Military tickets 2018

Considering purchase of military tickets (5 days) for April 2018 (assuming availability). Staying at Riverside, no dining plan. Are their any disadvantages? Will the room cost more? Can I still get magicband? Make early attraction reservations? Looks like a big savings but am I missing something?

We get them every year. Be ready to call the day the renewal is announced if you want the discount on the room. It has been 35% for moderates in years past but it is limited availability. Also, black out dates around Easter so keep an eye on that for both room and tickets.
For the tickets, no disadvantage. You can link them in MDE, you can make FPP, and the magic bands are tied to the room stay so if you are on property you get them.
You will have to go to guest services when you arrive to show military ID to activate them. Keep that in mind. I’m assuming that the authorized person is planning to be with you on the trip. You can’t use them without them.
Hope this helps!

It’s a great savings. I use them a couple of times a year. The cost is less than half of regular gate ticket prices and if you buy them on base or at Shades of Green they are tax free. Do you live near a base? If not, there are a few online or phone options you can use. When I use the resort discounts, I call frequently to see what is available. This is the first trip where I haven’t changed the resort at least twice and that is just because I’m using credit card points to pay for it. Different resorts and room categories, and I get to listen to the great hold music. :slight_smile:

If I don’t have an AP - which is usually the case - I use them every time; one of the best deals left in WDW…

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Love the military tickets. I’ve found no disadvantage and an actual advantage is that they don’t expire as fast as the other tickets. I generally get the tickets with waterparks option so that gives 4 regular park days and 4 waterpark days. That’s 8 total days to split up into more than one trip during the year. Never had a problem linking them to MDE and making FP either. The resort discounts are great too, but make sure you know the rack rate. I’ve asked for the “military discount” and it was almost rack rate. When I mentioned that it should be 35% off for the moderate the response was “oh, we don’t have that discount available, this is the regular military one”. I then had them check other resorts and found one with the “salute room rate”.

If you buy them at Shades, either by email or in person, they are already activated. Also, don’t forget you can only get 6 Salute tickets per year. It just about killed me today to have to buy a MYW ticket since we used up our allotment for the year. Still saved a little buying from Shades.

We used military discount to book seven nights at Boardwalk Inn. We bought our tickets through Shades of Green and put money on gift certificates to budget for food. You can purchase memory maker for much cheaper also at Disney Springs Guest services.

The military tickets and hotel discounts are the reason we keep coming back so often. It’s a fabulous deal. Buy them from Shades (email them for an order form) and they will FedEx them to you so you’ll get the activated tickets with no tax, and you’ll have them in time for all your FPP reservations. Definitely call the day the Salute is announced to have the best chance to get the hotel room you want. If you don’t get what you want, keep trying. I got our Salute room at WL for October from a cancellation.