Time for a little more detailed report on SoG. I think this is either our 3rd or 4th time staying there.
Check-in.
We got there around 11:00 and our rooms were not ready yet. They gave us our Ids and we checked all our luggage in with bell services. No problems with that at all. We then caught the bus to Disney Springs since we had late lunch reservations. When we returned from our trip to Disney Springs our rooms were ready.
Transportation.
This was the biggest issue with SoG the entire trip. Except for the TTC bus, all the other busses are a pain. As most people know since the busses aren't official Disney busses you can't get as close to the entrances as you can with a Disney bus. At MK/Epcot that means a trip to TTC instead of directly to the MK/Epcot. At the other parks it usually means a farther away spot then the Disney busses. Not horrible for HS, AK it is pretty far for a hot day. Disney Springs is the worst. The bus stop is on the other side of Cirque. When we went on Day 1, the nearest security entrance to Disney Springs was within the Orange Garage on the far side of the garage. It was a very long walk. When we left there was a show at Cirque so they did have a security checkpoint there but you can't guarantee it will be open at certain times.
Another day we went to Disney Springs and we just happened to have been at Wilderness Lodge visiting family at that location and it was a much more convenient trip to Disney Springs from there.
The other issue is that they combine busses to AK and HS. Our first day to HS they didn't combine busses, which made things more convenient but the rest of the week they did. This meant VERY crowded buses, standing room only during any popular times to the park and occasionally if you weren't there early you didn't get on at all. Unlike Disney busses if you miss a buss you don't just wait 5-10 minutes you have to wait at least a half hour (except for the TTC bus.) It also meant that you had to take the time to visit the other park when either going to or coming from the park which meant much longer bus rides.
The other issue we had was that my mother used an ECV. The only issue we had is that they can only take a maximum of two ECVs/wheelchairs per bus. They "suggested" that you be there 15 minutes early. At least one time my mother was close to bus arrival time getting there and was in line before the bus showed up but was unable to get on the bus because they didn't notice she was in line (the driver and the person monitoring the line were to busy talking to notice her) and they started boarding the bus without letting her on so she had to wait for the next bus even though she was the only ECV/wheelchair in line.
Be ready to show both your hotel id and photo id EVERY time you get on the bus and most of the times when the bus goes through the security gate at the resort. Last time we were at SoG the secondary Id show at the security gate only happened late night, this time we rarely didn't have to show our Id at both locations.
Rooms
Rooms are fine. We had a room in the Magnolia Wing overlooking the pool. The rooms are basic rooms that need a little updating. The drop ceiling in our bathroom looked a little gross. Standard rooms at SoG are much larger then standard rooms you get anywhere else on property so a family of 4 "adults" (2 adults/2 teens) can easily fit in the same room. The sofa bed is just a fold out single bed, so 5 adults would be pushing it.
Breakfast Meal Plan
Within a couple weeks of our trip they had brought back the breakfast meal plan. My father decided to add that onto our reservation. The food is ok, nothing special, not bad. There are plenty of options but the options don't really change to much day to day. They do have both a made to order omelet bar and a made to order pancake bar. Since you have to pay for it the entire length of your stay if you are planning on eating there every day it is a good deal, but if you plan on eating at say a park or having a quick breakfast one or more days it isn't really worth it since you will still be paying for that in your room cost. We ate one day at Kona so missing that one day at SoG probably ate up the cost of what we saved just purchasing the buffet on our own. Try not to get there at busy times because check-in seems to take a long time to deal with either paying or the meal plan and getting your table. Tip is not included in the breakfast meal plan.
Evergreens was pretty good for a relaxing drink or quick bite. Nice prices compared to Disney prices. Felt it odd that the bar shut down at 11:00 p.m. every day. Usually that was when it seemed to get popular due to people making their way back from the parks. Sometimes things could get pretty busy when the bartenders had to work both the "to go" line and the inside line. Food was just average but priced pretty good.
Only other issue we had was a problem with the laundry. She needed two washers and two dryers. The second washer she used didn't work right. It had issues reading the credit cards (all machines only take credit cards) and getting help wasn't easy. Also since the detergent dispenser was broken she had issues getting more detergent and since she was using a liquid detergent she couldn't transfer what she put in the machine to a new machine. We ended up having to go to the other wing to get more detergent. The front desk was finally able to give us a laundry card to use to make up for what she spent.
Good trip all in all. Whether I stay here again will depend on whether my father can continue to come down with us (since he is our sponsor) and what Disney and/or DVC rental offers are available.
One thing to note, if they make ANY changes to your reservation you need to re-enter your reservation number in the My Disney Experience Program and you have to use it via the online interface, not just the App. We had to do this three times. Once for the initial time, again when it turned out they made a mistake with the proper number of adults/youth in our rooms and a third time when we added on the breakfast meal plan.