Disney Military Tickets – Your 2024 Start to Finish Guide - Military Disney Tips Blog (2024)

The MDT Guide to purchasing and using Your Military Disney Tickets

You Are Going To Disney! Great now you’ve got a lot of things to start thinking about.

Theme park tickets are one of the biggest expenses for a Disney vacation. This post is meant to be your end-to-end guide on all things related to Disney’s Military Tickets.

We’ll start on the purchase process, and then cover things that you should be doing once you have the tickets (Like Theme Park Reservations and Disney Genie), and then we’ll finish up on how to use your tickets.

Let’s jump right in shall we?

Buying Your Disney Military Tickets

Kinds of Disney Military Tickets

Many people are surprised to discover that there are actually two types of Military Disney tickets, each with their own rules, prices, and pluses and minuses.

When most think of military tickets for Disney they think of the Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets, but Disney military tickets actually fall into 2 types:

• Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets
• Regular Military Discounted Disney Tickets

Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets –These are special, highly discounted tickets which are offered for a specific time period and have exclusion dates. These tickets have lots of rules, restrictions, and activation procedures due to their high discount. You should review all the rules on our Disney Armed Forces Salute Page!

Regular Military Discounted Disney Tickets –These are the slightly discounted tickets that have always been offered to the military community by Disney through Base Ticket Offices. No special rules or activation for these, just buy for yourself or others and use

We have a post to help you decide what type of Military Disney ticket is right for you.

For More Info See:

Disney Armed Forces Salute

Regular Military Discounted Disney Tickets

Regular Military Discounted Disneyland Tickets

Where, How, and When to Buy Your Disney Military Tickets

Where to Buy Your Disney Military Tickets

You’ll have from 1 to 3 options for buying your Disney tickets depending on the type you want:

• Base Ticket Offices (including Shades of Green) – In Person
• Base Ticket Offices (including Shades of Green) – Long Distance
• Directly from Disney – In Person

Base Ticket Offices – In Person: Your local Base Ticket Office can sell you Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets and Regular Military Discounted Disney Tickets. They may not stock all or any varieties of these tickets, so make sure you check on their policies ahead of time and plan to make your purchase far enough in advance of when you need the tickets to allow time to order them (typically 2 weeks).

Shades of Green – In Person: The military only resort at Walt Disney World has a Ticket Office and you may buy both varieties of tickets in person there after arrival, whether you are staying at Shades of Green or not.

Base Ticket Offices – Long Distance: For those who do not live near a Ticket Office or whose local office doesn’t sell what they need (usually Disney World vs. Disneyland), there are Ticket Offices that will ship to you for a fee. The caution above regarding allowing them time to order and in this case ship to you applies here as well.

Shades of Green – Long Distance: Will ship to you both varieties of Disney tickets whether you are staying at Shades of Green or not. They also sell and ship special Disney Halloween and Christmas tickets and many other Orlando area tickets, such as Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, Legoland Florida, etc.)

Directly from Disney – In Person: You also have the option to wait until you arrive to buy your tickets from Disney. Disney will only sell you the Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets; the Regular Military Tickets are not available from Disney.

Disney World Ticket Locations:

• All Theme Park Entrances
• The Transportation and Ticket Center
• Disney Springs Guest Relations locations
• Both Water Parks

Note you will pay State sales tax at Walt Disney World ticket locations!

Disneyland Ticket Locations:

• The Esplanade between the Theme Park Entrances

You cannot buy Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets from your mall Disney Store, or online/via phone from Disney as part of your room reservation.

For More Info See:

Your Base Ticket Office

Shades of Green’s Ticket Office

Orlando ITT

Buying Military Tickets Long Distance

Military Ticket Overview Page

How to Buy Your Disney Military Tickets

You can purchase your tickets with cash, credit, and debit cards (of course), but I’m often asked if the Star Card or Disney Gift Cards can be used to purchase your tickets.

The Military Star Card – You can use your Star Card to purchase Disney tickets at Walt Disney Worlds’s Shades of Green’s Ticket Office. You cannot use the Star Card to purchase Disney tickets anywhere else.

Disney Gift Cards – Neither Base Ticket Offices or Shades of Green accept Disney Gift cards. These gift cards are only valid at Disney locations.

Note – Waiting until arrival to buy your Walt Disney World tickets using a Disney Gift Card will put you at a big disadvantage for theme park reservations, instead buy your tickets via another means prior to your trip and use the gift cards for food, merchandise, or Disney Resort Hotels.

When to Buy Your Disney Military Tickets

There are different guidelines based upon where you are going and the tickets that you want.

NOTE: Both Disney World and Disneyland are currently using a Theme Park Reservation System, necessitating purchasing your ticket as far ahead as possible!

You will need to have your tickets in hand prior to making your Theme Park Reservations so buying them ahead of time is essential, no matter the type.

Disneyland

Disneyland Theme Park Reservation System

Regular Military Discounted Disneyland tickets can only be purchased from Base Ticket Offices, so you’ll need to buy your tickets prior to your departure.

Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World Theme Park Reservation System

Once You Have Your Disney Military Tickets

Ticket Security

Disney tickets are a big investment and you need to take the appropriate safeguards to protect that investment.

There are 2 very important things to do as soon as you have your tickets in hand.

First, after buying your tickets, do not discard your receipt! There are bad situations in which you may need it. Keep it in a safe place, perhaps where you keep your important documents.

If you lose or forget your tickets or they are stolen the receipt may be the only thing that keeps you from having to buy new ones.

Second, take pictures of the back of each of your tickets. Keep the pictures in a couple places (on your phone, your spouse’s phone, your computer, a thumb drive, etc.).

If you lose or forget your tickets or they are stolen these pictures will be the primary way to get new ones.

Then keep your tickets in a safe place, perhaps where you keep your important documents (and ticket receipt).

Don’t lose or forget them

I’ve heard horror stories!

Among them, the family who flew to California to go to Disneyland, only to realize after landing that they’d left their tickets in Hawaii.

Put tickets and ticket receipt on your packing checklist!

For More Info See:

Disney Military Ticket Physical Security

Link Your Tickets

In order to make Theme Park Reservations, you will need to link your tickets to your My Disney Experience account or Disneyland Account.

You should do this in advance of the day you will need to make reservations, just in case there are technical issues with linking them.

For More Info See:

Linking Military Tickets to My Disney Experience

Make Your Theme Park Reservations

With your tickets linked, you mat then make your Theme Park Reservations.

See our Post on making Theme Park Reservations

For More Info See:

Disney Technology Overview

All You Need To Know About Disney World FastPass Plus For The Military Traveler

Packing Your Tickets

Do Not pack your tickets (or Magic Bands) in checked baggage or luggage that will be separated from you! Ideally keep them on you in your wallet, which is where you should have the ticket receipt. Magic Bands go on your wrist (as a badge of honor stating that you are on the way to WDW) you will need them to check in for Disney’s Magical Express.

Remember those ticket photos? Two or more people in your party should have copies on their phone. If you have no phones with picture capability, print the pictures out.

Here is another sad story. A large multi-family military party arrived in Orlando and made a supply stop at a local store on their way to WDW. While inside their rental car was broken into and some of the luggage was stolen, including the bags with their tickets. One family was able to get their Base Ticket Office to fax a copy of the receipt and had their tickets replaced, the other family was not so lucky and had to buy new tickets.

Proof of purchase is essential in a bad situation! The ticket number (from the back) is also a huge plus.

For More Info See:

Disney’s Magical Express

Using Your Disney Military Tickets

Ticket Activation

Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets (with the exception of Salute tickets from Shades of Green) have to be activated in person after arrival at Disney prior to use.

At Disneyland you will do this the first time you enter a theme park. Your ID will be checked and the ticket activated as it is scanned. You cannot activate tickets ahead of time at Disneyland.

At Walt Disney World you will need to activate your tickets at a Ticket/Guest Relations Window. You can do this the first day of use or at anytime prior. Many like to do this ahead of time in order to be able to enter the park quickly on their first day.

If you are able I recommend doing this your arrival evening if you will not be going to the parks that day. You could go to Disney Spring have a nice meal and activate your tickets.

Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets may be activated at:

• All Theme Park Entrances (except the Rainforest Cafe entrance to Animal Kingdom)
• The Transportation and Ticket Center
• Disney Springs Guest Relations locations
• Both Water Parks

Regular Military Discounted Disney Tickets (for Disneyland and Disney World), Shades of Green Stars and Stripes Passes, and WDW Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets purchased form Shades of Green do not require activation. Just head to the park entrance on your first day.

For More Info See:

Disney Armed Forces Salute Ticket Activation Guide

Well that’s it for our A to Z Ticket Overview. Be sure to check out the links in this post for more info.

If you can’t find what you need after exploring, just leave your question in the comments below.

Planning a Disney Trip? Want to get the best military discounts that are available? Feeling a little confused? See Our Great Disney Discount and Planning Info:

• The Military Family’s Walt Disney World Comprehensive Vacation Planning and Preparation Guide
• Military Disney Tips Disney Packing Checklist
• Disney Military Tickets – Your Start to Finish Guide

Learn about the Disney Armed Forces Salute the best military discount that there is for Disney. See our Topic Overview Pages:

• Resorts/Hotel Overview Page
• Dining Overview Page
• Transportation Overview Page
• Technology Overview Page
• Shades of Green, WDW’s Military Only Resort