Hiya, Jennifer!
Welcome to planDisney! Thank you for sending this
Disneyland Resort planning question to us hEAR. But most importantly, THANK YOU So much for your service!
I'm a military spouse and prior to the pandemic (and a PCS) we were local annual Passholders. Yes, you *should be able to use your
Magic Key annual pass as admission for yourself while also sponsoring your son with a
Disneyland Military Promotional Park Hopper Ticket. I last did this for my friend Courtney just before the pandemic pause in 2020 and it seemed like business as usual.
Important things to note: At the current time,
these beloved military tickets are only sold on U.S. Military Installations and not at the theme park ticket booths. The passes that are currently on sale have an expiration date of Dec 16 this yEAR; we have not yet hEARd if this offer will be renewed for 2023. Lastly, the verification for these tickets is a two-step process where you'll be asked to show your ID both at the time of purchase as well as at the theme park turnstiles upon first use, so be sure to have that out and ready to go for both.
I say "*should be able to" because the exact verbiage at the bottom of the
offer does say 'one of the six allotted tickets per yEAR must be used by the service member/spouse.' However, that's most likely in there because before it was added technically a qualifying service member could get tickets for loved ones or friends, escort them to the entrances and verify the tickets with their Mil IDs, and then turn around and go home. So it's almost like this new clause to close that loophole was written without taking into account that there are Military members who are also Magic Keyholders. (This policy was also most likely written for the same promotion at
Walt Disney World Resort which is truly more of a vacation destination where Guests typically bring more people with them, and was just copied for DLR.) I don't think you'll encounter an issue. However, the salesperson on base might ask if you'll also need a ticket for yourself; you can say "I already have a ticket" or "I have a Magic Key" and that should be that. If there's a question at the turnstiles, you can always request to speak to a supervisor or Guest Relations Cast Member; however, verifying a mil tix at the time of use is usually such a fast process that all you should need is a simple 'he's with me' and a flash of your ID and y'all should be all set.
I hope that this helped to clEAR up your question, Jennifer, and add a few Disney days of fun with your son! Be sure to follow the
official planDisney Panel Instagram account where we're sharing all kinds of tips and tricks. And if you have any more
Disneyland Resort planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen N.