Activated Military Tickets Bought at Shades

[goingthedistance]

I know if we purchase the Armed Forces Salute tickets locally that we need to activate them with all persons present at guest relations at Disney World. If we buy the Salute tickets at Shades, they are already active. My question is, does the entire party need to be present at Shades when the tickets are bought, or could my sponsor (my mother-in-law is retired Air Force) purchase all of the tickets on her own and then I link them to magic bands later? Does Shades link the tickets to MDE profiles when they are purchased? We could be having different members of our party arriving on different days so I am trying to work out logistics. Thank you.

 

[Quellman]

Shades of Green does not link anything in MDE. You would need to do that with the number on the back of the ticket, just like you would do for any ticket media. This means you will be locked out of making your Fast Pass plus reservations since you will not have ticket media associated with your account. I cannot comment if Shades of Green requires all persons present at the time of pick up. I do not think it is required because if for example you only had 2 people, each person could get 3 tickets and then have 12 days of touring.

If at all possible procure the armed forces salute vouchers or ticket media in advance. You can link those to the My Disney Experience and be able to use the Fast Pass+ booking windows.

 

[eagles]

So if you get the ticket from SOG (which I did in advance) we do NOT need to have them activated at GR? We just go straight to a turnstile and scan finger?

 

[edk35]

Unless things changed....SOG does not activate. You still have to go to GS. That might have changed recently though. We get them at our military base here and we still have to activate at the gate. I know you can get your SOG tickets via email so you can get your numbers and get your fast passes 30 days in advance.

 

[lisa1529]

We bought tickets at SOG last Dec and they were active, my husband ran in and purchased them, myself and the kids did not go in. As soon as in hand we did our fastpasses, good to go.

 

[Naterfan]

From what I've read on the military themed Disney site, the SoG tickets are pre-activated and you should have them in hand about 45 days before your trip. They also send you the ticket numbers via e-mail upon purchase. But to answer your question, you can purchase the tickets over the phone and have them mailed...no need to have everyone present.

 

[eagles]

Just took a second look at my tickets. There is a note inside of envelope:
"These Armed Forces Salute tickets purchased with Shades of Green are the actual ticket. Please proceed to the gates for entry. Walt Disney World retains the right to request Military Identification. Please be prepared to provide such identificaiton upon request.

 

[capegirl]

I'm wondering if there has been a change since we purchased our last Military Salute tickets from SOG in 2015, because at the time we did have to activate the tickets. Now I know that you can have the tickets mailed to you, but what about Military Salute tickets ordered through SOG, and picked up at desk when checking in.... do these tickets still need to be activated?

 

[Naterfan]

Probably best just to call to get the full, correct answer:

SHADES OF GREEN ATTRACTION TICKET SALES
Open Daily from 8 am to 7pm
Office: 407-824-1403 Fax: 407-824-2100
www.shadesofgreen.org

 

[eagles]

It appears the Salute tickets are already activated.

 

[capegirl]

It appears the Salute tickets are already activated.

I am hoping this is true: it would be a giant step forward for SOG!! We are grateful that Disney offers the discounted Salute tickets, but we've always dreaded the wait in line at Guest Relations to have them activated. Considering that all adults had to show ID, and we had to provide names and DOB for the children, I am very surprised that Disney no longer requires activation.

 

[PSULion]

I am hoping this is true: it would be a giant step forward for SOG!! We are grateful that Disney offers the discounted Salute tickets, but we've always dreaded the wait in line at Guest Relations to have them activated. Considering that all adults had to show ID, and we had to provide names and DOB for the children, I am very surprised that Disney no longer requires activation.

It's true, although I don't feel like it's a good change or a step forward. This makes it much easier to cheat the system. A military member can buy 6 activated tickets, and then give them (or sell them!) to anyone they want. That's not really within the spirit of how the discount should be used. I'll gladly spend a few minutes activating our tickets if it prevents abuse of the system. I don't really understand why Disney has allowed this change.


OP - You should not all need to be present at purchase, seeing as SOG will mail them out. Your MIL should be able to walk in and buy as many as 6 activated tickets. Then she can mail them to you, or just give you the ticket numbers and you can link them to whoever you want in MDE.

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

We stayed at SOG in April. We received a ticket order form from SOG 40 days or so before our reservation date. We received an email within 72 hours of emailing the completed forms back to SOG, and that email had pictures of our tickets which we scanned into the my disney experience app and we were able to book our fast passes 30 days before our arrival.

When we checked in we were given the plastic tickets that we used to get into the parks. They did not need to be activated.

I'm not sure if others in your party can use the military tickets on different days than the sponsor. I suspect they can't. You could call SOG and explain your situation. I have called them with questions in the past, and they are very helpful.

 

[capegirl]

It's true, although I don't feel like it's a good change or a step forward. This makes it much easier to cheat the system. A military member can buy 6 activated tickets, and then give them (or sell them!) to anyone they want. That's not really within the spirit of how the discount should be used. I'll gladly spend a few minutes activating our tickets if it prevents abuse of the system. I don't really understand why Disney has allowed this change.
.

Well silly me. I was so excited to hear that the tickets no longer have to be activated, I obviously did not think this through. After considering that people could indeed find a way to take advantage of the situation, I'm really shocked that they've instituted this new policy.
Must be about saving Disney time and money, they seem to be cutting corners lately.

 

[sunflare]

Well silly me. I was so excited to hear that the tickets no longer have to be activated, I obviously did not think this through. After considering that people could indeed find a way to take advantage of the situation, I'm really shocked that they've instituted this new policy.
Must be about saving Disney time and money, they seem to be cutting corners lately.

I really don't think this is an issue. The CMs may be trained to ask for the military member ID on first use of a ticket (which I'm pretty sure they can tell). If a military member isn't with the person who's using the ticket, Disney has the right to turn the person away.

 

[PSULion]

I really don't think this is an issue. The CMs may be trained to ask for the military member ID on first use of a ticket (which I'm pretty sure they can tell). If a military member isn't with the person who's using the ticket, Disney has the right to turn the person away.

I have no idea what the cms are trained to do... But I can say with certainty that we never showed any military ID at the gate. Neither have several other military families we know. The only time we needed ID was to purchase the tickets through the mail. Once SOG mailed them to me I could have given them to anyone I wanted.

I don't think it's a HUGE issue, bc not many people will figure it out, and each military member can still only buy 6 a year. But the potential is there, and I can't understand why Disney now allows SOG to mail out activated tickets.

 

[TeamH5]

I thought that the member only had to be present at activation?
After that they could go their separate ways if they wanted to?

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

When we were there in April we never showed an ID in the park. 3 members of our party went to a different park than the sponsor on the first day, and they had no problem.

 

[sunflare]

I have no idea what the cms are trained to do... But I can say with certainty that we never showed any military ID at the gate. Neither have several other military families we know. The only time we needed ID was to purchase the tickets through the mail. Once SOG mailed them to me I could have given them to anyone I wanted.

I don't think it's a HUGE issue, bc not many people will figure it out, and each military member can still only buy 6 a year. But the potential is there, and I can't understand why Disney now allows SOG to mail out activated tickets.

Oh, that's very interesting. Now, granted, I've only used the tickets on the west coast, but even though we bought ours at the ticket booth, we still had to show ID for the military sponsor when we first entered. But then, we don't have the FP+ issue, either. I seem to recall there being a huge outrage over the fact that the Salute tickets couldn't do FP+ at first because they weren't activated yet like other third party tickets were, so maybe that was the trade off so that Disney didn't make people mad. It is a rather small, but very important, subset of their visitors a year, I would think.

 

[capegirl]

Oh, that's very interesting. Now, granted, I've only used the tickets on the west coast, but even though we bought ours at the ticket booth, we still had to show ID for the military sponsor when we first entered. But then, we don't have the FP+ issue, either. I seem to recall there being a huge outrage over the fact that the Salute tickets couldn't do FP+ at first because they weren't activated yet like other third party tickets were, so maybe that was the trade off so that Disney didn't make people mad. It is a rather small, but very important, subset of their visitors a year, I would think.

The tickets did not have to be activated in order to use FP+. All you need is the actual ticket number to link the tickets in MDE. The big problem revolved around the ability to actually purchase the tickets prior to the 60/30 day mark so you could make your FPs. Thank goodness they were able to resolve this issue.