Official SHADES OF GREEN Information

[abolanwoski]

We have a POR free dining trip booked for late August but we will probably stay one night at SOG prior to our POR package so we can wake up on our package start date already at WDW. I think we will pay the extra 10 bucks for a poolside room so dh can sleep (after that long drive) while the kids and I can just relax and swim all day.

Do both pools have poolside rooms at SOG? If I want the "Mickey" pool do I need to make a specific request?

If he wants to sleep, you might want to avoid the poolside rooms! They are by far the loudest ones, we often had problems at unitl 11 at night, with kids screaming, adults conversing loudly, then it usually quieted down. The noise between rooms isn't bad, but through the sliding glass door - OY! If you stay anywhere in the old section, you'll be fairly close to the pool (for your convenience) but won't have to hear the noise. All the views are good.

 

[ElmerTinaRh]

We have an early departure flight 8:45am and want to try to stay at the Hyatt in the Airport. Does anyone know of any discounts (military,DAV ect.) The cheapest I could find on-line is 179 a night and am not sure if I am willing to pay that yet. Any advise about early morning transportation from SOG would be great. (traveling with a 5 year old)

We used Sun Ray last year and had a 7am flight out. He was in the lobby at 5 to pick us up. Couldn't ask for better service.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

If he wants to sleep, you might want to avoid the poolside rooms! They are by far the loudest ones, we often had problems at unitl 11 at night, with kids screaming, adults conversing loudly, then it usually quieted down. The noise between rooms isn't bad, but through the sliding glass door - OY! If you stay anywhere in the old section, you'll be fairly close to the pool (for your convenience) but won't have to hear the noise. All the views are good.

My husband can sleep through a hurricane. I'm not worried about noise

 

[Maine-iac]

So I have to ask:

Anybody had the Banana Foster Cheesecake at Evergreens yet? It sounds yummy.

Does anyone have any other favorites from the SOG restaurants that they would like to share with everyone?

The only input I have so far is the coffee from the Starbucks stand. I read mixed reviews about how it was before our trip. We loved the coffee...tasted great and was so thankful to get gourmet coffee before we hit the parks

Several in my group had the turkey club from Evergreens and all said it was good. I actually had the club twice and I like the tortilla chips that come with it.

 

[allboyz]

Howdy!
My family and I will be staying at Shades of Green on November 7th and 8th. We are trying to squeeze in a quick trip to Disney before our Disney Cruise starts on the 9th. Anyway, I'm so excited! We LOVED our last visit at Shades of Green (an entire week). I look forward to reading all of the tips as we prepare for our upcoming trip.

* Quick question...do they still offer early magic hours for SOG guests? Just prior to our last trip they stopped it but then reinstated it days before we arrived.

 

[allboyz]

Oh and also, what is the maximum occupancy in a standard room there? We are a family of 5 and we stayed there with no problem last time. However, we recently added my mom to our cruise so she will arrive the day before we check out. Do they allow 6 people (even if we had a rollaway bed?)? I remember the room being a pretty good size. I don't think we would mind being a little snug for one night. LOL Thanks.

 

[hildarumpole]

Yes, SOG guests can enjoy EMH.

The maximum occupancy for a standard room is 5 guests. You would have to get a suite or an additional room. If you plan on booking a suite, do so ASAP, because they are limited and book up quickly.

 

[Maine-iac]

Here are the views from our room #134 from our trip April 17-25. Pool side on Mill Pond Pool area. Taken from right to left.

Turkeys visiting our patio. They ate the cheezits that got spilled.

 

[Maine-iac]

We were at SOG April 17-25. I do not believe that the resort was ever totally full while we were there.
We got the pool side connecting rooms as requested.
The resort was quiet, even the noise from the pool at night was not bad.
The only noise we heard was from the room above. We think it was the sliding glass doors being opened and closed. Sounded like thunder rumbling.
This was the first time that housekeeping times were all over the place. We could not seem to fix our time right to not be in the room when housekeeping came so we did not have our room cleaned everyday.
We only had one problem with the buses. We got down to the bus stop before 7:30am to catch the bus for 8am EMH at HS. 7:45 came and no bus driver. (there were at least 4 buses sitting there running with no drivers). People started going in and asking. Finally an SOG employee came out and said that no bus drivers could be found so we should walk over to Poly and catch the bus there. People with ADRs ran over to Poly and got taxis. We walked over briskly and waited about 5 minutes for a bus. All those who ran over ahead of us were waiting when we got there. One family told us this was the 3rd time during their many visits that this has happened to them. They were not happy at all. Once on the bus our friend texts us and says that RNR is down, so they are heading to TOT. We finally get to HS at 8:30am and with RNR down, the line is long at TOT. We got FPs for RNR and waited for our friends to get off TOT. I went up to ask CM Kathy at the line entrance how long was the wait. She asked how our day was so far and I told her our story. She felt bad for us so she gave the 5 of us who wanted to ride a front of the line pass and we walked right in. Awesome. I thanked her on my way out and told her she made our day better. We walked right over to RNR and it was going so we hopped in line and waited about 30 minutes. You should have seen the line for people getting FPs when we got off.

We only drove to a park 2 times. One to BB so we could leave anytime and on our departure day we drove to MK for last minute shopping and to buy our photo pass cd.

We had the buffet breakfast 2 times during our trip. A good way to fill up for the day.

Any questions?

 

[Msslaydbug]

Darn it - I am sorry to hear about the transportation issues ! I would have been upset ! Hopefully we won't have any problems when we are there !

 

[mom2jcc]

Thanks for those pictures. I LOVE seeing pictures of our home away from home I chuckled at the cheeze-its...we fed the turkeys the same thing

The bus situation was unfortunate. So many of us depend on this transportation. For EMH mornings to HS or AK they should be on the ball. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[hildarumpole]

We only had one problem with the buses. We got down to the bus stop before 7:30am to catch the bus for 8am EMH at HS. 7:45 came and no bus driver. (there were at least 4 buses sitting there running with no drivers). People started going in and asking. Finally an SOG employee came out and said that no bus drivers could be found so we should walk over to Poly and catch the bus there.

Yeesh! Where could 4 bus drivers have wandered off to at SOG? Were they on the links playing a round of golf? I got the impression that SOG employees have almost no control over the buses and drivers. We had an incident with a missing bus one morning. SOG people were running around, looking worried, talking on cellphones. The bus drivers weren't exactly full of personality, especially one guy who appeared to be the head driver. When people complained about the situation, he got very sarcastic and the message was, "if you don't like it, find your own way to the parks." I filled out an SOG comment card on his surly attitude and received an apology from the resort manager. He said he'd speak to the bus contractor about it. I understand SOG wants to keep costs down to keep the rates reasonable, but I'd be willing to pay a few more bucks a night for nice reliable buses and drivers.

 

[Briggidge2]

Would you all say that it would be in our best interest to walk to the Poly to catch the bus/monorail there if we had an early ADR? I don't want to miss my ressie just because the bus drivers decide they don't want to work.

 

[Briggidge2]

SOOO instead of ducks to feed, there are turkeys? LOL! My kiddos will love that! (but we use goldfish instead of cheez-its)

 

[Mrsjvb]

I agree that the WORST part of SoG is the bus system overall. we too were left High and dry on EMH hours(morning) for AK our first full day at the parks. the drivers are NOT DoD or MWR employees, they are contracted out, and with ONE exception( the evening DTD lady driver) they were, to a person, grumpier than a dwarf.

after that fiasco, we opted for the Poly for all transport except coming or going to DTD. The walk wasn't that terribly inconvenient, and the Poly walkway is very pleasant.

and our Turkeys used our patio to hide from the thunderstorm. The Bullfrog tried to get in the room and the lizard critter thought it would be amusing to slip into the sliding glass door track and refuse to budge even when we wanted to close the door. The bunnies were fearless, the birds noisy and No alligators to be found, much to my profound disappointment.

 

[gibsontrio]

how reliable / easy is the golf cart that takes you to the end of the driveway?? Seems like that would be easier than waiting for the bus

 

[mom2jcc]

how reliable / easy is the golf cart that takes you to the end of the driveway?? Seems like that would be easier than waiting for the bus

We actually never saw the famous golfcart. I guess it is a hit or miss thing.

We walked to the Poly and caught the monorail every morning except for AK and HS days. We drove to those parks as they were EMH mornings. We had no idea what the bus service would be, but thought driving would be easier with our double stroller.

 

[Maine-iac]

Yeesh! Where could 4 bus drivers have wandered off to at SOG?

We all wondered the same thing. With gas prices the way they are........ there are your tax dollars at work. There were many "volunteer bus drivers" will to drive everyone to HS.

 

[Maine-iac]

Would you all say that it would be in our best interest to walk to the Poly to catch the bus/monorail there if we had an early ADR? I don't want to miss my ressie just because the bus drivers decide they don't want to work.

Yes, if you have an ADR or you want to be up front at a park for the rope drop then you should walk to the Poly and catch their bus. The buses from SOG started at 7:30am for 8:00am EMH. We just wanted to get there at opening (did not care about being the first ones) so we used the buses for all parks.
The buses are usually not crowded even at night and if they are everyone is so nice about giving up their seats and even helping get strollers on the bus. That is a plus. You don't find that on Disney buses.

 

[Maine-iac]

how reliable / easy is the golf cart that takes you to the end of the driveway?? Seems like that would be easier than waiting for the bus

It was there for us when we wanted it and we saw it in use a lot. It will only hold 5 people besides the driver. So with 7 of us 2 had to walk, but we were only going to the Luau.
Don't forget to tip the driver.