Lots of Disney World hotels are changing.
Shades of Green
A new Disney Vacation Club villas area is being built at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, changes may start hitting other hotels based on permits we’ve seen filed, and lots of updates are happening at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. But another hotel change has been announced and it’s one that might not make you all that happy.
In a Facebook post, Shades of Green Resort announced that a BIG change will hit the resort on May 1st, 2023.
Starting on May 1st, the World Drive Expansion Project (which impacts roads around Disney World) will start between Shades of Green and the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. While there is currently a walkway that leads from Shades of Green to the Polynesian Village Resort, that will NO longer be accessible due to the road changes.
Resort Map
The resort noted that they will be adding extra busses to their route to the Transportation and Ticket Center as a result of this change, and those buses are free. Alternatively, hotel guests can use their own cars (but they’ll be charged a parking fee at Disney World’s theme parks — currently $25 per day), or they can use a rideshare service.
They ended the message by saying “We understand that change can be tough, but we hope you’ll bear with us as we work to make things even better for you.” You can see the full message below.
©Shades of Green
Various individuals were expressing their disappointment at this news in the comments on the Facebook post, noting how convenient the walkway has been to them in the past.
For those who may not be familiar with it, Shades of Green actually opened as a Disney-owned resort (the Golf Resort) back in December of 1973. It was renamed The Disney Inn in 1987 and later became an Armed Forces Recreation Center which is what we now know as Shades of Green. Though things started off with a lease, Army MWR purchased the hotel in 1996.
Shades of Green
Shades of Green serves “members of the U.S. Armed Forces, their families, and other authorized users.”
Click here to get a tour of Shades of Green!
We’ll keep an eye out for more updates from hotels on Disney World property and let you know what we find. In the meantime, check out our video below all about the BEST Disney World hotels for 2023.
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Have you ever stayed at Shades of Green or visited the Resort? Tell us in the comments.
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Taking my first trip to SoG soon and was bummed to hear about the walkway being closed – not gonna lie. But just means more opportunity to finds different ways of getting to the different parks!
The walking path from SoG to MK/TTC is one of the big benefits of staying there. We should demand that part of the 1.9 trillion dollar DOD budget be allocated for a pedestrian bridge to be built over Floridian Way! I’m contacting my Congressman. Who’s with me?
We are so bummed by this change. We loved walking over to the polynesian resort for dinner during our stay at shades of green.
Of course, the new DVC construction at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian would have nothing to do with the cutting off of access of the military riffraff from the high end Disney lodging available. Rumor has it the Polynesian lodgers have been upset for years about the Shades “people” using the monorail and cutting through to the TTC. And it was even worse when they opened the walkway between the Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom.
Yeah this feels VERY MUCH like a turf war. Disney has two of their premium resort properties walking distance from SoG and this project is going to conveniently cut off all access to them (and the monorail) forever. If you want to have some real fun, try planning a dinner with the family at the Polynesian and working out the logistics to get back to your room which is literally RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET! Do you take the monorail back to the MK and pick up the SoG bus from there!?
I SUPPOSE you could still go to the TTC via BUS from the SOG and WALK over to the Poly…and catch the boat over to the Magic Kingdom or catch the Monorail. Pain in the Ass tho. I am getting a feeling the Poly and Grand Flordian people believe we are second class citizens…Because a simple solution would be to put a walkway over the 4 lane highway…problem solved. You would think there is money in the DOD bdget somewhere.