Shades of Green – A Great Alternative to Disney World’s Resorts

Shades of Green is the Armed Forces Recreation Center located right on Walt Disney World property.

It is a fantastic, first class resort located right in the middle of all the the magic.

Walt Disney World offers military discounted rooms with the Disney Armed Forces Salute. But the Disney Armed Forces Salute room discount is not a guaranteed, always available, across the board offer. A limited number of rooms are discounted based upon the availability at each individual resort on each date.

The more rooms that are booked the fewer military discounted rooms are offered, until finally none are.

If you miss out on making a Disney resort reservation for your dates using the Disney Military Discount, Shades of Green would be a great alternative for you!

Overview

The Shades of Green Resort was originally owned and operated by the Walt Disney World Company under various names. Since 1994 it has been operated as an Armed Forces Recreation Center, open only to a very special clientele.

See our post on Shades of Green’s History 

Shades is a DoD facility and as such has strict ID requirements.

Shades of Green is dedicated to serving the men and women of the U.S. Armed Services community, their families, other eligible Department of Defense employees, and those they sponsor.

The Shades of Green Resort is a wonderfully spacious hotel. Remodeled and expanded in 2004 it has 586 of the largest standard resort rooms on Walt Disney World property, plus eleven family suites.

Shades of Green’s Rooms

Shades of Green’s Poolside Rooms

Shades of Green’s Suites

Pricing

You will find Shades of Green has very reasonable room rates compared with many Disney World Resorts and other hotels in the local area. Rates are based upon rank/pay grade, with junior member paying much less.

Shades of Green’s rates are constant all year long, except for various specials which they run from time to time.

Shades of  Green Eligibility

• Current Military Members
• Those retired from the Military
• Honorably discharged veterans with 100 percent Permanent Service-connected disability
• Involuntarily separated service members under the Transition Assistance Management Program
• Personnel separated under the Voluntary Separation Incentive (VSI) and Special Separation Benefit (SSB) programs for two years after separation
• Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps. (Current and Retired)
• John McCain Defense Authorization Act Veterans – Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war, those with service-connected disabilities, and Primary Family Caregivers of eligible Veterans under the VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers
• All Veterans (with honorable DD-214)  only for stays during the months of January and September!
• Current and retired (APF and NAF) Department of Defense (DoD) and Coast Guard (CG) civilian employees
• Military personnel of foreign nations and their family members when assigned or attached to a U.S. military unit or installation
• U.S. employees of firms under contract to Department of Defense working in the Pacific Region outside the U.S. on Department of Defense Government orders
• Spouses of Military listed above
• Un-remarried surviving spouses of personnel who died while on active duty or while in retired status
• Un-remarried former spouses who were married to military members for at least 20 years while the military member was on active duty
• Family members who have suffered a loss of an Active Duty sponsor regardless of the cause

See our Shades of Green Eligibility Page for full details

And our Full Military Veteran Discount Disney Discount Guide

Amenities

Shades of Green has two lovely heated pools, one in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head and ears! There is an awesome kiddy Splash Area too.

The Mill Pond (Mickey) Pool

There’s a sports bar and grill and two full-service restaurants, and several quick service options available for dining.

Shades of Green’s Mangions Steak House

Shades of Green Ticket Sales Office – Military Discounted Tickets!

Shades of Green – Ticket Office

Shades of Green AAFES Store

Shades of Green’s AAFES General Store

Shades of Green Dining Options

Shades of Green Pools

Shades of Green Transportation

Summary

If you can’t get into a Disney Resort, you should definitely give Shades of Green a try!

You will not be disappointed!

We stay there often, it is a great resort with a very relaxed and friendly environment.

Share your Shades of Green experiences in the comments below!