Disney's Armed Forces Salute 2009

[buzznwoodysmom]

Thanks Jessica,

Like I said I am pretty sure we will be able to get them. I felt really bad for other's in the reserves or national guard who in my opinion deserve it who may not qualify. A lot of the way Disney worded everything made it unclear who was eligable or not. We don't have an ITT office nearby either, but I'll try to call the one in Orlando tomorrow just to see if I get the same answer as you. I sure hope it all works out for us because I have already booked a few nights before our Thanksgiving trip at the Poly and without the military discount it would really be too expensive, especially since these are "extra" nights. Good luck everyone!

[skram79]

miss I believe you are wrong again. This war has used our reservist alot and they do desrvere the discouont but the way it is worded they only get it with papers, just trying to save you a hassle, but please do what you will.

[jrpersinger]

Denise,

No problem! I agree, my DH has been deployed alot. Just this last year that he hasn't and that because he got hurt and had to have surgery. He was actually tagged to go again but he was still on med hold.

Skram,
Man, we are going to have to agree to disagree. I know what I was told by several different people today. And everyone of them said we would be able to buy tickets. And even then, as I told you in the PM to you, the IDs for Active Duty (real Army), Reserves and Guard are all the same. They all same Uniformed Service and Army. Nothing about Active, Guard or Reserves. So, how could they tell the difference?

[buzznwoodysmom]

Jessica is completely right about the Army National Guard IDs. My husband is Army National Guard, his brother is full time Army. There is absolutely no way to tell the difference through their IDs. They are identical except for their personal information (name, date of birth, pay grade, rank) and picture of course. It only says Armed Forces of the United States Army. Nothing at all about National Guard. Maybe each state or branch of the military is different.

[skram79]

Jessica,

Sorry it appears there is not a difference betwen reserve and active duty ID cards. President Clinton implented the change in 1997, to better integrate the reserve with active duty. Again I am sorry, it was 1993 when I retired alot has changed.

In my defense, I do have a blue card that says retired and wife and children have tan ones.

[jrpersinger]

No Problem Skram. DH joined when you were retiring and he still didn't have the new ID until 2003.

[pixiesmimi]

I am considering booking a trip with the armed forces 40% off moderate and $99 - 5 day ticket + $25 to make it a hopper + Wp & more. I would like to get the dining plan as well. Does anyone know if this is possible?

I was told by MJ that the we couldn't get the dining plan. We are already booked for Aug on a MYW package with dining and she said she could change it to a room only with the 40% discount and we could purchase our own tickets with this but it wouldn't include dining. I ran the figures and we decided that the couple of hundred dollars in savings by taking care of our own dining wouldn't outweigh the convenience of having the package with the dining so we aren't going to change anything to used these tickets. But if we decided to just do the room only and use these tickets, it would save us considerable even at the Poly. We can use it at another time though for another trip, say with DD's family.

I was told it was possible to add the dining plan to the package.

Who told you that it was possible to add the dining to this? If that is true, then we would go back and change ours. We figured we would spend more with OOP dining than with the dining plan. I'm wondering if we added a day or so to our tickets, if we could then qualify for the dining plan.

[ginger19]

Who told you that it was possible to add the dining to this? If that is true, then we would go back and change ours. We figured we would spend more with OOP dining than with the dining plan. I'm wondering if we added a day or so to our tickets, if we could then qualify for the dining plan.

Wendy at MJ told me yesterday.

[mykidsmom]

I have a question. Does the Military person have to be present for the companian ticket to be activated or used?

[skram79]

It is my understanding that the military member or his/her's spouse needs to be there to activate the tickets using their ID card. I hope this helps.

[watch4pixiedust]

I was told by MJ that the we couldn't get the dining plan. We are already booked for Aug on a MYW package with dining and she said she could change it to a room only with the 40% discount and we could purchase our own tickets with this but it wouldn't include dining. I ran the figures and we decided that the couple of hundred dollars in savings by taking care of our own dining wouldn't outweigh the convenience of having the package with the dining so we aren't going to change anything to used these tickets. But if we decided to just do the room only and use these tickets, it would save us considerable even at the Poly. We can use it at another time though for another trip, say with DD's family.

Who told you that it was possible to add the dining to this? If that is true, then we would go back and change ours. We figured we would spend more with OOP dining than with the dining plan. I'm wondering if we added a day or so to our tickets, if we could then qualify for the dining plan.

Usually the dining plan can only be added to a package, so if the ressie is changed from a pkg to a rm-only, I assume that would be why dining couldn't be added - Unless! Disney has made an exception with this promotion. I could be missing something here
It's a shame to have to choose between getting the 40% discount, or having the dining plan. If you're paying for the DDP, it wouldn't be "stacking" discounts.....would it?
Not trying to here

[jrpersinger]

You can get the dining plan. Its an exception for the military deal only. Now, wether or not you can get 1 room per service memeber or 3 is still up for debate. Its another one of those things that were not certain to start with that are not certain. Denise at Magical Journerys even double confirmed it for me when we were debating Disney Resort to SoG.

And back onto the Reserve/Guard topic. If you run into any problems getting your tickets and you are actively drilling, then you need to call Orlandos ITT. They are the ones fixing everything for Disney. I called them again this morning to make sure how we have to go about getting the money for our tickets to them. And they explained everything perfectly.

[Yvette]

PSA:

I called last night to see if we could get the Poly for our dates (5/26-7/2). We already have a reservation with the 4/3 special but thought it was worth a try. Unfortunataly they only had suites left. While I would love a suite, that would defeat the purpose now wouldn't it?

However, she did say that we COULD get dining with the Military Special. So just call and ask.

[Poohsmom]

I booked 5 nights at Beach Club for late August using the military discount. I was offered the dining plan but I declined. The Disney rep said I could add it later, they would just cancel and rebook. I was thinking if they offer free dining again I could try to get that since I'm going around the right time frame. Even if I had a buy a one day ticket (to be used on another trip!) it would be worth it!

Chris

[Marilyn Michetti]

SOG doesn't qualify for the dining plan, so I'll miss out on that, but the room are sooooo nice there. Wouldn't it be nice if, just this once, we could get it too?

[coloradowendyl]

Dining may be added to the Military discount to turn it into a package. The Military discount code with the Basic dining plan is FNB. . The package with Quick Service Dining code is EAN

It is a ticketless package with 40% off the room with the option to add the dining plan. The room only Discount for just a 40% off room is MYV.

If you have received incorrect information while calling Disney, please be aware that there are quite a few new castmembers in January and between the pincode offers, the Buy 4/Get 3 offer, AP rates, etc...there are a ton of codes for them to search through. New castmembers are often not as savvy at finding particular codes as the more experienced ones and will often say something is not available.

Wendy

[okjac80]

so can you or can you not add dining if you stay at SoG?


There are 6 of us, however SoG said that since I have little kids, one of which can stay in a pack n play, we could stay in a standard room. The other resorts seem to charge per person. Is this correct? So even w/ the 40% off, SoG would still be cheaper, right?

I am really curious about whether or not we can add dining at SoG

[jrpersinger]

No, you can NOT get Disney Dining when you stay at SoG. However, they do offer some sort of dining package (or they did) for their resturants. Not sure the price or what it included since we never used it.

[deedeenmickey]

This is all so confusing to me. I want to know if this is possible: My husband is Army National Guard, he is set to deploy to Iraq in March. I would like to book POFQ before he deploys for us and our 3 children with the dining package. We do not have a local ITT office so I would like to do this by phone. Is all of this possible and where do I call?

Thank you so much for all of your help. I also plan to thank Disney for doing this. I would like to encourage everyone to send a letter or email to thank them. This way Disney may do this more often.

[okjac80]

I just talked to somebody at WDW and as long as you KNOW the code, they will grant the meal plan w/ the tickets w/ the 40% off. They won't tell you the code! LOL

We are going in Sept so it will be the value rates. It will be about the same price to stay at a moderate resort as it does to stay at SoG (only bc it is 40% off the Sept rate). I think it might be more econimical to stay at a mod resort and add the dining plan. Is that right? this is our first trip, so I need a lot of advice!