Tell me about Shades of Green vs. POP

[Melissa]

I think we may do a quick trip in May. My mom's Boyfriend can stay at SOG and can sponsor us as well, We are trying to be budget minded so the choices are SOG for about 119 a night, but not able to use Magical Express or POP and use Magical express, but we aren't fans of the values and we like the SOG location. I know SOG isn't as themed but the price and location are great. Any thoughts?

 

[Bell30012]

Shades of Green is a beautiful hotel. The rooms are amongst the largest. However, it doesn't have the theming that POP Century has. My kids felt that every night when we were leaving the Magic Kingdom (or other parks) that we were leaving Disney. Our last three stays at POP have been a lot more enjoyable.

IMHO, I feel that the SOG is equivalent to a higher moderate or lower deluxe.

 

[mike72688]

Sorry this is off topic. I've never been to WDW but we will be staying at SOG in June. Do you know what the feasability of walking from SOG to the Poly to catch the monorail to MK is?

We'll have a car so I'm trying to decide if we should drive to the TTC parking lot or walk to the Poly (if that's even allowed) or take the SOG bus to the TTC. I'll be with 3 other parents and four girls ages 16,10,10, and 6. I can carry the 6 year old at the end of the day back if I have to.

Thanks

 

[ntsammy5]

Do you know what the feasability of walking from SOG to the Poly to catch the monorail to MK is?

We do it all the time. There is a golf cart shuttle sometimes.

Comparing POP to SOG is not a fair comparison. It's comparing Deluxe to Value. I like both of them for different reasons. We're going on Thursday and were able to change our POP reservation to SOG. We needed more room and the logistics for us was much better since we're going to watch our daughter run the marathon.

We've stayed at SOG 9 time and Values 6 times. Deluxes we've stayed 5 times plus numerous stays at FW. Never stayed at a moderate though. Theming at the POP is unbelievable though as it is at all the values. When you move up for some reason you lose the Disney theming. Go figure!

 

[suevee]

Sorry this is off topic. I've never been to WDW but we will be staying at SOG in June. Do you know what the feasability of walking from SOG to the Poly to catch the monorail to MK is?

We'll have a car so I'm trying to decide if we should drive to the TTC parking lot or walk to the Poly (if that's even allowed) or take the SOG bus to the TTC. I'll be with 3 other parents and four girls ages 16,10,10, and 6. I can carry the 6 year old at the end of the day back if I have to.

Thanks

We walk to the Poly in the AM then catch the SoG bus at the TTC for the return trip.

Just for the size of the rooms I prefer SoG to the values, 450 sq ft compared to about 280 sq ft. Also two queen beds compared to two full size beds. Then you also have the great access to MK and Epcot. Not to mention the quiet location, hot tub, and two main pools and a children's pool. Soooo SoG wins for us hands down!!

 

[hildarumpole]

SOG is much more peaceful than any Disney resort, in addition to having the largest standard rooms. We don't mind not having all the Disney theming at the resort. You get it in abundance everywhere else. There is a Mickey statue in the lobby and the Mickey head pool if you really need a dose of Disney. It takes less than 10 min. to walk to Poly, so there are convenient multiple transportation options. We used Sunray towncar service for our transportation from and to the airport. It was terrific. It cost less than $100 roundtrip for my family of 5. We also got a stop at a grocery store on our way from the airport to SOG, so were able to save quite a bit on snacks and drinks.

 

[Mrsjvb]

I also recommend looking into a service. we used Legacy Towncar and it was less than $100 for us RT(2 A) and he met us at the airport and picked us up at oh dark thirty when it was time to leave. It was nice being able to go straight to SOG rather than be dependent on the ME schedule as well as when they'd drop off yer stuff.

 

[cmhand30]

SOG is great when we plan a value trip and don't mind the lack of guest service. Transportation has always been an issue. Walking to catch the monorail at the Poly was prefered for us.

In 2005 we did both Pop and SOG. POP before our cruise and SOG after. We loved the food court selection at the POP. The themeing there was great and it was a nice change. The SOG was well the same. I hope they redo the old wing soon. SOG was great when DH was a lower rank and it was cheaper. It is like the rest of the DOD being run with less. Check out www.allears.net for more reviews.

We will be at the Yacht Club - Club Level in 11 days. (Booked by MWR on base, they didn't even try to talk us into SOG) We try to do something different everytime we go to WDW.

Maybe I am the party pooper about "Disney Magic" but, if you are not going for the "Magic" what are you going for.

 

[suevee]

For our family we take the magic with us. It is a state of mind we arrive at when we start to see the sign boards and then pass under the arches. Being able to stay just a few minutes outside of MK at a reasonable price just adds to it.

 

[bdcp]

We get plenty of Disney magic in the parks. We get the magic of relaxtion and the ambience of cameraderie in SOG. Everyone there is connected to the US military/DOD in some way. Everyone and I mean everyone says hello to you, staff and guests. We don't feel we're missing anything at SOG except for the huge price tag we'd have at a Disney resort of equal value/size. We always walk to/from the Poly or TTC. Very easy walk of about 10 minutes.

 

[suevee]

I have been thinking about Magic and SoG. Some Magic that is specific to SoG is that there is never any embarrassing language or behaviour to be explained to children. When you get off a SoG bus and are having difficulty with tired children, bags, strollers etc. someone always politely offers to help. Gentlemen and older children offer their seats to ladies, elderly, and small children. People are generally very kind. When reading some of the posts about the growing rudeness of WDW guests, it is nice to be able to count on kind, civilized behaviour at your resort. Also children very rarely run amok. Their parents keep tabs on them. ixiedust:

That is what is MAGIC about SoG.

 

[Sleepy]

I have been thinking about Magic and SoG. Some Magic that is specific to SoG is that there is never any embarrassing language or behaviour to be explained to children. When you get off a SoG bus and are having difficulty with tired children, bags, strollers etc. someone always politely offers to help. Gentlemen and older children offer their seats to ladies, elderly, and small children. People are generally very kind. When reading some of the posts about the growing rudeness of WDW guests, it is nice to be able to count on kind, civilized behaviour at your resort. Also children very rarely run amok. Their parents keep tabs on them. ixiedust:

That is what is MAGIC about SoG.

Well said.

I once visited ALL Stars in search of pressed coins and YIKES! It was like a daycare center out of control. I was happy to get back to tranquil SOG.

 

[wdwrich]

Over the years, we've stayed at the Poly, Contemporary, POR, Yacht Club and CSR. On our most recent visit, we stayed at SOG. To be quite frank, SOG exceeded our expectations and we would have a hard time justifying a stay anywhere else on future visits.

 

[traviesojmt]

We have stayed at both SOG and POP. We will be staying at SOG again in June. We did not enjoy staying at POP. It was way too crowded for us. We had expected to like it but didn't. On the other hand, we love SOG. The rooms are huge and the walk to Poly is very easy. We also never had a problem with the buses at SOG. I have to add that we don't have the problem with missing the Disney magic by not staying at the other Disney resorts. We still feel like we are right in the midst of the Disney magic. I would pick SOG over the value resorts every time.

 

[dnroach]

I'm new, and we haven't been to WDW in a long time, but I'm trying to get a feel for the shuttle service. How is the transportation from SOG? When we were there ten years ago, it was fairly efficient, but since then I've heard mixed reviews. Is it better to drive to the parks and park, or if the transportation efficient enough to leave the car behind?

 

[Mrsjvb]

we tried to use it for EMH( morning) at AK.. the driver never showed and frankly nothing was done for at least an hour and by then it was too late anyway. was NOT impressed at the attitude of the drivers or how it was handled. The front desk TRIED to get it taken care of but since the drivers are contracted, well it was more of a problem since all the drivers were like: oh we can't get in and drive we need permission..and nobody had authority to do so.. and none of appreciated the fact that the buises were all lined up and running a good 45 minutes BEFORE the first scheduled trip..all that wasted gas and pollution...

since this was our first day of the parks, we then opted to use Poly transportation the rest of the trip.. a ten minute walk. I will say this.. the DTD bus was always on time and never crowded. this was the one SoG bus we utilized often.

we never had a car and got around just fine.