Military discount and trip planning

[Bobsmom]

Hi all, looks like we are planning a trip for the first week of August and I wanted to know if anyone had personal experience using the Armed Forces Salute discount. My mom is a 100% permanently disabled veteran so she appears to be eligible, and from what I understand she would be able to buy all our tickets in advance at Ft. Carson before we go to CA. Does anyone know if it's possible to add additional days to the tickets or are they only available as 3 day-ers?

If you are booking a DLR hotel do you have to call or can you do it online, and when you check in do they have to validate it with military ID? I ask because my son and I are flying in from MO and she is driving with my brother from CO, but knowing my mom she can be a bit...tardy, so I want to know if we'll be allowed to check in to the hotel without her in case something happens and she's late.

She is not a planner or organizer by nature and I am super type-A (I LOVED planning our WDW trip last spring break, spreadsheets and touringplans were my bffs) so I anticipate we might butt heads a bit about logistics. My son and I will be ride-oriented and my mom is more of a stop and smell the roses kind of gal...but she grew up in SOCAL with DL as her playground so this is also a nostalgia trip for her.

I'm looking at Paradise Pier for our hotel, with the 30% discount it is priced just a bit above comparable off-site hotels (hojo, tropicana) for our dates, and then we would get EMH, since we lose the MM by getting the military tickets. The huge discount in ticket prices would make up for the increased cost of staying on-site.

I would also like to take a moment to harrumph about the lack of magic bands and fp+ because I will be the person who ends up responsible for the physical maintenance of all these bits of paper for my group.

 

[lalasmama]

You cannot add days to the Salute tickets. Depending on how many days you would like to stay, and how many people in your party, she can buy up to 6 Salute tickets, meaning 3 people could get 6 days (i.e., two 3-day tickets).

 

[DLgal]

Also, a military ID card will be required at check in time. You will not be able to check-in without her there. And, the tickets can be purchased at DL gates. There is no benefit to buying them ahead of time. Your mother will also have to be present for the "first" entry into the parks. She will need to show her ID.

 

[Bobsmom]

That is helpful, thank you! We will go ahead and plan to buy them on Saturday when we arrive, then, since we won't hit the parks until Sunday. That's one less thing she will have to do which will make her happy!

 

[bellazachmom]

Here's my experience as an Active Duty military dependent:

1. Tickets ~ There are 2 types of military discount tickets ~ (1) the military salute ticket that is for 3 days only, can be purchased at DL or on base and MUST be activated by an eligible purchaser. You can not add days to these tickets. So in your case your mom would need to be present to purchase and activate them and then you can all use them independently. (2) Discounted tickets that must be purchased at an ITT / MWR facility. They can only be purchased by an eligible person but can be gifted to and used by anyone. These can be for any number of days, up to 5, and are cheaper than purchasing at the gate but are not nearly as good of a deal as the military salute tickets.

2. Rooms ~ rooms can only be booked with a military discount via phone. The discount is not available online. The person booking the room, or their representative, will need to hold an eligible ID card. If there are other members of the party who are not eligible for the discount but ARE listed on the room reservation, they will be allowed to check in upon arrival even if it is before the military ID card holder. However, to keep the discounted room rate, the ID card holder must check in at some point that day. I know this for a fact as I have booked a room for a friend and myself using the military rate. She flew in and was at the hotel by 9:30 AM. I was driving down from northern California and didn't arrive until late afternoon. She had already checked in, gotten her room key and received the text with our room number by the time I arrived. I showed up and headed to the front desk where my ID was verified and I was given my key.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!