Location and space vs Disney bubble?

[Neverbeast]

Thanks to my FIL, we have the opportunity to stay at Shades of Green on a military discount.
We have a week long 2020 trip booked there for 3 families, 2 of which have never been. Rooms are described as comparable to the poly in terms of size and quality, pool has a water slide, and it’s located across the street from the Poly so I assumed we will mostly be walking there for disney buses and the monorail to get to parks.

now with the military discount we can also apparently stay at POP, same nights for just a few hundred more on price, but could get the dining plan, magic express, Pop theming,
Skyliner, etc.

Am I silly to be considering moving everyone to smaller rooms at a theoretically “worse” resort just to have the convenience of the Disney bubble?

Both have 60 day FP so that’s not a factor.

 

[Nancyg56]

I have never stayed at SofG, but given your die=scription of the dfferences in space and amentites I would chose it over any value on property.

I like the dining plans, but there are ways to create your own plan and with three families to manage, that may actually be to your advantage.

 

[Neverbeast]

I like the dining plans, but there are ways to create your own plan and with three families to manage, that may actually be to your advantage.

tell me more? We would have a total of 4 kids plus a “Disney adult” who want to do character meals and 6 adults who all usually order alcohol with our meals so I was thinking the dining plan would be a good value for us. I also don’t really want to watch my brother’s head explode every time we get a check! But is far our plan was to budget and have a Disney gift card ready to slip into the folio without looking at totals

 

[Nancyg56]

tell me more? We would have a total of 4 kids plus a “Disney adult” who want to do character meals and 6 adults who all usually order alcohol with our meals so I was thinking the dining plan would be a good value for us. I also don’t really want to watch my brother’s head explode every time we get a check! But is far our plan was to budget and have a Disney gift card ready to slip into the folio without looking at totals

Your brother's head rival my DH's head! LOL! Even with a dining plan he looks at the prices. ANd comments. And comments. And comments some more, while I tell him to pass me that wine he is not drinking! LOL!

It is impossible to know what is best financially for any family, so this is how I would handle your dilemna. First, look at the family dynamic and consider what is most important for your sanity: space? Travel convenience? Resort amenties? Dining?

Then build a spreadsheet and cost the whole trip out, including the cost of travel, car rental if necessary, etc. Add in the food. If you know you will book character meals, and if you know that you will want alcohol, add that in, With DDP and plan and with no dining plan. Only include what your family will actually spend.

My family would want a moderate resort because of the amenities we use, so I woudl need to cost it out with that model. CSR is usually the least expensive moderate, and we woudl be content there, so that it the cost I woudl use as my baseline, and frankly, that is the one I would use for your calculations. You mention pool an Space, so I imagine that is a major consideration.

If once you do a high level calculation and if SOG wins, start the gift card for food program for your family. Figure at least $80 per day per adult and maybe $30 per day for each child, which covers the dining plan cost. A lot of people actually spend less on food this way becuase they are not forced to mirror the way the plans work. We dine like the plan is set up so we do well. Others do not.

 

[Christine]

It's been years since I stayed at SoG but I used to do it regularly. It's a nice place. The rooms are about as large as the Grand Floridian rooms, it's clean, it's wonderful. Yes, there is no "theme" but it has its own theme and decor and I love it there. I really dig the laundry room!!

As for the dining plan, many people lose money on it, many people break even, and some manage to "beat the house." Disney doesn't make it so that this is supposed to be a "deal" for you. But it is truly convenient, right. That said, for the money you save at SoG, and the room and comfort you will get over Pop, it's a no brainer to me.

Now if the specific design/appearance of the pools is really important and the colors and decorations really are that meaningful to you, then I think you should go with Pop. Everyone has their thing about what they need. For me, with family, it's comfort and room to move around when I back at the hotel. I've never been a big pool freak as we are at the parks all day.

 

[PAGA2003]

I have stayed at SoG and yes the rooms are a good size, all have balconies and you are about a 10-15 minute walk from the Poly. They have done a refurbishment so the rooms are much nicer but of course you won't have the feel of being at Disney. I will say my complaints staying there are the lack of being immersed in Disney and I was not impressed with the restaurants at all and prefer to walk over and eat at the monorail resorts which is a great option. They also have their own buses to the parks and Disney Springs so you don't need to walk to Poly unless you want to take the monorail.

I have only stayed at one Value (AoA) and my husband said never again due to the small rooms (we both think a value room is best for at most two adults and one small child) and only dining option being the food court which we found a bit chaotic. If you can do a moderate I would consider that over SoG but I wouldn't do value.

We have never actually done the dining plan and for our upcoming trip I seriously considered it but when I sat down and ran numbers with the way we prefer to eat is just didn't make sense for us. Even with alcohol purchases and several character meals we'll only potentially pay a bit more out of pocket and we'll be eating exactly how we choose. I did all my calculations choosing the most expensive entrees and more than likely that won't be what we'll choose every time. You really need to think about your preferences and how you tend to eat when you dine out. For us many days we'll do two or even three table services but when we do we might share starters, order 3 or 4 entrees and if we get dessert we'll share one between the four of us. We also want the flexibility to grab a meal by the pool or a table service breakfast at our resort and I would never want to use a meal credit that way. I also tend to get kids meals when we eat at quick service places that have better options (like BoG and Satu'li Canteen). With our preferences we would never realize any savings from the plan with out feeling extremely restricted with our restaurant choices and meal selections (wanting to maximize value). We also would waste a ton of food (and therefore money) because we would never eat four desserts in one sitting.

 

[Neverbeast]

Thanks y’all this is so helpful!

 

[Christine]

I have stayed at SoG and yes the rooms are a good size, all have balconies and you are about a 10-15 minute walk from the Poly. They have done a refurbishment so the rooms are much nicer but of course you won't have the feel of being at Disney. I will say my complaints staying there are the lack of being immersed in Disney and I was not impressed with the restaurants at all and prefer to walk over and eat at the monorail resorts which is a great option. They also have their own buses to the parks and Disney Springs so you don't need to walk to Poly unless you want to take the monorail.

Agree with the bolded here. Their restaurant food is on par with what you would get at NCO or Officer Club dining. Nothing bad, but very, very average. We did do the breakfast buffet one day (at around $13 per person) and it was "fine." There was good selection but, again, it's like eating at an NCO club in the military if you've ever done that. Dining at SoG has never been a consideration for us. We do everything at Disney.

Now I will say that in the morning they have a very good (but busy) coffee cart/stand place that does good coffee and breakfast sandwiches if you want to be really quick. Also, their poolside bar was always very good with lunch and drinks.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thanks to my FIL, we have the opportunity to stay at Shades of Green on a military discount.
We have a week long 2020 trip booked there for 3 families, 2 of which have never been. Rooms are described as comparable to the poly in terms of size and quality, pool has a water slide, and it’s located across the street from the Poly so I assumed we will mostly be walking there for disney buses and the monorail to get to parks.

now with the military discount we can also apparently stay at POP, same nights for just a few hundred more on price, but could get the dining plan, magic express, Pop theming,
Skyliner, etc.

Am I silly to be considering moving everyone to smaller rooms at a theoretically “worse” resort just to have the convenience of the Disney bubble?

Both have 60 day FP so that’s not a factor.

Personally, there is no way I would pay more to stay at Pop if I could stay at SoG. As others have said, your rooms will be bigger and you can walk to Poly for monorail access giving you great access to both MK, EP and all of the restaurants the monorail resorts have to offer. As others have said, I would price out the cost of the dining plan for your family (if you stayed at Pop) and then crunch numbers. Especially if Pop would cost more than SoG, I doubt the additional cost of the dining plan would ultimately save you money on dining.

 

[bumbershoot]

Am I silly to be considering moving everyone to smaller rooms at a theoretically “worse” resort just to have the convenience of the Disney bubble?

Yes.

But I don’t put any stock in a bubble. Taking buses isn’t my idea of luxury. (Daughter of a former greyhound driver here...buses are NOT fun) So I drive most places. And once you truly realize that you’re going on highways to get places and Wdw is bigger than my town, you (or at least I do) laugh at the idea of the bubble.

If I had access to SOG I’d stay there.


I have yet to make the dining plan work for us.

I also don’t really want to watch my brother’s head explode every time we get a check!

So don’t let HIM get the check.

Or realize that your brother’s issues are his to deal with, not yours.

Or let his family stay at pop while you stay at SOG, meet up like normal, and let him be on the dining plan.

We would have a total of 4 kids plus a “Disney adult” who want to do character meals and 6 adults who all usually order alcohol with our meals so I was thinking the dining plan would be a good value for us.

In that sort of group, sometimes the dining plans work out. But how many character meals will you actually do? Run the plans through one of the dining plan calculators floating around in cyberspace.

If that’s your total group, split it up to show just your immediate family that you’re financially responsible for. Does the plan make sense for your group?

Even if you’re all staying at Pop it doesn’t mean you have to be booked together, so you don’t have to have each group have the same sort of booking. Your brother’s family could have a dining plan while your family doesn’t. Etc.

 

[lorenae]

I've never stayed at SOG before, but we are staying there in January, when veterans can book there.

I have two nights at AS Sports, since SOG was booked at the start of my stay. SOG was $164/night plus parking, and that's the max per night. I am paying the same for an all-star resort, with the parking and tax! Tickets are a bit cheaper as well (no tax), so I'm buying my tickets from SOG.

I'm not a huge eater, and I don't like being tied down to ADRs for more than one or two days, so the dining plan wouldn't make sense for me at all.

A big draw for SOG for me was price (equal to a value resort), transportation (monorail, bus, drive) and location. I can walk to Kona cafe and Trader Sam's if I want to, and I will definitely want to! You can see the fireworks either at the beach at the Poly (and the electrical water parade), or watch them from SOG's parking garade.

While the breakfast buffet may not be great, it's far cheaper than breakfast at the all-star food courts. The pools are nice. Not Beach Club nice, but better than the all-stars.

Ideally, I'd be staying at the Yacht club, but I don't have that much $$$ for a trip. SOG will give me a nicer place for less money in a good location. It's a matter of your family's personal preferences.