U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over the Magic Kingdom – Photo by Gene Duncan

Military Disney Tips broke the news today that Disney has graciously extended the 2015 Armed Forces Salute special offer.

This means longer ticket life and more tickets!

With the extended offer, the Armed Forces Salute tickets will now be good until December 20, 2015 and the room discounts will be good until December 23, 2015.

DIStracted Tip: For more information including current pricing my previous article Here!

With the extention military members can now purchase up to 12 tickets! So, if you have already purchased your allotted 6 for this year, you can purchase up to 6 more. Best part is the ticket prices will be staying the same!

Many Military MWR/ITT offices already have tickets in stock, and these tickets can continue to be sold and used, so this means there will not be any delay in ticket sales. Even though the date on the back of the tickets will have the October 3, 2015 end date, Disney has tested their systems extensively to make sure things run smoothly. Pricing will stay the same! Walt Disney World Resort tickets must be purchased by December 17, 2015, and by  December 18, 2015 for Disneyland Resort and used by December 20, 2015.

WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT TICKETS:

4 day Park Hopper – $177* plus tax

4 day Base with Water Parks and More – $177* plus tax

4 day Park Hopper AND Water Parks and More  – $207* plus tax

DISNEYLAND TICKETS:

3 day Park Hopper – $132* plus tax

Room discounts for reservations through December 23, 2015 can be booked as early as today! The Disney Reservation system should be updated and ready to go! You can make your discounted room reservations by calling Disney Reservations or by contacting your travel agent.

DIStracted Tip: We all know it can take some time for all Phone Reservation Cast Members to get the new information. If you call today, and get a Cast Member that doesn’t know about the extension nicely ask them to check the system or with a supervisor.

This is really exciting news! Steve from Military Disney Tips was able to sit down with Disney last month and was able to get some exclusive information.  Here is what he learned!

“I’m really excited about this!

I’ve been waiting for a month to tell you all about this. I sat down with Disney in May to hear all the details and then had to wait until they allowed me to release the information to you.

As I mentioned above, the last two years there have been issues with resort discount availability in October through mid-November.

Last year a new issue presented itself, FastPass Plus.

The timing of the late July renewal announcement, mid-August ticket release date, and awful MWR ticket distribution system led to military guests being unable to make FastPass Plus reservations for the first half of October 2014, because they could not get their tickets in time to do so.

I’ve been telling Disney for years that something needed to be done, because the short time period between the announcement and renewal dates just didn’t work. I also pass on all of your issues and concerns!

Disney wants you to know that you have been heard!

The decision to renew each and every Salute offer requires numerous decision points at regularly scheduled meetings through Disney’s year. These meetings impact way more things within the company than just the Military Salute and as such have set dates.

Offering an extension with no new ticket stock needing to be distributed solves as best as possible the immediate October issues.

Disney wants you to know that, while not official yet they are hard at work on a 2016 Calendar Year Disney Armed Forces Salute.

Switching to a calendar year timeframe versus the Disney Fiscal Year timeframe that they had been using, moves the start date of any new Salutes that might be offered far enough from the decision points that the announcement can be made well in advance, thus eliminating the tight timelines that previously caused issues.

I would expect a 2016 Disney Armed Forces Salute offer to begin either on 2 or 3 of January 2016 and to be announced in late summer 2015.” ~ Steve from Military Disney Tips