31 Days:: Military

{Insider Info Series}

Welcome to today's topic: Military! My past few trips to Disney have been as an Army wife. WDW has various discounts available to the Military, some of which I've shared in previous posts, but I wanted to have a post to wrap everything up in a single location for ya! Be sure to check out Disney's official  {Disney Military Discount page here}.

Source: Shadesofgreen.org

Location:: Shades of Green
This is one of two Armed Forces Recreation Center CONUS locations. You can view more info on their {official website here}. The rooms are a spacious standard size hotel room- prices are based on rank {see chart here}. They often run various discount packages as well. It's location is great- nestled right in amongst all the Disney resorts (it actually used to be a WDW resort, hence its location) and you can even jump the monorail if you take a 10 minute walk over to the Polynesian Resort. They also have complimentary buses that service all of the Disney resorts. You can also purchase discount tickets to various local attractions there. Additionally, you get to partake in Extra Magic Hours!!

MWR (or other on-post military travel agency)
The go-to place on your post if you want to get lovely discount tickets. Useful not only for Disney tickets, but also discounted Sea World and Universal Studios tickets. On the Disney Military Discount page above, they have a special rate for a 4-day park ticket. If you'll be at Disney longer, they also discount other length park tickets. This is where you can book your discounted Disney rooms as well. Check with them for discounted special events tickets too (wish I had known that before I booked ours!!).

La Nouba
This is the Cirque De Soliel show that's performed at Downtown Disney. I've seen the performance on TV, and it is my favorite Cirque show! Unfortunately we haven't gotten a chance to see it in person. The military usually gets a discount, the percentage varies by year. Check out the Disney Military Discount page above to check for this year's discount.

Sea World
There's a wonderful program called Here's to the Heroes, where your service member and up to 3 dependents can get into one of their parks (Sesame Place, Sea World and Busch Gardens locations) once a year for free! You can get your free tickets online {here on their website}. There's conflicting information about whether or not you can upgrade the Sea World tickets for the "return free a 2nd day" promotion. I've heard from people in the past that were able to do this. During our trip in Aug. 2009, we asked and Sea World said no. I haven't been able to find anything official on their website regarding this policy. It might be worth a stop at Customer Service and see if you have any luck!

USAA and Car Rentals
If you're a USAA member, they offer various military discounts via their {website here}. After you log into your account, you can access the actual discount codes. Check the websites of other car rental companies- many offer military discounts, but you have to look for them. We will be using Dollar car rental during our upcoming trip, and they do offer a discount to military.