Animal Kingdom Military HELP!

[thomascaldwell1]

Help please! We are at the entrance of Animal Kingdom and were gifted 4 military tickets by my father in law who is not present and the folks at the gate are telling us that we have to have a military ID to activate. Is there anyone who would be such a blessing to help us so that the next week and our money are not wasted??

 

[VAfamily1998]

I was under the impression that the military member who actually purchased the ticket has to be the one present for activation, not just "any" military member?
But your best bet might be to purchase the regular full price tickets, and see if guest relations will allow you to use the military tickets as credit towards that purchase. I read a blog/website specifically about military/Disney, and that is what he recommends. No guarantee it will work, but might as well try.

Edit to clarify: You would ask guest relations if you can use the military tickets as "credit" before purchasing the full price tickets.

 

[DLgal]

Help please! We are at the entrance of Animal Kingdom and were gifted 4 military tickets by my father in law who is not present and the folks at the gate are telling us that we have to have a military ID to activate. Is there anyone who would be such a blessing to help us so that the next week and our money are not wasted??

That's not how it works. You can't just have a random military person help you get in. You need your father in law. Activation requires more than just showing an ID...They will ask address, social security/DOD ID number, base where stationed, etc.

Go to Guest Relations and ask to apply the cost of those tickets to regular tickets and pay the difference. That's your only option.

I'm very surprised your father in law was not told all these requirements when he bought the tickets. It's always been made very clear whenever we have bought them.

 

[sharonabe]

Help please! We are at the entrance of Animal Kingdom and were gifted 4 military tickets by my father in law who is not present and the folks at the gate are telling us that we have to have a military ID to activate. Is there anyone who would be such a blessing to help us so that the next week and our money are not wasted??

Since it is after noon, I assume you found some kind of resolution.

So sorry this happened to you, but as others have said, your FIL should have been told he had to be there to activate the tickets. Each military member is only allowed to purchase 6 such tickets, so even if there was a military member nearby that could "come to your rescue," it would mean that military member would have to use 4 of his 6 allotted tickets for you.

 

[thomascaldwell1]

Unfortunately he was told the he could gift them and not informed that he just be present at the gate to activate them. We were told by a member of management that any military member could be there to activate them for us. After going through the park guest relations, their coordinator and their manager, we retreated to our hotel and the concierge was able to use a photo of my father in laws military ID to activate our tickets so that we could move on with our trip as planned. Thanks for the info y'all- it is clearly a lesson learned for the future.

 

[sharonabe]

Unfortunately he was told the he could gift them and not informed that he just be present at the gate to activate them. We were told by a member of management that any military member could be there to activate them for us. After going through the park guest relations, their coordinator and their manager, we retreated to our hotel and the concierge was able to use a photo of my father in laws military ID to activate our tickets so that we could move on with our trip as planned. Thanks for the info y'all- it is clearly a lesson learned for the future.

Glad it worked out for you. Consider that a hefty amount of pixie dust.

Management is correct that any military member could have activated them, BUT they would have then been registered to that military member's total of tickets available. Since this is the end of this year's discount, I'm sure there are many members who did not and would not be using their allotted number, but finding one on the spot would be difficult.

Just so you know, you can only use those tickets through Dec 19. You will not be allowed in a park on Dec 20. They expire on the 19th.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Closing as the OP’s issue was resolved by a Resort Concierge using non-standard methods.