if only there was a bar.
I think Everyone is in total agreement that Shades needs to add a decent food option/food court but I don't know how it would pay for itself. We walked into the food court at POFQand it was dead except for breakfast. Disney can afford it because they make piles of money but I don't know if shades could??
. And they used to have the order window by the pool where you could order during the day. Last Dec. they left guests a phone message inviting them to Karaoke. Not that we participate, but we did walk down and the place was empty BUT the music was so loud we left. We are not opposed to loud music if the crowd is large and everyone is having fun but it was empty. 
Would never do that again.
We got front row seats in Adventureland on the bridge.
There was no one around us. It was unbelievable. Every character high fived us and hugged us. My only regret is that I didn't have my granddaugher with us. But it was a great experience.
now that I'm back among the living....we finally got in the door at 2am.
Renting a car was so great this time. It's something we've never done. Mostly we did take shades buses which are totally fine, but we used the car to get to DTD and to Boardwalk, Blizzard Beach, and to other hotels. Those places are hard even for Disney hotel guests. The day we were at Blizzard the rain came in around 5, we were getting ready to leave anyway, but the downpour came on suddenly and the crowds of people leaving all at once was crazy. Waiting for the bus would have killed me.
My brother checked out the rooms at AKL and said they were no where near as big as SOG. Their son has ADHD and they were very thankful for the relaxing atmosphere of shades.
I just can't say enough about shades - and I see places where it seems they're trying to make improvements. Over behind manginos on the first floor out by the ponds they've got tables and chairs and umbrellas there. I think that's new. Out by evergreens they've removed the motorized truck pit and put in tables there too. That also seems new since last year. I know they're trying to update the pool and aafes, so maybe we'll start seeing better food. Express Cafe was open till 8 each day. I thought they always closed by 2 or 3. Their sandwiches were so great - whatever you want - they do. I felt like I had walked into my own kitchen and whipped up a fresh sandwich for the kids.
I feel like I'm jumping all over here...trying to think. Oh the shady shuttle was far more available than we had ever seen it before - we took it twice.
Oh we had all our room requests handled. I asked for 2nd floor, close to lobby, new building, connecting rooms. AND early check in. Got them all. They also let us stay till 12 for check out.
Non shades related; we did our first evening EMH at MK on sunday night. In the on and off rain. Park was open till 1am and since we were leaving monday and didn't have to get up early we figured we'd try. We ate at The Plaza. not impressed (shakes were good, food was meh.) We were eating at 8:30 and fireworks were 9, but couldn't see the fireworks as people stand on the wall right outside the windows. We got on every ride that night (though seems that splash mountain wasn't open). by about 11 :30 it was walk on everything. It was GREAT.
We also did the tomorrowland terrace desert party. Again, not impressed. I was so disappointed in the food selection for the money. It was nice having a place to sit, but the typical pushing and shoving of guests was there too. We had a front table but people were 3 deep in front of us. Fireworks are in the air. We could see sitting, so why push and shove?
Got a walk in at Chef Mickey's though. We had meant to eat at the Contempo food court and it was closed. So we asked at CM and got a table. Unexpected surprise.
Anyway, there's more I'm forgetting I'm sure. But it's not so great to be home. I hate that.
I'm used to blah PA food and the typical Disney food, so we thought it was a good change. I will post pics of our food as soon as my DBF gets them to me. 
I had to reply because I find the part about the Plaza most interesting. We had dinner reservations there on Tuesday night and we LOVED it. Maybe it was the chef that was cooking the night you were there, IDK. I did on the other hand, have to see our Chef bc I have an allergy listing attached to my reservation. She did a great job, even sending over to the bakery to get me a croissant for my sandwich since the breads they use at the plaza include allergens I cant be in contact with. So maybe that was the difference.
Another thing I noticed was that SOG seemed UBER clean this time. We have never had problem with cleanliness there, but this time it just seemed even more so!
We had the pleasure at staying at Shades of Green at the beginning of Aug. The entire resort is BEAUTIFUL and we truly enjoyed our stay.
I wanted to add a picture review of the Palm Suite in case anyone is looking for more information on this room.
The Palm Suite has three bedrooms, a kitchenette, a dining room, a living room area and two bathrooms that are NOT in any of the bedrooms.
Kitchen Area: Has a sink, microwave, FULL SIZE refrigerator/freezer and is stocked with dishes (breakable type), glasses and mugs, silverware, can opener, and a few serving spoons. There is also a 12 cup coffee maker (uses CONE filters or the pods they provide there). Housekeeping WILL wash dishes for you if you ask them to, otherwise there is NO dishwasher. We used paper plates mostly to avoid making more work for us or our housekeepers! There are also two counter stools at the island.
The Dining area seats 6. The chairs have fabric bottoms. We used extra room towels to cover over the cloth so the kids didn't spill and mess up the chairs. Two full length mirrors on the wall if you need them. You can see the doors on the left and right that lead to each bathroom and also two bedrooms.
Computer station: this is next to the island in the kitchen. Computer set up for accessing the internet. The door to the right is the kids/bunk room. To the left of the computer station is the main room door.
I realized that I didn't get a picture of the living room area. There is a fireplace (that works!) with a large flat screen tv over it. There were two three seater couches on each wall and an additional two recliners. Also a coffee table and end tables.
The bathrooms were located on each side of the dining area and NOT tucked into either bedroom.
Bathroom #1 (on left) has two sinks and a ADA accessible tub with duel shower heads.
Bathroom #2 (on right) has ONE sink and an ADA accessible SHOWER.
There are two bedrooms that are identical. They are each REALLY SPACIOUS! Each has a large dresser with a mirror, flatscreen tv mounted on the wall, TWO queen sized beds, a loveseat that pulls out into an extra twin bed, an easy chair and a sliding door leading out to a patio. There is also a closet (with safe)
Then there is the "Bunk" room or kid's room.
the wall is painted with a space mural. there are two bunk beds. with little STEPS that lead up to the top (NOT ladders). The sides of the steps/bunks are drawers that pull out for dresser space. Each bed has a little overhead tv/dvd player AND "night lights" with their own switch. there are two rocking "gaming chairs" and four lockers.
Okay, I hope this will help someone in the future.
Sunshine
I have a couple of questions:
We will be at SOG in 19 days.
How is the wine selection and the prices at the store? Do they carry any rum or burbon? I looked at the pictures on the previous thread and didn't see either.
Where do I find a bus schedule? We plan on trying out the SOG buses for DTD and maybe even MK. We can always go on over to the Poly and jump on the monorail, however I want a back up plan since the monorail sometimes is down.
Angel16
We will be at SOG in 19 days.
How is the wine selection and the prices at the store? Do they carry any rum or burbon? I looked at the pictures on the previous thread and didn't see either.
Where do I find a bus schedule? We plan on trying out the SOG buses for DTD and maybe even MK. We can always go on over to the Poly and jump on the monorail, however I want a back up plan since the monorail sometimes is down.
Angel16
I have been solo this whole time (and I have to say I've been LOVING it!!), and my dh will be joining me tonight to spend the last two days together!! He was suppose to be here yesterday, but Isaac messed things up for us. He's at Keelser AFB in MS and he has been delayed due to the storm. Hoping for clear roads so he can get here this evening and spend the holiday weekend with me!! 
