SOG or Deluxe?

What's your advice? My boyfriend is retired Army and we are wondering which we should do. Pros- Cons.... I have never stayed at either so I'm truly lost! Thanks!

I love both. The theming and food are the only drawbacks IMO at Shades. But price is low, room size is among the biggest on property, and the location is great for what you are paying. Plus, you have an AAFES on property, so you can buy less expensive water, pop, snacks etc.

If you are going to do commando park touring for just two adults, I would do SOG hands down. But if theming is the most important thing to you, then you will be disappointed in SOG.

If you're considering this financially, you have to compare how much SOG would charge based on BF's Army rank vs 40% military discount at a Deluxe Disney resort. Food offerings and transportation will be much better at Deluxe. SOG rooms are huge and it's a really nice place. So either choice is a winner. And... there should always be plans for the next trip. Do one this time, the other next time.

For a first trip I would say SOG hands down, if you ever make it again then you can start to explore and find your favorite. SOG has wonderful theming IMHO, not maybe you don't gt the mickey hiding in your bedspread, but you get two great and new pools. You have golf courses on both sides of you. You have a quiet and relaxing atmosphere, unlike most of the resorts. So to me I disagree with the PP on theming, I love the lay back relax, theming, with ponds and bridges. I also disagree with the statement that the food is a draw back. The food has come way up in the last few years, and unless you are eating ever meal there at the hotel, you will be good. The breakfast is great, I am not a buffet lover so I order off the menu and it has always been very good, others order the buffet which is plentiful and good. The buffet is like $12 and order off menu is like $8, so you just saved a to. And it is just as good as in the park. At dinner there is a buffet, again I am not a buffet type person but this buffet is no worst than any in Disney, and is better than several I have been to at Disney. There is a little shack in the back that has hamburgers, nachos and such which are good, I think it is called evergreens. They do have refillable mugs there, but unless your room is over there, it may not be worth it, we never wanted to walk back there just to fill the mugs. There is a grab and go in the front near the buses, good sandwiches and snacks, good prices, only problem is they are laid back like the rest of resort and if you want it fast to catch a bus forget it, they can take 5 to 10 minutes to make a sandwich, so arrive early. There was/is but it have changed some a hotdog ice cream place that was great also, so good food, not great, there was also a table restaraunt that was very good New England clam bakes was great.

So the two cons, I would say is transportation. First you have to get yourself to the resort and back to airport. Second we don't hate it but now that we know the other side the transportation is so much worse to get around, but don't get me wrong it is doable and it is better for others than us, we have some disability needs. You can get shady green golf carts to take you to end of proberty and then walk 5 minutes to the monorail at the poly, beautiful walk, or walk the hole thing probably a 12 minute walk, really nice and you can watch the golfers and wildlife. To get to and from the parks are not bad, they do have buses but they only run on the hour I think. Our problem is getting to and from ressies at other hotels, it is bad at Disney, it is worse at SOG, but if you are not one to make a lot of ressies at other hotels it is not to bad. The only other down fall is parking fees if you have a car or rent a car, they charge you to park but then Disney charges you to park also, that is a hefty fee, since we have never done it, we don't care, but $30 a day to park is outrageous in my opinion and we won't ever do that, $15 for SOG and $17 for the parks.

To sum up, you get a deluxe resort at a moderate price, we have priced out what it cost to stay at shades compared to moderate POFQ and when you add everything your ride to hotel and back, taxes and all, it is about the exact same, with your military discount at POFQ. But your room is a lot bigger and has a lot more space and bedding. You have a balcony. You are minutes away from MK and the monorail or a boat ride from poly. Then the biggiest and the best of all reasons to stay at SOG, you get Johny, who works in the spa and gives the best message in the world, for only $70 an hour, which is half the price of a spa treatment at Disney hotels.

We love Shades of Green, and would highly recommend it to anyone! The rooms are huge, the atmosphere (like a PP said) is quiet and relaxing. Do I miss the Disney theming? A little bit. But, honestly, the $ I save by staying there over a Deluxe allows us to have extra special things elsewhere in the trip (like a Dessert Party, or CRT, etc). I prefer that to mickeys in the bedspread/carpet that I only see when I'm in the room, and we aren't in the room all that much . Even 40% off a Deluxe resort (we stayed at Yacht Club with this discount in November), it was still pretty much 2x the cost to stay Deluxe over SOG. We honestly think of SOG as a Deluxe resort without the deluxe prices that go along with it. The location, too, is just awesome. It doesn't take long to walk over to the Poly and take the monorail (esp. if you use the Shady Shuttle).

Their bus transportation is more limited than WDW's bus system, but we found it to be more reliable. If the bus is going to be at a park at the top of the hour, we found we could count on that being the case. So while it was limited, it was nice knowing that if we got to the bus stop at x time, there would be a bus there and we wouldn't be standing around waiting not knowing when it would arrive. They don't have transportation to and from the airport, which is a definite negative, but we've used the car service they recommend and have not had any problems with them.

Regarding the food - we actually enjoyed their breakfast offerings as well. They sometimes have specials where your room package can come with breakfast. We did that in 2013, so we ate breakfast there every morning. It was hot, fresh, and a nice variety of choices. The food at Mangino's was good, but the service when we were there was terribly slow. It would be OK for a dinner when you're coming back to the resort for the night, but I wouldn't do it as a quick stop lunch in between parks or something. The food at Evergreen's was OK too..not spectacular, but on par with bar food.

On our last trip we had 9 people ranging in age from 15 months to in their 60s. We spend more of our days in the parks, so as long as the hotel is clean and the rooms are a good size, we're pretty mcuh good to go. We have always found that to be the case with SOG, with the added bonus of amazing views of the golf courses and very nice pools (especially now that they've remodeled!). Something to note - SOG guests DO get EMH access, but they do NOT get 60 day FP+ prebooking. Right now they only get the 30 day offsite. Depending on when you're going, if that distinction is important to you you may prefer a Disney hotel. But if it's a less busy time of year where FP+ may not be as big of an issue, then definitely give SOG a look

I've done the GF and SOG in the last year. I enjoyed them both. For the value SOG wins.
It's is beautiful there. The morning buffet is half of a deluxe buffet and a million times better. There are more convenient located microwaves. The rooms are larger. The balconies are better. It's a quick walk to the poly for the monorail.

SOG is great when you are on a tight budget. But I will say I was spoiled before staying at SOG. I did a family trip and stayed at WL. When my husband and I went before he deployed we did SOG and I can say I would rather stay at a disney property Now we stay at moderates because we can't afford the deluxe. We just booked our latest trip and after doing all the math and what each has to really offer we like being on property.

I enjoy SOG. I've never stayed at a deluxe yet, but will soon so I can compare. I love the grounds on SOG it's relaxing and Floridian in my opinion, if you were to claim a theme, nice ponds and there was a small alligator there last time! Not purposely of couse! I find the food is cheaper and on par with what you'll find at other buffets, maybe not as much variety but really at the cost of these buffets like Chef Mickey's, no thanks! Drawbacks are you are not on the monorail. But you could walk to the Poly and take it. Also no Magical Express to and from the airport.

I agree with everyone...SOG tends to be the better deal from a financial standpoint. That being said, I have stayed at both and for different reasons so I guess it would depend on WHY you are considering SOG or the deluxe resort?

Thanks everyone! I'm thinking we will most likely do SoG.... from the sound of the advice the savings will outweigh us not having hidden Mickey's in our comforter As someone pointed out.... next time we can do deluxe....

Having not stayed in a Deluxe before I would choose SOG this go around. The property is peaceful and very pretty. The rooms are huge and I hear some of them are getting refurbished. Food is OK but not bad. We never had a problem with the transportation either. As someone else mentioned there is no magical express however we used the company listed on SOG web site, sunshine or something I think, and they were great. Have fun no matter what you decide!!