Park Ticket Puzzle

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Can you still buy regular tickets (sans tax) at SoG, or do they only do these special military tickets now? And if they do, is that regular ticket extendable?

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

...cause my step-father wont be coming, and it sounds like he has to be present to activate them.

[Lou... 3,118]

...cause my step-father wont be coming, and it sounds like he has to be present to activate them.

 

 

 

Are you sure that your mom can't buy tickets? Below is taken from the announcement. See section in red.

 

Details:

ON-SITE SALES BEGIN SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

Military personnel must present a valid U.S. Military ID (active or retired). Activated members of the National Guard or Reservists must present a valid U.S. Military ID. Sales locations should refer to the U.S. Military ID Guide posted on TOD 2.0 for verification.

 

Military personnel can purchase 4-Day Disney Military Promotion tickets any time during the offer period for themselves and up to 5 family members and/or friends. To purchase these tickets, military personnel must present a valid U.S. Military ID (active or retired).

 

Sales locations should refer to the U.S. Military ID Guide posted on TOD 2.0 for verification.

 

If active members of the U.S. Military are unable to visit the Walt Disney World® Resort during the offer period, their spouses may purchase the 4-Day Disney Military Promotion Tickets during this period for up to five (5) family members and/or friends (including the spouse).

 

Unaccompanied spouses purchasing the 4-Day Disney Military Promotion Tickets must present a valid and active U.S. Military ID. Spouses of activated members of the National Guard or Reservists must present a valid U.S. Military ID.

 

Exceptions should only be made for immediate families larger than five people. For example, if a family has six children, please allow all members of the family to purchase 4-Day Disney Military Promotion Tickets. Parking is not included.

 

 

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

That's great info, Lou (did I really just say that?). I think we'll certainly get that ticket for mom. Thanks.

[Lou... 3,118]

That's great info, Lou (did I really just say that?). I think we'll certainly get that ticket for mom. Thanks.

 

For mom and up to five family members and/or friends.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

You can't add to the Military tickets. They are what they are. If you have a 4 day military ticket and want to add a 5th day, you have to buy a full priced one day ticket.

Actually, I though I read, you could upgrade, but would only get cash value for the ticket, not gate value.

[Lou... 3,118]

The info pages have all the relative info regarding military tickets.

 

[Judy in Texas 150]

Actually, I though I read, you could upgrade, but would only get cash value for the ticket, not gate value.

I do believe you are right, Carol. I had the issue at Disneyland. I wanted to add a day to the ticket. The way they explained it, I would have to upgrade the military ticket to a regular park hopper and then add the extra day. Net cost sounds equal to what you said. It would have been cheaper for us to buy a new one day ticket. We decided to spend the extra day around Downtown.

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Wait, I just ran the numbers comparing a 10-day park hopper non-expiration versus 2 5-day park hoppers (that expire). $723 versus $696, so again, non-expiration doesn't seem to add up. So unless admission goes up more than $5 a day before you use them, there is no reason I can think of for doing it. Also, if I'm reading this right, you can add non-expiration to a used ticket? If that's the case, why would anybody buy non-expiration on a new ticket and then walk into a park, loosing one day of that feature immediately? It makes sense to add it on your last day, after you enter the park, so you're only paying for the unused days. Or am I just really confused (about a lot of things).

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

... unless admission goes up more than $5 a day before you use them, there is no reason I can think of for doing it.

 

Very possible.  Tickets have gone up at least a few dollars per day every year for the last several.

 

...you can add non-expiration to a used ticket?

 

You can but... you have to do it within 14 days of the ticket's first use AND you still pay the nonexpiring fee on the total number of days of the original ticket.

 

In other words if you buy a 10 day ticket, use 5 days and then decide you want nonexpiring, you pay that fee based on a 10 day ticket, not 5.

 

I was just crunching nonexpiring ticket numbers recently, and in my case it did work out to a signification savings BUT I was looking at using a 10 day ticket over 3 trips at 3, 3, 4 days at a whack.  In that case it was $723 for 10 day nonexp vs $980 if tickets are bought separately.  So it seems there is a breakeven point for nonexpiring, depending on how you're going to use the tickets - i.e., how many days at a time.

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

That certainly makes sense since the first day is the most expensive and you'd be paying for hopper upgrades 3 times.

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Ok, one last question that I couldn't find an answer to in the info pages or on Disney's site: is the window for usage the same on the military passes as on regular multi-day tickets (14 days from first use)?

 

EDITED TO ADD: Ho! I just noticed, I got tagged!

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

Per the SOG web site yes. Notes below ticket prices.

http://www.shadesofgreen.org/WDW.htm

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Just thought I'd add a note here. We ended up getting the military passes and they worked out great. We did the party for one day, had 4 days to do as much of the parks as we wanted while mom was there, then a manager at the Fort gifted two one-day passes to ol' Santa (it's good to be the Claus) so we got to spend 4 full days at F&W! Anyhow, the note I wanted to add is that the military pass days do not expire xx days after first use, they only expire if not used by the end of the offer (Sept 2014). My parents used last year's offer to go once at Christmas and again in Spring, using 2 days each time. They are planning to do the same again this year, so I really poured over the rules to make sure they could. Another thing that worried me was wether mom would be able to get a second pass for herself, but there doesn't seem to be any rule against it. Just the 6 ticket limit.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Thanks for the update and the info Shannon.  And very glad Santa got a gift himself for once.  :)