Trip Report #
In this series, I will detail the individual trips we take. I will complete a post for every single trip we take. In the post, I’ll summarize what we did and where we stayed. I’ll break down the pros and cons of the resort, the room type, etc. I’ll also talk about where we ate and provide a list of highlights and explore the things we learned from the trip. So, without further ado!
This was the trip that got us thinking about buying DVC. Without this trip, we would not be DVC owners. This is for one very simple reason: we got a lot done on this trip, but we still left feeling like we had gotten nothing done.
This is on me: I did not do enough research leading up to this trip. I was that cliche Disney parent that expected to just bumble up to the park and experience magic everywhere. And while there is a lot of magic in the parks at all times, you have to at least know where you’re going to find it.
Another contributing factor to this trip was the fact that our Son got sick part way through it. We had no idea what to do, so we just took turns staying behind in the hotel with him. We became instantly fearful that this would happen every time we went to Disney—after all, daycare creates a constant revolving door of sickness, so it tracks that the same would happen at Disney—and this made us have a strong desire to come back more often: to take away that pressure of feeling like we must get everything done because we don’t know when we’ll be back.
My husband works for the Department of Defence, so we stayed in a Studio in Shades of Green. There were several highlights from the resort: The burger at The Evergreen sports bar literally carried us through the week, and if I could walk to Shades of Green and get a cone of their internally crafted ice cream every time I’m on Disney property, I would. There was also a walkway from Shades of Green to the Poly that was invaluable.
This walkway is closed now, unfortunately, but it was on this no longer existing walk that we got bitten by another bug—metaphorical, of course. We were walking back one night from the fireworks in Magic Kingdom. To do that, we, of course, had to cut through the Grand Floridian to get to the Poly to get to the walkway to Shades of Green. I had resort hopped through the Grand Flo in my time living in FL—we’d always go there to see that year’s rendition of the Gingerbread House—but I had never really walked around the grounds.
When we came around that corner, and we spotted the spot—that one right outside Gasparilla’s, with the straight-shot on the castle, all lit up for the night… We fell in love. We muttered to each other “we’ll never get to stay here, but, man, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could?”
That summer, points went on sale for the Grand Floridian. This was our chance to stay there—not to mention go back as often as we could possibly stand—and we snapped at the opportunity. DVC opened that door, and we walked right through it. But we never would’ve known were it not for staying at Shades of Green—for that fateful walk back from Enchantment.
The walkway is closed now, as I said, but even now, when I’m at the Poly, and I happen to enter the Ceremonial House through the back, by Trader Sam’s, I get this warm feeling of familiarity.
Shades of Green will always hold a nostalgic value in my mind. Even now, when I see a Shades of Green bus, I feel this odd compulsion to hop on and go for a visit. It was the first place we called home at Disney. There’s something infinitely special in that.
In Review #
Food #
On this trip, we ate at Sanaa, Space 220, and the Star Wars Cantina, but frankly, the kids were just too young. This was right on the edge of COVID, and our kids hadn’t really been out to eat prior to this. They didn’t know or understand the decorum of expected behavior. I left this trip wondering if we’d ever get to eat out as a family again. Fortunately, that has improved vastly—something I actually credit our trips to Disney with—but it did take time.
Highlights #
- Shades of Green ice cream
- Rediscovering our love of the Peoplemover
- Having no idea what we were doing but having a blast anyway
Lessons Learned #
RESEARCH REQUIRED. You cannot just walk up to the park and expect a magical day. You need to know where things are. You need to know where your kids are in their lives and plan accordingly: know what rides they’re likely to like and dislike, know what food they’re going to want to try, etc. Even if you’re wrong—even if you thought they were going to love Pirates and the hill ends up freaking them out—you at least know what you feel comfortable with them trying and what options you can offer to them.