Military ticket question

[muffyn]

My son can order the tickets for the family , the codes will be sent so they can be hooked into myaccount for planning fast passes & the like, you pick up physical tickets when you check into shades of green.

Ok, questions. form says one of the tickets must be used by the eligible service member. yep we got that part, but does he have to use his 1st before the rest of the tickets can be used? Or can the family scatter & go to different parks.

also, he wont be checking into shades of green until day 2 of the vacation. we will be heading to the parks the day before. so does it matter? can he pick up the tickets before his stay? ( I would think that wouldn't matter since not all service people stay at SOG, but the form mentions picking up the tickets upon check in)

 

[twodogs]

This is the best resource:
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/D...l#Where-can-I-buy-Armed-Forces-Salute-Tickets

But I think that even though the AFS tickets purchased at SOG DON"T have to be activated like all others, the military member has to pick them up and show ID to do so. Then everyone can go to different parks. If the military member is not there on day 1, I don't think they will let the other family members pick up their tickets (unless one is the military spouse). I am not 100% sure on this, but that is the only way that they can verify that your family members actually qualify for the military tickets. If they just let you pick them up and start using them without the ID presented, how do they know? I don't think it matters if you are checked into the hotel on day one or not, just that the military person has to be there to show ID and pick up all the tickets before anyone can use them. But maybe if you order from SOG by mail, they have already verified his ID?? I'm sorry I don't know for sure. Hopefully someone will chime in...

 

[muffyn]

This is the best resource:
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/D...l#Where-can-I-buy-Armed-Forces-Salute-Tickets

But I think that even though the AFS tickets purchased at SOG DON"T have to be activated like all others, the military member has to pick them up and show ID to do so. Then everyone can go to different parks. If the military member is not there on day 1, I don't think they will let the other family members pick up their tickets (unless one is the military spouse). I am not 100% sure on this, but that is the only way that they can verify that your family members actually qualify for the military tickets. If they just let you pick them up and start using them without the ID presented, how do they know? I don't think it matters if you are checked into the hotel on day one or not, just that the military person has to be there to show ID and pick up all the tickets before anyone can use them. But maybe if you order from SOG by mail, they have already verified his ID?? I'm sorry I don't know for sure. Hopefully someone will chime in...

the paperwork is not clear on disney, but for universal it does state the military person has to be present to activate the tickets. the military have some really great promotions going on right now.

the form states :
Next you will be sent a scan of your Walt Disney World ticket numbers to the email address listed on your reservation. You can now log on to “MyDisneyExperience.com” and reserve up to 3 FastPass+ selections per day 60 days in advance of your arrival.

so we all get to make the reservations, but have to pick up the physical ticket at SOG.
my son has been too busy to call to ask about the other questions.

 

[Christine]

My son can order the tickets for the family , the codes will be sent so they can be hooked into myaccount for planning fast passes & the like, you pick up physical tickets when you check into shades of green.

Ok, questions. form says one of the tickets must be used by the eligible service member. yep we got that part, but does he have to use his 1st before the rest of the tickets can be used? Or can the family scatter & go to different parks.

also, he wont be checking into shades of green until day 2 of the vacation. we will be heading to the parks the day before. so does it matter? can he pick up the tickets before his stay? ( I would think that wouldn't matter since not all service people stay at SOG, but the form mentions picking up the tickets upon check in)

You probably should call them for your situation. If you preordered tickets and they are holding them at the ticket office, I assume they requested a picture ID when you did the advance purchase?

If not, the military member will be required to pick up the tickets at the ticket desk at SoG. Once they are picked up, your military person does NOT need to accompany you to the park on the first day (as with the AFS tickets bought at other military installations).

 

[Ladyfish77]

If he needs to pick them up, you could ask for them to be mailed. It's a $10 charge, but the tickets will show up already activated, so you won't run into any problems using them before he arrives.

 

[kkendle]

My son can order the tickets for the family , the codes will be sent so they can be hooked into myaccount for planning fast passes & the like, you pick up physical tickets when you check into shades of green.

Ok, questions. form says one of the tickets must be used by the eligible service member. yep we got that part, but does he have to use his 1st before the rest of the tickets can be used? Or can the family scatter & go to different parks.

also, he wont be checking into shades of green until day 2 of the vacation. we will be heading to the parks the day before. so does it matter? can he pick up the tickets before his stay? ( I would think that wouldn't matter since not all service people stay at SOG, but the form mentions picking up the tickets upon check in)

I called Shades of Green and asked a lot of questions regarding this. They will tell you that pretty much everything is dependent on the cast member at the gates that day and different things happen. I was told that the Military member has to be there on the first day and use one of the tickets....and everyone needed to be there that first day in the same place....after that people can scatter...again, I was told different things happen depending on who is at the gate you walk up to.

As far as tickets go....not exactly sure but my DIL who is the military spouse picked up the physical tickets from Shades of Green and I immediately linked them to my MDX account and have since booked fast passses for everyone. I am not sure why you would need the physical tickets at all once they are linked.

Not sure if any of this helped. My son is the military member btw.

 

[danceintherain]

I would just have them mailed. We're not staying at SoG, but I don't think it's particularly convenient to take a trip to SoG to pick up tickets, if you don't have to. I think it took 3 days for our tickets to arrive a few weeks ago. I don't know who they would expect to be there to pick up tickets ahead of time...

That said, the tickets you are issued through Shades of Green will be activated tickets, so it shouldn't matter when/where he starts using "his" ticket. The showing ID is essentially to activate the tickets, enforce the limit, and verify identity. But, they will verify his eligibility, when he places the order through Shades of Green.
Overall, there's nothing in the rules that states that the service member (or spouse) has to ever use a ticket. But, if neither the service member or spouse orders a ticket, then only 5 tickets will be able to be purchased (except in situations where the service member has more than 5 dependents)

 

[sharonabe]

The easiest way to know for sure and to make sure you can use them before your son gets there is to have the tickets mailed to you. They are already activated and ready to go, so he doesn't need to be there. Yes, it costs $10 to have them mailed, but that's a lot of peace of mind for $10.

Question though, if he's not going to be there until day 2, how will you even check into SoG?

 

[DLgal]

The easiest way to know for sure and to make sure you can use them before your son gets there is to have the tickets mailed to you. They are already activated and ready to go, so he doesn't need to be there. Yes, it costs $10 to have them mailed, but that's a lot of peace of mind for $10.

Question though, if he's not going to be there until day 2, how will you even check into SoG?

This.

You can't get into SOG and checked in without the sponsor. It is a military installation with a DoD guard gate.

 

[Donzie]

So yes he can pick up the passes before his stay at SOG. Tell them at the drive up gate that you are a short time visitor picking up passes and they will let you

 

[lynnzrae]

Or his spouse.

 

[danceintherain]

Hello, I have used these boards for years but stayed in the shadows of my keyboard. I wanted to help on this particular set of questions because I have used the military tickets on 3 of my last 5 WDW trips over the last 6 years.

First, yes, the person who is the eligible military member will need the passes in hand on the first day any of the passes are used. He/She would have received them via mail or by picking them up at SOG. You can go to SOG as a guest to pick up the passes but the eligible military participant must be with you. They will need a drivers license and military ID at SOG AND THE FIRST DAY at the parks. VERY important that the first day at any park the military guest and entire party (using the passes) go to Guest Realtions (at the entrsnce of any of the parks) to activate all of the tickets. They must have proper ID's and all of the guest passes for Guest Realations to validate and activate them. SOG will not validate them as Disney does, they will just make sure your eligible and sell you passes.

Once they are activated by Disney anyone can proceed through the line at any of the parks. Remember the first time through an id and fingerprint is assigned to the corresponding pass.

So yes he can pick up the passes before his stay at SOG. Tell them at the drive up gate that you are a short time visitor picking up passes and they will let you in.

NO one of your party will enter any Disney property using those passes until they are validated by Disney Guest Relations. The eligible service member must have proper ID and be present on Day one to activate the passes. After Day 1 the rest of the party can use their passes as normal with or without the service member.

This has been my experience. It works well and saves you money. We all owe our service members gratitude. But be warned Disney is not flexible on the usage rules, to stop those who would abuse the system.

I have bought the passes via SOG everytime and even been told they are pre-activated just to get to a Disney park and have a gate worker tell me they were not activated. So I go to Guest services the first day at the park with the military member (and their id's) and all pass users and get them "officially" activated and blessed.

This makes a lot of sense. If what I had assumed was true, there could be some abuse and resale. I'll just have to make sure to go to Guest Relations to activate our tickets, before trying at the turnstiles. (already checked if it was an option at the International Gateway)
OP - Is there a particular reason why you are planning on going different directions immediately?

 

[sharonabe]

First, yes, the person who is the eligible military member will need the passes in hand on the first day any of the passes are used. He/She would have received them via mail or by picking them up at SOG

I have bought the passes via SOG everytime and even been told they are pre-activated just to get to a Disney park and have a gate worker tell me they were not activated

We have bought tickets from SoG BY MAIL twice in the past two years and both times the tickets were activated and there was no need to do anything once we arrived at Disney. I had the hard tickets with me just in case, but we sailed right through the tapstiles and into the park.

Now this is fairly new. I believe they started sending the already activated tickets in 2016, so if you bought yours before that, they were NOT activated until you got to the park. AND this is only true of tickets bought BY MAIL from SoG. I have no experience of picking them up there, so can't speak to whether those are also already active.

 

[Christine]

The SoG tickets no longer require a visit to Guest Services with the military member to activate the first day. They are activated upon pick up at the SoG ticket desk. If you buy the same military tickets through your local base (non-SoG), you will need to go to Guest Services the first day (with the military member).

When I went in 2012 and bought my tickets at SoG, they were not activated until my first park day at guest services. That is no longer the case now.

I agree with the others that it will be worth the $10 fee to have them FEDEX'ed to you and you don't need to worry about pickup.

 

[NavyDad]

We have recently gotten our Armed Forces Salute tickets from Shades of Green after using base ITT offices around the country many times before that. I had SoG mail me my tickets. They came activated with no need to stop at guest relations. This is the standard practice for all SoG military tickets now.

From what I understand the ticket vouchers they give you at base ITT offices still need to be activated and replaced by guest relations.

Having SoG mail the military tickets is the best way to go IMO. No hassle - no uncertainty!

Have fun!