SHADES OF GREEN at Walt Disney World Resort Information & Questions

[Leigh L]

Where did you book them? First time planning my own Disney trip

When your 60-day mark arrives, log into your MDE account (I prefer the laptop but you can do it on the app too).

Depending on what you want to book, try to book the more popular ones first. It's unlikely some of these will be available at the 60-day mark, so the ones you want the most try to plan towards the second half or end of your trip. I've had OK luck at under 60+4, but not always.

Restaurants that are generally hard to get in my experience include Sci-Fi Theatre, Ohana, Oga's, Be Our Guest, Cinderella's Royal Table, most character meals - especially Topolino's, and a few others I'm probably not remembering right now. Not everything is open yet, but additional ones might be available in November.

Any other questions, or if this doesn't make sense, happy to help!

Edited to add. Reservations open up at 6 a.m. Eastern. But I've read on here recently people have been able to book at 5:45 ET.

 

[salisboss]

When your 60-day mark arrives, log into your MDE account (I prefer the laptop but you can do it on the app too).

Depending on what you want to book, try to book the more popular ones first. It's unlikely some of these will be available at the 60-day mark, so the ones you want the most try to plan towards the second half or end of your trip. I've had OK luck at under 60+4, but not always.

Restaurants that are generally hard to get in my experience include Sci-Fi Theatre, Ohana, Oga's, Be Our Guest, Cinderella's Royal Table, most character meals - especially Topolino's, and a few others I'm probably not remembering right now. Not everything is open yet, but additional ones might be available in November.

Any other questions, or if this doesn't make sense, happy to help!

Edited to add. Reservations open up at 6 a.m. Eastern. But I've read on here recently people have been able to book at 5:45 ET.

Does the interface change on the 60 day mark? When I go to MDE I can go in an see reservations through 10/30. If it was someone who was 60 days out from their trip would they be already be able to see 11/1,11/2 etc?

 

[Leigh L]

Does the interface change on the 60 day mark? When I go to MDE I can go in an see reservations through 10/30. If it was someone who was 60 days out from their trip would they be already be able to see 11/1,11/2 etc?

Yes, once you log into your account on the 60-day mark, your length of stay will be highlighted.

That always worried me! But it does change.

 

[NavyDad]

OK - so after many years of trying I finally have a reservation at SOG that I hopefully will not have to cancel.

I have tried to stay up to date on this resort over the years via this thread and also via one of the facebook groups. Some of the information seems conflicting and there has been lots of changes so my head is spinning a bit. We are WDW veterans but the process with this one seems to be a bit off. I'm having a couple of issues maybe you guys can help me with some tips to work through them.

When I looked at availability my dates finally popped up so I jumped on them. It looks like I only selected 1 guest on the reservation but myself and my wife are going. Do I need to call Shades and add her to the reservation?

When I linked the reservation confirmation to my MDE the reservation says 1 guest and has my son (same name but listed as "Mstr" on my MDE family list) as the guest who is staying. Any idea how to fix this problem?

Are SOG resort guests able to order or pre-purchase Magic Band's? I am not seeing that as an option and would really like to buy the WDW 50th Anniversary MB's.

Any help?

 

[ZellyB]

OK - so after many years of trying I finally have a reservation at SOG that I hopefully will not have to cancel.

I have tried to stay up to date on this resort over the years via this thread and also via one of the facebook groups. Some of the information seems conflicting and there has been lots of changes so my head is spinning a bit. We are WDW veterans but the process with this one seems to be a bit off. I'm having a couple of issues maybe you guys can help me with some tips to work through them.

When I looked at availability my dates finally popped up so I jumped on them. It looks like I only selected 1 guest on the reservation but myself and my wife are going. Do I need to call Shades and add her to the reservation?

When I linked the reservation confirmation to my MDE the reservation says 1 guest and has my son (same name but listed as "Mstr" on my MDE family list) as the guest who is staying. Any idea how to fix this problem?

Are SOG resort guests able to order or pre-purchase Magic Band's? I am not seeing that as an option and would really like to buy the WDW 50th Anniversary MB's.

Any help?

Congrats on finally getting to stay at Shades. We've stayed at several of the resorts at Disney and we LOVE SoG and the price can't be beat.

Sometimes doing the online reservation leads to weird things with guest names. I also need to make some adjustments to mine but I've not gotten around to it yet. As far as I know, you will need to call them to get the name change made. It also does weird things when it crosses over to MDE sometimes with the name it grabs. Usually when you first link it in MDE I always get this message that the names don't match right. But usually after some effort with talking to Shades and then checking back on MDE it usually gets fixed.

SoG is not part of the Magic Band use like other Disney resorts, so you can not pre-purchase through MDE. SoG isn't really considered a Disney resort even though there are certain Disney resort perks you get being a guest there. You can always buy a Magic Band ahead through the Disney shop and then link it to your account but you can't buy it ahead through MDE. It also won't work at Shades for anything like opening your door or allowing you to use it to buy anything at the parks. It's only purpose when you stay at SoG is to act as a ticket to get into the parks (and presumably in the future to use Genie+ if you intend to buy that).

Hopefully that's all correct. Maybe someone else knows a better way to fix the guest list issue on MDE, but I've only ever had success by calling.

 

[apdebord]

In the past, has the Shades ticket office sold annual passes? I’ve already purchased 10 day tickets through their office for our upcoming trip so I’m just curious if I can upgrade those to the new AP next week through Shades or if I have to call Disney to do it. I know normally the upgrade has to be done in person but I read they are handling them over the phone for the new AP program.

 

[Leigh L]

In the past, has the Shades ticket office sold annual passes? I’ve already purchased 10 day tickets through their office for our upcoming trip so I’m just curious if I can upgrade those to the new AP next week through Shades or if I have to call Disney to do it. I know normally the upgrade has to be done in person but I read they are handling them over the phone for the new AP program.

They did, I want to say I last saw them listed in 2019 and not sure if it was removed when the pandemic hit or before.

Since you bought through Shades, I'd ask them first. It could be APs might be in the works again.

 

[ZellyB]

In the past, has the Shades ticket office sold annual passes? I’ve already purchased 10 day tickets through their office for our upcoming trip so I’m just curious if I can upgrade those to the new AP next week through Shades or if I have to call Disney to do it. I know normally the upgrade has to be done in person but I read they are handling them over the phone for the new AP program.

We upgraded to them back in 2019 but did it at the sales counter at Shades. My recollection is that there wasn't a discount for the AP, but you did save on tax and fees. I don't think they did them over the phone back then, but who knows how they are handling things these days.

 

[BigBlueWho]

Is anyone having issues linking their reservation to MDE? Ours dropped off and will not link. SoG’s phones are down and I’m waiting on a call back from WDW.

 

[Leigh L]

@apdebord, did you ever get an answer about APs? Thanks

 

[Leigh L]

Is anyone having issues linking their reservation to MDE? Ours dropped off and will not link. SoG’s phones are down and I’m waiting on a call back from WDW.

This is always a pain and happens frequently to us. Usually, I can just add it back in, but in the days of fast passes and long dining windows, I always worried things would fall off.

To get it fixed, I've usually had to go through Disney IT. I hope you've gotten it worked out since you've posted. Let us know how you make out!

 

[apdebord]

@apdebord, did you ever get an answer about APs? Thanks

I haven’t called yet; I will tomorrow once APs go back on sale and report back!

 

[Leigh L]

I haven’t called yet; I will tomorrow once APs go back on sale and report back!

Thanks so much! I forgot they weren't on sale until the 8th

 

[BigBlueWho]

This is always a pain and happens frequently to us. Usually, I can just add it back in, but in the days of fast passes and long dining windows, I always worried things would fall off.

To get it fixed, I've usually had to go through Disney IT. I hope you've gotten it worked out since you've posted. Let us know how you make out!

I ended up having to call twice…ugh.
I can’t make dining reservations now. Tried two phones and two laptops.

 

[ZellyB]

I ended up having to call twice…ugh.
I can’t make dining reservations now. Tried two phones and two laptops.

Sorry you are having so many problems. I've had issues multiple times with the reservations suddenly disappearing from MDE. Sometimes I could get them to relink on my own and other times had to call. It's just a glitchy interface unfortunately.

 

[apdebord]

Thanks so much! I forgot they weren't on sale until the 8th

Just got through to the Shades ticket office and no, they are not selling APs at this time.

 

[Leigh L]

Just got through to the Shades ticket office and no, they are not selling APs at this time.

Thanks so much for finding out. That's a bummer, but good to know

 

[#1Disfann]

This is not really about the resort but rather the ID needed. My husband is ex Air Force (before we ever met) and is now DoD Civilian. We stayed at Shades once before we were even married but now I am planning a trip without him. I currently have a reservation at Pop not thinking I am may be eligible for Shades but it seems DoD Civilians are on the list. I don't have have any sort of ID currently but was wondering if anyone knew what sort of ID I would need to present as a DoD spouse.

Edited - Apparently DoD spouses are not eligible to stay unless the spouse is there. Pop it is!

 

[btuftee]

This is not really about the resort but rather the ID needed. My husband is ex Air Force (before we ever met) and is now DoD Civilian. We stayed at Shades once before we were even married but now I am planning a trip without him. I currently have a reservation at Pop not thinking I am may be eligible for Shades but it seems DoD Civilians are on the list. I don't have have any sort of ID currently but was wondering if anyone knew what sort of ID I would need to present as a DoD spouse.

You may want to call and ask directly - I've always been the sponsor, so I would just show my CAC card, but you don't have one of those, nor a dependent I.D. My guess is that you'd just need your photo I.D. and a copy of your husband's current Leave and Earning Statement. If you don't have the same last name, that might also be worth mentioning when you call, so there's not confusion when you check in.

 

[#1Disfann]

You may want to call and ask directly - I've always been the sponsor, so I would just show my CAC card, but you don't have one of those, nor a dependent I.D. My guess is that you'd just need your photo I.D. and a copy of your husband's current Leave and Earning Statement. If you don't have the same last name, that might also be worth mentioning when you call, so there's not confusion when you check in.

I did call and was updating my post as you were replying. It seems DoD spouses are not eligible on their own so that will wait until he and I go back in 2023. Thanks!