Magic Fanatic, I am here to 100% support your posts because I was in the 400 loop too, and I know exactly the situation you are describing. Every morning (until the pet owners left...thankfully I had a few peaceful days before our reservation was up!) the barking was virtually non-stop. I also called the front desk (I assumed I was the only one who complained since nothing came of it), and I was transferred to three different people. I very calmly and kindly explained the circumstances, told them I am also a dog owner (left him at home though), and I've never called to lodge any kind of complaint at the Fort before despite several years of camping there. The third Cast Member even said, "Yes, I hear it barking right now!" I made the call from the inside of my travel trailer and she could still hear the barking.
I should add that I started the phone call by first asking if the 400 loop is a pet loop. The first CM said it is not a pet loop, the second CM didn't know, the third said it is a pet loop so there's nothing they could do to help the situation except see if there was an available site for me to move to. We had only been at the Fort one day and had spent hours the previous afternoon setting up our site, so moving was not something we really wanted to do all over again. And, frankly, after driving halfway across the country to get there, we just wanted to be settled for awhile.
While it didn't ruin our trip, it definitely put a damper on my "normal" Fort morning routine. I get up earlier than my husband and two boys, so I have always enjoyed the morning sounds of the Fort--birds, boat horns, sometimes the train whistle from MK--while sitting under the awning with my coffee while the rest of my family sleeps. That didn't happen this year, unfortunately, until the last couple of days of our reservation.
I can honestly say I don't fault the dog(s) for this behavior. The owners tied it/them out then proceeded to ignore it/them (I think they had two dogs but only one was extremely vocal). What was so infuriating was that the barking was the worst when one or more of the owners was outside their trailer and still didn't acknowledge their pet. It was only barking to get attention! Good grief, if you want your dog to get fresh air, take it for a walk or to the dog park. Don't just tie it up outside because you can't be bothered to deal with it. Not only would I have come unhinged if my own dog was barking like that at my own home, but I would absolutely be mortified to think it was barking like that in a public place. Apparently my loop neighbors didn't feel the same way.
Let me just throw this out there, they also had three large vehicles crammed in their site at times (full sized pickups and SUVs--I'm not talking smart cars! haha).
We love the Fort, we love WDW, and we absolutely plan to return. However, when you save for two years to make the trek and spend thousands (don't flame me here--I know we could go elsewhere and also have issues...that's not the point), it is really frustrating to know that those who break the rules will not be called to task and those who complain are told they can move if there is another site available. I didn't ask for those people to be moved. I didn't ask for a refund. I just asked if something could be done to help the situation. And as for approaching them on my own, let me just say that my husband are I are high school teachers and we do enough rule enforcing in our professional lives. It would be nice on vacation to be able to let someone else handle that task. Isn't that what vacations are for? To leave as much of our "real lives" behind as possible for a few precious days?
Rock on, Magic Fanatic.
