Welcome BACK, Jan!
Thank you so much for sending another wonderful Disney vacation planning question to us hEAR at planDisney! It's so great to see your name pop back up in our system. That must mean that you're getting ready for another amazing Disney adventure - hooray!!
I'm a military spouse and am very thankful that Disney chooses to carry on Walt's legacy of honoring U.S. Service Members through these amazing theme park ticket offers and
Disney hotel special rates. I'm very happy to share that the activation process for the
U.S. Military Promotional Park Hopper Tickets at
Disneyland Resort is almost the opposite of how it's done at Walt Disney World Resort. In Orlando, Guests with these passes need to have their tickets validated before park entry, by visiting a Guest Relations location either at the parks or in Disney Springs. However, at Walt's original theme park, all you need to do is have your Military ID out when you first go through the entrance turnstile of either
Disneyland Park or
Disney California Adventure Park. When the Cast Member scans your ticket, they'll be prompted to double-check for a valid, eligible Military ID. Once they see that your card matches your face, you'll be all set!
Pro Tip: If you're sponsoring civilians with these 'Salute' tickets, make sure you're the first one in your party in line; the turnstile area is kind of narrow, and this way the Cast Member can easily validate your ID vs if you were standing a few people back.
Note that this is currently how the
military ticket validation process works; anything can happen between now and your visit to The Happiest Place on Earth next yEAR. You're more than welcome to write back to double-check if this procedure is still the same or has changed at all. We'd love to see you again!
I hope that this helped to clEAR your question up, Jan! Be sure to follow the
official planDisney Panel Instagram account for all kinds of tips and tricks. And if you have any more
Disneyland Resort vacation planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen N.