Special Discounts for Police/Fire???

[disneyagain]

I know there were some special discounts for police/fire personnel (DH works for NYS Police and is a volunteer fire and EMS worker). Are the discounts still available? We're planning a trip to Orlando this summer (shhhh...going to the other park this time) and thought maybe we could also get a few days in at WDW (price depending). Anyone know?

 

[jasmine206]

I also would like to know this as my DH is a firefighter/paramedic for our city.

And hi Disneyagain, nice to see someone else on the boards from Binghamton!

 

[allshookup]

My husband is a police officer so I called the Swan reservations and they told me the govt. rate of $129.00 does apply to police & fire. This is the only discount I am aware of.

 

[disneyagain]

I can get the teacher discount at the swan/dolphin for the same rate. I know that there was a park discount....I can't remember exactly, but free for firefighter/police and 1/2 off for family members. I believe it was for a 4 day hopper.

Anyone out there know!

Hi, Jasmine....Ya gotta love Binghamton..Nice family place!

 

[rangebob]

Those rates are gone now.

 

[travelitis]

The free passports for military, police, and fire fighters ended April 30th. Their dependents got half off admission, and this applied to hopper passes, too. It makes me sick to think of how much we would've saved, but we couldn't go then because the military moved us cross-country the end of Feb.

 

[js]

travelitis, that is incorrect.
disneyagain, yes there were discounts and as travelitis stated, they did run out April 30. But, Disney has extended the offer to include up until December 31, I am taking advantage of this in October since my husband is NYPD and works/ed at Ground Zero.

We had to send an e-mail to Disney (call ressies and ask them for the e-mail address to send your letter. Tell them your husband is NYSP).
They will give you the information you need to have in the letter and they will then contact you.
Although they are not offering the 50% off rates for rooms anymore (I think S/D gov't rate is mostly always offered), they still are giving us:
A free 7 day pass for my husband and
50% off passes for up to 5 members of my family

When Disney called, they gave my husband a special number to hand in to the ticket booth and he also has to show proof of his work.

(We sent the e-mail about 3 weeks ago and got a call within 2 weeks)

Have fun and make sure you call.

 

[travelitis]

I called res, and the lady was adamant there was no extension, so I told her you e-mailed 3 wks. ago. She gave me the e-mail which also states to include your home phone. The e-mail is:
wdw.guest.communications@disney.com I'm going to see what response I get, because she thought there was a deadline for requesting these. However, according to your post, you requested it after what she said the deadline was. Please post if this email is different than the one you used.

 

[steph]

If anyone gets a response from Disney reference this please post, I am a police officer, not in New York and was wondering if it only applied for New York officers or for ones any where. I am going in Sept. and would love to get a discount.

Steph

 

[js]

Travelitis, My e-mail to Disney was sent on May 29, 2002 to the e-mail address:

wdw.guest.communications@Disney.com

I've cut/pasted my e-mail that I sent to WDW. As I mentioned, they called my husband during the day at my home:

Dear CastMember:

We have just heard about Disney's extension offer on the American Heroes Program extended until December 31, 2002.

I am a New York City Police Officer and I work at the *** Pct., which patrols Downtown Manhattan/ World Trade Center (Ground Zero). I participated in the rescue efforts and responded to the attackes of September 11 at the World Trade Center in New York City.

Unfortunately, since I was directly involved with the recovery efforts at Ground Zero on/post September 11, I was denied any vacation prior to the expiration of the "Exchange Certificate", which ended on April 30, 2002 but would be eligable for vacation **Give Dates** during the given timeframe of Disney's Extension.

My Certificate No. on the Disney American Heroes Exchange Certificate is: ***** (This is the certificate my husband got from one of the delegates)
My Exchange Certificate Code on my Exchange Certificate is: *** (This number is also on the Exchange Certificate)

I was informed I must send you an e-mail and wait for you to contact me via telephone and/or e-mail and I have listed my numbers for you below.

I appreciate the time you have taken to read my letter and I look very much forward to speaking to you.

Thank you again.

Sincerely,
NAME
ADDRESS
Home/Day/evening number
e-mail address:
Another person my husband works with was not albe to get an Exchange Certificate but he did e-mail a letter (he actually took and changed the one above). He informed WDW he did not have the certificate but could provide proof he was NYPD.
They gave him the info. he needed (some code numbers) and he will produce the numbers when he is in Disney during the summer.
Hope this helps. When you get a response, please update us on this thread. Good luck

 

[travelitis]

We didn't get certificates either, but here's what I wrote. I'm glad I explained why we hadn't been able to take advantage of the offer by Apr. 30 now that I've read what you sent.

My husband is active duty navy, and we were told by a NY firefighter's family that the discount on passes has been extended until Dec. 31st. They said Disney called them with the details after they sent an e-mail. We were very excited to hear that because we were unable to take advantage of it by April 30 because we had to make a last-minute move cross-country thanks to 9-11. My husband couldn't take leave before then since his job is to process the paperwork necessary to deploy troops. We are planning a trip in November and would so much appreciate being able to take advantage of this generous offer. Our home phone is xxxx, and his phone at the base is xxx. He is xxx if you should call there. I'm home during the day, but I'm going to Illinois to settle my mother's estate from June 29 - July 8.

Steph - The rep at Disney did say that it had been open to ALL firefighters, police and active duty military. You should send an e-mail and tell them you heard about the extension. Sept. 11 affected all police officers, firefighters, and military even if they were fortunate enough not to be at ground zero.

No one at the base had heard of the extension. Coincidentally, yesterday when I read the post, my husband had just been given another job -- keeping track of military discounts including travel offers. Never have I been so absolutely thrilled to stand corrected!

 

[travelitis]

I called Disney again and found someone who knew about the extension. It's a case by case basis, so you need to offer explanation why you couldn't take advantage of the offer by April 30. We shall see if we get it or not, but 9-11 is truly the reason we couldn't. Believe me, I tried, but there was no getting our leave for anything but the move which was preceded immediately by my mother's death. We'll just wait and see and keep our fingers crossed.

 

[js]

Good luck travelitis!
We also took advantage of a Carnival Cruise too. Carnival was offering 50% off rates for NYPD/NPFD, who worked at Ground Zero.
My husband had to produce a letter from his pct on letterhead and have his boss sign along with a copy of his ID.
We sent to Carnival and will be cruising with them the end of this year. PLEASE let us know how you all make out!

 

[steph]

travelitis

Thanks for the info, I have sent an email to Disney. So I will set back and wait to hear from them.

Steph

 

[steph]

Well I still have not heard anything from Disney on this topic, has anyone else received a reply from them?


Thanks,
Steph

 

[travelitis]

js, well, I wish I was still standing corrected, but WDW replied that all requests for extension had to be made by May 30 which ours was not. There's another thread about this, and I've swapped e-mails with others seeking this discount. You're the only one I've heard of that got the extension. Even a marine who was deployed the whole time got denied. Some Salute to America's Heros! Ironic that (with the exception of your family) if you were busy because of 9-11, you can't take part in the offer. I'm not trying to be greedy, but couldn't they have offered the freebie to only the firefighter/police/military family member and had the dependants pay regular rates? That would allow them to salute more of the men and women who were too busy with the defense of the country to schedule a trip to Disney. We're still going, but we were going to use our savings toward a trip in 2003. Now we'll go elsewhere as a matter of principle.

 

[js]

Travelitis, sorry it didn't work out for you. The other person that sent it in in my husbands pct also was accepted. I hope you don't think they too don't deserve it. My husband pct is a block away from WTC and we are still amazed the members of his pct that were working on 9/11 are still here with us. They were part of the rescue/recovery effort from the moment the plane hit until just a few weeks ago. I salute all that have/are working to keep us safe. I do like your idea though, WDW should have offered the discount to just those that were directly involved. But, may I ask, are the military discounts that WDW offers not really that good? We are not able to use those. I would think, have hoped, you would be able to get more than 1/2 off and discounts on hotels. This offer does not include hotels either. Good luck and have fun.

 

[travelitis]

No, I absolutely think you and the other firefighters DO deserve it. I also think the marine who was deployed for 9 mos and his family deserve it, among others. My family was affected from day 1 even though we didn't have the horrendous and horrible task of working at GZ. All leave was cancelled, and there is a long list of changes and things that impacted us immediately. However, Disney didn't say that some were eligible and others weren't. They said that NO ONE who requested after May 30 was granted an extension. The big question is if that is really the case or not. I'd rather hear them say it was limited to those at GZ only if that's the case, rather than misrespresent what is actually happening. You know, I wouldn't be offended if those who were at Ground Zero got some special treatment over others, but the military who were on alert because of this had no opportunity to take leave by Apr. 30. It's a hollow salute to the military, but I am glad WDW is granting your families the extension - sincerely. You need this vacation after the horror of 9-11. My SIL lives only a mi. from GZ and watched the horror from her office window. She lost her first baby on Dec 24 because of being so sick from the fumes, per her OB. They're trying so hard to have a child and haven't been able to get pregnant again.

The military discount available through Shades of Green is about 10% off admission, and anyone can get that kind of rate at some of the ticket wholesalers. I've found one that is better than SOG because it includes a character b-fast and water park admission for the same money we pay for hopper minus those extras. As far as room rates, it's totally dependant on your rank. The lower the rank, the lower your pay, so the lower the room rate. We don't care about hotel discount, though, because there's a place offsite that we like staying at better than onsite. My ONLY complaint is that for most of those really affected (yourselves, etc. obviously excluded from this generalization) it was a useless promotion that smells more of a PR stunt than anything. I'd like to see more men and women get this salute by scaling back the discount.

 

[travelitis]

BTW - the fact that WDW is giving the promo to the firefighter who didn't have a voucher I see as a good thing. I would've hated to hear they'd been denied.

 

[js]

Yes, I agree that all Military should have been included. My husband is Police though not fire. Anyway, after reading these threads, I told my husband the other night that the promo was only extended until May 31. We thought it was extended for the rest of the year. So, I just made it without knowing.
I know that Universal was doing something too for military/NYPD/NYFD. We were going to take advantage of it in April before our cruise but didn't want to deal with the Easter crowds. I truly think Disney missed the ball on this one not honoring all those that have/do protect us each and every day.
Sorry to hear about your sil. If she lives close to Ground Zero, she lives in the area my husband works. Do you know that they just got around to testing the NYPD officers who work at GZ, including lung damage. A guy my husband works with is under 30 and his lungs are as bad as a 79 year old. There is NO way the air down there is as "good" as they say. I never belived it when they were saying it was ok to go back working/living there, and obviously still don't. I work midtown and for once happy I don't work down there.
Good luck, have fun and God Bless.