military ticket questions

[robandkelly13]

Hi! We will be leaving for DL in a couple of weeks. We're WDW vets, but we've never been to DL. We have purchased our military tickets from MWR on base. They are printed sheets of paper with a barcode. I assume that I need to trade these in for actual tickets at Will Call. I would like to do this the day before we plan to go to the parks; so, we can start as early in the parks as possible the first day. Done anyone have experience with this? If we exchange the vouchers for tickets the day before we go to the parks, does it use a day? Or does the first day begin when we actually use the ticket to enter the park?

Also, how early does Will Call open? Is there a Will Call at each park? Does one open earlier than the other? Possibly the one with Early Entry?

Thanks!

 

[2tinkerbell]

I wasn't able to get the voucher/barcode type paper at MWR so I purchased them at the ticket booth. I would imagine that you could exchange them at the ticket booth and it wouldn't count as a day in the park as you aren't entering the parks.

 

[disneyxica20]

you *should* be able to go straight to the turnstile. after they scan the barcode, they will give you your actual ticket that you will use for the rest of your visit.
everytime i've had vouchers (whether it was from a military base or aaa or whatever) we've always gone straight to the gates.
what do the instructions on your vouchers say?

 

[superlarz]

Typically you can take tickets like that directly to the gate with your ID and they will give you the ticket and let you in.

 

[vbmom40]

In december we had the military vouchers and went straight to the ticket booths at the gate, they scanned them and gave us tickets. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[WDWRookie2009]

If we could do tickets the night before that would be great..any one had luck with that?? We have a party of 12.. and I am hoping everyone gets there on time the morning before because everyone has to be present I believe for the first time.

 

[momof4fans]

Hi! We will be leaving for DL in a couple of weeks. We're WDW vets, but we've never been to DL. We have purchased our military tickets from MWR on base. They are printed sheets of paper with a barcode. I assume that I need to trade these in for actual tickets at Will Call. I would like to do this the day before we plan to go to the parks; so, we can start as early in the parks as possible the first day. Done anyone have experience with this? If we exchange the vouchers for tickets the day before we go to the parks, does it use a day? Or does the first day begin when we actually use the ticket to enter the park?

Also, how early does Will Call open? Is there a Will Call at each park? Does one open earlier than the other? Possibly the one with Early Entry?

Thanks!

We aren't military, but purchased our tickets at MWR on the Navy base in our town. We went right to the turnstile and they printed regular cardstock tickets for us. We never went near the ticket booth. As far when they are activated, I would say at that moment.

 

[sonnyjane]

As others have said, if your papers have a barcode, you shouldn't have to go to will call. You should be able to walk right up to the turnstiles and they will hand you a paper ticket.

 

[mypixiedust]

We are military and are going to DL next week. We are going to get our tickets the day before. I can tell you that at both WDW and DL we have ALWAYS had to go to will call. We show our military ID's then they put our names on our tickets. We have done this at least a dozen times!

 

[sonnyjane]

what do the instructions on your vouchers say?

Exactly this lol! If it's your ticket it says something along the lines of "This is your ticket. Take directly to the entrance."

 

[MinnieMouseMom4]

We used military tickets last year. If it has a barcode you take directly to gate, no exchanging at ticket booth. It also should say this on the instructions. Doesn't take any longer, just have id's ready if names are printed on them.

 

[wdwrich]

We used military tickets last year. If it has a barcode you take directly to gate, no exchanging at ticket booth. It also should say this on the instructions. Doesn't take any longer, just have id's ready if names are printed on them.

This!
We've done this multiple times with the barcoded sheets printed at our MWR office. No muss, no fuss!

 

[robandkelly13]

The tickets do say that we can go to the turnstiles; however, I would like to get the tickets the day before we actually enter the parks if possible. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have done this before at WDW, and it did not use a day since we were not entering the parks. I'm just curious if anyone has had the same experience at DL....


Thanks!

 

[wdwrich]

The tickets do say that we can go to the turnstiles; however, I would like to get the tickets the day before we actually enter the parks if possible. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have done this before at WDW, and it did not use a day since we were not entering the parks. I'm just curious if anyone has had the same experience at DL....


Thanks!

There's really no need to exchange them a day early. It literally takes a minute or less at the turnstiles for the cast member to swap out the printed e-ticket for regular ticket media.

 

[robandkelly13]

There's really no need to exchange them a day early. It literally takes a minute or less at the turnstiles for the cast member to swap out the printed e-ticket for regular ticket media.

Great THANKS!

 

[DLgal]

The tickets do say that we can go to the turnstiles; however, I would like to get the tickets the day before we actually enter the parks if possible. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have done this before at WDW, and it did not use a day since we were not entering the parks. I'm just curious if anyone has had the same experience at DL....


Thanks!

Those ARE your tickets. The "activation process" of old has been eliminated. Just show up at the turnstile with your military ID and a photo ID for each adult in the party. They will take your papers and trade you for cardstock tickets. You will have to sign them right there in front of the CM and they will take a photo to store in their system for multi day use.

HOWEVER, if you want to do the exchange early, head to the ticket sales booths and they will do it then and the ticket won't be valid until you use it to enter a park. We had to do this because some of our party weren't coming until later in the day and we wanted to do early entry (they were staying offsite). We exchanged for the tickets at the sales booth and then when our friends joined us, we went out to meet them outside the park gates to give them their tickets. Unless you NEED to do this, don't bother exchanging the tickets, as it took a good 15 minutes or so (waiting in line, mostly).

 

[WDWRookie2009]

Those ARE your tickets. The "activation process" of old has been eliminated. Just show up at the turnstile with your military ID and a photo ID for each adult in the party. They will take your papers and trade you for cardstock tickets. You will have to sign them right there in front of the CM and they will take a photo to store in their system for multi day use.

HOWEVER, if you want to do the exchange early, head to the ticket sales booths and they will do it then and the ticket won't be valid until you use it to enter a park. We had to do this because some of our party weren't coming until later in the day and we wanted to do early entry (they were staying offsite). We exchanged for the tickets at the sales booth and then when our friends joined us, we went out to meet them outside the park gates to give them their tickets. Unless you NEED to do this, don't bother exchanging the tickets, as it took a good 15 minutes or so (waiting in line, mostly).

I am hoping we could exchange the day prior as well because 3 of our party might not be able to come early the next morning (our first day) and I thought we all had to be there at one time to enter all together? Is this not the case? My husband and my father are the Military memebers so I know they have to be there but what happens if three of our party does not show up when we do?

Sorry for the confusion lol.

 

[sonnyjane]

I am hoping we could exchange the day prior as well because 3 of our party might not be able to come early the next morning (our first day) and I thought we all had to be there at one time to enter all together? Is this not the case? My husband and my father are the Military memebers so I know they have to be there but what happens if three of our party does not show up when we do? Sorry for the confusion lol.

Depending on your CM's mood, they CAN (but don't always) require all of you to be there to enter the parks the first time EVERY DAY of your trip. Basically you might still have this same difficulty anyway, but if you don't mind going over there a day early I suppose you can.

 

[sequoia 14]

My DH and I used military ticket vouchers a few weeks ago. We went to the ticket windows the night prior and were explicitly told we could only exchange them for tickets at the gate. We were skeptical but the process went smoothly and quickly at the turnstiles. Also, be sure to retain one military id at all times. We were asked to show it more often than not during our 3 days of park hopping whenever we entered the parks. Hope you have a wonderful time.

 

[WDWRookie2009]

Depending on your CM's mood, they CAN (but don't always) require all of you to be there to enter the parks the first time EVERY DAY of your trip. Basically you might still have this same difficulty anyway, but if you don't mind going over there a day early I suppose you can.

Yikes I hope not, last time we had no problems after we all went in the first day. Some our party are not early risers so this would suck! LOL I guess we will just play it by ear. We are all eating at Downtown Disney the night before so I figured that would be great to get it all done then. Hopefully it all goes well.. either way we are going to be at Disney yay!!!!