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Shades of Green
- Thread starter Figgy1
- Start date
Jahona
Well-Known Member
A few websites with info on Shades of Green.
First one is an overview but has decent photos of the rooms and grounds.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Shades-of-Green.html
Second one is a comparison between Shades of Green and Disney Moderate Resorts.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/b...s-of-green-disney-moderate-resort-comparison/
First one is an overview but has decent photos of the rooms and grounds.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/Shades-of-Green.html
Second one is a comparison between Shades of Green and Disney Moderate Resorts.
http://www.militarydisneytips.com/b...s-of-green-disney-moderate-resort-comparison/
Jahona
Well-Known Member
Buses run about every 20 minutes. The bus stops for Shades of Green at the parks are usually uncovered so waiting in the sun is one thing to be considered. Also there is no direct bus from Shades of Green to Magic Kingdom or EPCOT. The bus drops you off at the TTC were you must take a monorail or ferry to the park of your choosing. The buses themselves are the same model that Disney uses.
THNX! Do you know how far a walk it is to the Poly?
Jahona
Well-Known Member
From the Poly Monorail Station to the Lobby is about a half mile. I have a long stride so it took me a little over 5 minutes. Figure the walk will take you about 10 minutes, with family in tow it might be a little longer.
THNX We're all walkers and my boys are teens so 8 should do it at most in the am THNX
grim-grinning_toast
Well-Known Member
The walk to Polynesian Village is very closeby. Probably about a 7 minute walk. There's a path, too, so it's easy!
a2grafix
Well-Known Member
As well, add on about 5 more minutes to walk to the Transportation and Ticket Center, if you wish. If you are a runner, may I consider running the Shades path to the Poly, take the path to the Grand Floridian, back through the Poly and to the TTC. A good 3 or so miles.
The cool thing is that you can use Disney transportation and Shades buses to your advantage. There is only one bus that runs between the resort and TTC, and one bus that loops every hour to Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom and Studios parks. The unfortunate thing is that the Animal Kingdom parking spot is not where the Disney buses are located, but the Studios bus is located near the walkway that takes you to the Boardwalk.
Shades rooms are the largest at WDW, bigger than the deluxe rooms -- and you pay what your rank is and there is no tax.
Evergreens is a great place to have a beer, watch sporting events, and have some good food. Reminds me of the enlisted club. There is also a Starbucks in the lobby that also serves gelato and ice cream. The Garden Gallery and Mangino's Bistro are very nice places to eat. The Gallery has a very nice breakfast buffet and in the evening on certain nights you can make your own pizza. Mangino's has very good Italian food.
Although you are steps away from Disney's attractions and resorts, it does not feel like you are at Disney. It feels more like an Air Force or Navy Inn.
Lastly, a great place to view fireworks that are shot off at the Magic Kingdom is the fifth floor of the parking garage. You can hear the music from the resorts across the street and the view is pretty nice.
I have stayed at Shades several times and it's very economical. If you have an interest to see SeaWorld or Universal, reserve your spot 24 hours in advance on a shuttle bus that is $10 roundtrip. Leaves at 0800 and picks you up at 1800.
Enjoy!
The cool thing is that you can use Disney transportation and Shades buses to your advantage. There is only one bus that runs between the resort and TTC, and one bus that loops every hour to Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom and Studios parks. The unfortunate thing is that the Animal Kingdom parking spot is not where the Disney buses are located, but the Studios bus is located near the walkway that takes you to the Boardwalk.
Shades rooms are the largest at WDW, bigger than the deluxe rooms -- and you pay what your rank is and there is no tax.
Evergreens is a great place to have a beer, watch sporting events, and have some good food. Reminds me of the enlisted club. There is also a Starbucks in the lobby that also serves gelato and ice cream. The Garden Gallery and Mangino's Bistro are very nice places to eat. The Gallery has a very nice breakfast buffet and in the evening on certain nights you can make your own pizza. Mangino's has very good Italian food.
Although you are steps away from Disney's attractions and resorts, it does not feel like you are at Disney. It feels more like an Air Force or Navy Inn.
Lastly, a great place to view fireworks that are shot off at the Magic Kingdom is the fifth floor of the parking garage. You can hear the music from the resorts across the street and the view is pretty nice.
I have stayed at Shades several times and it's very economical. If you have an interest to see SeaWorld or Universal, reserve your spot 24 hours in advance on a shuttle bus that is $10 roundtrip. Leaves at 0800 and picks you up at 1800.
Enjoy!
ItlngrlBella
Well-Known Member
^^^ Ditto! My hubs loved Evergreens and we did the breakfast buffet every morning. We'd walk around the property at night with our daughter (was 3 then) and we walked to the koi pond/bridge boardwalk which is beautiful.
Yes, you don't feel like you're on a WDW property - it's like an Air Force in with a Disney Gift Shop. There is a patriotic Mickey statue that everyone takes a pic with. I wish they had the characters on the property more - we were told it is a very rare event or special occasion that they are there.
We've been twice and both times around the holidays and the decorations are impressive.
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ULPO46
Well-Known Member
Thats because its a Military resort and not a disney resort. They have a 99 year lease with Disney for use of the resorts property. As for the resort the rooms depend on rank. The higher your rank the nicer your rooms will be. Not the greatest millitary resort ive stayed at, but its better than any of the non millitary resorts surrounding it. Busses are great they are mostly on schedule. I wouldnt necessarily say you should walk to the poly or grandfloridian since there isnt a sidewalk but its not that bad of a walk.
How different are the rooms? What's the difference between a category 1 and 2 or 2 and 3? THNX
ULPO46
Well-Known Member
Well the rooms depend on your pay grade not as much as your branch. So the higher your rank/ pay grade. The larger, mor expensive your room with get. Its kind of complicated because i havent been there since i moved out of florida. But if youvs ever been to Hale Koa Hotel, just think of this one almost like it. Its designed as a country club so it never was meant to have a disney feel more of a place for people to relax on disney property. Either way you and your family will enjoy it. On a side note the most rooms any soldier or DOD employee may aquire is three rooms. Another fact is the rooms are much larger thab the standard rooms at the rest of the wdw resorts. So even if you dont call for a suite, you will feel very comfortable at your room. Hope this sort of helps. Again its been nearly five years since my family.last visited and my dad had an E-8 pay grade. So im not really sure about the other categories well.
mousehockey37
Well-Known Member
Be careful with the buses. They have different operational times compared to the Disney buses.
mouse_luv
Well-Known Member
I'm a military brat and have stayed here many times back into the 80s/90s when it was the Disney Inn. The last two visits were 2012 and then 2 months ago since I was staying with my military family that stays there. (When DBF and I go like in 2014 we stay DVC). Anyway, I have never ever heard that the quality or "niceness" of your room is based on your military rank(the price is, not the niceness). All the rooms are pretty much the same unless you are staying in a suite which are hard to get and we were told are booked over a year out. The rooms in the palm side of the resort are the newer ones, but they are working on renovating or have recently renovated the magnolia (original building) of SOG. The rooms are some of the biggest on WDW property and they are nice. I prefer to stay DVC now, but if I can't and am coming with my military family (SOG it is).
The buses suck to say it nicely. The SOG bus stop at the TTC is in the middle of the lot and it is not covered. They are hardly ever on time and they are always crowded because people are waiting forever for them to show up. Now, in very busy times they add more buses to pick up so it's not as bad but I'm not a fan of the buses showing up at the resort for TTC every 45 mins or so when they are supp to be there every 30 (even thats crazy IMO). It's a pain for the most part to go through the TTC and we have a habit of taking the 8-10ish minute walk to the Poly to ride the monorail and do transfers to another monorail or Disney buses from it if we are going to EPCOT/DHS/AK/DTD. There is also the "Shady Shuttle" that you can pick up at the front of the resort by bell services and they will take you down to the end of Shades property (tip them something small) and drop you off then all you have to do is walk across the street to the Poly and catch the monorail at the GCH. I also like to go over there and eat because the only food we like at SOG is the pizza's from Evergreens (though I will say that the order to go from Manginos isn't bad--their chef is pretty excellent). If you have any further questions feel free to PM me. I know there is stuff here I missed. Also, before I forget do not lollygag around at the end of the day at the parks because the buses only run an hour to an hour and a half after parks close and they are ALWAYS crowded. I might also add that the person above who stated they walk around the resort at the end of the day, I hope not outside tour of the resort because we were told by staff that walking certain places(aka near the palm side where the sidewalks/bridge/water is) there is NOT safe because of venomous snakes and gators that are out at night, just FYI.
The buses suck to say it nicely. The SOG bus stop at the TTC is in the middle of the lot and it is not covered. They are hardly ever on time and they are always crowded because people are waiting forever for them to show up. Now, in very busy times they add more buses to pick up so it's not as bad but I'm not a fan of the buses showing up at the resort for TTC every 45 mins or so when they are supp to be there every 30 (even thats crazy IMO). It's a pain for the most part to go through the TTC and we have a habit of taking the 8-10ish minute walk to the Poly to ride the monorail and do transfers to another monorail or Disney buses from it if we are going to EPCOT/DHS/AK/DTD. There is also the "Shady Shuttle" that you can pick up at the front of the resort by bell services and they will take you down to the end of Shades property (tip them something small) and drop you off then all you have to do is walk across the street to the Poly and catch the monorail at the GCH. I also like to go over there and eat because the only food we like at SOG is the pizza's from Evergreens (though I will say that the order to go from Manginos isn't bad--their chef is pretty excellent). If you have any further questions feel free to PM me. I know there is stuff here I missed. Also, before I forget do not lollygag around at the end of the day at the parks because the buses only run an hour to an hour and a half after parks close and they are ALWAYS crowded. I might also add that the person above who stated they walk around the resort at the end of the day, I hope not outside tour of the resort because we were told by staff that walking certain places(aka near the palm side where the sidewalks/bridge/water is) there is NOT safe because of venomous snakes and gators that are out at night, just FYI.
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ItlngrlBella
Well-Known Member
The first time we stayed - 2000, when my husband was a staff sergeant and we had a decent room with a sitting area, bathroom, and patio doors then opened onto the smaller pool towards the main lobby (it was surrounded by a a hedge and nice and quiet).
We were there again when he was a new officer (2LT)... Same style room facing koi pond.
The last time we stayed there, 2009, my husband was Captain. We had the same room layout as before, 2nd floor and it overlooked the large pool further away from the main lobby. We paid more for the same thing and I didn't feel the quality was better (the first time we stayed it was a better room). I understand paying more based on rank - it's only fair... But as far as rooms being better - they seemed all the same to me.
He's now a Major and will retire in April - I'm wondering what retirees pay? We've since rented houses the last 2 times we've been to the area - you can't beat the value with a pool home rental. (We usually go off season).
mousehockey37
Well-Known Member
It goes off what you retire as.
mouse_luv
Well-Known Member
Retirees pay whatever their last rank was.