Military Promotion

[brianscupcake]

We leave for Disneyworld this Sat (WOW!!!), so this morning I went into my local base tickets and tours office to buy disney tickets. They need 14 days!!!! I have read and re-read all the info and never once saw this. It does say on my local pages website "need to be ordered" but I guess I didn't catch that and was more looking at Disney's website. Anyway, I have heard I have the option to buy the tickets at the discount at the gate and pay tax or go to Shades of Green to buy them. We are not going to the parks the first day, but we were planning on relaxing and heading to DTD. We are staying at AoA. My questions are these:
1. Has anyone bought the military promotions at the gate...I'm nervous I'll get there and we'll have to turn around and go to Shades of Green.
2. How tough/time consuming is it to get to Shades of Green from AoA then to DTD?

Thanks friends...wow. I have to laugh at myself. I have little envelopes covered in stickers for mousekeeping; lanyards; decorated autograph books; dining reservations. Clothes packed. Sigh...and no tickets. LOL. If I don't laugh, I will cry

 

[thetorit]

We leave for Disneyworld this Sat (WOW!!!), so this morning I went into my local base tickets and tours office to buy disney tickets. They need 14 days!!!! I have read and re-read all the info and never once saw this. It does say on my local pages website "need to be ordered" but I guess I didn't catch that and was more looking at Disney's website. Anyway, I have heard I have the option to buy the tickets at the discount at the gate and pay tax or go to Shades of Green to buy them. We are not going to the parks the first day, but we were planning on relaxing and heading to DTD. We are staying at AoA. My questions are these:
1. Has anyone bought the military promotions at the gate...I'm nervous I'll get there and we'll have to turn around and go to Shades of Green.
2. How tough/time consuming is it to get to Shades of Green from AoA then to DTD?

Thanks friends...wow. I have to laugh at myself. I have little envelopes covered in stickers for mousekeeping; lanyards; decorated autograph books; dining reservations. Clothes packed. Sigh...and no tickets. LOL. If I don't laugh, I will cry

I can't answer your question, but I can relate! It was by chance that I read on the DIS that they need 14 days. My ticket office didn't even tell me when I called and asked flat out!
Have fun, however you get your tickets!!

 

[ejcraft]

If you have a car then, getting from AoA to shades of green will not be difficult at all, if you don't then you have to take a bus to the Poly, then walk across to shades of Green. But if you don't mind paying the tax, then you will have no problem buying them at the gate of which ever park you go to first. I have done it both way, no issues.

Tammy

 

[sweetcreams]

They will definitely have them at the gate. If your first day is off, you could take a cab to Shades to buy them (depending on how many you have to buy it might save you money over buying at the park), or you can get a bus to MK, then you have 3 options: either monorail to TTC and Shades bus, monorail to Poly and walk, or boat to Poly and walk. It is about a 10 minute walk from the poly. The path is marked. You can also get a Shades bus from DTD but it runs on a schedule, and I believe only picks up once per hour. Once you buy your tix at Shades, you can get the bus from there back to DTD to meet up with your family but, again, call for the schedule because it only depart once per hour.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Some ITT offices do keep them in stock (our local bases do because of our close proximity to WDW), so don't feel too badly that you didn't know you had to order them from your office.

Second, since you're already planning to go to DTD on your arrival day, I'd just buy and activate the tickets at the Guest Relations there. It's near the Team Mickey store. The tax per ticket (for the $158 Military Salute tickets) is just over $10 each. If it won't be a budget buster, I'd do that rather than have to go to Shades of Green because even when you get them at Shades, you're still going to have to get them activated at Guest Relations and I'd rather wait in line one time and get it all done at once.

If the $10/ticket tax savings is important to you, I'd opt for taking the bus to MK, boat to Poly and walk to Shades. Check the Shades of Green ticket office's hours of operation before you leave to be sure they're open at the time when you plan to go. They used to have limited hours, not sure if they still do.

 

[Sherrypooh]

SOG operating hours are 8am to 7 pm.

 

[capeseal]

Yes, you can still get them at Shades or at the gate but you will pay tax at the gate. If you are going to get them at SoG, be prepared that there is sometimes a wait and it is unpredictable. We generally have had little or no wait when buying at Shades but I have read stories of folks waiting for an hour if a lot of people are there to buy attraction tickets, as well. You may also want to call SOG to check if you can order them ahead of time from them. I can't remember if that is something afforded to guests only or if anyone can do that.

 

[brianscupcake]

Thanks for all the great tips/advice!!! My mind is much more at ease!!