SHADES OF GREEN at Walt Disney World Resort Thread

[Cindylieu]

Rope droppers- what is your experience with using the SOG bus first thing in the morning to get to the parks for both regular rope drip AND EMH mornings? Consistently there before park opening? My debating SOG vs WDW transport for our june trip.

 

[firstwdw]

Rope droppers- what is your experience with using the SOG bus first thing in the morning to get to the parks for both regular rope drip AND EMH mornings? Consistently there before park opening? My debating SOG vs WDW transport for our june trip.

Just got back. We did 8am emh at MK, HS and AK. For Magic Kingdom we walked to the Poly and took the monorail. We left our room at 7:15am for an 8am MK emh with no issues.
For HS and AK we also had no issues. All the buses leave SOG on the half hour. However, they do bring extra buses. The first AK bus filled up at 7:15am and they left immediately for AK once the bus was full. I imagine the second overflow bus waited until 7:30am to leave. We had fast passes for Pandora and didn't feel rushed when we arrived to go to the safari etc. If you NEED/WANT to be at the very front of the rope drop crowd then you may not like Shades buses. (we LOVE them however-aways know when they will come/depart and always have a seat with respectful people-can't say the same about Disney busing)

Same scenario for HS.

The only park that is kind of a pain to get to is Epcot. You need to get on the monorail at the TTC-Shades buses will start running 30min prior to MK or Epcot opening. So, if MK has an 8am opening and Epcot has a 9am opening then no problem, you'll have time to get to the TTC and through security and onto the monorail and through security again at Epcot.

 

[marauder]

Typically non-military will only be able to purchase food and non-alcoholic drinks. This is the case on military installations (though there are exceptions to the rule, i.e. remote areas with government and contracting employees living on post/base). They may or may not allow you to purchase souvenirs.

At the Exchange at SOG anyone can purchase everything except for alcohol and tobacco. Anyone can purchase alcoholic drinks at Evergreens and the restaurant.

 

[Cindylieu]

Check 'em again, folks. My SOG reservations just dropped from my MDE account AGAIN...third time. I am checking multiple times daily to be sure that WHEN they drop off (no longer IF...) I can catch it quickly and re-link them. Remember that the IT gal told me that they will "make every effort to get SOME IF NOT ALL" of my Fastpasses back if they are lost due to this glitch. I know which ones they wouldn't be able to get back for me and I am unwilling to take that chance. I am at 34 days....so I just have to keep checking until my 30 day mark. Then it no longer matters whether I have hotel reservations linked on MDE. SO....I remind all of you 60+ day SOG folks to keep checking and re-linking. Best of luck.

 

[Cindylieu]

Just got back. We did 8am emh at MK, HS and AK. For Magic Kingdom we walked to the Poly and took the monorail. We left our room at 7:15am for an 8am MK emh with no issues.
For HS and AK we also had no issues. All the buses leave SOG on the half hour. However, they do bring extra buses. The first AK bus filled up at 7:15am and they left immediately for AK once the bus was full. I imagine the second overflow bus waited until 7:30am to leave. We had fast passes for Pandora and didn't feel rushed when we arrived to go to the safari etc. If you NEED/WANT to be at the very front of the rope drop crowd then you may not like Shades buses. (we LOVE them however-aways know when they will come/depart and always have a seat with respectful people-can't say the same about Disney busing)

Same scenario for HS.

The only park that is kind of a pain to get to is Epcot. You need to get on the monorail at the TTC-Shades buses will start running 30min prior to MK or Epcot opening. So, if MK has an 8am opening and Epcot has a 9am opening then no problem, you'll have time to get to the TTC and through security and onto the monorail and through security again at Epcot.

Thanks! I am a rope-dropper extremist...however for the sanity of all involved and for those extra precious minutes of sleep I am about decided that we will do SOG buses for AK and for HS. On the MK days we will do like you suggested and walk to the Poly for their monorail (or boat!). For EPCOT we will walk to the TTC for the monorail to the park. Of course, we will have ample opportunity to change our minds once we are there if we don't like the way it is all proceeding. Thanks for your input.

 

[jeff_h]

Check 'em again, folks. My SOG reservations just dropped from my MDE account AGAIN...third time. I am checking multiple times daily to be sure that WHEN they drop off (no longer IF...) I can catch it quickly and re-link them. Remember that the IT gal told me that they will "make every effort to get SOME IF NOT ALL" of my Fastpasses back if they are lost due to this glitch. I know which ones they wouldn't be able to get back for me and I am unwilling to take that chance. I am at 34 days....so I just have to keep checking until my 30 day mark. Then it no longer matters whether I have hotel reservations linked on MDE. SO....I remind all of you 60+ day SOG folks to keep checking and re-linking. Best of luck.

Yep, just checked and mine are gone again.... no sense added them back in until they are needed to book FP, which is still 5 weeks away... I wonder if IT will have it worked out by then and I'll only have to add them back in once - we shall see.

 

[Sarahraegraham]

Check 'em again, folks. My SOG reservations just dropped from my MDE account AGAIN...third time. I am checking multiple times daily to be sure that WHEN they drop off (no longer IF...) I can catch it quickly and re-link them. Remember that the IT gal told me that they will "make every effort to get SOME IF NOT ALL" of my Fastpasses back if they are lost due to this glitch. I know which ones they wouldn't be able to get back for me and I am unwilling to take that chance. I am at 34 days....so I just have to keep checking until my 30 day mark. Then it no longer matters whether I have hotel reservations linked on MDE. SO....I remind all of you 60+ day SOG folks to keep checking and re-linking. Best of luck.

Yeah mine dropped again too (I have June and October ressies) grrrr

 

[Cindylieu]

I just realized that it WILL matter that my SOG resort reservations stay linked to my account; if we want to use the EMH then the MDE will need to reflect that we are staying at an appropriate resort. I guess I will have to keep our reservation # on my phone so that I can re-link on the fly if we are moving to a park during EMH. Ick.

 

[LittlestPetunia23]

Can anyone who has stayed recently tell me if the rooms have any sort of “blackout” shades? We will be staying with a little one and I need to know if I should come up without a room darkening solution. Thanks!

 

[firstwdw]

I just realized that it WILL matter that my SOG resort reservations stay linked to my account; if we want to use the EMH then the MDE will need to reflect that we are staying at an appropriate resort. I guess I will have to keep our reservation # on my phone so that I can re-link on the fly if we are moving to a park during EMH. Ick.

Mine dropped from my MDE 2 weeks prior. I never did a thing about it. No big deal. They don't scan SOG magic bands for EMH-you need to show your resort ID (which is the bus pass they give you at check in).

 

[firstwdw]

Can anyone who has stayed recently tell me if the rooms have any sort of “blackout” shades? We will be staying with a little one and I need to know if I should come up without a room darkening solution. Thanks!

Just there last week. We took a few midday naps and room was dark with the curtain closed across the slider

 

[marauder]

Can anyone who has stayed recently tell me if the rooms have any sort of “blackout” shades? We will be staying with a little one and I need to know if I should come up without a room darkening solution. Thanks!

Its been a few years since we stayed there when my kids were nap ages but the biggest problem we had with naps wasn't noise or light, it was housekeeping. We didn't want to stop housekeeping from coming period but at the time we made requests that they not come between certain times and even with the do not disturb signs up they either still disturbed us or didn't ever make up our rooms when they didn't.

 

[Cindylieu]

Mine dropped from my MDE 2 weeks prior. I never did a thing about it. No big deal. They don't scan SOG magic bands for EMH-you need to show your resort ID (which is the bus pass they give you at check in).

Yay! Thanks for that info.

 

[firstwdw]

Its been a few years since we stayed there when my kids were nap ages but the biggest problem we had with naps wasn't noise or light, it was housekeeping. We didn't want to stop housekeeping from coming period but at the time we made requests that they not come between certain times and even with the do not disturb signs up they either still disturbed us or didn't ever make up our rooms when they didn't.

We discovered that you can call first thing in the morning and request a time for housekeeping. We'd call as we were leaving the room and ask for our room to be done before noon. That way, it was already done when we returned for a midday break. Easy!

 

[marauder]

We discovered that you can call first thing in the morning and request a time for housekeeping. We'd call as we were leaving the room and ask for our room to be done before noon. That way, it was already done when we returned for a midday break. Easy!

We tried that, they never honored our request. Like I said, it has been a few years things may have changed, but whenever they got to our section of the building the did it.

 

[firstwdw]

We tried that, they never honored our request. Like I said, it has been a few years things may have changed, but whenever they got to our section of the building the did it.

wow, that's odd. We were literally just there a week or so ago. Last year we only had housekeeping once over 7 nights and they never knocked or disturbed us with the Do Not Disturb sign up.

 

[BigBlueWho]

If anyone is there now...can you post the Sunday night wings menu from Garden Gallery? thanks.

 

[AirForce Wife]

So, Excited! Arriving tomorrow. I also found that Walmart Grocery Delivers in the Orlando area. I ordered online and set up delivery to the hotel (when I'm there, so i can meet at gate if need be). Walmart has a free delivery code right now, I will let you all know how it works out. If you're there and see a crazy lady carrying, wheeling groceries on Sunday its probably me.

 

[capegirl]

So, Excited! Arriving tomorrow. I also found that Walmart Grocery Delivers in the Orlando area. I ordered online and set up delivery to the hotel (when I'm there, so i can meet at gate if need be). Walmart has a free delivery code right now, I will let you all know how it works out. If you're there and see a crazy lady carrying, wheeling groceries on Sunday its probably me.

Have a great trip! Yes, let us know how the Walmart delivery goes.

 

[elovell]

Has anyone here stayed at Hilton Bonnet Creek? We stayed at SOG last year for the first time & loved it. We will be returning in August with our 15 year old son & I'm torn between SOG & Hilton Bonnet Creek. We've never stayed at Bonnet Creek. We plan to make this a more relaxing hang out by the pool trip & I'm wondering if it has more of a resort feel to it. Hate giving up all of the SOG room space though. Pricing is about the same for both. We plan to do 2 Disney days, 2 US days, & a day at Discovery Cove.