Airport To Hotel (Shades Of Green)

[pmwolfe]

I am visiting Disney World in November for a week and staying on-site at the “Shades of Green” hotel. Even though it is a military run hotel for military families only…I was surprise it was not part of the on-site hotel that included the “Disney's Magical Express” for ones flying in to Orlando’s airport (free transportation from the airport to the on-site hotels and back to the airport). It looks like it will cost me around $100.00 plus for round trip transportation using a taxi, limo service…or renting a car for each way. Any suggestion?? Any possibility I can call one of the "on-site" hotels and make some kind of arrangement then use a on-site shuttle to get to my hotel??

[Disneyfun]

My family stayed at Shades of Green at the beginning of the year. We consisted of my mother in her early 60's who does not walk long distances too well, my DW, my sister-in-law with her 1 y/o daughter, and my sister-in-law's sister. I will categoricly state that your transportation issues are just beginning with the airport to hotel question.

We discovered upon arrival that the standard bus routes that all of the WDW resorts enjoy do not include Shades of Green. They have their own bus system that runs from there to MK, DHS, AK, and DTD. We were told that it ran on the half hour, but rarely found that to be true. When we did catch the bus, we often waited on the bus for 10-20 minutes untill their window was over so they could leave - regardless of how many people were on the bus. To get to EPCOT, you have to either take the SoG bus to the MK (which goes to the main entrance of MK, not the TTC) and then catch the monorail back to the TTC and then catch the EPCOT line. The other choice was to walk the 1/2 mile from SoG to the Poly and then to TTC - not a great option for my mother.

We ended up renting a car to transport everyone to and from the airport/resorts/whereever as it was less expensive and more convienent. Oh, I do not believe SoG guests enjoy the free parking at the resorts either, but I could be wrong on that one.

SoG does sport the largest rooms on property to sleep the largest quantity of guests, but depending on your rank, you could do better by renting 2 rooms at a value with all of the sales that are going on. (Lowest rate for the first room is $99/night. Additional rooms are $129. Two rooms at a value for this November are on sale at $69/room/night.) You would then be afforded all of the benefits of staying on property. I also think that the food and shopping options are better at the actuall WDW resorts even though they may be a little more expensive in general.

You could then stop by SoG and pick up your military discounted tickets if you haven't done so at your MWR office where you are stationed.

In short, I think the idea of having a resort dedicated to our service men and women is a great idea, they really got it wrong with the pricing and the lack of transportation. I know that there are people who love SoG out there, I just don't see the bang-for-your-buck when you are an E-5 or below paying $228/night for 2 rooms.

[Rosemickey68]

When staying at SOG you are entitled to some benefits WDW resort guests have but not all.
Unfortunately Magical Express is not one of them. You will have to either rent a car or find transportation. We used a company in July that cost us $108 round trip plus tip for each route.
Parking is free at the parks for SOG guests..you just have to show your resort card. You can also take advantage of sending your items you purchase at the parks to SOG.
You are able to get in for the EMH. When we were there we had to show a card that SOG gave to us at Guest Relations in the park and then we got another card for the EMH to show at the rides,etc if you are asked for proof that you are able to be in the parks.
My advice....either walk to the Polynesian and get on the WDW transportation (either monorail or Disney buses) or rent a car.
Their buses at SOG only run on a certain schedule, they say they run every 20 to 30 minutes. We never found this to be true. In fact we showed up one morning to catch a bus to AK, seemed like the whole resort was waiting for the buses, when the bus was full they left...it seemed like we waited an hour for another bus. We never tried the SOG transportation again. We walked everyday to the Poly...it only took 7 minutes walking leisurely and hopped on Disney's bus/monorail and we took the bus/monorail back to the Poly at the end of the night and walked from the Poly to SOG.
Overall, SOG is okay.
For cost savings!?!? It depends on how you look at it, with paying for transportation to & from the airport (when you get it free from Disney right now if you stay at a WDW resort), the time you waste on transportation getting around to the parks, and they don't have stores that stay open to get a drink/snack. We got spoiled at WDW resorts...there is usually something that stays open past 10pm. Our only choice at SOG was you could go to Mangino's and get a pizza until midnight. The store...although it doesn't charge you tax, seemed pricey and not much variety. We had more choices at Pop Century when we stayed there and it didn't cost us as much time or money.
For us it wasn't much of a savings. We won't stay there again, we would rather stay at one of the WDW resorts.