Shades of Green the military Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida has 2 different non-suite room types, the Standard Room and the Poolside Room.
Shades of Green is located right on Walt Disney World Property, in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area very near Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Grand Floridian Resort and Spa,
Shades of Green is open to all U.S. Service Members current and retired Active, Reserve, and Guard. There are also several other categories of those associated with the military that are also eligible so be sure to check out Shades of Green’s Eligibility.
Shades of Green was originally the Disney Golf Resort and is nestled between two of Disney’s PGA golf courses, which offer military discounts on golf.
Shades of Green offers rates base upon rank/grade so be sure to check out their Room Rates. Special discounted rates are available for limited periods.
The views from most every room are spectacular. Views throughout the resort are unique and interesting. The lush tropical landscaping provides an incredible backdrop.
There are 2 guest wings at Shades of Green, the original Magnolia Wing and the newer Palm Wing. Rooms either face outwards to the Magnolia Golf Course or the Palm Gold Course, or inwards to either a view of the beautiful inner grounds for the Palm Wing, or looking over the Mill Pond Pool for the Magnolia Wing.
Shades of Green also offers Standard Rooms for 10 dollars less per night. They also offer a Very Limited amount of Suites.
All Poolside rooms are in the Magnolia wing, which is the original wing dating back to the times of Disney ownership of the resort. Both pools are located in this wing.
Shades of Green’s Poolside Rooms – Location
Shades of Greens Poolside Rooms
At 480 Square feet Shades of Green’s rooms are among the roomiest to be found on the entire Walt Disney World Resort. Guest amenities in Shades of Green’s oversized, standard guest rooms include two queen size beds and a single sleeper sofa. Maximum occupancy is 5.
Each poolside guest room features a patio, with two chairs and a table, that overlooks one of the 2 pools.
Poolside Guest Rooms’ bathroom setup is either a 2 room setup with shower and toilet in one room and a double sink counter in a separate attached room, or all bath room items in one room with a single sink.
All rooms include:
- Refrigerator
- In-room Safe
- Internet Access – Free (Shades of Green’s in-room internet is not the strongest!)
- In-room Movies/Video Games
- Coffee Maker (uses coffee pods, not K-Cups)
- Hair Dryer
- Iron and Ironing Board
- Soap, shampoo, etc. in the bathroom
Shades of Green does offer adjoining rooms but does not guarantee them.
Shades of Greens Magnolia Pool, Poolview Rooms
The Magnolia Pool, sometimes referred to as the quiet pool has 13 Poolside Rooms, while the Millpond Pool has 33.
Pool View from a Magnolia Pool, Poolside Room (#102)
Rooms 101 through 113 are arranged in an L on 2 sides of the Magnolia Pool. These rooms are separated from the pool area by shrubs and a sidewalk. There is no separation between the room patios.
These are nice quiet rooms, the lower the room number the closer to the lobby and the higher my recommendation.
Magnolia Poolside Rooms – Looking down the Poolside patios
The Magnolia Poolside Rooms are the closest poolside rooms to the lobby. The Millpond rooms are further out.
Millpond Pool, Poolview Rooms
The Millpond pool is sometimes called the Mickey Pool due to its close resemblance in shape to the Mickey Mouse icon.
Shades of Green’s Millpond Pool
Rooms 132 through 164 surround the Millpond Pool on 3 sides. Evergreens Sports Bar, the Arcade, and the playground occupy the 4th side furthest from the lobby.
Playground with North side Millpond Poolside Rooms to the right
Rooms 132 through 138 are on the North side. The lower the number, the closer the room is to Evergreens and the Playground.
Shades’ north side Millpond Poolside Rooms.
Rooms 139 through 154 run along the East side. Rooms 139 to 144 have greenery partially screening them from the walkway and pool making them more private, these are my favorite rooms by this pool. This block of Millpond Pool rooms is the closest to the lobby.
Shades’ North side Millpond Poolside Rooms
Rooms 155 through 164 are on the South side with the lower numbers being closer to the Kids Splash Area and the higher ones closer to Evergreens.
Reservations
Reservations may be made online at shadesofgreen.org or via phone at (888) 593-2242.
When making your reservations you may request specific room numbers or areas, but be aware that Shades cannot make guarantees.
If you are interested in a Poolside Room be sure to reserve yours early as these 46 rooms are very popular and a small percentage of the 586 total rooms.
Shades of Green’s Millpond Splash Area. East side in the background, South side to the right
More Info and Links
The Best Rooms at the Shades of Green
More information on Shades of Green’s Suites
Read about sponsoring your non-military guests at Shades of Green
Check in is after 3 p.m.. Check out is prior to 11 a.m..
There are laundry facilities on property.
Shades of Green is a smoke free resort and pets are not allowed.
Shades of Green’s Resort Amenities
Shades of Green’s Resort Amenities include:
- Onsite AAFES Store
- Military Ticket Office
- Varied Dining Options
- Free Resort Transportation
- 2 Beautiful Pools
- Gym and the Magnolia Spa
Shades of Green Resort Activities and Amenities Overview
Shades of Green’s Guest Room Ratings
Here’s how MDT Readers rate the rooms at Shades of Green on a 1 to 5, scale in our Shades of Green Surveys.
You will also see the following symbols after the numerical rating to indicate the most recent trend:
- Rating Increased is +
- Rating Decreased is –
- No Change is =
This symbol is then followed by how much the rating changed.
Overall Room Satisfaction – 4.51, =
Cleanliness of Room – 4.66, =
Room Size and Layout – 4.73,
Quietness of Room – 4.35, -0.01
Comfort of Beds and Pillows – 4.64, -0.01
All of these ratings have trended down for a couple years, there was a slight increase early in 2022, but the second half of the year brought a return to the down trend, this now continues into 2023.
See the Full Survey Post for all ratings plus guest comments in each category!
Reader Comments:
It seemed every time a maid came into our room they set the alarm for 6am. They also did it to the adjoining room which I believe was unoccupied during most of our stay.
It would be nice to have a king size bed.
Even with the most recent updates they’ve made to the resort, things just seem dated and in need to cleaning up. The rooms look a bit better than other parts of the resort. For instance, hallways, elevators, pool areas REALLY need to be repainted/repaired.
We loved our stay at shades of green!! It was the best and we were soo happy to spend down time at the pools in between trips to Disney.
Would have preferred a microwave in the room. A larger refrigerator would be nice also. Especially for longer stays.
Clean and well appointed. Very functional.
Lighted mirror in the bathroom did not work in 3 of our 7 rooms. Told the front desk 3 different times. Finally, after I went to front desk personally, someone checked into it, and said they have no more replacements for them. The plug in on the night stand did not work in my room, and although I appreciate the phone charging station, it is in a very inconvenient place.
We stayed at the Grand Floridian in 2021, and we’re happier with Shades of Green.
Wish there was a microwave. Learned late in our stay that there was one in the laundry room for use.
Location on the 2nd floor actually ended up being very convenient. Our room was a little far from the lobby, but not too bad.
Ice machine for the refrigerator didn’t work, part was on order.
This was our first time booking multiple rooms. I asked that the be in the same area, not necessarily adjoining. The were all in a row with 2 connected.
I asked to have a room on the first hallway from the PX. We’ve stayed on that hallway several time (rm 205, 205, 202) and on the third floor hallway once. We love being close to the lobby and the room is surprising quite even though its on the main hallway for all the Magnolia side guest. I’m a very light sleeper and had not noise issues.
I wish the refrigerator was bigger. It’s a square mini-fridge rather than the taller rectangular type. It’s placed in the furniture. Two of our rooms were missing the cabinet doors that usually hide the fridge. The cabinet door isn’t really necessary.
It’s great that the toilet and shower are separated from the sink area by a door. There were double sinks as well.
Would have preferred a microwave in the room. A larger refrigerator would be nice also. Especially for longer stays.
The rooms need USB plugs or the lamps with the USB plugs in them. We had a hard time charging all of our devices each night. Two of our regular outlets also didn’t work, the one behind the coffee pot and the one behind the round table.
WiFi and hot water were spotty.
Hot water was not always available.
Room were wonderful. Big and spacious. Great having the separate sink area from toilet/shower area. Balcony and view were top notch! Plenty of usable furniture. Safe was good to have as I brought extra cash!
After staying at other WDW resorts, Shades is our hands-down favorite. The room size is great for our family of 5, and the trundle bed fits everyone in our family more than other trundles at WDW (i.e. Caribbean Beach).
We loved our location by the pool!! Our cleaning lady was super sweet too, I wish I remembered her name room 236
Constantly heard adults and children yelling in the hallway. Several nights children playing in the halls, running and yelling.
Loud kids and teens running the hallways, esp late at night, but you get used to it (they have had a long day at the parks! 🙂 ), We enjoy staying at SOG because of how nice the rooms are.
Need a pull out couch bed for a full size bed
7 SOG visits in 7 yrs! The only Disney Hotel that competes with the SOG is the Yacht and Beach Club at 3 times the price.
Sog is the only place we stay in Orlando even if we don’t do the Disney parks. It’s a beautiful resort and great value. Palm rooms are beautifully redone.
Could hear next door through the connecting door. Rolled-up a towel for blocking base of door – helped a little. Parents need to control their kids.
The walls are pretty thin, so you hear any noise from the hallways or the rooms next door. However, once we were moved into a different room, our stay was very quiet and peaceful. I guess you just have to hope for courteous neighbors!
We never had readily available hot water. We spoke to the front desk several times, and maintenance came twice. We were told first it was fixed… It wasn’t. Then they said to turn on the hot water in the sink and the tub and let them run until it got hot. Took upwards of 15-20 minutes! Then it was Luke warm at best most of the time. Coffee maker never worked, carpet in room felt dirty to the touch, door to the fridge was coming off the hinges.
This room was next to the playground, and a couple of nights unsupervised children playing on playground were very loud. We usually love the area because it is so quiet. however Security did run them off at pool closing time.
It would be nice to have a mirror in a location outside of the bathroom so that someone getting ready in the room would have a way to take a look if the restroom was occupied.
All info on standard rooms shows 2 sinks in bathroom. We got a very small bathroom with 1 sink.. front desk told us we had to request it. How can you request something that you think comes with all standard rooms! Even this website shows 2 sinks!! Very uncomfortable with 3 adults and 1 child! Also table had only 3 chairs for a room that accommodates 5 people. Not happy about extra charge for 3rd adult when we only had 4 people in our room. We probably won’t stay here again!
Family Suites
Shades of Green also offers eleven Family Suite combinations. Five Family Suites sleep up to six guests and six Family Suites sleep up to eight guests. Because the number of Family Suites is very limited, these rooms reserve quickly. If interested in making a reservation for a Family Suite, I suggest you do so as soon as you confirm your vacation dates. Guest amenities in the Family Suites include a separate bedroom with King size bed and full-size bath, living area with two queen size sofa beds and additional full bath, dining table with chairs. Some Family Suites feature a fold down Murphy Bed.
This MDT Post By: Steve Bell Steve is the the Military Disney Tips Founder. He a retired U.S. Military Member who's been touring the Disney Parks since 1971! Steve's mission is to help military families with their Disney vacations in every way. Check out Steve's Bio. Subscribe to Steve's email newsletter to get website updates and news by clicking this link. |
Information on Shades of Green the Military Hotel on Disney World property
See all the current Shades of Green Discounts and Packages
A Special Note on Shades of Green Discounts: Something to be aware of is that Shades constantly changes the dates and discounts offered of their specials and packages. Shades of Green Links
- Shades of Green
- Military Members Review and Rate Shades of Green
- Why Stay at Shades of Green?
- Shades of Green Rooms
- Shades of Green Room Rates
- Shades of Green Resort Activities and Amenities
- Disney Tickets at Shades of Green
- Magic Bands for Shades of Green Guests
- Shades of Green Fact Sheet and FAQ
Planning a Disney Trip? Want to get the best military discounts that are available? Feeling a little confused?
See Our Great Disney Discount and Planning Info:
- Disney Veteran & Military Discount Eligibility Guide
- The Military Family’s Walt Disney World Comprehensive Vacation Planning and Preparation Guide
- Military Disney Tips Disney Packing Checklist
- Disney Military Tickets – Your Start to Finish Guide
- Resorts/Hotel Overview Page
- Dining Overview Page
- Transportation Overview Page
- Shades of Green, WDW’s Military Only Resort
Military Disney Tips' Recommended Disney Travel Agent Ears of Experience Disney Only Travel Agency. Military family owned and operated! They know all the ins and outs of Disney military discounts! |
While we stayed on property the first 3 trips we took, we stayed at Shades on the h and haven’t gone back to a Disney-owned property since. We LOVE this resort and my boys don’t miss the theming. They love spreading out in the room, my husband loves the respite from all the music on the Disney busses, and appreciates the downtime there away from the stimulation in the parks, and the price is consistent and can’t be beat! Love your newsletters Tom!
Thanks Tom,
I appreciate your sharing your thoughts!
Has the renovation of the magnolia wing been completed..?
Also I requested a pool room but would like to be close to the lobby- any suggestions on which wing to stay in
Thanks;
Sharon from St. Louis
Yes it sure has, the rooms look great Sharon.
Ask for room 101 to 119 for closest to the front desk.