Welcome to planDisney, Denise!
I am happy to help you with your question. Your family member with military status has two choices regarding tickets. Depending on their eligibility, they can purchase
Disney Military Salute Tickets from their
local base or
Shades of Green Resort or Magic Your Way tickets from either of these locations.
Salute tickets are for service members on active duty, retired, or 100% disabled. Salute ticket holders can also purchase Magic Your Way tickets, and Veterans who were honorably discharged. If they qualify to purchase Salute tickets, they can purchase up to six per year, and they're sold as 4, 5, or 6-day passes with Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus. If they qualify to purchase the Salute tickets, they can purchase the six plus the amount of MYW tickets you all need.
What's the difference between
Park Hopper and
Park Hopper Plus? Park Hopper gives you the ability to visit multiple parks in one day. Suppose you want to start your morning off at EPCOT and then head to Disney's Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, you can do that! Park Hopper Plus gives you this PLUS admission to one of the Disney Water Parks or other activities, such as a round of miniature golf at Disney's Fantasia Gardens & Fairways. I purchased 4-day Salute Park Hopper Plus tickets earlier this year, so I got four days of theme park fun and four days of the magical add-ons, which we used to visit Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park this summer.
Now, there are differences between the two ticket types, but let's start with what they have in common. First, upload them to your My Disney Experience mobile apps when you purchase them by inputting the Disney Reservation # that's on the receipt. You will then need to make
Theme Park Reservations before visiting the theme parks. If you plan to park hop, make a reservation for the park you're visiting first. You will need to scan your MagicMobile Pass (or MagicBand+) to get into the first park before heading to the next. Now, what's the difference? With Salute tickets, you will need to activate them first. The service member will have to stop by Guest Relations at any of the theme parks (or the Disney Ticket Center at Disney Springs) to activate using their ID. Magic Your Way ticketholders don't need to do this step.
Denise, I hope all of this information was helpful! Thank you again for visiting planDisney, and I hope you and your family have a "spooktacular" visit to Walt Disney World Resort!
Magic Awaits!
Frances