Shades of Green or Wilderness Lodge

[LuvGoofy6]

I know there are a few threads about this and the informational thread about SOG but honestly it spans several years and 119 or so pages. We currently have reservations at Wilderness Lodge for December 19-25. My sister's family has decided to go at the same time and will be staying at SOG and has graciously offered to sponsor us so that we may stay at the same resort. My husband was in the military and reserves so we have stayed at SOG twice and loved it. However, it has been MANY years since we've stayed there. My questions are 1) Can we get magic bands through SOG or can we stay at SOG and buy magic bands through Disney? 2) We can make FastPass reservations at 30 days out when staying at SOG, right? Staying at SOG will save us money and we certainly enjoyed our other stays there but not sure if we should keep WL for the 60 day FastPass reservations, magic bands and the beauty of the resort. Any thoughts?

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Shades doesn't have MBs. You can still use yours for fastpasses though, but not charging. Yes, 30 days. The rooms are much bigger than WL. I have done both, and prefer Shades. Rooms are much bigger and I like being able to walk to the monorail. WL themeing doesn't appeal to me and I'm not in the resort much anyway though.

Walking to get Tonga toast has some serious value!

 

[TwizzleMouse]

I know there are a few threads about this and the informational thread about SOG but honestly it spans several years and 119 or so pages. We currently have reservations at Wilderness Lodge for December 19-25. My sister's family has decided to go at the same time and will be staying at SOG and has graciously offered to sponsor us so that we may stay at the same resort. My husband was in the military and reserves so we have stayed at SOG twice and loved it. However, it has been MANY years since we've stayed there. My questions are 1) Can we get magic bands through SOG or can we stay at SOG and buy magic bands through Disney? 2) We can make FastPass reservations at 30 days out when staying at SOG, right? Staying at SOG will save us money and we certainly enjoyed our other stays there but not sure if we should keep WL for the 60 day FastPass reservations, magic bands and the beauty of the resort. Any thoughts?

OP, @IceSkatingPrincess has summed it up well. Though I'm the opposite, I have stayed at SOG many times and while it's lovely, I'd prefer to stay DVC personally. I haven't stayed at WL yet, but have visited and it's a nice resort. As far as MB's are concerned, they could get some at any of the parks or DTD and any CM could transfer their cards to a band.

 

[DG24]

Personally, I would stay SOG out of those two also. WL looks nice but I live in north west so I am not impressed with the lodge at all. To me taking the boat In Dec is not much of an appeal, you will save time by taken shady shuttle and the monorail to MK and EP, and we always took the monorail to EP and the boat to HS. Only relying on the bus from SOG to ask, and even the. You can always take a bus to poly and take shady shuttle back. I will say we hated the buses a SOG, but we also had a w/c and maybe that made a difference. Other than that we love SOG, and they have remodeled I. The last several years, food has come way up and is much better, not great but no worse than most of Disney buffets and table services, but a lot cheaper. I also think that time of year it would be more serene and peaceful at SOG. We never regret staying SOG over a Disney hotel, we do it only because now our 100% disabled military is in his 70 and it is easier for him to be on site, we look forward to the days we can go back to SOG.

 

[MaggiesMomNJ]

WL has construction starting soon too.

 

[LuvGoofy6]

Shades doesn't have MBs. You can still use yours for fastpasses though, but not charging. Yes, 30 days. The rooms are much bigger than WL. I have done both, and prefer Shades. Rooms are much bigger and I like being able to walk to the monorail. WL themeing doesn't appeal to me and I'm not in the resort much anyway though.

Walking to get Tonga toast has some serious value!

Thank you to all who have answered and given advice. We have decided to stay at WL with my brother and his family. My brother has some younger kids and they want the Disney immersion and the lodge at Christmas will be beautiful. His family lives in a different state so we plan to stay in the same hotel so that we can spend more time with them. My sister and her family will stay at SOG but she has asked me to get clarification on the magic bands. So, she would get tickets on base and then buy magic bands once they get to Disney? How does she go about getting fastpass times with a hard ticket on her 30 days out? Also, the CM can transfer the fastpass info when she buys the bands at the parks? Thank you so much for helping us with this!

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Thank you to all who have answered and given advice. We have decided to stay at WL with my brother and his family. My brother has some younger kids and they want the Disney immersion and the lodge at Christmas will be beautiful. His family lives in a different state so we plan to stay in the same hotel so that we can spend more time with them. My sister and her family will stay at SOG but she has asked me to get clarification on the magic bands. So, she would get tickets on base and then buy magic bands once they get to Disney? How does she go about getting fastpass times with a hard ticket on her 30 days out? Also, the CM can transfer the fastpass info when she buys the bands at the parks? Thank you so much for helping us with this!

The tickets she buys on base aren't tickets, but vouchers. Once at Disney, she will need to visit a PARK guest relations window to activate the vouchers (then she will get the hard tickets) with a valid military or dependent ID. The vouchers have a code on the back lefthand side that links them to MDE so that she can make her fastpasses at 30 days. MBs can be bought at the parks and they will be activated by a CM there and attached to her account so that her fastpasses/tickets show up. It's easy!

 

[LuvGoofy6]

The tickets she buys on base aren't tickets, but vouchers. Once at Disney, she will need to visit a PARK guest relations window to activate the vouchers (then she will get the hard tickets) with a valid military or dependent ID. The vouchers have a code on the back lefthand side that links them to MDE so that she can make her fastpasses at 30 days. MBs can be bought at the parks and they will be activated by a CM there and attached to her account so that her fastpasses/tickets show up. It's easy!

Thank you so much for such detailed information. I will share this with her ~ it does sound easy. Thank you again!

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Thank you so much for such detailed information. I will share this with her ~ it does sound easy. Thank you again!

No problem! I believe you can do it at the TTC too, but I consider that a park one (and usually it has the longest lines anyway). Just wanted to clarify.

 

[jen7233]

The tickets she buys on base aren't tickets, but vouchers. Once at Disney, she will need to visit a PARK guest relations window to activate the vouchers (then she will get the hard tickets) with a valid military or dependent ID. The vouchers have a code on the back lefthand side that links them to MDE so that she can make her fastpasses at 30 days. MBs can be bought at the parks and they will be activated by a CM there and attached to her account so that her fastpasses/tickets show up. It's easy!

I don't know if we'll end up with an issue, but we are doing a split stay WL and Shades of Green very soon. Because we are at WL, we ended up getting magic bands. We got our "tickets" on base, vouchers if you will. Then, I set those up with our MDE. Because we are going to be at the lodge, I was able to do fastpasses at 60. I'm hoping there will be no magic band issues.

I think WL might feel more Christmas-like if I were going then.

 

[over50visits]

Thank you to all who have answered and given advice. We have decided to stay at WL with my brother and his family. My brother has some younger kids and they want the Disney immersion and the lodge at Christmas will be beautiful. His family lives in a different state so we plan to stay in the same hotel so that we can spend more time with them. My sister and her family will stay at SOG but she has asked me to get clarification on the magic bands. So, she would get tickets on base and then buy magic bands once they get to Disney? How does she go about getting fastpass times with a hard ticket on her 30 days out? Also, the CM can transfer the fastpass info when she buys the bands at the parks? Thank you so much for helping us with this!

If you want to see a beautiful deluxe resort at Christmas, you must visit Grand Floridian. Although SOG and AKL are really decked out (especially the ALK christmas tree), and WL is decorated well, Grand Floridian puts everything else to shame. Set aside an hour or so to see it, it is really beautiful. If you're at SOG you can walk to the monorail; if at WL a bit harder (unless you have a car), but a nice boat ride to the Contemporary, makes for a fun evening.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

I don't know if we'll end up with an issue, but we are doing a split stay WL and Shades of Green very soon. Because we are at WL, we ended up getting magic bands. We got our "tickets" on base, vouchers if you will. Then, I set those up with our MDE. Because we are going to be at the lodge, I was able to do fastpasses at 60. I'm hoping there will be no magic band issues.

I think WL might feel more Christmas-like if I were going then.

Personally I don't see why you would have an issue, but I'm no expert. IMO you'd be fine though.