Shades of Green or Pop?

[NavyDad]

I have been to POP before the Skyliner was operational so I have been really looking forward to trying it out, but I just found out that my son who will be going with us is eligible for Shades of Green as a DOD civilian. I have read transportation is not great from Shades of Green. I have read that SOG is considered Deluxe level, but without the Disney feel. Pricing looks to be about the same for either one. We are rope droppers (well I am sometimes I have to go by myself) so transportation is important. Looking for opinions for people who stayed in both.

Not sure if you made your decision yet but I thought I would chime in.

We have stayed at both resorts multiple times as well as other Disney resorts including Deluxe. I love both resorts but would give Shades the edge. Here is a couple of points I would make:

1. Shades gives you (some of) the perks of a deluxe resort at the price of a value. The biggest perk right now is the access to Extra Evening Hours. We did EEH at both MK and Epcot in June and both were fantastic. That means 2 hours of extra park time at night when the parks are not that busy. We got a lot accomplished during that time and people are paying 600-700 bucks a night at some deluxe resorts for that opportunity.

2. Transportation - there is a lot of negative reviews over the years about transportation but we found it to be great. We just followed the bus schedule and had no issues at all. The first bus runs 1 hour before the earliest park open time and as long as you make that bus you will have no issues for Rope Drop. Our family did this multiple times. We also had a couple of days where the teens didn't want to move in the morning and we didn't make RD but that was on us. We find the bus to TTC very convenient because it's very short and drops you off very close to where you hop on the monorail for MK or Epcot. We found the buses at Shades to be way more reliable than we ever had staying at Pop or even deluxe resorts like Beach Club and Grand Floridian. Just take a picture of the bus schedule, make sure you have ID and resort ID and you will be fine.

3. We found the dining options at Shades to be really good at a fraction of the price of Disney prices. The breakfast buffet in the morning is wonderful and about 1/2 or even 1/3 the cost of Disney breakfast buffets. Mangino's is a great dinner venue and we love having Evergreens (sports bar) down by the pool. There were a couple of other options as well that we have not tried.

4. Pools and pool area - Shades has two great pools. We like the pools at Pop quite a bit but pools at Shades are much better with a large and fast water slide, kids play area at one and the other pool having zero entry and a hot tub. There are tons of loungers as well as tables with chairs by the pools and the easy access to Evergreens is clutch. We spent a lot of pool time this trip and it was so great bringing down pizza, wings, nachos, burgers down to our table and having a great full service bar right there. If pool time is important, this is where Shades has a major advantage over Pop.

5. Disney atmosphere - there are some nice Disney touches like a Mickey in the lobby you can take pics with among a few other things but Shades does not have the over the top Disney feeling like Pop does. If that is important to you then maybe Shades is not your place. We love Shades because it's just enough Disney but much cheaper (compared to deluxe) and we are a military family so we like the military atmosphere.

 

[sharonmickey]

I've stayed at both. SIL is military, I'm civilian. I only need SIL to check in, other than that I was free to do anything without my military sponsor - except buy alcohol at the exchange. My family had less issues with buses at SOG than we did at POP. We did rope drop at Animal Kingdom from SOG. My daughter even took a Shades bus to an early morning Run Disney event without problems. We found the food at SOG to be good and much more reasonably priced than POP. There was an ice cream stand off the lobby at SOG that I loved, I stopped everyday The rooms were good sized, and I liked the two chairs outside my room that I could sit and enjoy reading while the kids napped. The rooms were large enough DD fit two pack and plays in her room on our last trip, I had a connecting room so while the kids napped in DD's room, I stayed in my room to monitor them.

Room at POP are much smaller. When the murphy bed is down there is only one spot in the room with enough space for a pack and play; that is in front of the connecting door . There is no way to have both beds, a pack and play, and use the connecting door. It is very crowded for two adults and two children - especially in the pack and play. The theming at POP is more Disney than SOG. The food court is open more hours than the restaurants at SOG.

As much as my family likes SOG (we've stayed there a few times now) we won't be back for awhile. Closing the walkway to Poly is game changer for us. It was great not having to fold up the stroller to get to Magic Kingdom or Epcot. Now that we have to use a bus and fold the strollers we will stay at POP and use the Skyliner for Epcot and Hollywood. No more SOG until the kids are out of strollers.

 

[Leigh L]

Another consideration is, do you and your husband have military or DOD IDs?

Friends of ours like staying at SOG, and my husband is a veteran, but I have no affiliation. We considered doing a trip with our friends and staying at SOG for the price/size of the room. But I went off the idea when I found out that I wouldn’t be able to get on a bus without a military member or even buy a bottle of water at the gift shop by myself. It sounds like as a regular civilian, you need a chaperone to do anything at SOG. That wasn’t my idea of a vacation.

My DH is the military member and we booked two rooms recently (came home earlier this month). All our friends had to do was tell them my name (I booked the rooms this time) and show their ID at the gate upon arrival.

I did have to check in for their room since it was in my name, but did not have to accompany anyone on the bus. You are given a paper ID card upon arrival with your room key for transportation, etc. and you use your own ID.

The only thing you can't buy at the Exchange on your own is alcohol.

 

[Teacherk12]

Thank you for the input everyone. I’m still trying to decide!