Armed Forces Salute Renewed for 2014-2015

[Melanie]

Steve from Military Disney Tips has confirmed that the offer is returning, and that Disney will release the official press release later this afternoon.

Per Steve's release directly from Disney:

The Armed Forces Salute military ticket discounts remain essentially the same. The amount of discount off the current prices is similar to that during prior Salutes. In other words, while the ticket prices have gone up the percentage off the full price tickets is essentially the same. The increase is because Disney has raised their regular ticket prices.

Ticket Prices

Disney World in Orlando Florida Armed Forces Salute Prices
Four-Day Park Hopper Tickets for $177.00*
Four-Day Water Park and More Tickets for $177.00*
Four-Day Park Hopper Tickets plus the Water Park and More Option for $207.00

Disneyland in Anaheim California Armed Forces Salute Price
Three-Day Park Hopper Tickets for $132.00

Resort Room Discount

The resort room discounts offered by the Disney Armed Forces Salute remain the same as last year.

Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida
40% off Deluxe Resorts
35% off Moderates and Fort Wilderness Cabins
30% off Value Resorts including Art of Animation (except little mermaid rooms)

Disneyland in Anaheim California
40% off at the Grand Californian
35% off at the Disneyland Hotel
30% of at the Paradise Pier
Please note that the number of rooms with this discount is limited at each resort and by room type. You may need to be flexible.

Disney's Armed Forces Salute Has Been Renewed for 2014-2015

Important Considerations and Expected Issues!

2015 General Public Room Rates

The 2015 general public room rates have not yet been released! The general consensus on the internet is that they will come out on 30 July. Until they are released you may or may not be able to make your Disney Armed Forces Salute room reservation for dates past 31 December 2014.

Ticket Release Date

The 2014-2015 Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets will be available for purchase on 25 August 2014. This date is well inside the 60-day FastPass Plus window for Disney Resort Guests. If you are able to buy your Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets from your local base on 25 August, you will already be 26 days into your 60-day FP+ window, making the most coveted FP+ reservations such as the Frozen Meet and Greet or Toy Story Mania almost impossible to get.

Ticket Availability

While Disney says the Salute tickets will be available for purchase on 25 August 2014 this does not necessarily mean your base will have them on that date. Last year they were supposed to be available on 12 August, but many bases did not have them till September or October. This will further compound the FastPass Plus issue if it happens again this year.

The Disney Reservation System and Room Availability

Last year the Disney reservation system went down several times during the day the Salute was announced. So please be patient.

Last year many people were frustrated when they called to either make a new Salute reservation or to convert an existing general public reservation to the Salute discount. For 2 reasons:

The first day of last years announcement, quite a few Disney call center cast members immediately told callers the discount wasn’t out yet rather than checking. Experienced callers were firm and “no, it is out, please check for the booking code.” Those who didn’t know that military callers often have to educate the Disney Call Center cast members on military discounts, hung up confused and frustrated. Also some cast members would say the discount wasn’t available at certain resorts, which isn’t correct. Over the past couple of years occasionally a call center CM would interpret lack of availability at that moment as some kind of “restriction”, when it is just that combo of resort, room type, and dates that the discount is not available.
Those with existing reservations were told they could not convert to the Salute rate, they needed to cancel and make a new reservation with the Salute, only to then be told there was no availability for a discount on the room they just cancelled. In order to get the discount they needed to switch room type, resort, or dates. This was an issue for the first several weeks after the salute was announced
I’ve brought both the Ticket and Resort Reservation issues to Disney’s attention and they’ve told me that the room issue should not be a problem this year and that they will see if they can address the ticket release date.



There are restrictions and Blockout dates.

Please see my main Disney Armed Forces Salute Page for full details and rules.

The Disney Armed Forces Salute FAQ will answer all the usual questions.

[Janmac]

This is happy news. We get to hang on to the January 2015 reservation now.

:yay:

Jan

[buzznwoodysmom]

Awesome!!

We haven't used this discount since Feb. of 2013, and not sure we will use it this installment, but always happy to see this discount continue. Way to go Disney!

[Janmac]

Denise, this is awesome. We used the park tickets last year to help celebrate a major birthday I was having and really enjoyed having some non-park days during our stay. The trip before that we enjoyed the room discount.

I get the feeling that the military usually thought of for this program is active duty or more recently retired. However, DH appreciates this more than words can say. He retired in 1974 to no fanfare at all - a handshake from the yeoman processing his papers and out the door. He didn't really talk of being a retiree until the last decade or so.

Which is a long winded way of telling everyone - not just Disney - "Thanks!" for being more appreciative of the military. It's never too late.

Jan

[TiggeRia]

I was excited by this as we were planning on using it for our October trip at the Yacht Club. Not one single deluxe or moderate hotel has the discount available while we are there! I'm half tempted to move off property for a cheaper rate for deluxe accommodations :(

[Melanie]

I was excited by this as we were planning on using it for our October trip at the Yacht Club. Not one single deluxe or moderate hotel has the discount available while we are there! I'm half tempted to move off property for a cheaper rate for deluxe accommodations :(


Yes, I'm quite upset by this as well. Same thing happened with us for November for the Boardwalk. We even had an existing reservation, and it's a shame they won't let us apply it. It really is about filling rooms and not a grand gesture on Disney's part. I'm disappointed, but shouldn't be surprised.

I've seen tons of chatter on Steve's FB page about folks having issues with October and November, so we aren't the only ones.

Oh well, we'll definitely use the tickets, so I greatly appreciate that part of it anyway.

[pixiesmimi]

When I made our reservations in May for our stay in Sept (last week in Sept) I was told there were no reservations either. I had a hard time getting a room either with the free dining package or with military discount. Finally got a room at the YC. I was disappointed there weren't more available.

My question is do the current military tickets still expire in Sept or since the new extention has been released, will they still be good later if I don't get to use them in Sept? I have held off buying my tickets because of the possibility of having to cancel our reservation in Sept. but really need them to go ahead and book FPs just in case. But if the expiration has been extended then can I wait about buying them? I don't know if they are refundable or not and didn't want to lose that money if they will expire or we have to cancel. I am already faced with losing the money on the MNSSHP tickets I bought.

[Melanie]

Unfortunately, you have to get new tickets for after the expiration date of this years offer. They won't roll over, and the tickets are non-refundable.

Apparently ITT offices won't get the new offer tickets until sometime late August, which has a lot of folks upset, as it's way into their 60 day FP+ booking window. This is something that Steve at Military Disney Tips is talking to Disney about for next year.

[pixiesmimi]

Thanks! It looks like now that I am going to have to cancel our Sept trip and just lose money on the MNSSHP tickets so I'm just not going to buy the tickets yet. I'll have to wing it with FPs if we do get to go. But at least we know we can get more next year if we can go. I'm glad that they are continuing it every year. I just wish they wouldn't black out 4th of July for the Military at MK. Who better to get to go on the 4th than the military? :confused:

[Melanie]

Thanks! It looks like now that I am going to have to cancel our Sept trip and just lose money on the MNSSHP tickets so I'm just not going to buy the tickets yet. I'll have to wing it with FPs if we do get to go. But at least we know we can get more next year if we can go. I'm glad that they are continuing it every year. I just wish they wouldn't black out 4th of July for the Military at MK. Who better to get to go on the 4th than the military? :confused:


They lifted the July 4th blackout for military this year.

[pixiesmimi]

I'm glad they came to their senses. Who on earth would think that was a good idea? Just wish they had done that when we went. I was very disappointed to not be able to go to MK that year but did get to see the fireworks the night before.

[pixiesmimi]

So what are the dates of the Military Discount tickets and resort discounts now? Are these available for Nov. 2014?

[pixiesmimi]

Well, I did have to cancel our trip because DH had to go overseas. But...he just came back ahead of time and we decided to try to rebook our trip even if it was a spur of the moment booking. I was told back in May that there were no rooms with military discount 6 months out and was pretty upset over that but was able to get the free dining instead. Well, now when I call about resorts, I can't get free dining but there were military discounted rooms available. Go figure!!?? But they weren't where we wanted to stay. So we booked a room at the Beach Club at rack rate just to get to go. What I am upset about now is that we went out to our ITR office on post to buy the 4 day tickets this morning and they no longer have any and only have the new ones which aren't good until Sept 28. So what do the rest of us do that want to go before Sept 27th and use discounted tickets? If we wait to get them there at the gate, we can't make FP reservations in advance or anything that you need the tickets attached to your magic bands for. It just ticks me off! :mad: Guess we will be winging it and won't be able to ride anything without standing in a long line. Does anyone know if you can purchase tickets over the phone at Shades of Green and have them mailed to you or do you have to be there and show an ID like at the gate?

[ransam]

thank you to all the military for all you do.

[pixiesmimi]

Melanie, we went to the local post ITR today to check on tickets for the fall to see what the last day to use them etc. was. In view of the fact that we were unable to get ours last year until we reached the gate, we wanted to make sure we got them in time this year. The lady at the ITR told us we had to use the tickets the first day by Sept. 28th and could not use after Oct. 3. She handed us a paper about it but I noticed when we got out to the car and read the paper that it says the tickets have to be used by Sept 24 the first day. Do you know which it is? We are trying to get dates pinned down.

[BrerGnat]

Tickets need to be used before October 3. They must be used the first time by September 29 at WDW and Sept 30 at Disneyland.

[pixiesmimi]

Well, that confuses me more. ITR said 28th but paper she handed us said 24. Now you are saying 29. :confused: Is there a reference where we can get the printed statement from Disney about this?

[BrerGnat]

My bad, the actual date is Sept 30. That is the last day to purchase tickets.

The dates of first use basically line up with the number of days on the ticket. If you are going to WDW, they are 4 day tickets. All days have to be used by Oct 3, so count back 4 days from there. At DL, they are three day tickets.

The Sept 28 date was the first day of the 2014-2015 Armed Forces Salute offer, so Sept 28, 2014 was the first day you could use those tickets. Look at the year...should be 2014 for the Sept date.

Official info is here:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/military-4-day-tickets/details/

[pixiesmimi]

Thank you. That is the logical answer, 4 days before they expire. I don't know why we were getting so many different dates yesterday but I will be saying something to the agent when we go to pick our tickets up. She obviously just wasn't thinking (or counting.) Who knows where the 24th came in. We decided to go on the 27th so we should be good.

[FenwayGirl]

do you order these from WDW or from Shades of Green

[BrerGnat]

do you order these from WDW or from Shades of Green

You can order them from many base ticket offices over the phone. You can only buy them in person at WDW or SoG.

[Melanie]

You can also order them ahead of time from Shades of Green. Easy peasy. Just did it a few months ago. Give them a call!

[BrerGnat]

You can also order them ahead of time from Shades of Green. Easy peasy. Just did it a few months ago. Give them a call!

Good to know. I didn't know they did that.

[pixiesmimi]

But if you get them at WDW or SOG you can't make FP reservations in advance. You can purchase them at your home base and then link to your Magic Band and get your FP ahead of time. Last year our post ran out so we had to get them at the gate. By that time most FP that we wanted were gone. Better to get them in advance.

[Melanie]

But if you get them at WDW or SOG you can't make FP reservations in advance. You can purchase them at your home base and then link to your Magic Band and get your FP ahead of time. Last year our post ran out so we had to get them at the gate. By that time most FP that we wanted were gone. Better to get them in advance.

You can get them in advance from Shades of Green now though. This is good if you don't have a base nearby.

[pixiesmimi]

Unless it is something new, you still have to go there to get them. They won't mail them. I called them last year and they wouldn't mail them. So without having them to link, we still wouldn't be able to do fp.

[BrerGnat]

Unless it is something new, you still have to go there to get them. They won't mail them. I called them last year and they wouldn't mail them. So without having them to link, we still wouldn't be able to do fp.

I think they now mail them though.

[Melanie]

I think they now mail them though.


Yes, they mail them, or actually I think it was FedEx. There is a $10 fee.

[pixiesmimi]

Well that is good that they have changed it. I was quite upset in Sept because they wouldn't mail them and we had to wait until we got there to get them at the gate. It was W&FF so lots of people and because of that, didn't get to ride some things we wanted to because FP were all gone. We were also upset that our ITR stopped selling the tickets for that year's promotion early in anticipation of this year's promotion starting. That left a gap of about a month that no armed forces could get tickets from them locally. I complained to them about it this year and they said they they might not have any more after July this year because they won't reorder if they run out. :confused: So if anyone is thinking of going this fall before the promotion ends, they had better get their tickets now or soon. Good to know at least SOG has changed their policy. Thanks for the info.

[BrerGnat]

Many military bases will FedEx tickets to you for a $10 charge. I know Camp Pendleton does. We have ordered tickets from them several times.

[ddcrna]

Any hints about 2016 yet?

[Melanie]

Any hints about 2016 yet?

Word is from Steve at Disney Military Tips (who is in constant contact with Disney) is that they extended the current promotion to the end of 2015 in order to then get on a calendar year schedule to renew this. So it sounds like good news!

[pixiesmimi]

So does this mean they will renew this in January 2016? I have been waiting to see if they would renew it starting in October or instead of this year's ending the first of Oct, it has been extended until Dec. or Jan? My grandson is getting married next month and was asking me about the military discounts for WDW in Oct for his honeymoon. I told him it ended Oct 3rd. He will be excited if he finds out that it has been extended.

[VWL Mom]

So does this mean they will renew this in January 2016? I have been waiting to see if they would renew it starting in October or instead of this year's ending the first of Oct, it has been extended until Dec. or Jan? My grandson is getting married next month and was asking me about the military discounts for WDW in Oct for his honeymoon. I told him it ended Oct 3rd. He will be excited if he finds out that it has been extended.

It has been extended through December. Information can be found here (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=209700&highlight=military).