Armed Forces 3-Day Park Hopper Disneyland Anaheim for $99

3-Day Disney Anaheim Park Hopper Armed Forces Salute = $99.

Disney Military Member $99 Tickets available to Sep 28, 2012.

My father got this great deal on Disneyland tickets. He was able to buy six tickets for Disneyland at $99 each, valid for three days with Park Hopper privileges to travel freely between California Adventure Park and Disneyland.

3-Day Park Hopper tickets currently cost $250 for the general public and the ticket expires after 13 days after day of first use.

The Disneyland Resort is saluting U.S. military personnel by offering 3-Day Park Hopper tickets for just $99 each, through September 28, 2012. That’s a savings of 55%* off our ticket booth price!

3-Day Park Hopper tickets may be purchased at participating U.S. military sales outlets by any eligible U.S. military personnel or their spouse for just $99. There is a 6 ticket limit during any single week of the promotion. No more than 12 tickets may be purchased, activated and/or used by any eligible U.S. military personnel or spouse during the life of this promotion.

For information regarding Military Promotional Tickets, military personnel may contact their participating U.S. military base ticket office.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/special-offers/military-ticket/

The 3-Day Park Hopper Armed Forces Salute ticket is valid until September 30, 2012. The park visit does not need to be three consecutive days and can be any three days before September 30, 2012. There is a blackout for July 4. I read somewhere July 4 is the busiest day of the year for Disneyland.

Entrance to Disney California Adventure Park

The Park Hopper Disney ticket allows a guest to travel to both California Adventure Park and Disneyland on the same day. The general public will pay $250 for the same 3-Day pass available for $99 to active and retired Armed Forces members. Link to regular Disneyland ticket prices.

My dad bought six tickets at a military base in Los Angeles for my mom and him, my two sisters, my wife and me. This $594 purchase was a huge discount on the $1,500 regular cost for 3-Day Park Hopper tickets. 

He presented the military paperwork for Disney tickets to the regular ticket agent at Disneyland in exchange for six 3-Day Park Hopper tickets. There is a maximum of six tickets that can be purchased at a single time by the military member (there are exceptions if you actually have a family with more than four children).

After our first entry we were going in and out of the Disney parks at our leisure with each person handling their own ticket.

There is also a 3-Day $220 general public ticket that allows only one park admission per day to either Disneyland or California Adventure. This one park per day ticket saves $30 overall on the cost of the three-day ticket.

I enjoyed being able to travel back and forth between parks and I would recommend going for the Park Hopper to take advantage of the features of each park on any day you visit.

The lowest priced Park Hopper tickets available to the public are 5-day passes for $290 or $58 per day. The $33 per day Armed Forces 3-Day Park Hopper is quite a deal at 43% less than the lowest priced general public ticket.

T&C for Armed Forces 3-Day Park Hopper $99 Tickets

Disney Military Promotional Tickets may be purchased now through September 28, 2012 at participating U.S. military sales outlets ONLY by Eligible Service Members (defined below) or their spouses (but not both), for themselves and other family members and friends, as provided herein. These Tickets may not be otherwise transferred, distributed or resold.

“Eligible Service Members” are active or retired members of the U.S. military, including the National Guard, Reservists and the U.S. Coast Guard. The actual prices charged at U.S. military base ticket offices for Disney Military Promotional Tickets may be less than the prices set forth above. Participating military sales outlets will require that Eligible Service Members (or their spouses) present valid military identification to purchase Disney Military Promotional Tickets.

Eligible Service Members (or their spouses) who purchase Disney 3-Day Military Promotional Tickets for admission to the Disneyland Resort for themselves and their family members and friends will be required to show valid military identification, no later than September 30, 2012, in order for those Tickets to be used.

No more than twelve (12) Disney 3-Day Military Promotional Tickets may be purchased, activated and/or used by any Eligible Service Member or spouse during the life of this promotion, and no Eligible Service Member or spouse may purchase, activate or use more than six (6) Disney 3-Day Military Promotional Tickets during any single week of the promotion. One (1) of the Disney 3-Day Military Promotional Tickets purchased on each occasion must be for use by the Eligible Service Member or spouse.

Each Disney Military Promotional Ticket must be used by the same person on any and all days. Disney Military Promotional Tickets may be used ONLY by the Eligible Service Members, spouses, other family members or friends for whom they are purchased. In addition, a valid military ID may be required for admission. Ticket may not be sold or transferred for commercial purposes.

Disney Military Promotional Tickets expire and may not be used after September 30, 2012. Disney 3-Day Military Promotional Tickets for the Disneyland Resort may not be used on the following blockout dates: July 1, 2011 through July 4, 2011, December 24, 2011 through January 2, 2012, February 17, 2012 through February 19, 2012, April 2, 2012 through April 14, 2012, and July 4, 2012 at the Disneyland Theme Parks. Subject to restrictions and change without notice.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/special-offers/military-ticket/

I Love a Veteran

My dad is 80 years old and a retired Armed Forces veteran of the U.S. Army. We missed my dad as kids growing up when he spent a cumulative four years of his life living in Vietnam on three tours. Military repositioning tours kept him away from our family for probably an additional year over the timeframe from my birth until I was 14 years old.

There are likely over one million children in the U.S. today in the past 11 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq who have had a comparable time of years growing up in the absence of their Armed Forces parent.

Children are resilient. We cope with our circumstances. Yet, nearly 40 years later, I am writing about growing up while my parent was away in a war zone.

Thanks Disney for giving my dad and all the Armed Forces members a salute. They deserve that respect.

Disneyland, California

Disneyland kind of blew my mind, once again. The experience of Disneyland in California is always a bit special even after more than a dozen trips over my lifetime. Disneyland after 50 years of existence for them (opened 1955) and me (born 1960) still entertains and is entertaining with sights, sounds, music, movement and taste sensations.

I realize Disneyland is a generational experience after having been away from the Anaheim park for at least 15 years. My older sister was born the year Disneyland opened and her vividly detailed memory recalls the park changes over time.  My parents were in their 20s, 30s and 40s when they took our family to the park every year or two. My younger sister, who has lived within the SoCal Orange Curtain for two decades, periodically buys annual passes for visiting the Disney parks.

My wife Kelley and her sister have their childhood memories of Disneyland. Their bond to Disneyland memories kept them out of California Adventure Park most of this trip. They were living Disneyland through another generation with our six year old niece’s first visit on her birthday.

I even heard adult strangers talking about their experiences over the decades at Disneyland which got me thinking about the generations of families who have experienced Disneyland together since 1955.

Our party of eight had an age difference spanning from 6 years to 80 years of age.

Some Disneyland guests are having a once-in-a-lifetime experience and other guests can measure their life growth by Disneyland visits.

Plaque at entrance circle across from City Hall.

 

Disneyland – To all who come to this Happy Place – Welcome

Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past – and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.

Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America – with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.

July 17, 1955

Main Street, Disneyland

Disneyland Park still entertains thousands of people a day. And for me, the Disneyland Resort complex with three hotels, Disneyland, California Adventure Park and Downtown Disney shops, dining and entertainment seemed better than ever these days.

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

Disneyland City Hall

Disneyland changes over the years with rides being replaced and reimagined.

The Jungle Cruise seemed similar to the ride of the past.

The ride wait of 15 minutes seemed like a short line compared to my memory of summer time waits in the 1970s and 1980s.

Disneyland Jungle Cruise Elephant.

The Swiss Family TreeHouse is now Tarzan’s Treehouse. This change was from 1999 when Disney released a new Tarzan movie. The treehouse is still enjoyable, but I always related better to the Swiss Family than to Tarzan.

Disneyland Tarzan’s Treehouse.

Tom Sawyer’s Island and the Sailing Ship Columbia.

More child strollers than adults is common in my pictures of the parks. I couldn’t believe the stack of strollers at the Jungle Cruise ride where there were Disneyland attendants parking dozens of strollers to maintain traffic flow through that section of the park.

Waiting 15 minutes to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean was our pleasant surprise. This ride was such a long wait when we were children.

The imagineers have added Johnny Depp to the cast of pirates. At least Johnny Depp was not to be seen in the Peter Pan ride.

A train ride over to Mickey’s ToonTown was a visit through stroller hell to reach It’s a Small World.

This is still a classic ride.

Waiting 10 minutes in line for It’s a Small World placed us near Princess Merida, the Scottish princess archer of “Braveâ€.

 

The clock figurines outside at It’s a Small World dance every 15 minutes.

It’s a Small World.

The Matterhorn was always the first sight we’d see as kids when driving to Disneyland.

Matterhorn seen from Tomorrowland Disney Innoventions Dream Home entrance ramp. My dad rode the Matterhorn with my sisters and me.

My sisters and I got a laugh out of hearing Ramones songs from the band at the Tomorrowland Terrace stage. The Ramones were anything but Disneyland mainstream music when I saw them in Santa Cruz in 1978.

Tomorrowland seemed the busiest section of the Disneyland park.

In 2007 the Submarine Voyage ride was converted to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

If you hadn’t guessed yet, movies drive the ride imagineering at Disney Parks.

Mickey’s Soundsational Parade

Actually I was puzzled to see Mary Poppins in the Disney Soundsational parade.

Then I realized we are just 18 months away from the 50th anniversary of the 1964 film and unknown to me before this article is Mary Poppins is currently running as a Broadway theater production touring North America.

The price of admission for Disneyland includes letting your imagination go for the ride.

Disneyland Casting Agency, Main Street, Disneyland

 

Related Loyalty Traveler posts – Disney Anaheim: Are You Experienced?

1-Disney Resort Anaheim Hotels

2-Disney Resort Anaheim Parking and Transportation

3-Disney Resort Anaheim Food, Drink and Fine Dining

4-Disney Resort Anaheim FASTPASS basics.

Disney California Adventure Park – Fun in the Sun

Armed Forces 3-Day Park Hopper Disney Resort Anaheim for $99

 

Ric Garrido, writer and content owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.