Hi there, Ashley!
It's so nice to assist a fellow educator with her plans for a Walt Disney World Resort vacation. Even though we are located in New Jersey, the school where I work is recognized as a tax exempt institution in Florida. As a result, we do not pay state tax on resort rooms or theme park tickets when we travel on school trips at Walt Disney World Resort.
If you book your guest rooms and tickets through the
Disney Youth office or at Disney's Vero Beach Resort, they will accept a copy of your Consumer's Certificate of Exemption (granted by the State of Florida) when you book your reservation. Then you will not be charged taxes.
However, when we book our reservations using the general reservation system at Walt Disney World Resort (because we are booking less than 10 guest rooms), we pay all the taxes up front. Then, when the group checks in at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel, I turn in copies of our Consumer Certificate of Exemption and formal requests for reimbursement of taxes already paid. (If we book eight rooms, I turn in eight copies of those documents.) Then the school receives a credit to its institutional credit card approximately one month later for all the taxes we paid up front.
If you are traveling for pleasure, I don't believe that they will recognize your tax exempt status. However, it doesn't hurt to ask the manager on duty when you check in or when you book the reservation. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
Do keep in mind that the
Walt Disney World Swan and
Dolphin hotels have a robust educator's discount program for school employees who are traveling for pleasure. I am confident they would honor your educator tax exempt card.
Best wishes,
Jill