SHADES OF GREEN at Walt Disney World Resort Information & Questions

[CaLuCa]

I just got back from a short spring break trip and wanted to write a quick review for SOG. I've stayed there several times over the last 10 years and once when it was the Disney Inn, but I was a child and don't remember much. I've stayed at several other on property places (most recently BC, WL, AKL, Pop, ASMo, POR, and Contemporary as a kid). I've also stayed off property, but definitely prefer on property. For the money, it is amazing. Especially if you can catch one of their room discount deals they post on the website occasionally. I don't want to stay there every time but pricing out the rooms there versus the $170/night at a value for Spring Break, it was an easy call. Always be aware there is a discount on disney rooms for military (40% off deluxe, 35% off mods, and 30% off values). That said, I have also gotten a value room for around $70/night during off season using the discounts. They might not have availability but ask! It is less "disney" than the other hotels...there aren't any hidden mickeys in the carpet or bed spreads. No mickey soap for the bathroom. They do play disney movies on the tv by the check in and there is a big mickey statue in the lobby. Front desk is just as helpful as disney property CMs. The buffet is better than the quick service places at the hotels, mainly for the decrease in crowds.

Bus versus walking...it's nice that you can have a schedule of the bus departures and arrivals. I prefer walking mainly because I have a double stroller to fold and hate doing that. I avoid buses for this reasons, disney or SOG. It actually takes longer to take the bus to the TTC than it does to walk to the Poly. We did EMH 4 mornings in a row, and watched the bus drive past us when we were halfway down the hill. One morning my oldest demanded the bus and we tried it, but it was definitely quicker to walk. Now, walking back...that's another story! When you are tired going up the hill is so LONG! Pushing a double stroller up that hill with three tired kids in it makes it seem even steeper! But it is so nice to be so close to essentially "walk" to MK.

Rooms...gosh, they are big. I'm spatially challenged but I imagine you could fit 2 values in one SOG room! Nice beds, even the fold out couch was comfy (I took a nap on it one day and slept well...granted I was tired!). We had the view of the ponds and it reminded me a lot of WL meets AKL (minus animals roaming). Very quiet and relaxing.

Food...I have done both the breakfast and dinner buffet, and while I wouldn't seek it out, it is nice to have that option. We always waited for a table even when the restaurant was not full or even close to full. Highlight at breakfast was the eggs benedict (replaced by a not so appetizing looking breakfast pizza another day) and the mickey shaped pancakes. Refills were a little slow, but we were not forgotten. Dinner had a decent salad bar, but limited in options. The night we were there the fried fish and coleslaw was really pretty good. There was a pasta station too but I didn't get to have any.

I also did Mangino's for lunch and it was fine. It is more bar food than Italian at lunch...sandwiches and burgers...there might have been a pasta dish. The kids grilled cheese was pretty good. The chicken fingers were not what my kids preferred; they didn't like the coating on them, but I think this was more their preference than anything wrong with them. I had the reuben and it was really pretty good.

I had Mangino's to go one night as well. Actually, we did it twice. We had the margarita pizza and while the cheese and tomatoes were fine, the crust was too chewy for my liking and it did not taste brick oven baked. There was a nice sea salt and other spices baked into the edge of the crust and it was tasty, just minus the chewiness of it. The other night I had the turkey blt on croissant. This thing was delicious! It was gigantic too! Lots of turkey...could have had more bacon and tomatoes, but I like a lot of tomatoes. Really, I'd eat that again before doing the buffet.

Finally on the restaurants...Children 4 and under are free! Even if you order food for them at mangino's. I have 3 kids under 4, so this was a no brainer for me. Best dining value on disney property for us.

Pool....If you want to be near the pool ask for Magnolia wing. The new splash pad is amazing and on par with the deluxe hotels. It looks similar to the GF's and the new WL's. Two small slides and then a bigger tunnel slide. My 4 yos were the perfect size and age to play at it. I could see anyone over 8 being bored with it. There is another slide into the pool, but you have to be 48". It looks great though! I was really impressed with it. Big bonus...it wasn't crowded even at 4 in the afternoon during spring break.

It is really nice to have the option of SOG available. That coupled with the Salute tickets can make Disney much more affordable. I've drunk the Disney kool-aid, so would probably find a way to get there even if we didn't have these options, but it's still wonderful to get to take advantage of them.

 

[WDW 3]

Nice report CaLuCa! "spatially challenged" ..... The room size alone is why, regardless of the price, I wouldn't stay at a value. With the specials that include a room discount and free breakfast in the Garden Gallery it's a pretty good deal. Another reason is the bus system. We resort hop to snoop and OMG! one bus stop for all of AoA and it's your only form of transportation! We are OK with the Shades bus schedule and if we want to do something else there's the Poly option.

 

[txgirl]

@CaLuCa do you know if you use the military discount for resort rooms (as noted above) if you can still get free dining if that is offered as well?

 

[Smbmoyers]

@CaLuCa do you know if you use the military discount for resort rooms (as noted above) if you can still get free dining if that is offered as well?

I called in asking the same thing the other day and was told No. It was either the military prpricing or free dinning I wish they did offer it though.

 

[capegirl]

I would have to agree that the SOG room size cannot compare to a Disney value or moderate. We stayed at CSR last year, and I could not get over the tiny bathroom. We also missed Shades fabulous location, and transportation options. Having access to the monorail and TTC, as well as the Poly restaurants, and counter service really seals the deal for us. Admittedly, I was a little nervous booking at SOG this year because we could not book FP+ until 30 days prior. However I was able to get everything we wanted with the exception of Anna & Elsa, so no worries there. Other than presenting our military ID's,
we have never felt like we were vacationing on military property. The grounds are so picture perfect, it just feels like we are staying at a high end resort. We arrive next week for 10 nights; our first trip with extended family, and we can't wait!

 

[lala5176]

Does anyone know what it might cost to purchase bagels, milk water and such for our room. Cheaper than Disney property? Also if we are staying at another resort can we still eat at the restaurants with our MIL ID?

 

[buffettgirl]

Does anyone know what it might cost to purchase bagels, milk water and such for our room. Cheaper than Disney property? Also if we are staying at another resort can we still eat at the restaurants with our MIL ID?

There is a px - aafes on site, so everything is cheaper.

For the restaurants, you do need MIL id to get onto the property, after that, they don't check ID, so you could eat there. But, I don't know why anyone would go out of their way to eat at one of the SOG restaurants if they weren't staying at SOG. They really aren't all that good.

 

[lala5176]

There is a px - aafes on site, so everything is cheaper.

For the restaurants, you do need MIL id to get onto the property, after that, they don't check ID, so you could eat there. But, I don't know why anyone would go out of their way to eat at one of the SOG restaurants if they weren't staying at SOG. They really aren't all that good.

I agree that the food is not great although we will be right there at the Poly and wouldn't mind saving a few bucks on a meal here and there. We were there a while ago and hoping the food may have gotten better???

 

[totallytigger]

Many people simply don't know about it. And even when they do know about it, they somehow assume it's going to take away from their Disney experience. And they don't understand that it literally is on property.

We have stayed at SOG several times--and loved it. That being said--I choose to stay at a WDW resort--actually saving $$ using military room discount and DME. I don't want to rent a car or pay for shuttle to/from MCO. Plus, SOG charges for parking. The SOG rooms are huge--but we really only use our room for a place to sleep and shower.

 

[buffettgirl]

We have stayed at SOG several times--and loved it. That being said--I choose to stay at a WDW resort--actually saving $$ using military room discount and DME. I don't want to rent a car or pay for shuttle to/from MCO. Plus, SOG charges for parking. The SOG rooms are huge--but we really only use our room for a place to sleep and shower.

No arguments from me. I've stayed in WDW resorts too, for many of the same reasons (I have a long post back in may of 2014 about it). I was just pointing out one possible reason why this thread doesn't get as much traffic as other WDW resort threads which seemed to be concerning to the poster who made the original remarks. SOG isn't for everyone, for many reasons. And yet, it's perfect for others. But usually the first thing I hear from other military families is that they simply don't know it exists, they don't know where it is located. They've simply never considered SOG because they didn't know it was something to consider.

 

[Tankcdr]

Has anyone seen the monthly events calendar they used to post? It was either on the SOG website or their facebook page. I can't find it in either place...mystery!

 

[dchronister]

If you stay at SOG but have already purchased your tickets on base, can you book FP+ at 60 days. I know you can't with the salute tickets but the regular Disney military discount tickets, can't remeber the name, but the ones that have a small discount, like 6% off or so, can you book at 60 days out. For the number of days we are going and the number in our group they just work better for us.

 

[jen7233]

I'm in the middle of seeing how the fast passes will work. We are split stay between the WL and SoG. Today opened my 60 day window. It's letting me book through the day I check out of WL. Hmmm, will see over the next few days if the rest of the week opens up to fast passes.

 

[TinkerBellLiz]

We have annual passes and have a split stay between AKL and at SoG. My impression is you can schedule 60 days out if you are staying at a Disney resort and SoG split stay for the length of your ticket. If it is SoG only then it would be 30 days out for the length of your ticket. In our case annual passholders can only make 7 days of FP which doesn't make much sense.

Luckily we had planned for non park days!

Liz

 

[ryggmom]

I'm in the middle of seeing how the fast passes will work. We are split stay between the WL and SoG. Today opened my 60 day window. It's letting me book through the day I check out of WL. Hmmm, will see over the next few days if the rest of the week opens up to fast passes.

We are doing a split stay starting at YC and moving to SOG this June. We had Salute tickets (2 sets of 3 for a total of 8 park days), and the regular military discounted tickets (2 each 8 day children's tickets) for our family of five. This is how FP+ worked for us:

60 day FP+ window opened for our 8 day resort stay, and even though we had rest days, we were not able to book FP+ beyond our resort stay until 60 from each additional park day (while we will be at SOG). So not 30 days, but 60 from each day after Disney resort stay is over. I had to stay up for 3 additional nights to book our remaining FP+ at 60 days. Does that make sense?

 

[dchronister]

I think it makes sense. You can make all your FP+ choices at once for the days at a Disney resort, but when you switch over to SOG, you have to make them one day at a time, correct? Also, when you use two salute tickets for one person, are they using the same ticket type twice, hopper or WP and more. I called today and ask about this, I was hoping to use one hp and one WP and more without the hopper for one person, they said that I could do that but we would have to call MDE and prioritize them, specifying whether we wanted to use the park hopper the first four days or the last four, we couldn't hop one day and not then next and then hop again, she said the system wouldn't recognize the tix that way, it would use whatever tix we put in first and might not get what we wanted out of our tix, do you have any experience with this issue. It would require a lot more planning to use the tickets with all hopping done either the first four days or the last four, I could do it, just don't really want to.

 

[ryggmom]

I think it makes sense. You can make all your FP+ choices at once for the days at a Disney resort, but when you switch over to SOG, you have to make them one day at a time, correct? Also, when you use two salute tickets for one person, are they using the same ticket type twice, hopper or WP and more. I called today and ask about this, I was hoping to use one hp and one WP and more without the hopper for one person, they said that I could do that but we would have to call MDE and prioritize them, specifying whether we wanted to use the park hopper the first four days or the last four, we couldn't hop one day and not then next and then hop again, she said the system wouldn't recognize the tix that way, it would use whatever tix we put in first and might not get what we wanted out of our tix, do you have any experience with this issue. It would require a lot more planning to use the tickets with all hopping done either the first four days or the last four, I could do it, just don't really want to.

For this trip we did park hoppers only for all of our tickets, so it would be less confusing. Our last stay in 2012 when you could wait to buy your tickets when you were at SOG (before FP+) we bought one set of salute tickets at a time, and used up our WP&M set before buying our park hoppers. It was like getting 12 park days!

 

[DMGeurts]

Super excited! Just booked my daughter's graduation trip... SoG released discounts for our preferred dates in January, so instead of staying for 6 nights, we are staying for 8 - and we still save!

We have not stayed at SoG since 2008, so we are excited to go back!

Question: I forgot to add my room request to my initial booking, is there a place to add that now? Or do I need to call? <----- Too excited to actually see a discount for our dates. :ROFL:

Thanks for all of the recent reviews too.

D~

 

[kirrrby]

Super excited! Just booked my daughter's graduation trip... SoG released discounts for our preferred dates in January, so instead of staying for 6 nights, we are staying for 8 - and we still save!

We have not stayed at SoG since 2008, so we are excited to go back!

Question: I forgot to add my room request to my initial booking, is there a place to add that now? Or do I need to call? <----- Too excited to actually see a discount for our dates. :ROFL:

Thanks for all of the recent reviews too.

D~

I would call, I don't think there is a way to modify reservations online after you've made them. I just called to make a request, their reservation wait time isn't as long as it is for WDW reservation times because there are less people calling them. We made the request to get something close to the lobby and away from the elevators (one year we were all the way in the left side of the magnolia wing, 3rd floor and right across from an elevator/ice machine. We heard the machine making ice all night and people heading out or in late at night)

 

[DMGeurts]

I would call, I don't think there is a way to modify reservations online after you've made them. I just called to make a request, their reservation wait time isn't as long as it is for WDW reservation times because there are less people calling them. We made the request to get something close to the lobby and away from the elevators (one year we were all the way in the left side of the magnolia wing, 3rd floor and right across from an elevator/ice machine. We heard the machine making ice all night and people heading out or in late at night)

Awesome - thank you!

Another question... Does anyone know - can I purchase the military tickets (I know they aren't released for next year yet, but when/if they are), I can purchase them by calling SoG at any time, right? And to do FPs, I have to have them purchased at least 30 days (preferably more) before our arrival date? Then SoG will hold them there for us, Correct? There is just so much to know about staying at SoG now, compared to other resorts, it would be nice if we could have an FAQ about it.

TIA!

D~