Hi Deborah!
Welcome to planDisney! Thank you for asking this wonderful
Disneyland Resort vacation planning question to us hEAR. I'm so happy to be your planEAR today, but first, please allow me to thank you for your Son's service to our country! And on behalf of all of us hEAR at planDisney, we'll be thinking of him with extra pixie dust on this upcoming tour.
I'm an Air Force spouse myself, so I am very familiar with the wonderful
3 and 4-Day Disneyland Military Promotional Park Hopper tickets that your son is eligible to purchase. The answer to your question, Deborah, depends on a few factors. On the first day of use, your son
must be with your party at the time of entrance so he can provide his Military ID to validate your tickets at the theme park turnstiles. After that first theme park entry, the rest of your group should be good to go on the other days of use without him being present. Did you know that these tickets can be used between now and December 16? There's also a blockout week in April, the 9th-17th. But other than that, as long as you can get a
Park Pass Reservation you'll be set to have fun in the SoCal sun.
I do want to point out that the exact verbiage of these tickets says that the military member must also purchase and use a promotional ticket with the rest of the group as well. In my experience, when my family was stationed in SoCal and I was an Annual Passholder, I did not need to also purchase a promotional ticket the same as everyone else. I think in your case your party should be fine with your planned purchase. However, should this rule be enforced, head over to the ticket booth and ask if that 1-day Park Hopper can be upgraded to the Military Promotional Ticket.
Lastly, try to purchase these passes as soon as possible as your group will also need to make Park Pass Reservations which notate what day(s) you'll be visiting and also which park you'll be starting your Disney day in.
hEAR's the current Park Pass Reservation Calendar; the week of March 13-19 is set to be a popular one, with many park pass reservations already booked up. The best advice I have is to keep trying to book your Park Pass Reservations. This calendar is fluid and dates do sometimes open back up as other guests change and cancel their plans. You might have to book your park dates one Guest at a time vs. all four in your group, but keep refreshing and I'll hope some seriously happy thoughts!
I hope that this helped to clEAR things up a bit, Deborah! Be sure to check out the
official planDisney Instagram account for even more tips and tricks. And if you have any more Disneyland Resort vacation planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen N.