My husband has served and protected our great nation for over 18 years. We are a proud military family. Now that he is a reservist, we still receive some military benefits and I love to share some of the great deals we have found. Unfortunately not everyone knows about them, so I’m sharing some of the best!

Resorts all over the world:

Armed Forces Vacation Club

We stayed at a resort in Orlando Florida that we booked from the  Armed Forces Vacation Club. We stayed 6 nights in a condo at a lovely resort for $250 for the week! It had 2 bedroom, 2 bath, full kitchen and laundry facility. The resort had access to a lake and other fun activities.

https://www.afvclub.com

 

 

Florida- Shades of Green is a resort at Disney World! I have not stayed here but I heard it was great. When I tried to book a room at the resort it was full 6 months in advance!

At this website you can also get reduced tickets for Disney World Parks, Universal Orlando, Sea World, and more! You can purchase the discounted tickets even if you are not staying at the Shades of Green. You must have a person with a military ID with you when you use them and there is a limit to how many tickets you can buy per ID.

http://www.shadesofgreen.org/index.html

 

California- Most military bases have a Information, Tickets, & Tours (ITT) office. We have bought discounted tickets at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for Disneyland & California Adventure, Sea World, Legoland and San Diego Zoo. For a family of 4 we have saved hundreds of dollars going through the ITT.

http://www.dmforcesupport.com

 

Naval Base Coronado- hotel on Coronado on the beach! This is a great place to stay and relax, but its really hard to get a room so I advise you call months ahead of time!

https://www.navy-lodge.com/lodge

 

Hawaii

Honolulu– Hale Koa is a resort walking distance to the beach. I have never been but I heard its great!

http://www.halekoa.com/

 

Kauai– Barking Sands is several beach cottages on a private beach on the Navy base. It has 2-3 bedroom cottages with full kitchens, laundry facility and deck looking out to the ocean. It is on the West side of the island and a bit of a drive but it is so worth it!

http://pmrf.greatlifehawaii.com/lodging

http://get.dodlodging.net/propertys/Barking-Sands-Beach-Cottages-PMRF—HI

For tickets and prices to Luau’s, helicopter tours, and much more go to the website and click on Information, tickets & travel:

http://www.greatlifehawaii.com/

 

 

As a Tucson native I have never experienced Oktoberfest on Mt Lemmon! I decided to fix that this year! I wanted to celebrate my birthday (25 again) with my girlfriends in the mountains at Oktoberfest! I had the cutest t-shirts made and they were a hit!

After a quick drive up the mountain we were shocked at how cool it was outside. Some of us even changed from our shorts into pants in the mini van! Don’t worry the parking lot was empty.

Parking was $5 per car so we piled into two mini vans to save money. Admission was free! We bought tickets for lunch and beer. The prices were very reasonable $6 for food depending on what you wanted and $4 for beer. Everything was delicious! I highly recommend the fudge in the sweet shop!

We brought chairs and hiked up the hill to get a great view of the festivities. The music was a nice charm, they played authentic German music and people danced and laughed. We did not dance but we laughed a lot. Children ran in the grass and did cartwheels down the hill. Some of the brave people in my group rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain and enjoyed the sights. I was not one of them, it was my birthday and I wanted to sit on my but and enjoy the day.

I love the fact that we can drive 45 minutes up Mount Lemmon Highway and everything changes. We can see fall leaves changing, feel the cool mountain air,  and enjoy our surroundings with out stepping on a cactus or a rattlesnake!

If you have the time please go check it out! It is family friendly, just make sure you have a designated driver or rent a cabin for the night! Hurry Oktoberfest is over soon!

http://www.skithelemmon.com/

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/arizona/tucson-area/mt-lemmon?from-date=2015-07-15&to-date=2015-07-19

Happy October!