Military perks or a PIN?

[granada94]

Like many of us, I'm still waiting for Disney to send me a PIN or announce the deals for Aug 2012. My husband is retired military and we've never taken advantage of the perks offered in all our years of traveling to WDW. I've called to look into pricing and was surprised to hear that some of our favorite resorts (POFQ, WL) do not have rooms available at military rates for our travel dates - Aug 6-16.

So... I'm torn between booking with the military discount or booking with (fingers crossed) nothing in hopes of August deals which I can redo my reservations.

Has anyone every used the military perks for lodging and/ or tickets. Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated. THANK YOU!

 

[21hearts]

We've always used the Military discounts when we stayed on site. To use it ends up being cheaper then any public/Florida resident discounts. I've never received a pin so I don't hold out for one.

You could always book with the military discount & if something better comes along change your reservation.

 

[cm8]

Like many of us, I'm still waiting for Disney to send me a PIN or announce the deals for Aug 2012. My husband is retired military and we've never taken advantage of the perks offered in all our years of traveling to WDW. I've called to look into pricing and was surprised to hear that some of our favorite resorts (POFQ, WL) do not have rooms available at military rates for our travel dates - Aug 6-16.

So... I'm torn between booking with the military discount or booking with (fingers crossed) nothing in hopes of August deals which I can redo my reservations.

Has anyone every used the military perks for lodging and/ or tickets. Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated. THANK YOU!

We have and it does serve it's purpose I think all the good ones might be taken but you could try to see what hotels are available and go from there. Also people do cancel from time to time so maybe you'll luck up and get what you want I would still take advantage of the tickets though if they fit your needs!!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We've taken advantage of the military resort deals at least 5 times in the last 2 1/2 years. The rates are better than the AP and FL resident deals we could have gotten. Another nice thing was that we were able to get rooms for family members traveling with us at the military price, which we couldn't do with the AP rate or FL resident rate. We have also done the military room + dining package several times, adding either the QSDP or regular DDP to our military-rate room without having to add tickets to the package (paying regular price for the dining, of course).

Even if you can't get your first-choice resort, you could try a new one, or even do a split-stay pretty painlessly and try out one new resort and return to a favorite.

The military tickets are a great deal, too. For additional savings, ask your local base's ITT/MWR if they have the tickets or can order them for you. Then you don't pay sales tax, and sometimes even get a discount of a few dollars.

 

[uk_wildcat]

We used the military discount for our room in November and it was so much cheaper. I booked us in POR originally and then decided to upgrade to a deluxe. Unfortunately there were no rooms available when I called at first so I kept the POR reservations and called almost daily for a couple of weeks. I finally decided to have them check for rooms doing a split stay and was able to get 3 nights at Contemporary and 1 night at AKL. This was actually a fun way to try out different resorts. You might try doing that or at least call back regularly to see if a room opens up.

 

[abolanwoski]

The military discount (for now) is the best discount you are going to get anywhere. I haven't seen anyone with a PIN better than 40% for a LONG time on this board ( a couple years ago there was one for 45% at villas but that's long gone) and the 40% ones I see are always for deluxe.

If you are set in your mind about where you want to stay then you may be dissapointed. But it may be a great opportunity to try a fabulous new resort. The other option is to see if SOG has anything open that week. Even with the discounts at the Deluxes, you will never come close price wise to SOG. If you want a more budget visit then the values with the discount will probably be slightly cheaper after taxes (the mods may be about the same or a little more expensive than SOG) but you couldn't pay me to stay at a value (too small, no offense to the value lovers out there). You can also buy your discount tix at SOG tax free and they have an exchange for sundries and booze.

 

[njmom47]

A co-worker of mine is planning a trip, and she was informed of the military discount (her dh is still in the military). She told me the savings were huge and they've decided to book the trip. (Of course I've directed her to this site!)

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

The military discounts are the best out there. We saved a ton for our Jan trip, can't beat 40% at Boardwalk, we used 2 sets of the park tickets.

I would keep trying to check the resorts you are interested in, they may have a room open up.

 

[JB2K]

Shades of Green all the way, with this military retiree -- definitely better than the Values and far more spacious than anything else WDW has to offer...