Shades of Green — Hotel in Bay Lake

TLDR: If you are a family and flying to Disney, this is probably the best value hotel and would be great, but if you are a couple or smaller family and are driving to Disney, you may be better off staying at one of the value resorts depending on your preferences.

The long, super detailed version:

My husband and I stayed at Shades of Green the first week of December, and our experience was just ok. In past trips at varying times of the year we have stayed at Pop Century, All Star, and a shared cabin with family at Fort Wilderness. For me this ranks below Pop Century and either ties or is below All Star resorts in terms of value, location, and overall vibe.

The Pros:

Cleanliness & Deluxe Perks The room was very clean and spacious. Cleanliness was up to Disney standards, and the hotel itself was very nice. The staff were friendly and helpful. The standard rooms have a couch that turns into a spare bed, so if you are a family 5 (or 4 but want to avoid bed-sharing), this hotel is likely easily the best value room on Disney property. This hotel is close to MK and has its own buses (cannot speak to their efficiency, as we had our car and preferred to drive). The hotel also has some of the benefits of a deluxe resort, such as the extra magic hours in the evening as well as a fitness center. There is a parking garage with plenty of spots that connects to your floor. which is convenient and fairly accessible.

The Cons:

Parking Costs/Location The biggest downside was that you have to pay nightly for self-parking. At the time that I booked this, the cost of the standard room plus the parking makes the nightly cost similar to a value resort like Pop Century or All Star Music, which at the time of writing this, has free self-parking. (This does not factor in any potential room discounts for the Disney resorts, just comparing the basic cost on the website for the same dates). In addition to paying for nightly parking, if you drove and prefer to take your own car into the parks for convenience, you will still have to pay for daily parking at the actual parks as well, which is even more expensive. I did not realize this at the time of booking this, so for us, this actually put the cost of staying at Shades of Green as higher than staying at Pop Century or an All Star resort, as park parking does not cost extra (Pop Century also has sky bucket access). If you are a road-tripper who prefers to not depend on buses, be sure to factor in this cost. Additionally, the road Shades of Green is on is under construction, and there are no more walking paths to Polynesian, and you are not allowed to walk out of the main entrance or cross that street on foot at all. At this time, there are no plans for the walkway to be returned once construction is complete. Despite being so close to MK, this means we still had to either drive to the TTC or take a bus to it, as there are no buses direct to MK. This is a major benefit loss in my opinion, and I hope that Disney eventually builds in some sort of walkway or bridge over the road, as without it this hotel feel fairly cut off from everything else.

Theming If you are a fan of that more magical, Disney-themed experience, this hotel is not it. It feels like a pretty standard hotel room, with next to no Disney theming. Colors are a bit drab and rooms feel a little dated. The rooms / hallways kind of feel like a hotel you would go to for a business trip rather than a vacation. If that's your thing and aren't big on Disney, then feel free to imagine this paragraph under the "Pro" section.

Walkability Lots of paths that are for golf carts only according to signage. Can't walk off the hotel property or to any...

I was impressed. Reading some of the reviews had me worried. We love to be fully emerged in Disney when we are there. That’s the whole point right? This was not a fully emerged experience BUT it was a good experience non the less. Let’s start with how it feels like you are traveling back to the late 90’s- early 2000’s. Some people don’t like this. We loved it. Our family is not one to jump to modern styles. We like older vibes. This hotel would be considered outdated to most people now days. I would agree with that statement if I was that type of person. There are some things that need to be refurbished though but it was not a deal breaker for us. We had a ceiling fan in our room and that thing WORKED! It was great. Cast members were very friendly. Didn’t find a rude person. Grounds were kept nice at all times and are lovely. VERY QUIET resort. Seriously. We felt like party animals talking in a regular voice level lol. We barely heard anyone unless we walked past their rooms and were not talking. You won’t go hungry here. Those working at the restaurants are working hard so be nice. They are there for hours working to keep us fed and they smile while doing it. The food options are closed by 11. So if you k onto will be back after that eat before you go back to your room. The lobby was COLD which was also lovely. The ONLY thing I would say needs work is the transportation. Having to go to the TTC to get the monorail to MK and Epcot makes you have to leave your room earlier and you waste time on getting to the parks. Then you have one bus for Hollywood studio and Animal Kingdom. This means you are on the bus traveling to two parks depending on which park the driver goes to first. This is a waste of time for people who are on a time crunch as most are when at Disney. This is not a deal breaker overall since the price to stay here was extremely affordable. The affordability of the room is why we chose to stay this trip. We were short on funds and were meeting family. If we did not have this option we would not have been able to attend our family gathering. The money saved was worth the time lost in transportation at the end of the day. BUT if it can be worked out better it would be a great deal easier for guests. They have an exchange and an ITT office for veterans and military to obtain park tickets. The parking garage was NICE. It’s attached to the hotel. If you park on the fourth level and enter the building from that level you will be on the fourth floor of the hotel. Elevator to parking garage makes life easy especially if you have disabilities. The rooms are SPACIOUS! The hotel as a whole is disability friendly. This is amazing for our disabled veterans and active service members. We would stay again. There was nothing to keep us...

Awesome for Disney to go above and beyond for those of us that served. However, the level of embarrassment, complete lack of competency and the slap in the face from Mr. Emmanuel the Manager on duty is absolutley bewildering. My family spent the 2024 Labor day weekend at the "resort" and decided to meet family staying at the Polynesian across the street. Once our visit was complete we decided instead of taking the monorail back to the ticket station and then wait for a bus to bring us back to the "resort" we would just cross the street. After crossing the street and walking on to the Shades of Green property the guard confirmed our reservation and advised he couldn't not allow us on to the property because there was a policy stating no one could walk due to lack of a side walk. Oddly enough, less than 20 feet away was a sidewalk that started at the gate and went to the front door of the resort. However due to "policy" we had to wait for a bus to come get me, my spouse and our 3 little children. While speaking with the guard it began to rain as it does in Florida. During this torrential down pour the guard goes back in the shack and leaves me and my family in the rain. I call the guard back outside and at this point I'm more than pissed. The guard states that if I have a problem with the policy then I should take it up with the management. When the guard goes back into the shack he gets on the phone and shortly after a marked Sheriff Deputy pulls up with his lights on and sits there 10 feet from us as if I had committed some type of crime. After roughly 30 minutes in the rain, a bus pulls up and transports us to the "resort". I walk and and request to speak with management and am advised that an email went out yet no one during checking nor anywhere on the resort was there any postings stating that you couldn't walk to the "resort". I state my issue with Mr. Emmanuel and he literally downplays everything. He stated he would speak with his team and I would hear back from him. A couple of hours later a sealed envelope is tossed under the door to my room. The envelop contained one free breakfast. I truly wasnt expecting anything from the way the conversation went with Mr. Emmanuel but a free 5 dollar breakfast was a slap in the face. I've never been so embarrassed and angry while vehicles traveled through the gates looking at me and my family standing in the rain. How would that had played out if it would have been 100% ptsd disabled vet. It's truly not worth the little bit of change you save vice staying at an actual resort where they don't take your freedom and parade you infront of your family and onlookers passing through the gate while your family stands there...