Walt Disney World Hotels -Shades of Green

If you are active duty military/retired, civil service, prior service, or certain DOD contractors,  a great hotel to stay on Disney property is the Shades of Green.  I have never stayed there before so we tried it and liked it very much.  The hotel is run by a customer service oriented staff who are very friendly and helpful.  You can make reservations at ShadesofGreen.com and there you will find all the eligibility requirements including parking, room rates, etc.

Self parking is $5.00 but valet is only $10.00 so we'll go that route next time we visit.  The hotel is situated just west of the Polynesian Hotel and not on the monorail route.  Not to worry because they have bus schedules from the front door to the Disney main entrance and all the parks to include Blizzard Beach which is currently under renovation.  Our room was a standard room because there were no suites available but it was roomier than most Disney rooms with a sitting area a, a balcony, and a couch that pulls out like a futon.  The room amenities are refrigerator, hair dryer, cleaning service, coffee maker, and double sinks with separate toilet and shower.

Room service is available from 6:00am til 11:00pm.  If you want anything after that you have to settle for vending machines or go off site.  We didn't care for that very much because going out of the park is a bit of a drive.  What we did find is a Hess gas station on the way out of the park with a very good assortment of hot food, drinks, desserts, and snacks.  We bought some stuff there and returned to the hotel and it was right down the street so we were fine.

The hotel is sprawling and I don't know how many rooms but a good guess is about 500.  It consists of several wings of five floors and resembles a northern lodge with lots of wood, fireplaces, high ceilings, and outside chalet-style sitting areas.  There are two pools, and an outside bar but remember this is a family-oriented atmosphere so everything is quiet by 11:00pm.  The beds and pillows are of good quality and the sheets have a clean smell to them.

So what were the negatives?  Very few actually.  The room keys were very difficult to use and we had the keys issued twice but they failed more often than not.  They are the card type and,no, I didn't put them near my credit cards or car keys.  I kept them in a pocket by themselves.  The lack of food service after hours is not good but the front desk explained they used to have this service available but it failed to produce any revenue so they discontinued it.  Can't really blame them on that one.  The shower was so difficult to turn my kids couldn't do it so I had to pull the handle with both hands myself.

  Other than those things it was a very enjoyable stay and we will certainly return. It was a very nice stay.  I give the hotel an "A" rating and if you visit I believe you'll be pleased.  Thanks.