Any options for our Salute tickets if leave is denied?

[disneygrandma]

Grandson was just told that his leave will probably be denied, but won't know for sure until the day before. Our family's Disney and Universal tickets are the active duty ones that our grandson purchased on base. One of them was his, and all of us need him present to activate our tickets. Do we have any options? Tickets are non-refundable, but are there any exceptions for cases like this? We leave in a week, and really need some help with this. And some Pixie Dust!

Please let us know if you have any ideas, any experience with this kind of issue, any advice. Thank you!

 

[StarCruzer]

It sounds terrible, but he may need to tap his network to find someone active duty (or spouse!) who can be there when you activate the tickets onsite. I'm a military spouse and I didn't have any trouble activating my ticket when my husband unexpectedly wasn't able to make it. Universal works a little differently--servicemember needs to be present when the tickets are activated, but they are a yearly pass. So even if he can't make this trip, you could activate the tickets in the future and use them any time during the year (if those were the ticket type you purchase of course. That's my assumption because those tix are a steal--$200 per person for a full year of access!).

I'm sorry this isn't very helpful! In the future, I would highly recommend getting Disney tickets directly from Shades of Green. Because they require your military ID for the initial purchase, they come pre-activated (or they were for us when we got them Jan 2024).

 

[disneygrandma]

Thanks for all of this information. Won't Disney need the military id for the person who bought the ticket, rather than a different active military person?

As for Universal, yes, it is a super good deal. However, none of us was planning on being in the area again this year. So I don't know if we would be able to use them.

I knew that Shades of Green sold the military tickets, but I thought they were the other ones, and not the cheaper Salute tickets. We'll keep them in mind should we decide to try this again.

Thanks so much!

 

[lanejudy]

I’m sure it’s not the greatest option, but you can use the value towards regular WDW tickets for the rest of the group.

Or if it’s possible to reschedule to later this year, hold the vouchers — they are good until mid-December.

 

[StarCruzer]

Thanks for all of this information. Won't Disney need the military id for the person who bought the ticket, rather than a different active military person?

As far as I know, Disney only needs to see the military ID. It's been a while since we bought from ITT but last time I think they sent us an envelope full of cards. It was probably around 2017 and we were required to activate all tickets at the customer service office in Disney Springs (I think you can activate them at the ticket windows in the park now). If I remember the tickets also aren't tied to specific dates, so you could possibly hang on to them and use them by the end of the year.

Since the tickets are purchased through the military, and not Disney's systems, they have no way of identifying who purchased the ticket. I was able to use my spouse ID to activate tickets my husband purchased without any issues (and spouse IDs are completely different--his ID is oriented the opposite way, and has an RF chip whereas mine doesn't).

This is a tough situation, and I hope you're able to figure it out! I hate to say it, but Disney is definitely not the most military friendly place to visit. You have to plan so far ahead, then get stuck with the bill if leave is denied or there is a deployment.

 

[disneygrandma]

The tickets are all linked to everyone in our MDE accounts. So how will we be able to have someone show a military ID, who doesn't have a ticket, and be able to activate our tickets?

Unfortunately, we won't be able to redo the trip later in the year.

 

[lanejudy]

Another option to try is if your grandson can exchange the Salute tickets he purchased for discounted MYW? I believe that will need to be done at the base where the Salute tickets were purchased. The less discounted MYW tickets do not require the military ID for activation at the parks.

I'm a military spouse and I didn't have any trouble activating my ticket when my husband unexpectedly wasn't able to make it.

The spouse OR the military member is able to activate the tickets at WDW. I'm not sure if another random military person could, without actually using one of the tickets. Maybe.

 

[StarCruzer]

Another option to try is if your grandson can exchange the Salute tickets he purchased for discounted MYW? I believe that will need to be done at the base where the Salute tickets were purchased. The less discounted MYW tickets do not require the military ID for activation at the parks.



The spouse OR the military member is able to activate the tickets at WDW. I'm not sure if another random military person could, without actually using one of the tickets. Maybe.

Hmm true...my assumption would be that the military member would for sure need to be on your reservation to activate the tickets.

 

[disneygrandma]

Unfortunately, there isn't a spouse to help activate the tickets. So that won't work.

I'm thinking the only option would be to try and get the value of the Salute tickets put towards the purchase of the MYW Military tickets, if that would even be possible.

Definitely will look more in to Shades of Green for any future military ticket purchases.

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions. I greatly appreciate it.