Military Salute Tickets Purchased at SoG versus MWR Sites

[jen7233]

Trying to determine if I should order my 16 park tickets from SoG Advanced Orders or just go to one of the many MWR sites near me. Usually I buy at MWR site then when we get to the park, we have to go to Will Call and activate them.

I'm reading/hearing that if you purchase (even via mail order) from SoG, that they are activated. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes, we used SOG tickets for our visit this past April and they were activated. They emailed us a copy of the tickets, picked up originals at the desk once there since we stayed there. I bought new magic bands through the Disney store online prior and got those all set up and linked tickets on MDE. DH wanted to get memory maker on the second day at MK since he likes the photos, stopped at a place outside MK gate for that only.

 

[SillySallySews]

I always buy our tickets from the MWR travel office on post. I think I’m in the minority, but I do not like dealing with SOG. In my experience they are terse at best, but often downright rude. We buy the vouchers, scan them in to make our FP, and activate them in the evening on our arrival day. Takes maybe 10 minutes and we don’t have to deal with the SOG attitude.

 

[Mrsb1234567]

We always use Shades of Green. This year we ordered the regular tickets and Halloween party tickets separately. Everyone I spoke to was very professional and helpful.

 

[Christine]

I always buy our tickets from the MWR travel office on post. I think I’m in the minority, but I do not like dealing with SOG. In my experience they are terse at best, but often downright rude. We buy the vouchers, scan them in to make our FP, and activate them in the evening on our arrival day. Takes maybe 10 minutes and we don’t have to deal with the SOG attitude.

It's not super easy with them. Prior to buying my MVMCP tickets, I emailed them once or twice and the responses were really about as minimal as you could get. When the finally called, they seemed to be okay. I feel like they are either understaffed for all of their orders or they just work at some very slow place.

 

[apathetic]

We ordered from our base MWR. You do have to activate them at WDW, but we just did it the day we arrived. You don't have to actually use day #1 of the ticket on the day you activate. We just took a bus the first evening (not staying SoG) to any park and there were no lines at the ticket booths. Took all of 5 minutes and a bus ride back. If you have a car, even faster.

 

[subtchr]

We usually buy from our local base. Then, we always plan a no-park day for our arrival day. We go to Disney Springs to activate tickets at guest services there and then have dinner. Its been no hassle in my experience. Last time (Dec. '17), all the folks in our group handed me their magic bands, and I was able to activate them while they were shopping. Since you'd have 3 different groups technically, you'd probably need those three people to be there to activate and the rest can shop or hang out while you take their bands to guest services.

And, we also purchase the military discounted memory maker while activating bands at DS.

You are right, it’s not a big deal if you have the time to go to Disney Springs or a park before your first park day, but not everyone has that time.

And FYI, there isn’t anything they have to do to MagicBands to allow them to access salute (or any) tickets. As long as a MagicBand is linked to an individual profile, it will work to access any information on that person’s profile. That’s why you can use any active bands interchangeably for all purposes.

 

[brockash]

Yeah, I'm close to about 4 military installations I can purchase from. What I'm liking is the "activated" aspect of the SoG tickets. Last year, I thought the wait at the Will Call booth took a long time. The trip before that our first day was at a water park and that was faster.

If everyone is around the night prior to when you first want to go to a park, you could go to Disney Springs to the guest services and they can activate them there. - We've done this numerous times and we never have a wait. We couldn't this past trip and had to activate at MK and man it was like a 30 min. wait.

In our experience you will still need everyone with you when you activate them. They've always asked to physically see each person.

 

[Christine]

If everyone is around the night prior to when you first want to go to a park, you could go to Disney Springs to the guest services and they can activate them there. - We've done this numerous times and we never have a wait. We couldn't this past trip and had to activate at MK and man it was like a 30 min. wait.

In our experience you will still need everyone with you when you activate them. They've always asked to physically see each person.

I thought it took a long time at the MK also. Our arrival day is Saturday and we have a 5:15 birthday dinner at Citricos. We were thinking of maybe driving over to Animal Kingdom and going into guest services and activating that night. We've found it's pretty easy to drive over to Animal Kingdom in the evening. Disney Springs is just a crowded place in the evening and the garages are packed (and I've got two ECV people with me).

 

[subtchr]

I thought it took a long time at the MK also. Our arrival day is Saturday and we have a 5:15 birthday dinner at Citricos....

You could do it at a ticket window at the TTC. That would be a lot more convenient to the GF before your dinner.

 

[Christine]

You could do it at a ticket window at the TTC. That would be a lot more convenient to the GF before your dinner.

Didn't realize I could do that there and it's so OBVIOUS. Thanks!

 

[Christine]

All, I did get a response back from Shades of Green today regarding the large order of the Military Salute tickets.

They are allowing me to send all three forms as one email attachment. I will then have the sent to one address and get two of the $10 fees waived. The tickets won't be shipped out until all three POCs have been contacted.

 

[jhoannam]

All, I did get a response back from Shades of Green today regarding the large order of the Military Salute tickets.

They are allowing me to send all three forms as one email attachment. I will then have the sent to one address and get two of the $10 fees waived. The tickets won't be shipped out until all three POCs have been contacted.

That's good to know... We might have a large group going in June.

 

[Christine]

That's good to know... We might have a large group going in June.

I did have to use Adobe Pro to wipe out the $10.00 charge that is *permanent* on the order form.

 

[Roxylovesbears69]

Good afternoon. I just sent a request for Mickey Not So Scary Halloween Party on Friday July 27th to Shades of Green email. I received the phone call this morning to give them my full credit card number. I already received the email with my FedEx tracking number. My tickets will arrive on Thursday August 1st. I love being able to order they directly from Shades of Green. Save me time in running to my local base then running back to pick up the tickets when they arrived. I am not staying at Shades of Green this trip. But all the 3 other times this year I am staying at Shades of Green. We stayed at Shades of Green January, May and November 2019. We are staying off site August 2019.
If anyone needs the information I could forward you the email I received or your can call ticket sales at Shades of Green and they will forward you all the information. They are very helpful and wonderful to work with. Hope this is help. Roxanne