Shades of Green Question

[blessedby3]

I was wondering if anyone could give me some info. on Shades of Green. I have some friends that are going to be going to Disney and are making plans. I have read posts about military discounts with Shades of Green. Do you have to be currently in the military to get this discount? My friend served for 5 years, but is not in anymore and didnt know if he qualified. Thanks for any info.

 

[princesslondon]

I think the info is on thier website which is shadesofgreen.org
Hope that helps!

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by blessedby3
I was wondering if anyone could give me some info. on Shades of Green. I have some friends that are going to be going to Disney and are making plans. I have read posts about military discounts with Shades of Green. Do you have to be currently in the military to get this discount? My friend served for 5 years, but is not in anymore and didnt know if he qualified. Thanks for any info.

I'll make it easy for you. Your friend is not qualified unless he is now 100% disabled or won the Medal of Honor and is now out. Hope that helped!!

 

[Don & June]

Active or retired military

 

[mog]

Or Reserves! If he stayed in the reserves when he got out then he would quailify, otherwise he wouldn't.

 

[blessedby3]

Thanks to everyone for your posts. I will pass on this information to my friends. Looks like they will not qualify for Shades of Green, but will still have a great time at Disney!!

 

[smfnj]

Also ( God only knows why ) - Civil Service and retired DoD. I guess this is to make it harder for military personnel to book a room without 12 months notice.

steve

 

[jaye614]

Steve - There are civil service civilians working along side our troops in Iraq and other parts of the world.

 

[hucifer]

Originally posted by smfnj
Also ( God only knows why ) - Civil Service and retired DoD. I guess this is to make it harder for military personnel to book a room without 12 months notice.

steve

I guess that's why they are doubling the size of the resort. I can't complain...DH is a DoD employee and we're reaping the rewards of it in 16 days.

 

[dcfromva]

Originally posted by smfnj
Also ( God only knows why ) - Civil Service and retired DoD. I guess this is to make it harder for military personnel to book a room without 12 months notice.

steve

smfnj,
I believe it is only DoD civil service (active and retired) and very select categories of other civil service, but does not include everyone in civil service.

Link to SOG eligibility

-DC

 

[smfnj]

I didn't mean to offend anybody, the point I was trying to make is maybe too many people are eligible, take a look at the list. SoG was leased for MWR, where should the line be drawn? I don't know to many active duty personnel who can make reservations 9 - 12 months ahead. My son is lucky to get a leave chit approved 6 months ahead of time.

Doubling the size of the resort "might" make a difference, but I'm not very optimistic about it. The SoG manager has stated they already turn away twice as many guests as they book now. Perhaps the answer would be to reserve a block of rooms for active duty only and release them to all others maybe 4 - 6 weeks before they expire.

I don't begrudge anybody for the benefits they may receive. However I feel the primary mission of SoG and the other MWR owned resorts is the Morale, Welfare and Recreation of our active duty members. These are the ones who took an oath to give their lives for their country and who spend 12+ months at a time away from their families.

steve

 

[FonFon]

Maybe too many people are eligible, but we have never had a problem booking a room at any Disney resort with a military discount. (LOL, except during Thanksgiving - THAT was impossible.) Keep in mind that this is also an option.

We just booked Wilderness Lodge a few weeks ago, and I don't even know if my husband will be home by then. But by no means are we ever going to be able to book 9-12 months out. God only knows where we will be 9 months from now! We changed resorts and dates DOZENS of times when it came to our original thrown together honeymoon in February, after which he was immediately sent "over there", but we didn't have any issues booking a room at military rate at any of the resorts.

Then again, we seem to only go during value season, so that may have something to do with it, but if there's not any rooms at Shades of Green, you CAN get a room at a discounted rate throughout the WDW Resort. (You can book through SoG or CRO, if you're booking through CRO, just mention that you will need a military rate.) He always likes to be as far away from anything "military" when we're on vacation anyway, that he would prefer to NOT stay at SoG.

What is worse than the issue with MWR leasing SOG is the Armed Forces Salute tickets that a lot of the armed forces who were directly involved with this war will NOT be able to take advantage of. I booked for the last week that these tickets were available, and we're PRETTY SURE he may be home by then. If he's not, then this is the second war in a row where we missed out on that. THAT is sad.

LOL, point is - if there's no room at SoG, try their overflow rates at the Disney resorts.

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by smfnj
I didn't mean to offend anybody, the point I was trying to make is maybe too many people are eligible, take a look at the list. SoG was leased for MWR, where should the line be drawn? I don't know to many active duty personnel who can make reservations 9 - 12 months ahead. My son is lucky to get a leave chit approved 6 months ahead of time.

I don't begrudge anybody for the benefits they may receive. However I feel the primary mission of SoG and the other MWR owned resorts is the Morale, Welfare and Recreation of our active duty members. These are the ones who took an oath to give their lives for their country and who spend 12+ months at a time away from their families.

steve

I was on active duty for 10yrs. SoG was around for 6 of those. I NEVER had a hard time obtaining leave for when I wanted to go spend my (almost) two weeks at DW. Not even when I was in Korea. I knew the time of year I wanted to be there (Jun). Other than the first stay and when I took my mid tour while in Korea, I ended up making a reservation for my next visit while still there. Did I know 100% that my leave would definitely be approved the following year? No. But, since it only cost me a one night's deposit and I had up until 30 days prior to the arrival date to cancel or make changes, the intelligent thing to do was to make a bulk reservation and chop it down months later when I found out what I could have. It never failed me.

At work (I was an air traffic controller), we had a leave book. Leave was granted first come, first served regardless of rank. It was a fair system for 30 some odd people. Because I knew when I wanted, my name was always either first or second for mid Jun. It was never denied.

I realize different supervisors, as well as different services, go about leave approval in different ways. The military has lost so many people that I'm sure things are much more short-handed than they were getting when I got out. However, if you, the member, have the slightest inkling you want to go, make the reservation. You have nothing to lose. More so even now that they don't charge a one night's stay to make one!

As for who deserves it; one may argue that those men and women who have all ready given 20+ years of their lives to their country deserve it more than those currently giving, but that's a split-hairs debate. Do I personally feel that the retired and active personnel deserve a room more than DoD? Sure I do. I'm biased. But, I don't begrudge DoD (it isn't all civil service, just DoD), Dept of DEFENSE, staying either because their role is military as well.

There USED to be a rule, way back when they first opened (I saw it in writing as a res agent) that stated active duty had first priority. I believe retired and reservists/guardsmen came next, then DoD, then the contractors and medal winners. I can't remember if it was actually enforced, but it had been brought up as a tool to use again. It was dismissed for numerous reasons. It really is difficult to keep up with it and, unfortunately, you cannot trust the public to be honest. Some one could easily tell us, "Sure, I'm active duty!" and we would have no way of knowing. The FAIREST way of doing the reservations is first come, first served. A private may get in while a colonel has to go on the wait list. Not too many times in the military world that would ever happen.

And you're right Steve, doubling the size of the hotel will make little difference. Once they get their act together, I have no doubt it will be sold out as much as it had been in the past.

 

[FirstNo]

Originally posted by FonFon
What is worse than the issue with MWR leasing SOG is the Armed Forces Salute tickets that a lot of the armed forces who were directly involved with this war will NOT be able to take advantage of. I booked for the last week that these tickets were available, and we're PRETTY SURE he may be home by then. If he's not, then this is the second war in a row where we missed out on that. THAT is sad.

LOL, point is - if there's no room at SoG, try their overflow rates at the Disney resorts.

MWR has not leased SoG for well over 5yrs. They bought it outright from Disney. Disney owns the land, but DoD owns the buildings.

 

[FonFon]

Originally posted by FirstNo
MWR has not leased SoG for well over 5yrs. They bought it outright from Disney. Disney owns the land, but DoD owns the buildings.

Okay, I thought that MWR leased the buildings....my point for that was saying that the Armed Forces ticket issue was worse than worrying about landing a room in the SoG buildings.