The Shades of Green Resort is an Armed Forces Recreation Center located on Walt Disney World property near Orlando Florida.
Shades of Green opened it’s doors on 1 February 1994 in the resort that was previously known as the Disney Inn/Disney Golf Resort which was owned by Disney World.
(Updated January 2023)
Room Rates
Shades of Green has always set their room rates based upon military pay grades, just like the other Armed Forces Recreation Centers. There are 3 different price categories.
For most of its history these prices were very attractive compared to the rates at the Disney resorts.
Enter The Armed Forces Salute
In 2009 Disney began their almost constant offering of steeply discounted rooms to the military as part of their Armed Forces Salute. This new discount began to undercut the low rates at Shades of Green and room occupancy rates dropped. Shades of Green responded by beginning to offer their own discounts.
Initially these discounts were not very attractive, offering minimal discounts on room rates and 5 dollars off the Regular Military Discounted Magic Your Way tickets.
After a year or so Shades of Green began offering better, shorter term discounts, which are announced periodically through the year. Some were room only discounts, while others were packages that include dining for 2 at Shades of Green’s buffet restaurant, for either just breakfast or breakfast and dinner.
These packages were at times 30% to 40% off the regularly low price. There were several occasions when 50% off was offered.
Shifting Discounts
Then in 2012 Shades of Green advised me that they would begin offering their discounts in an “Early Reward” style.
[…the discounts that are offered ] in the future will be in the style of “early rewards.” For instance we are currently offering a 50% discount in January, but as we move closer to the winter we may see that become 20%. Over the next year, it will definitely pay to plan ahead!
– Deidra Penny, Director of Sales and Marketing Shades of Green July 2012
Based on that plan Shades began to alter their discounts as time goes on. They would make an initial announcement with the dates and discount details, but as rooms filled up they would start altering the offer in different ways.
- They would reduce the discount percentage. For example, the initial 40% off will shrink to 30% or 20%
- They would reduce the dates the discount is offered, a full month offer is suddenly only available for a week and a half or on just a few certain dates.
- Packages that included dining would have the dining option deleted, but the price remains the same.
- A percentage off offer for all categories would be changed to a dollar value off per night which made the cost higher than the original percentage off price
- They’d even totally change the name of a discount. Example the February 2013 Carnevale Special was renamed the I Heart SOG February Special with major changes.
- They would totally discontinue a discount
The initial discount percentage offered is almost always the best deal offered and will decrease over the life of the offer.
In recent years, very occasionally one day to a few will be added (usually in conjunction with other days dropping off).
Discounts Have Decreased Over Time
As mentioned above in the early years of discounting the discounts started at 50 or 40 percent off regular room rates and dropped to 30 or 20 percent before being cancelled. around 2015 the starting discount became 30 percent off. Then in 2017 under a new manager the initial discounts were down to only 20 to 10 percent off to start.
Since 2019 the discounts have become only 10 to 15 percent off. Also some discounts are offered only for a hand-full of days.
In 2020 a whole new group of veterans became eligible to stay at Shades of Green, this could have a negative effect on discounts, reducing available dates or eliminating them altogether!
While the discount amounts now remain steady at these low amounts, offered dates do change. Dates are usually reduced, but occasionally a day or two might be added.
Get Your Deal Early!
So the take-away from this post is that if you are planning to stay at Shades of Green, jump on a discount for your dates as soon as it is announced!
See our list of all the current Shades of Green discounts.
For more info on Shades of Green check out the links below:
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! |
We go to Disney every year and we get our military discount too. But even with that; its still so expensive. So we’ve done some research and started following The Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide. It is awesome and I do it with our Military discounts and we can actually afford it.
Your website is great. I am taking my family with grandkids to DW in may/jun. total of 11 family. So I have learned a lot by using your website. Thank you. I do have a few questions if I may; you mention the AAFES store is closed for remodeling and the temp facility has limited items. By any chance do you know if I will be able to buy diapers at the temporary AAFES? Also you didn’t mention when the new AAFEs will be ready; I did see the Magnolia pool is closed thru July. Thanks for all the info. Great help.
Hi Tim,
I do believe that they have some kind of diapers.
Unfortunately I do not know how long it will take them to do the remodel of the normal location.
Hope you guys have fun! Steve
There does not seem to be any new discounts ! Do you have any idea why ?
Hi Arnold,
Shades of Green will be starting a very long remodel of the Magnolia Wing in September. This will reduce the amount of available rooms and thus eliminate the need to attract extra bodies with discounts to fill the last remaining rooms during lower attendance periods. Expect discounts to be slim for 18 to 24 months.
Thank you -Sorry to hear that !!!
It is sad to me that Shades if Green offers its best discounts to those who can plan early. As you all know, active duty military can’t often plan that far ahead with vacations due to requesting leave. I have never been able to plan more than 2 months ahead with my husband’s schedule since we never know exactly when they come home from deployment or an exercise.