Then there's Shades of Green Resort , the military owned and operated resort on WDW property. Shades

Great question! caribbean travel packages The first thing to understand is that there isn’t just one Disney Military Discount; there are several caribbean travel packages offers available through several different Disney and the Department of Defense sources. Plus there are offers by many companies in the Orlando area. For this interview I’ll just focus on the main WDW offers.
The Disney Armed Forces Salute is a temporary offer (renewed caribbean travel packages year to year) with fantastic discounts - 50% off 4-day tickets which have either the Hopper, the Water Park Fun and More option, or both options and 30-40% off Disney resorts.
They come in 1 to 10 day ticket lengths with all of the various options that can be added (i.e. no expiration, park hopper, and Water Park Fun and More). caribbean travel packages These are sold at only a slight discount (4-8% depending on length and options) and can be purchased only at on-base ticket offices and Shades caribbean travel packages of Green.
Then there's Shades of Green Resort , the military owned and operated resort on WDW property. Shades caribbean travel packages of Green offers lower cost deluxe resort rooms on WDW property for military members and their supporters, with rates based on rank. Newer, younger members do not pay as much as senior members.
And Shades of Green offers a special program in the months of January and September which allows anyone that served in the military who was honorably caribbean travel packages discharged to stay at the resort and use the ticket office (except for the Armed Forces Salute tickets).
Basically, the required ID is the one issued by the organization the person is a member of. A DoD issued military caribbean travel packages ID (CAC Card) or retired caribbean travel packages ID, a DHS issued ID (CAC Card) or retired caribbean travel packages ID for the Coast Guard.
When I wrote about the pros and cons of all Disney resorts , many people thought that I should've included Shades of Green. I know you wrote a whole eBook about that resort . Can you share some basic info on that resort and how it differs in perks from most on-site caribbean travel packages Disney resorts?
Sure, Shades of Green is located across the street from Disney’s Polynesian Resort, between Disney’s Palm and Magnolia golf courses. It shares a parking lot with the golf courses’ club house. In fact, Shades was one of the original Disney World Resorts. It operated under several names during Disney’s ownership, but always functioned as Disney’s golf resort.
Shades dates back to the time when the only other Disney resorts were the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Fort Wilderness Campground. It was a Disney Deluxe resort and has the largest guest rooms on property. All standard rooms feature two queen beds and a single sleeper couch.
Shades has a variety of restaurants, caribbean travel packages two outdoor heated pools, fitness and full spa facilities, tennis courts, and an Armed Forces caribbean travel packages Exchange store. They operate their own small fleet of buses which run guests to key locations on property (The TTC, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney caribbean travel packages and the water parks). Shades guests also have full use of Disney’s transportation system.
I also love the low-key, caribbean travel packages friendly caribbean travel packages atmosphere. It is a smaller deluxe resort and everyone who stays there is part of the same "family." I find guests are much friendlier to each other than at the Disney resorts.
Eligible guests may sponsor non-eligible guests (family and friends) in up to three rooms and their spouse may also sponsor up to three more rooms, for a total of 7. That is great for hosting a family caribbean travel packages gathering. They offer several sizes of suites, from two to four rooms which can sleep from 6 to 12 people. Suites range in price from $235 to $375.
The ticket sales office is a great benefit. As I mentioned before, they carry all varieties of Disney tickets caribbean travel packages and passes at discounted prices, plus they also carry discounted tickets for many other attractions such as: Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Kennedy Space Center, Wet n’ Wild, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Gatorland, and many Orlando area Dinner Shows.
Each day at 5 p.m., in the Magic Kingdom Disney holds a Flag Retreat, the formal lowering of the flag for the day that takes place on military caribbean travel packages installations every day. Disney Cast Members and a special guest or two participate in the ceremony. Each morning, Disney caribbean travel packages Cast Members select military members or retirees at random to participate. It is a very moving event that everyone should try to see.
Many other businesses offer military discounts on everything from airport transportation to stroller rentals. My motto is to always ask if a discount is offered; it never hurts and it could definitely help.
I understand that Military Salute Tickets caribbean travel packages are discounted tickets that can be purchased on military bases, but the new FastPass+ system requires that you have park tickets linked to your account ahead of time. Am I correct in assuming that Military Salute Tickets can't be linked before arriving to Disney World? How do you suggest guests handle FastPass+ reservations if they plan to purchase Military Salute tickets?
First, military guests need to be staying at a Disney resort caribbean travel packages and have their reservation linked to their My Disney Experience account. Shades of Green is currently not eligible for all of the My Magic Plus enhancements. We don’t know yet if they eventually will be or not, once Disney’s testing is over.
The Regular Military caribbean travel packages Discounted Magic Your Way tickets were never an issue as they are just like any other WDW ticket. You’d buy just them on Base and then link them to your MDE account using the number on the back, then start making your FP+ reservations.
What was in question caribbean travel packages was the Disney Armed Forces Salute tickets. These tickets require activation by Disney upon arrival when purchased on base. In previous years, AFS tickets bought on base were a hard plastic ticket with a cool patriotic logo. These were run through a machine and activated at Disney ticket caribbean travel packages windows.
But this year with the advent of the RFID tickets, Disney started a new procedure similar to the old Annual Pass exchange voucher system. When an AFS ticket is purchased on base, the member receives a plastic ticket with a Disney character and green background that looks exactly like the current RFID tickets, but it is nonfunctional. During the activation process it is swapped for the actual RFID ticket the person will use.
So our big concern was, if you linked the exchange voucher using the number on the back and then made FP+ reservations, would the reservations survive the activation and switching to a different ticket caribbean travel packages with different number on the back? WDW didn’t think so in our initial conversations.
We are going to Disney World in early June. I wanted to go ahead and buy tickets ahead of time, but am not sure if we qualify. My husband was in the Army reserves for 10 years. Since he did not retire from the military, but still has an ID, does he qualify for some type of discount?
My husband is in Alabama traditional air guard, and we bought Military Salute tickets a few times without him being in active duty status (if he is currently serving even just one weekend a month, he qualifies). We also qualify for a free Sea World visit every year for the immediate family. I m not sure about the Shades of Green though.
Thanks for this post! We are an active duty military family and took our last trip (and first trip as a family) without taking advantage of any military discounts. It was all very overwhelming navigating all of our discount options but we wanted the experience of staying at a more traditional Disney Resort and wanted to use the Magical Express. We also ended up booking caribbean travel packages everything through Disney which gave us a 20% discount on our Coronado Springs resort stay. We were told by the cast member who we booked with that it was cheaper to book the Magic Your Way package than to break things up and buy our tickets separate with a military discount, so that s what we did. Next time, we may try out some of these suggestions! caribbean travel packages Again, thanks for the great information!!
Always do the math on your own though! Depending on the needs of your family, it may or may not be more cost effective to use the military caribbean travel packages discounts. We ve done both: staying at the Wilderness Lodge, getting 40% off that rate is huge dent in the budget, but offers like Free Dining staying at a Value Resort saved about $600 for my family instead of booking the military discounts. This, of course, requires you to plan out what you would realistically be eating, etc. But still, always do the math and make no assumptions!
Perfect timing on this article! I have a friend in the Navy that is planning to take his kids to WDW, and I had told him there were military discounts but wasn t sure what, since they ve never applied to me. Forwarded the link to him thanks!!!
Get your trip quote My favorite agent Cheryl Koren (or one of her trusted associates) will prepare a quote for you after filling out the info below. She and I are partners in making sure you have a great trip.