Unused Military Salute tickets that will expire?

[irlandaise]

Thank you so much for the encouragement, @MonocularVision! I am going to keep trying by phone and hope that I get a more helpful CM. I have had great CMs in the past and then some that were not terribly interested in problem solving beyond the usual protocols. Maybe I will get a willing CM. I also thought about trying the ITT office at Camp Pendleton since they probably handle a very large number of DL Military tickets. I think it can't hurt to call them.

Is your local base on Disney's list? I suppose it is since you said that they sell DL tickets. Pendleton has two offices that sell DL tickets, so I bet you're right that they sell a lot. Maybe they'll have more experience with applying the value of an expired ticket to a new one, even if you have to switch to a regular (non-military) ticket.

 

[twodogs]

Is your local base on Disney's list? I suppose it is since you said that they sell DL tickets. Pendleton has two offices that sell DL tickets, so I bet you're right that they sell a lot. Maybe they'll have more experience with applying the value of an expired ticket to a new one, even if you have to switch to a regular (non-military) ticket.

Yes, our ITT is on the list and has always been the place where we have purchased Military tickets for DL and WDW without any issues over the years.

I talked to Camp Pendleton. They said that they can't do an exchange or help because we bought the tickets at the base here in Texas, not from them. She said that our ITT should have done a courtesy refund of the tickets in 2022, but I didn't even think to ask for that since Disney assured me that we should just hold on to them and do the exchange at a later time at our ITT when they became medically able to travel.

In any case, it looks like my only options are for my parents/us to buy more tickets (military) and go to the booths when we arrive in California to see what the options are for these expired tickets, or see if Disney Ticketing will use the value of these to buy regular tickets by phone. I have to do some math and figure out what works better, though either one is going to be more expensive than just paying to update these military tickets to the current year military tickets. It does not look like we will be able to use the credit of these expired tickets towards new military tickets, however. That is disappointing for sure, since it is 6 tickets

Thank you all for your kind advice and sympathy. It means a lot!

 

[twodogs]

I have not called Disney Ticketing for a third time because I am trying to build up my emotional bandwidth to tell the story to yet another CM. I wish I could do that without crying to complete strangers on the phone, but I am not there with this yet…

If we do just buy more Military tickets for this trip and try to do something with the value of the expired tickets at the GS window when we get to California, (for a future trip, without my parents, so therefore using regular tickets), any idea if they will have us buy 6 more regular tickets at that time, applying the value of these 6 expired Salute tickets? If so, what would be
the expiration date of those regular tickets? We definitely won’t use 6 more regular tickets this year, so then I feel like I’ll be back to having expired tickets (albeit at least just expired regular tickets, not expired military tickets) to deal with. Not sure if these expired regular tickets could be “upgraded” to non-expired new tickets by phone for some future trip, or do I also have to wait to do that at a GS window? This would make it really tough since we live in Texas and since park reservations make buying tickets/upgrading tickets on arrival very risky.

I see if I just buy a ticket now, the expiration would be 1/2026.

 

[BGinCali]

I have not called Disney Ticketing for a third time because I am trying to build up my emotional bandwidth to tell the story to yet another CM. I wish I could do that without crying to complete strangers on the phone, but I am not there with this yet…

If we do just buy more Military tickets for this trip and try to do something with the value of the expired tickets at the GS window when we get to California, (for a future trip, without my parents, so therefore using regular tickets), any idea if they will have us buy 6 more regular tickets at that time, applying the value of these 6 expired Salute tickets? If so, what would be
the expiration date of those regular tickets? We definitely won’t use 6 more regular tickets this year, so then I feel like I’ll be back to having expired tickets (albeit at least just expired regular tickets, not expired military tickets) to deal with. Not sure if these expired regular tickets could be “upgraded” to non-expired new tickets by phone for some future trip, or do I also have to wait to do that at a GS window? This would make it really tough since we live in Texas and since park reservations make buying tickets/upgrading tickets on arrival very risky.

I see if I just buy a ticket now, the expiration would be 1/2026.

I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. I only wanted to add that I thought if you buy the 6 regular tickets while in person this trip, if you don’t use those tickets by the end of next year you could buy new tickets and apply the value over the phone. I am trying to find that documented, but so far only seeing it on a Plan disney chat function. (On Disney it says you can apply the value of unused, expired tickets - but makes no mention of how, if only mechanism is at ticket booth or if over phone). I will keep looking. I do hope you are able to resolve with some pixie dust and then enjoy happy planning for this special trip.

Edited to add: This thread is a year old but several folks were able to exchange over the phone:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/exchanging-expired-tickets.3917064/#post-64765999

 

[twodogs]

I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. I only wanted to add that I thought if you buy the 6 regular tickets while in person this trip, if you don’t use those tickets by the end of next year you could buy new tickets and apply the value over the phone. I am trying to find that documented, but so far only seeing it on a Plan disney chat function. (On Disney it says you can apply the value of unused, expired tickets - but makes no mention of how, if only mechanism is at ticket booth or if over phone). I will keep looking. I do hope you are able to resolve with some pixie dust and then enjoy happy planning for this special trip.

Edited to add: This thread is a year old but several folks were able to exchange over the phone:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/exchanging-expired-tickets.3917064/#post-64765999

Thank so much, @BGinCali. You are very sweet to find this thread for me, and maybe that is another good option. Being able to exchange the future tickets (that will possibly expire before we could use all 6) over the phone would be a big difference.

I did reach out to Plan Disney with my question about the Military tickets, and they have indicated that they have forwarded on. I haven't heard a response yet. I did see several answers on PlanDisney about military tickets, but the answers varied, just like my discussions with the various ticketing CMs. I just wish Disney was consistent about things like this and that all CMs gave the same answers.

Thank you again!

 

[twodogs]

I talked to another ticketing CM today, and got the same answer. They can't do anything but apply the value to a new, regular ticket. The problems with that option are that the new tickets (4 day PH with G+, which is what we had in the Salute tickets) would be $295 more per person than what we paid in 2022 ($340 each), so an additional $1770 for all 6 tickets. In addition, she is the second ticketing CM to tell me that Disney says the value of our Salute tickets is only $304 each. I asked why there is a difference in the value, as my Mom still has her credit card receipt from the base ticketing office which shows $340 x 6 4DHOPGENI+ (04APR22-16DEC22), total $2040.00 (no tax) (it is written out that way on the receipt). So if we used "Disney's" lower value, applying our Salute value to regular tickets would now cost us an additional $1986, not $1770. The CM could not tell me why they show a lower value for each ticket than we paid (and this is simple to verify by looking at the price for Salute tickets for 2022).

I asked to speak to a supervisor or ticketing person with more information on military tickets, and she declined my request. I asked if Disney could communicate with my base ITT office about an exchange, and she declined.

I have emailed DLR without a response for one week other than the canned "we will get back to you". I posted the question to planDisney and got a response that they were looking at my question, but again that was over a week ago. I emailed Steve at Military Disney Tips (a great military Disney newsletter!), so maybe he will have some different information.

Thank you all for listening to all of this. I keep hoping that I will get a CM who has another solution that honors Disney's intent of the military Salute tickets, but I don't think that will happen at this point. I guess we will have to spend the money to buy more Salute tickets for this trip (so my parents get to use their military benefit), and then I will pay my parents the value of their 2022 tickets so they are made whole for theirs, and then I will try to exchange the expired Salute tickets for regular park tickets, hoping we can use them on a later trip when my parents are not on the trip (since this is surely their last trip). I feel terribly about creating stress for my parents over this ticket situation, when I purposely spoke to Disney in 2022 to understand this process (but apparently that information was incorrect, and her "putting a note in the Disney account" about that conversation didn't happen or is gone from my account now that the tickets are expired).

Thank you all again. If I get any email response, I will post it here for the benefit of others who might have a similar situation.

 

[crystal1313]

I’m so sorry this is happening. I don’t understand how they can deny you talking to a manager!?! What the heck. I mean, can’t the manager call you back if someone isn’t available immediately? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Also, the difference in what you paid to what they are currently saying the tickets are worth is very strange. How do the tickets lose value? Something strange is going on!

I’m sorry you are dealing with this. I know it’s emotional to explain over and over again as well. I’m hoping someone gets back to you with answers that are helpful.

 

[twodogs]

I’m so sorry this is happening. I don’t understand how they can deny you talking to a manager!?! What the heck. I mean, can’t the manager call you back if someone isn’t available immediately? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Also, the difference in what you paid to what they are currently saying the tickets are worth is very strange. How do the tickets lose value? Something strange is going on!

I’m sorry you are dealing with this. I know it’s emotional to explain over and over again as well. I’m hoping someone gets back to you with answers that are helpful.

Thank you so much, Crystal. You are so kind to be following along, and you know just how I am feeling.

 

[Curiousporpoise]

I talked to another ticketing CM today, and got the same answer. They can't do anything but apply the value to a new, regular ticket. The problems with that option are that the new tickets (4 day PH with G+, which is what we had in the Salute tickets) would be $295 more per person than what we paid in 2022 ($340 each), so an additional $1770 for all 6 tickets. In addition, she is the second ticketing CM to tell me that Disney says the value of our Salute tickets is only $304 each. I asked why there is a difference in the value, as my Mom still has her credit card receipt from the base ticketing office which shows $340 x 6 4DHOPGENI+ (04APR22-16DEC22), total $2040.00 (no tax) (it is written out that way on the receipt). So if we used "Disney's" lower value, applying our Salute value to regular tickets would now cost us an additional $1986, not $1770. The CM could not tell me why they show a lower value for each ticket than we paid (and this is simple to verify by looking at the price for Salute tickets for 2022).

I asked to speak to a supervisor or ticketing person with more information on military tickets, and she declined my request. I asked if Disney could communicate with my base ITT office about an exchange, and she declined.

I have emailed DLR without a response for one week other than the canned "we will get back to you". I posted the question to planDisney and got a response that they were looking at my question, but again that was over a week ago. I emailed Steve at Military Disney Tips (a great military Disney newsletter!), so maybe he will have some different information.

Thank you all for listening to all of this. I keep hoping that I will get a CM who has another solution that honors Disney's intent of the military Salute tickets, but I don't think that will happen at this point. I guess we will have to spend the money to buy more Salute tickets for this trip (so my parents get to use their military benefit), and then I will pay my parents the value of their 2022 tickets so they are made whole for theirs, and then I will try to exchange the expired Salute tickets for regular park tickets, hoping we can use them on a later trip when my parents are not on the trip (since this is surely their last trip). I feel terribly about creating stress for my parents over this ticket situation, when I purposely spoke to Disney in 2022 to understand this process (but apparently that information was incorrect, and her "putting a note in the Disney account" about that conversation didn't happen or is gone from my account now that the tickets are expired).

Thank you all again. If I get any email response, I will post it here for the benefit of others who might have a similar situation.

Sorry this is happening!

Are you going anytime between June 10 and September 26? Disneyland recently announced that there will be special 3 day tickets for $149 kids/$199 adults Monday through Thursday and $199/$249 Friday through Sunday. Tickets will go on sale on May 29. Maybe you could apply the value to these tickets and get closer to the salute prices?

 

[twodogs]

Sorry this is happening!

Are you going anytime between June 10 and September 26? Disneyland recently announced that there will be special 3 day tickets for $149 kids/$199 adults Monday through Thursday and $199/$249 Friday through Sunday. Tickets will go on sale on May 29. Maybe you could apply the value to these tickets and get closer to the salute prices?

Thank you so much. We are going in late May, so that will unfortunately fall outside of those dates. But THANK YOU for coming on to suggest it!!

 

[lanejudy]

Disney says the value of our Salute tickets is only $304 each. I asked why there is a difference in the value, as my Mom still has her credit card receipt from the base ticketing office which shows $340 x 6 4DHOPGENI+ (04APR22-16DEC22), total $2040.00 (no tax) (it is written out that way on the receipt)

There is an official (Disney) price/value, but according to Steve's militarydisneytips.com each base is allowed to set their own price. Some bases may subsidize the cost so it's a bit less while others may add a "service fee" that makes the ticket cost more. Unfortunately, it sounds like your base charged more. So the value may be a losing battle if your local base is unwilling to get involved; it sounds like that was Disney's original expectation but your base is unwilling. You can try going to the ITT office again in person and asking them to contact Disney with you. I don't know if that would work.

So sorry you are going through this. But the bright spot is that both your parents have come through their health scares and still here.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thank you so much. We are going in late May, so that will unfortunately fall outside of those dates. But THANK YOU for coming on to suggest it!!

I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you can resolve it. Is there any chance you could push your trip to early June? If so you could take advantage of the new ticket deal.

 

[twodogs]

There is an official (Disney) price/value, but according to Steve's militarydisneytips.com each base is allowed to set their own price. Some bases may subsidize the cost so it's a bit less while others may add a "service fee" that makes the ticket cost more. Unfortunately, it sounds like your base charged more. So the value may be a losing battle if your local base is unwilling to get involved; it sounds like that was Disney's original expectation but your base is unwilling. You can try going to the ITT office again in person and asking them to contact Disney with you. I don't know if that would work.

So sorry you are going through this. But the bright spot is that both your parents have come through their health scares and still here.

Thank you again for your information! I did find numerous price lists online from 2022 and they all price the ticket at $340, so I am not sure why Disney shows differently. I did find a post somewhere on the DIS (maybe the big ticket thread over on the WDW side, but I can’t recall) where someone said that when they called Disney, they showed a lower value for their expired tickets, but at the GS booth, they found the correct value that they had paid. So maybe that will help? I don’t know at this point…

I don’t think my local base wants to get involved. It is 90 minutes away from me, and I need to take at least my mom or dad with me to do anything with the tickets, so I don’t know if we will try again or not. But maybe we can get someone at ITT to call Disney with us. But I agree, I think Disney has better intentions than what their ticketing folks or the people at my base are willing to do.

And you are so right, my parent’s health and celebrating that are the MOST important things about this trip. It will be their last one with our daughters after going with them their whole lives. It will be special no matter what, and this ticket situation will be a faint memory, while the actual memories of the trip will last forever for us! Thank you for reminding me because it is easy to get lost in being discouraged about these tickets!

 

[twodogs]

I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you can resolve it. Is there any chance you could push your trip to early June? If so you could take advantage of the new ticket deal.

Unfortunately, my younger DD starts summer school right after we will return from our currently planned dates, so we can’t move it later in the month.

And thank you so much, @SOCALMouseMommy!

 

[fly girl]

I have no advice, I wish I did, but I don't.

When you mentioned Camp Pendleton I had hope. I have learned that Camp Pendleton ITT is the best for getting DLR and WDW tickets (so much better than SOG), and was bummed to read they couldn't help you. In the future, I would suggest calling them over your Texas ITT since it isn't close. FWIW, I ordered our WDW and DLR tickets last week in the morning and they were at my doorstep the next day (and I live 2200 miles away!)

IMO, it is ridiculous this ticket reissue is so time consuming and difficult. Your 6 salute tickets being reissued for current salute tickets doesn't seem like a crazy request. It honestly seems more crazy to only let you reissue as a standard ticket. Too bad common sense sometimes doesn't win.

However, with all that said, the big thing isn't the tickets, it is that your parents are cancer free!! I know you know that but I am so happy for you and your family they are. And to go to DL again is the cherry on top.

The ticket issue will eventually get figured out, even if it isn't the way all of us on here want it to go. No doubt, it would bug me to no end too, and I would have done everything you have to try and get things to work out. But at some point your time and sanity is worth more.

Enjoy your trip!! I know you will. Like you said, in the end the memory won't be about the ticket reissue. It will be from the time shared with your family in the parks.


(ps, I never wanted Disney to prove me wrong as much as this and you get a salute reissue the way it should be!)

 

[twodogs]

I have no advice, I wish I did, but I don't.

When you mentioned Camp Pendleton I had hope. I have learned that Camp Pendleton ITT is the best for getting DLR and WDW tickets (so much better than SOG), and was bummed to read they couldn't help you. In the future, I would suggest calling them over your Texas ITT since it isn't close. FWIW, I ordered our WDW and DLR tickets last week in the morning and they were at my doorstep the next day (and I live 2200 miles away!)

IMO, it is ridiculous this ticket reissue is so time consuming and difficult. Your 6 salute tickets being reissued for current salute tickets doesn't seem like a crazy request. It honestly seems more crazy to only let you reissue as a standard ticket. Too bad common sense sometimes doesn't win.

However, with all that said, the big thing isn't the tickets, it is that your parents are cancer free!! I know you know that but I am so happy for you and your family they are. And to go to DL again is the cherry on top.

The ticket issue will eventually get figured out, even if it isn't the way all of us on here want it to go. No doubt, it would bug me to no end too, and I would have done everything you have to try and get things to work out. But at some point your time and sanity is worth more.

Enjoy your trip!! I know you will. Like you said, in the end the memory won't be about the ticket reissue. It will be from the time shared with your family in the parks.


(ps, I never wanted Disney to prove me wrong as much as this and you get a salute reissue the way it should be!)

@fly girl THANK YOU for this post! You are so right about all of those points!

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, and I am going to try to get to a decision about the tickets so we can move on to the MAGIC!

 

[twodogs]

Today, my mom and I made the 3 hour round trip drive to our military base, hoping they would call "their contact at Disney" as they had said the first time we were there 2 weeks ago. They did call Disney, but it was the regular ticket line. They gave me the phone and I went through everything again. The CM said they thought they could help us exchange the tickets for little or no difference in price, and at that point, the military base office was closing for the day, so we had to leave and have Disney call me back on my phone. Then Disney offered to apply the military ticket value to a 1 day or 2 day regular ticket so that we would not have to pay much of a difference.. Sure this is less expensive then just applying it to a 4 day PH with G+ (our original tickets), but it doesn't solve anything. I said that we would like 3 day PH with G+, and the CM said that would be $1260 additional for 6 tickets. If they had let us apply the value of our original military tickets to new military 3 day PH with G+, it would have been a difference of $114. I literally cried. Again.

My Mom and I decided on the way home that we will just pay for the upgrade to the regularly priced 3 day PH with G+, forgo the military discount, and try to move on to the happy parts of the trip. I am very disappointed in this on principle, but I am not going to get any different answer from Disney, I don't think. The CM did talk to my mom this afternoon to verify that it was ok to talk to me about the tickets and upgrade.

I called Disney ticketing back tonight to pay the $1260 and be done with this. It was a one hour call, and she did try to see if there were any other options. There weren't. Then she said she needed to talk to my Mom again, since she is the one who purchased the original military tickets in 2022. I said that my Mom already talked to the CM a few hours ago for that purpose, and it is 10:30pm here. She said there is nothing they can do, and my Mom and I will need to call back together tomorrow to pay for the upgrade.

I hope that tomorrow's call is not another hour. At this point, I almost wish I had just given up early on and paid them the difference. It would have saved hours on the phone and driving back and forth to the base, twice. I am very sad that this is the only option Disney could provide. I feel defeated that I could not solve this better for my parents so that they don't have to upgrade to regular tickets and lose their military benefits, but I need to put this behind me and move on with the trip.

Thanks all for your kind support. It means a lot to me.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Today, my mom and I made the 3 hour round trip drive to our military base, hoping they would call "their contact at Disney" as they had said the first time we were there 2 weeks ago. They did call Disney, but it was the regular ticket line. They gave me the phone and I went through everything again. The CM said they thought they could help us exchange the tickets for little or no difference in price, and at that point, the military base office was closing for the day, so we had to leave and have Disney call me back on my phone. Then Disney offered to apply the military ticket value to a 1 day or 2 day regular ticket so that we would not have to pay much of a difference.. Sure this is less expensive then just applying it to a 4 day PH with G+ (our original tickets), but it doesn't solve anything. I said that we would like 3 day PH with G+, and the CM said that would be $1260 additional for 6 tickets. If they had let us apply the value of our original military tickets to new military 3 day PH with G+, it would have been a difference of $114. I literally cried. Again.

My Mom and I decided on the way home that we will just pay for the upgrade to the regularly priced 3 day PH with G+, forgo the military discount, and try to move on to the happy parts of the trip. I am very disappointed in this on principle, but I am not going to get any different answer from Disney, I don't think. The CM did talk to my mom this afternoon to verify that it was ok to talk to me about the tickets and upgrade.

I called Disney ticketing back tonight to pay the $1260 and be done with this. It was a one hour call, and she did try to see if there were any other options. There weren't. Then she said she needed to talk to my Mom again, since she is the one who purchased the original military tickets in 2022. I said that my Mom already talked to the CM a few hours ago for that purpose, and it is 10:30pm here. She said there is nothing they can do, and my Mom and I will need to call back together tomorrow to pay for the upgrade.

I hope that tomorrow's call is not another hour. At this point, I almost wish I had just given up early on and paid them the difference. It would have saved hours on the phone and driving back and forth to the base, twice. I am very sad that this is the only option Disney could provide. I feel defeated that I could not solve this better for my parents so that they don't have to upgrade to regular tickets and lose their military benefits, but I need to put this behind me and move on with the trip.

Thanks all for your kind support. It means a lot to me.

Ugh, I am so sorry. This is beyond frustrating and so very disappointing.

 

[MonocularVision]

What an incredibly lousy way they have handled this. So sorry that it turned out this way.

 

[crystal1313]

Wow. I’m so sorry you and your parents have had to go through this so many times. I am shocked Disney doesn’t have a better way to deal with a scenario like that. It’s very disappointing. Big hugs to you all.