SHADES OF GREEN at Walt Disney World Resort Information & Questions

[Leigh L]

I’m going to be placing my ticket order form soon and it’s just so much money at once I want to make sure I don’t screw this up. Can someone just check my thinking?

We have 11 people, my step dad is retired and mom has been our sponsor in the past. Obviously we can’t get salute tickets for everyone this time.

My plan is to (help him) order 6 five day salute tickets with PH, and 1 MYW five day kids ticket with PH, which would let my brothers family of 5 plus my mom and step dad hop if they want… then get the rest MYW (no hopper) with the regular (smaller) military discount for my own family of four.

That makes sense right? Am I missing any other obvious way to make this cheaper?

I know this was over a week ago so you may have ordered by now, but I think that makes sense unless I'm missing something too .

 

[Neverbeast]

Thank you. We did just get through the payment phone call today! Now just get to wait for the most exciting mail!

 

[FunnyLady1966]

We have three rooms booked with my step dad as the sponsor, so his name is on all three reservations which is screwing up my reservation link to the disney app. To get the names corrected does he need to call SoG or Disney?

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Good question. We will book under my partner's name but I'll be handling all the Disney App stuff.

 

[Leigh L]

Good question. We will book under my partner's name but I'll be handling all the Disney App stuff.

Our upcoming reservation at SOG is under DH's name, but I made all the park reservations and dining with no problems (this time around), but in the days pre-pandemic, I know things would hiccup sometimes and I'd have to call Disney IT.

During the pandemic, we had two rooms, DH and I were in one with DD and DS and adult DD and her friend were in another room. I was able to make reservations with no problem for anything since we were all linked on MDE, but we did have to get the names changed on the room so DD's friend could come on the property and ride the buses, etc. Booking online, both rooms were in DH's name, but they changed the name for us when we checked in.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Our upcoming reservation at SOG is under DH's name, but I made all the park reservations and dining with no problems (this time around), but in the days pre-pandemic, I know things would hiccup sometimes and I'd have to call Disney IT.

During the pandemic, we had two rooms, DH and I were in one with DD and DS and adult DD and her friend were in another room. I was able to make reservations with no problem for anything since we were all linked on MDE, but we did have to get the names changed on the room so DD's friend could come on the property and ride the buses, etc. Booking online, both rooms were in DH's name, but they changed the name for us when we checked in.

Thanks for the info. Good to know.

 

[Leigh L]

Thanks for the info. Good to know.

Also, one thing I've observed and I may be off the mark but it seems to be a common problem denominator for me.

If you edit your SOG reservation at all, it tends to drop off MDE. That's where I've had the biggest headaches. Even adding it back in, it still falls off. In days of FP+ that was a pain. For this upcoming trip, I didn't add it into MDE until I knew I wouldn't be adding or subtracting any days. My biggest worry was dining since I was able to do 60+8 and I wasn't sure if WDW canceled if they think you aren't an onsite guest because the resort reservation dropped off MDE.

 

[jen7233]

I remember having our Shades reservation fall off MDE before from modifying dates, and I had to input again, just something to watch.

 

[NavyDad]

Just got back from our first ever stay at Shades of Green. After 20 years of trying to get a reservation and the last 2 years of having to cancel reservations, we finally made it. I'm going to give my Pros and Cons list and my general thoughts below.

Pros:

1. Location - much closer to the Poly than I thought by looking at the map. Nice little stroll over to once of the best hotels at WDW giving you access to most of the dining, shopping and transportation amenities of the monorail resorts.

2. Cost/Value - We were staying at essentially a Deluxe resort just across the street from the monorail and even with our parking fee, we paid a rate on par with what we would have paid this week at a Disney Value resort.

3. Perks - Having the early entry into the parks and the late night extra hours was great. Having an Exchange store on property as well as the equivalent to an ITT/MWR ticket office at the same location were great for us. We felt like we had most of the perks of staying at a Disney resort and on a military instillation at the same time. It was great.

4. Transportation - This one surprised me the most. I thought I would hate the transportation system at Shades based on past reviews. Well, the busses ran very smooth. We had park hoppers so the very quick bus to the TTC ended up working great for us as we could then walk a very short distance to the monorail for either MK or Epcot. This was so much smoother and more convenient than I expected. There was one shared bus to DHS and AK but it was timely and convenient. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus our entire stay. The bus schedule they handed us at check in was perfect and helped us navigate their system flawlessly. When you combine the excellent bus service with the ability to walk across to the Poly and catch the monorail or a water taxi, this was our best transportation experience of any resort at WDW.

5. Parking - We were in the Palm wing of the resort which was fine with us. The parking garage is connected to this wing and we were able to park on the same level as our hotel room floor. That made for a quick and easy trip back and forth between our car and our room. If we were in Magnolia wing that would have been much farther but there really is something to be said for parking in a nice cool garage as opposed to parking in the hot Florida sun for a week straight.

Cons:

1. A bit dated: The lobby and common areas were very nice but the rooms and hallways definitely looked like you stepped into the 1990's. This was no big deal to us but I know some people would not like that especially if they are used to newer and fancier hotels.

2. Dining - We had the breakfast buffet one morning. It was fine, nothing special. I would have done it again but the process was kind of slow getting us checked in and checked out. Even if you are a fast eater, doing the breakfast buffet is going to be a huge chunk of your morning. The grab and go selections from the various express locations were just OK and the prices not that much better than Disney prices. I was really looking foward to eating at the sports bar. Well, Evergreens seems like they are still a work in progress post COVID. I think they are probably experiencing staffing issues like pretty much everyone else is right now. The tables were extremely sticky and gross, you had to go up to the bar and order food, the waitress then just dumped it on your table with no words or no follow up visits. Our order was wrong and the food was bad. The bartenders seemed much more interested in selling drinks than taking orders. I will definitely give that place another chance in a year or two though because it seemed like a cool sports bar and the location by the pool is just perfect.

I honestly had to reach for my two cons. I would give Shades of Green a 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. Just a very nice place, and incredible cost value and we just felt very "at home" as a retired military family. We have decided Shades of Green is our new home base for any Orlando vacations and we are looking for dates for next year. With the price you pay it is just not possible to get the dual benefits of a Disney resort made for military families. I had pretty high expectations but our stay far exceeded them. We can't wait to go back.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Just got back from our first ever stay at Shades of Green. After 20 years of trying to get a reservation and the last 2 years of having to cancel reservations, we finally made it. I'm going to give my Pros and Cons list and my general thoughts below.

Pros:

1. Location - much closer to the Poly than I thought by looking at the map. Nice little stroll over to once of the best hotels at WDW giving you access to most of the dining, shopping and transportation amenities of the monorail resorts.

2. Cost/Value - We were staying at essentially a Deluxe resort just across the street from the monorail and even with our parking fee, we paid a rate on par with what we would have paid this week at a Disney Value resort.

3. Perks - Having the early entry into the parks and the late night extra hours was great. Having an Exchange store on property as well as the equivalent to an ITT/MWR ticket office at the same location were great for us. We felt like we had most of the perks of staying at a Disney resort and on a military instillation at the same time. It was great.

4. Transportation - This one surprised me the most. I thought I would hate the transportation system at Shades based on past reviews. Well, the busses ran very smooth. We had park hoppers so the very quick bus to the TTC ended up working great for us as we could then walk a very short distance to the monorail for either MK or Epcot. This was so much smoother and more convenient than I expected. There was one shared bus to DHS and AK but it was timely and convenient. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus our entire stay. The bus schedule they handed us at check in was perfect and helped us navigate their system flawlessly. When you combine the excellent bus service with the ability to walk across to the Poly and catch the monorail or a water taxi, this was our best transportation experience of any resort at WDW.

5. Parking - We were in the Palm wing of the resort which was fine with us. The parking garage is connected to this wing and we were able to park on the same level as our hotel room floor. That made for a quick and easy trip back and forth between our car and our room. If we were in Magnolia wing that would have been much farther but there really is something to be said for parking in a nice cool garage as opposed to parking in the hot Florida sun for a week straight.

Cons:

1. A bit dated: The lobby and common areas were very nice but the rooms and hallways definitely looked like you stepped into the 1990's. This was no big deal to us but I know some people would not like that especially if they are used to newer and fancier hotels.

2. Dining - We had the breakfast buffet one morning. It was fine, nothing special. I would have done it again but the process was kind of slow getting us checked in and checked out. Even if you are a fast eater, doing the breakfast buffet is going to be a huge chunk of your morning. The grab and go selections from the various express locations were just OK and the prices not that much better than Disney prices. I was really looking foward to eating at the sports bar. Well, Evergreens seems like they are still a work in progress post COVID. I think they are probably experiencing staffing issues like pretty much everyone else is right now. The tables were extremely sticky and gross, you had to go up to the bar and order food, the waitress then just dumped it on your table with no words or no follow up visits. Our order was wrong and the food was bad. The bartenders seemed much more interested in selling drinks than taking orders. I will definitely give that place another chance in a year or two though because it seemed like a cool sports bar and the location by the pool is just perfect.

I honestly had to reach for my two cons. I would give Shades of Green a 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. Just a very nice place, and incredible cost value and we just felt very "at home" as a retired military family. We have decided Shades of Green is our new home base for any Orlando vacations and we are looking for dates for next year. With the price you pay it is just not possible to get the dual benefits of a Disney resort made for military families. I had pretty high expectations but our stay far exceeded them. We can't wait to go back.

This makes me SO excited to book. I've been going to DW since 79 and I've never even seen this resort. I have military family who've stayed there but never really heard much about it. Now that we're taking DIL, SIL and GS next year...this is the perfect resort for us. Looking forward to it!

 

[Leigh L]

Just got back from our first ever stay at Shades of Green. After 20 years of trying to get a reservation and the last 2 years of having to cancel reservations, we finally made it. I'm going to give my Pros and Cons list and my general thoughts below.

Pros:

1. Location - much closer to the Poly than I thought by looking at the map. Nice little stroll over to once of the best hotels at WDW giving you access to most of the dining, shopping and transportation amenities of the monorail resorts.

2. Cost/Value - We were staying at essentially a Deluxe resort just across the street from the monorail and even with our parking fee, we paid a rate on par with what we would have paid this week at a Disney Value resort.

3. Perks - Having the early entry into the parks and the late night extra hours was great. Having an Exchange store on property as well as the equivalent to an ITT/MWR ticket office at the same location were great for us. We felt like we had most of the perks of staying at a Disney resort and on a military instillation at the same time. It was great.

4. Transportation - This one surprised me the most. I thought I would hate the transportation system at Shades based on past reviews. Well, the busses ran very smooth. We had park hoppers so the very quick bus to the TTC ended up working great for us as we could then walk a very short distance to the monorail for either MK or Epcot. This was so much smoother and more convenient than I expected. There was one shared bus to DHS and AK but it was timely and convenient. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus our entire stay. The bus schedule they handed us at check in was perfect and helped us navigate their system flawlessly. When you combine the excellent bus service with the ability to walk across to the Poly and catch the monorail or a water taxi, this was our best transportation experience of any resort at WDW.

5. Parking - We were in the Palm wing of the resort which was fine with us. The parking garage is connected to this wing and we were able to park on the same level as our hotel room floor. That made for a quick and easy trip back and forth between our car and our room. If we were in Magnolia wing that would have been much farther but there really is something to be said for parking in a nice cool garage as opposed to parking in the hot Florida sun for a week straight.

Cons:

1. A bit dated: The lobby and common areas were very nice but the rooms and hallways definitely looked like you stepped into the 1990's. This was no big deal to us but I know some people would not like that especially if they are used to newer and fancier hotels.

2. Dining - We had the breakfast buffet one morning. It was fine, nothing special. I would have done it again but the process was kind of slow getting us checked in and checked out. Even if you are a fast eater, doing the breakfast buffet is going to be a huge chunk of your morning. The grab and go selections from the various express locations were just OK and the prices not that much better than Disney prices. I was really looking foward to eating at the sports bar. Well, Evergreens seems like they are still a work in progress post COVID. I think they are probably experiencing staffing issues like pretty much everyone else is right now. The tables were extremely sticky and gross, you had to go up to the bar and order food, the waitress then just dumped it on your table with no words or no follow up visits. Our order was wrong and the food was bad. The bartenders seemed much more interested in selling drinks than taking orders. I will definitely give that place another chance in a year or two though because it seemed like a cool sports bar and the location by the pool is just perfect.

I honestly had to reach for my two cons. I would give Shades of Green a 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. Just a very nice place, and incredible cost value and we just felt very "at home" as a retired military family. We have decided Shades of Green is our new home base for any Orlando vacations and we are looking for dates for next year. With the price you pay it is just not possible to get the dual benefits of a Disney resort made for military families. I had pretty high expectations but our stay far exceeded them. We can't wait to go back.

Thanks for sharing your recent experience! Good to hear about current conditions since we're going back in June, (this time for 8 nights at SOG, pretty excited, and reading your report just upped the excitement factor

That's too bad about Evergreens though. We were last in June 2021 and had a great experience there (and once before the shutdown). Hopefully, it'll return and get back to being better.

We've always found the breakfast buffet to be slow checking in, so that hasn't changed pre-COVID it sounds like.

Our now 15 YO loves SOG, even when she was younger and having stayed at several WDW resorts since her first WDW visit, SOG is still her favorite and preferred resort (that shocked me esp after we splurged for a couple of nights at Contemporary which I thought she'd love. She said SOG was better.)

Edited to add, I lost this sentence when I quoted the wrong post, but I'm glad you all had a great time!

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Thanks for sharing your recent experience! Good to hear about current conditions since we're going back in June, (this time for 8 nights at SOG, pretty excited, and reading your report just upped the excitement factor

That's too bad about Evergreens though. We were last in June 2021 and had a great experience there (and once before the shutdown). Hopefully, it'll return and get back to being better.

We've always found the breakfast buffet to be slow checking in, so that hasn't changed pre-COVID it sounds like.

Our now 15 YO loves SOG, even when she was younger and having stayed at several WDW resorts since her first WDW visit, SOG is still her favorite and preferred resort (that shocked me esp after we splurged for a couple of nights at Contemporary which I thought she'd love. She said SOG was better.)

Edited to add, I lost this sentence when I quoted the wrong post, but I'm glad you all had a great time!

She liked SoG better than the Contemporary? Wow...that's impressive!

 

[Leigh L]

She liked SoG better than the Contemporary? Wow...that's impressive!

We were in the Garden section, not the Tower, not sure if that might have tipped it

She does call it "our home" though - we're frequent visitors to FL to vacation and see family, and typically try to stop at least one or two nights at WDW.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

We were in the Garden section, not the Tower, not sure if that might have tipped it

She does call it "our home" though - we're frequent visitors to FL to vacation and see family, and typically try to stop at least one or two nights at WDW.

Love it!

 

[ZellyB]

Just got back from our first ever stay at Shades of Green. After 20 years of trying to get a reservation and the last 2 years of having to cancel reservations, we finally made it. I'm going to give my Pros and Cons list and my general thoughts below.

Pros:

1. Location - much closer to the Poly than I thought by looking at the map. Nice little stroll over to once of the best hotels at WDW giving you access to most of the dining, shopping and transportation amenities of the monorail resorts.

2. Cost/Value - We were staying at essentially a Deluxe resort just across the street from the monorail and even with our parking fee, we paid a rate on par with what we would have paid this week at a Disney Value resort.

3. Perks - Having the early entry into the parks and the late night extra hours was great. Having an Exchange store on property as well as the equivalent to an ITT/MWR ticket office at the same location were great for us. We felt like we had most of the perks of staying at a Disney resort and on a military instillation at the same time. It was great.

4. Transportation - This one surprised me the most. I thought I would hate the transportation system at Shades based on past reviews. Well, the busses ran very smooth. We had park hoppers so the very quick bus to the TTC ended up working great for us as we could then walk a very short distance to the monorail for either MK or Epcot. This was so much smoother and more convenient than I expected. There was one shared bus to DHS and AK but it was timely and convenient. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus our entire stay. The bus schedule they handed us at check in was perfect and helped us navigate their system flawlessly. When you combine the excellent bus service with the ability to walk across to the Poly and catch the monorail or a water taxi, this was our best transportation experience of any resort at WDW.

5. Parking - We were in the Palm wing of the resort which was fine with us. The parking garage is connected to this wing and we were able to park on the same level as our hotel room floor. That made for a quick and easy trip back and forth between our car and our room. If we were in Magnolia wing that would have been much farther but there really is something to be said for parking in a nice cool garage as opposed to parking in the hot Florida sun for a week straight.

Cons:

1. A bit dated: The lobby and common areas were very nice but the rooms and hallways definitely looked like you stepped into the 1990's. This was no big deal to us but I know some people would not like that especially if they are used to newer and fancier hotels.

2. Dining - We had the breakfast buffet one morning. It was fine, nothing special. I would have done it again but the process was kind of slow getting us checked in and checked out. Even if you are a fast eater, doing the breakfast buffet is going to be a huge chunk of your morning. The grab and go selections from the various express locations were just OK and the prices not that much better than Disney prices. I was really looking foward to eating at the sports bar. Well, Evergreens seems like they are still a work in progress post COVID. I think they are probably experiencing staffing issues like pretty much everyone else is right now. The tables were extremely sticky and gross, you had to go up to the bar and order food, the waitress then just dumped it on your table with no words or no follow up visits. Our order was wrong and the food was bad. The bartenders seemed much more interested in selling drinks than taking orders. I will definitely give that place another chance in a year or two though because it seemed like a cool sports bar and the location by the pool is just perfect.

I honestly had to reach for my two cons. I would give Shades of Green a 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. Just a very nice place, and incredible cost value and we just felt very "at home" as a retired military family. We have decided Shades of Green is our new home base for any Orlando vacations and we are looking for dates for next year. With the price you pay it is just not possible to get the dual benefits of a Disney resort made for military families. I had pretty high expectations but our stay far exceeded them. We can't wait to go back.

Great review and I agree with everything you said. We don't typically use their buses because we did have some delays on past stays but maybe we need to give it another try.

We've definitely had better experiences at Evergreens in the past then our most recent stay, so I'm also hoping it's still just some holdover issues from Covid.

 

[kittylady1972]

@NavyDad what a great review. We agree with almost everything. We were there back in March for a week and really enjoyed our stay. There are so many things that just can't be beat there. I haven't done the buffet in years so can't speak to that. I think my guys did it back in March but they didn't mention the service. We do LOVE Evergreens though, however we usually order food and eat out by the pool so our experiences would be quite different. It's been a while since we've eaten inside the restaurant and experienced the service, or lack that you mentioned. We've found the ordering window process easy and people friendly for the most part.

We also really like the food options at Mangino's as well. The prices are very reasonable and most of the food we've ordered we've enjoyed...plus no need to make an ADR there. We eat there sometimes when at a Disney resort because it's just easy and cheap.

Sadly my kids still have a preference for Disney, at least for the fun atmosphere around the pools even though it's catered to younger kids, it's just fun to watch all the games and contests they have there. Our next trip we had SOG but when we were able to book with our DVC points at Bay Lake Tower we moved as that is my son's preference. Still we may end up at SOG for dinner while there since it's nearby.

 

[Dizzy Lizzie]

Is it possible to tour the resort while not being a guest? I stayed here the last time I went to Disney. My grandfather was in the military. He passed away when I was 14 so we can no longer stay here. I know my mom would like to walk around. We just want to go down memory lane. My mom has a strong connection to the military because of my grandfather. As a kid she grew up on the Air Force bases.

 

[Retired2018]

Hi Dizzy Lizzie,

We were able to do this. We just walked up t the gate from the Poly. The guard was a bit gruff asking why we wanted to be let in. We told him we were just checking it out for a possible stay and he unlocked the gate for us. It is a lovely resort. We found it to be a bit of a Poly/Wilderness lodge-ish feel. We will stay sometime when we are out of DVC points. It was incredibly quiet but hallways etc did seem a bit dated. There are videos on YouTube you can check out. The rooms look like they could use a refresh also. But if you are just looking for a wander it was easy and great fun. I do not remember though if we had to show a military ID to get waived on thru after the explanation.

 

[NavyDad]

@NavyDad what a great review. We agree with almost everything. We were there back in March for a week and really enjoyed our stay. There are so many things that just can't be beat there. I haven't done the buffet in years so can't speak to that. I think my guys did it back in March but they didn't mention the service. We do LOVE Evergreens though, however we usually order food and eat out by the pool so our experiences would be quite different. It's been a while since we've eaten inside the restaurant and experienced the service, or lack that you mentioned. We've found the ordering window process easy and people friendly for the most part.

We also really like the food options at Mangino's as well. The prices are very reasonable and most of the food we've ordered we've enjoyed...plus no need to make an ADR there. We eat there sometimes when at a Disney resort because it's just easy and cheap.

Sadly my kids still have a preference for Disney, at least for the fun atmosphere around the pools even though it's catered to younger kids, it's just fun to watch all the games and contests they have there. Our next trip we had SOG but when we were able to book with our DVC points at Bay Lake Tower we moved as that is my son's preference. Still we may end up at SOG for dinner while there since it's nearby.

We are looking forward to trying the dining options again next trip. After so many good reviews over the years I'm willing to give everything another shot.

I really think the issue at Evergreen's was lack of staff. Not sure if that was just a one night thing or if they have struggled with staffing post-pandemic like so many other places have. They basically had 2 bartenders taking all food and drink orders from inside and the outside window at the same time and one poor waitress running food to everyone and I'm sure she didn't have time to wipe tables.

We didn't try Mangino's next time so we definitely will have to do that next time.

 

[kittylady1972]

Our room during our last stay was very nice...clearly recently refurbed and much better than the rooms used to be IMHO: