even get the magical express or free theme park parking.

It would be nice if Disney would decide whether SoG is really considered on-site or not. They dangle a few perks, but not all...I can deal without the dining plan, but ME and the free parking would be fantastic (esp. since there's already a parking fee for SoG itself).

 

[Steve TLT]

It would be nice if Disney would decide whether SoG is really considered on-site or not. They dangle a few perks, but not all...I can deal without the dining plan, but ME and the free parking would be fantastic (esp. since there's already a parking fee for SoG itself).

I agree totally!

 

[Momof6]

Well, it would mostly be nice if they decided SoG WAS an on-site. Let's face it, if they decided it was not on-site we would lose some nice perks (emh for one).

 

[Steve TLT]

Hello, We are going to be at WDW staying at SOG for 10 days. There are 4 of us (dh, me, 2 dds who are adults). Trying to figure out our best ticketing option.

- I understand that my dh can purchase 6 discount/promo tickets. Can the same person use 2 of these, to equal 8 days admission for that person?

- We could then buy the Magic Your Way ticket for one other person, and still have a pretty good rate on that.

- Would that work??? Any glitches with activating tickets, since we would be activating 3 and then another 3 four days later?

Maybe I've just been thinking about this too long, but it's starting to not make sense anymore!

Thanks for any and all help! I started reading through the thread and found myself getting more and more confused. I'm probably tired....


denise

Hi Momof6,

Yes you can use the Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets back to back. So for the fourth person you could get an 8-day MYW ticket from Shades of Green or your base ITT for $313 basic, or $371 hopper.

 

[Momof6]

Thanks so much! I thought that would work - but I know in the past there were all kinds of scenarios that played out for people.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Well, it would mostly be nice if they decided SoG WAS an on-site. Let's face it, if they decided it was not on-site we would lose some nice perks (emh for one).

Lol, well yes But the half and half is annoying...if we're on site enough for EMH, we should be on site enough for ME and parking too!

 

[melissabryant]

I'm sure that this has been asked but I have been reading a lot on the boards tonight and I think that my mind has been scrambled as much as the eggs at Chef Mickeys. (totally subbed to this thread btw. So much helpful info for a military spouse!)

My DH and I already have our pkg booked at PORS for Dec for 8 days but only with a 5 day ticket w/ PH only. From what I am understanding, if and hopefully when they announce the new military discount for tix, I can downgrade my current tix to a 2 day. Then once I arrive on property, use my tix once and then upgrade to the military tix? But then they will no longer be associated with my Magic Band (or RFID if they still are not out of Beta testing in Dec- which I personally don't think that they will be.)

How many days would the military tix probably be? And would we still just end up with 5 days? Also, would we have to have both PH AND WP or would we be able just to have PH. Being how it is Dec and my DH's first visit, he doesn't really want to visit the WP. (That and I saw that TL is going to be refurbed and I prefer that of BB.)

Also, if they offer the Military RO discount again, can that be upgraded to a package with dining? When I previously worked as a CM in CRO, it was actually the first year that they were starting to offer the military RO discount, and at that time it could be upgraded to a pkg w/ dining, just no tix. They had to be purchased separately. So I was just wondering if they continued that or not.

I know that these are a lot of questions and that they have not yet even announced the military discounts yet or not, but I am just trying to find the most economical route for us.

TIA for anyone who can answer all of my questions considering the fact they haven't even announced the new discounts yet.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I'm sure that this has been asked but I have been reading a lot on the boards tonight and I think that my mind has been scrambled as much as the eggs at Chef Mickeys. (totally subbed to this thread btw. So much helpful info for a military spouse!)

My DH and I already have our pkg booked at PORS for Dec for 8 days but only with a 5 day ticket w/ PH only. From what I am understanding, if and hopefully when they announce the new military discount for tix, I can downgrade my current tix to a 2 day. Then once I arrive on property, use my tix once and then upgrade to the military tix? But then they will no longer be associated with my Magic Band (or RFID if they still are not out of Beta testing in Dec- which I personally don't think that they will be.)

How many days would the military tix probably be? And would we still just end up with 5 days? Also, would we have to have both PH AND WP or would we be able just to have PH. Being how it is Dec and my DH's first visit, he doesn't really want to visit the WP. (That and I saw that TL is going to be refurbed and I prefer that of BB.)

Also, if they offer the Military RO discount again, can that be upgraded to a package with dining? When I previously worked as a CM in CRO, it was actually the first year that they were starting to offer the military RO discount, and at that time it could be upgraded to a pkg w/ dining, just no tix. They had to be purchased separately. So I was just wondering if they continued that or not.

I know that these are a lot of questions and that they have not yet even announced the military discounts yet or not, but I am just trying to find the most economical route for us.

TIA for anyone who can answer all of my questions considering the fact they haven't even announced the new discounts yet.

Yes, you could down-grade to a 2-day ticket to get the free dining, then upgrade it to a Military Salute ticket if one exists. However, you'd only have the 4 days of the Military Salute ticket (if the same offering continues, it's just 4 days). The trade-in would mean you'd used one of the MS ticket days. If you're there for 8 days, 4 park days may not be enough (it wouldn't be for my family). However, if you got the WP and PH days, you'd have 4 entrances to the WP and DisneyQuest or a round of golf or mini-golf, so you might could stretch out the admissions to fill up your trip. Being December, it may not be warm enough for the water parks, though.

You can get the military discount on a room (this year, 30% Value, 35% Mod, 40% Deluxe) and add on a dining plan at cost, making a ticketless package. You could go that route, then buy whatever tickets you think you'll need for your entire stay. You need to do the math to figure out what your best deal is and how you'll get the most bang for your buck.

 

[disney-inspired]

You can get the military discount on a room (this year, 30% Value, 35% Mod, 40% Deluxe) and add on a dining plan at cost, making a ticketless package. You could go that route, then buy whatever tickets you think you'll need for your entire stay. You need to do the math to figure out what your best deal is and how you'll get the most bang for your buck.

Thanks for the dining plan confirmation. I was researching it online and found conflicting answers.

 

[melissabryant]

Yes, you could down-grade to a 2-day ticket to get the free dining, then upgrade it to a Military Salute ticket if one exists. However, you'd only have the 4 days of the Military Salute ticket (if the same offering continues, it's just 4 days). The trade-in would mean you'd used one of the MS ticket days. If you're there for 8 days, 4 park days may not be enough (it wouldn't be for my family). However, if you got the WP and PH days, you'd have 4 entrances to the WP and DisneyQuest or a round of golf or mini-golf, so you might could stretch out the admissions to fill up your trip. Being December, it may not be warm enough for the water parks, though.

You can get the military discount on a room (this year, 30% Value, 35% Mod, 40% Deluxe) and add on a dining plan at cost, making a ticketless package. You could go that route, then buy whatever tickets you think you'll need for your entire stay. You need to do the math to figure out what your best deal is and how you'll get the most bang for your buck.

Thanks for the conformation on that. Like I said I know that is how it was dine because I had booked it for guests before but I hadnt seen any info on it since I became a military wife. Because we want to have a five day tix I may need to see if dropping to the 2 day minimum and purchasing a separate military tix but I will have to do the math. I actually thinks it costs more to do it that way. Of course this is all dependant on what they are going to offer.

 

[IlluminatedAttic]

Okay, read through the whole thread and want to be sure I'm making the best decision here. (Thanks so much for all the great info!) We're taking the whole family to WDW in Sept. - 8 adults, 6 kids, 1 infant. Everyone else will be there for one week and we're staying off site. Our family (2A, 2C, 1 infant) will then spend a couple of days at other attractions and then check-in to Fort Wilderness for about another week. During that week we want to be able to go to a major park at least two more times and possibly a waterpark again as well, but we plan to enjoy the other offerings at FW and make other excursions off site.

So, for the first week my father (retired Army) has purchased 6 Salute tickets and my husband (retired AF) can purchase four more for the remaining family members. The question is what to do for our family. Purchase two adult salute and two child MYW tickets for the first week and then, after checking in at FW purchase tickets at SOG for the rest of our stay? Can we wait a couple of days after checking-in, go to Sea World and such first, and then purchase for only the last few days? Or does the ticket have to match the entire length of our stay on site?

I've done the math several times and, due to the break in the middle, the expiration date of the MYW tix and such, I keep coming back to getting annual passes at SOG for our family being the most cost effective option, even though I highly doubt we will be back within a year. Does this sound right? How long does the process take and do we all need to be there to purchase or can my DH go on his own? Any reason this would separate us from the others, in lines or such, at the parks that first week?

Thanks so much for you help!