Military park tickets for non-military?

[Aisling]

My brother and his wife are both in the Air Force, stationed in Texas. He said he can get discounted WDW tickets for his family since he's in the military. And that gave me an idea...

can he buy tickets for his dear sis and her family, send them to us, and help us save some money? I don't know how much the discount is, but I'm hoping it'll be a lot less than from other sources.
He's going to find out and let me know, but while I'm waiting for him to get back to me, I thought I'd ask here since we have many military Disers on the boards.

 

[katerkat]

Are you asking about the Disney Military Special, or just regular tickets from the base ITT or Shades of Green?

The Disney special is free for the military member, plus up to five $99 five day passes for friends and family. These passes must be purchased at WDW, so the only way for your brother to get them to you is if he goes to Disney himself. They are also linked to a birthday to prevent online sales and expire on Dec. 19.

The base ITT and SoG both offer discounted tickets - usually about a 10% discount. I don't think there's much restriction for these - obviously, they're meant for the military members and their family, but I don't think they check to make sure at the gate. I could be wrong, though - we haven't purchased through ITT or SoG yet.

 

[clkelley]

Our BIL is retired disabled vet and has a military ID. Whenever we go to WDW he takes us over to our local MWR office and we purchase our WDW tickets with our credit card using his military ID. There is no problem with that.

One time his wife with dependent ID went with us to WDW without him. We went to Shades of Green. She showed her ID. We got Stars & Stripes tickets for 10 folks on that trip. They were paid for with 3 different credit cards.

In every experience I have never seen anyone at any MWR even flinch on who the tickets were purchased for or who paid for them as long as a military ID was shown.

Carol

 

[katerkat]

Just like to add, for those who don't speak military....

MWR = Morale, Welfare, Recreation (Army, Navy, Marines)
ITT = Information, Tickets, Travel (Air Force)

 

[AdventurerKat]

I have never used military purchased tickets at WDW but my mom had a couple of times picked us up tickets at the base for Disneyland simply because she was buying them as a present for us and it was convenient. My dad is retired navy. Anyway, we used them with no questions asked. I guess they may ask to see the ID but I doubt it. Probably the worst thing that could happen is they won't accept them but you would think they would at least let them trade them in on a civilian ticket. But I doubt they will check.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

The person who sells the tickets usually gives the disclaimer that Disney reserves the right to check military ID at the gate. We have used tickets that my dad has bought with his retired military ID on 3 trips and never have been asked to show military ID though. Just be aware that it is a remote possibility.

 

[ncbyrne]

My b-i-l is retired Air Force and has gotten us Disney passes from his base in FL. They looked like any other WDW pass. For our next trip coming up, I asked him to get the current prices from the base. Although they are slightly lower than the advanced WDW passes, Paramount has better prices!

 

[HappyMommy2]

To the OP:
I think you're talking about the regular military discount tickets (as someone else said, if you're talking about the incredibly discounted Armed Forces Salute tickets, the military member or his/her spouse must actually be present at Disney to purchase the tickets). If you are talking about the regular discount ones that are purchased through ITT, I do want to tell you that we purchased those for Disneyland a few years ago and, in fact, DH's military ID WAS checked at the gate. The CM said that someone with a military ID (retired, active duty, or dependent) had to be present if the military tickets were being used. We had also been told this when we bought the tickets at ITT.

I'm not sure if the policy has changed and/or how well they enforce it (we went another time and they didn't check our IDs, so I'm guessing it was only sporadically enforced even then). I would have your BIL ask at ITT just to be sure, though.

 

[mog]

I will second HappyMommy2's post. When we lived in Georgia we were only a couple hours from WDW. We used to buy our tickets at MWR or ITT all the time. They used to say on the tickets that military ID was required for entry and sure enough we had our military ID cards checked on more than one occasion. I don't know if it still says that or if they still check or not, but I don't know that I'd want to take the chance!

 

[dan-tot]

When I was stationed at Mc Dill, Tampa Fla. we got really nice discounts on tickets but I think I had to show my ID. I got them at the park ticket booth and not at ITT. I work for the Army now as a civilian and have used MWR all the time. The discount it is no tax and some off of the dollar amount. They only have certain tickets I asked about a one day once and they didn't handle them. They have hopper passes up to 7 days. I get them from MWR and they do not ask to see ids when buying them. It is still a good discount without being in the military. On the back of the ticket the only thing on them is adult or child and what type of pass it is with the word military. This only means that you got them through the military. I have never been asked for ID and the passes go through the readers without a hitch. If you are retired military I think that you can get a better discount you will have to find out. I didn't retire so I can't help on that vein but it would seem to me that a better one could be gotten. Not as good as active duty But. Don't forget about seaworld and Universal as well. They have discounts on those as well. Can't wait to use them 45 days from now.


Dan-tot

 

[Aisling]

Thanks for the replies.

What I wanted my brother to do is just buy the tickets from the ITT (thanks for that! LOL) with his discount, just regular park hoppers, and send them to us, because he's not going to Disney.

I just wondered if the military allowed it's people to buy for family and friends. It looks like the ideas is that the tickets are supposed to be used by only by military and friends only if the serviceperson is going too.
So I won't be going this ticket route after all. I don't want to step on Uncle Sam's toes!

 

[strawberryblonde]

As a poster above mentioned, try paramount!! We are military and could have purchased tickets at military discount this past March for our entire group. Instead we went through paramount, a few dollars cheaper with free character breakfast vouchers as well . No stepping on toes either this way Good luck!

 

[ToriLammy]

Originally posted by HappyMommy2
To the OP:
If you are talking about the regular discount ones that are purchased through ITT, I do want to tell you that we purchased those for Disneyland a few years ago and, in fact, DH's military ID WAS checked at the gate. The CM said that someone with a military ID (retired, active duty, or dependent) had to be present if the military tickets were being used. We had also been told this when we bought the tickets at ITT.

Since you mentioned Disneyland specifically I can probably shed some light on that. We used to live in Las Vegas and went to Disneyland frequently. A lot of the time they would offer special "military passes" cheaper than the normally discounted ITT prices such as "2 days for the price one" or "Military Salute". For those tickets you had to have a military ID. But for the normal discounted tickets no ID was ever required. Since ITT sells to civilians working the US Government they can't really require a military ID card since civilians don't have one. I don't see a problem with the OP's brother buying tickets and sending them to her.