Hi Natasha!
Welcome to planDisney! Thank you for sending this question to us hEAR. Please allow me to say a huge 'Thank You!' to your Veteran, as well as to you for supporting them. Mine is a military family too, and I'm very familiar with these offers. I'm happy to be your planEAR today!
You asked a great question. There are technically two different kinds of Disneyland Resort Theme Park Admission Tickets available to U.S. Military Members. The first is the
Disney Military Promotional Park Hopper Ticket, which is also known as the 'Disney Military Salute.' This ticket has a lot of rules and stipulations, the most important one in your case being that
yes, the
service member would need to be present for its use. These tickets can only be purchased by those who are currently Active Duty, Reservists, full 20-year (or more!) Retirees, or those with 100% service-connected disabilities. In the pre-pandemic times, these tickets could be purchased at the ticket booths at Disneyland, but currently they are only sold at base/post ticket and travel offices.
There is, however, a second ticket option that
can be used by anyone without a service member being present. These tickets sadly don't have a cool nickname, they are just slightly discounted regular theme park admission tickets. These tickets can only be purchased on base/post, and I'm happy to say that as of 2020 Veterans who
did not serve a full 20 years before getting out
can purchase these passes with an updated VHIC (Veteran's Health Identification Card) showing their disability rating or by having a friend with base access purchase them on their behalf. I've personally purchased these tickets and handed them off to friends (including my fellow panelists
Kristin C. and
Veronica O.) who were able to have fun-tastic Disney days without me or my service member present.
No matter which tickets you purchase, Natasha, don't forget to link them to your
My Disneyland Account or through the
Disneyland Mobile App so you can make your
Park Pass Reservations. And my last Pro Tip today is to check out the
official planDisney Instagram account! We're sharing all kinds of cool tips and tricks, and soon we'll be sharing what not to miss at the
Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival which kicks off a few days before your visit!
I hope this helped to clEAR things up a bit, Natasha. And if you have any more Disneyland Resort planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen