Military tickets in park reservation times

[wonderchica]

Trying to help a friend out and I’m not very familiar with the various options for military discount tickets. I know there are a few- what is the best way to do this now that the park reservation system is in place? Is it safe to order tickets from Shades of Green and wait for delivery then reserve? It seems like having to activate other types on site would not work.

 

[tlm345]

In the past Shades of Green and other installations we have ordered with will give you the information off the ticket to use with MDE and park reservations. The ticket mailing time was overnight in our experience as well. Shades does get a little backed up with requests but Camp Legeune ITT did it over the phone and overnight for us in March.

 

[wonderchica]

When you get them on base do you have to purchase them in person to get the ticket info or can you do it over the phone? Which option had the better discount?

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Trying to help a friend out and I’m not very familiar with the various options for military discount tickets. I know there are a few- what is the best way to do this now that the park reservation system is in place? Is it safe to order tickets from Shades of Green and wait for delivery then reserve? It seems like having to activate other types on site would not work.

Can the military person drive to a base or does it need to be purchased via mail/phone call?

When is the intended trip?

Presently, SOG will mail you an actual hard plastic ticket that is already active.....you just need to link it to your MDE.

 

[tlm345]

When you get them on base do you have to purchase them in person to get the ticket info or can you do it over the phone? Which option had the better discount?

I ordered from Camp Legeune ITT over the phone from out of state. They quoted me the same price she had online on their price sheet and I believe there was a small fee for the shipping $12-$15 maybe? She took my card over the phone and emailed me photocopies of the hard plastic activated park tickets within minutes. I attached them to MDE and my plastic tickets arrived the next day. (She included tracking number as well) we used magic bands and never had to present the plastic tickets but had them on our person just in case.

 

[brockash]

If they're close to a base; they can just stop by their travel and leisure office and get them there...most have them onsite (I just picked up 2 different types today.) They will scan the back of the card or paper voucher from their mde account and attach the ticket to the correct person and then they are able to make their park reservations at that time.

 

[brockash]

Can the military person drive to a base or does it need to be purchased via mail/phone call?

When is the intended trip?

Presently, SOG will mail you an actual hard plastic ticket that is already active.....you just need to link it to your MDE.

Do you happen to know what the ones from SOG look like? We just moved and I picked Salute tix up from our new base today and they were different than every other time I've gotten Salute tickets from any other post (including this one.) I'm used to the green paper vouchers, but these ones were hard white plastic with red and blue on the cards. The worker said they were already activated - I don't believe that and plan on checking as soon as we arrive, but it is the first time we've ever received hard plastic tickets.

 

[lanejudy]

It seems like having to activate other types on site would not work.

Just to reply to this... it makes no difference. "Activating" simply means showing proof that the person/party is eligible to use that discounted ticket. It does not impact ability to make park reservations (or FP if/when that returns).

 

[wonderchica]

Just to reply to this... it makes no difference. "Activating" simply means showing proof that the person/party is eligible to use that discounted ticket. It does not impact ability to make park reservations (or FP if/when that returns).

Ahhh. Okay. That clears up a lot!

Person is reserves, so does not live near base but goes there periodically. Trip date TBD but probably around a major holiday, hence the concern about reservations. Anyone with experience know the price difference between a SOG ticket and getting them from the base? Or other pros/cons? I think I’ve read those options are cheaper than the “direct from Disney” ones?

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Do you happen to know what the ones from SOG look like? We just moved and I picked Salute tix up from our new base today and they were different than every other time I've gotten Salute tickets from any other post (including this one.) I'm used to the green paper vouchers, but these ones were hard white plastic with red and blue on the cards. The worker said they were already activated - I don't believe that and plan on checking as soon as we arrive, but it is the first time we've ever received hard plastic tickets.

My SOG ticket was a standard plastic card that is part of a "collection" of various Disney themed images......it was not like the red/white/blue ones used in the past.

What really matters is the coding associated with the ticket and ours worked fine.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Ahhh. Okay. That clears up a lot!

Person is reserves, so does not live near base but goes there periodically. Trip date TBD but probably around a major holiday, hence the concern about reservations. Anyone with experience know the price difference between a SOG ticket and getting them from the base? Or other pros/cons? I think I’ve read those options are cheaper than the “direct from Disney” ones?

A base ticket office or SOG are the cheapest options.......should be very close in price and no sales tax too.

They expire in mid December so a word of caution if they want to visit in mid/late December......that is not possible with these tickets.

 

[wonderchica]

A base ticket office or SOG are the cheapest options.......should be very close in price and no sales tax too.

They expire in mid December so a word of caution if they want to visit in mid/late December......that is not possible with these tickets.

Ah. I saw that December date on the WDW site but wasn’t sure if it applied to the others. Thanks to everyone for your help! They sure do like to make some things confusing lol.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Ah. I saw that December date on the WDW site but wasn’t sure if it applied to the others. Thanks to everyone for your help! They sure do like to make some things confusing lol.

Actually it is a screamin' deal for 2 reasons.

First, the price is low.

Second, this program has not changed much in the last decade and these tickets are not "date based" meaning that except for any blackout period, they can be used most months of the year...............as opposed to a standard WDW ticket which is date based and has price fluctuations throughout the year (unless the customer buys the flex date ticket, which costs even more!)

Once you have learned the basic rules it should be easy and rewarding for a military family to squeeze in an annual trip if the deployment schedule allows it.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

Do you happen to know what the ones from SOG look like? We just moved and I picked Salute tix up from our new base today and they were different than every other time I've gotten Salute tickets from any other post (including this one.) I'm used to the green paper vouchers, but these ones were hard white plastic with red and blue on the cards. The worker said they were already activated - I don't believe that and plan on checking as soon as we arrive, but it is the first time we've ever received hard plastic tickets.

That's the kind we got in 2010. We had purchased in person from Shades of Green, so I think we were then able to go straight to the parks. But this was pre-MDE/reservations days, so I never had to try to use them prior to park arrival.

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

If you plan to go before 17 December of this year, Shades of Green has a 4 or 5 day Promotional Ticket (Park Hopper) for $293 or $312 respectively. We ordered them from the SoG Ticket Office, received them via USPS in 2 days and then registered for parks. We are going 25-28 October.

 

[jthornton94]

Do you happen to know what the ones from SOG look like? We just moved and I picked Salute tix up from our new base today and they were different than every other time I've gotten Salute tickets from any other post (including this one.) I'm used to the green paper vouchers, but these ones were hard white plastic with red and blue on the cards. The worker said they were already activated - I don't believe that and plan on checking as soon as we arrive, but it is the first time we've ever received hard plastic tickets.

I had the exact same thing happen and am trying to determine if they are actually active. When is your trip?

 

[brockash]

I had the exact same thing happen and am trying to determine if they are actually active. When is your trip?

Beginning of Aug...I'll try to remember to report back...if your trip is after mine, feel free to PM me anytime the 2nd week of Aug and I'll be able to tell you in case I forget to post on here