Anyone take their driveable RV to any park?

[tinkerdorabelle]

Anyone take their motorized RV to any of the parks and can you leave generator on? We have a Class B, and a dog. We were going to take Disney transportation everywhere, we usually only spend 5 hours tops then come back, but considering going over to Discovery Cove (never been). If we did this, would unhook and drive over, park in the back of the lot and turn on the generator for the dog, this way we could come out and check on our pet, etc. have her close, as DC is a long day. Our RV is small so sure I could find somewhere to park possibly farther away from crowd, but have to have generator running for air conditioning. Anyone ever take their driveable motorhome to a park and leave the generator running? Is this allowed? Is there parking? Thanks. If not won't go to DC.

 

[Sundancer330]

Anyone take their motorized RV to any of the parks and can you leave generator on? We have a Class B, and a dog. We were going to take Disney transportation everywhere, we usually only spend 5 hours tops then come back, but considering going over to Discovery Cove (never been). If we did this, would unhook and drive over, park in the back of the lot and turn on the generator for the dog, this way we could come out and check on our pet, etc. have her close, as DC is a long day. Our RV is small so sure I could find somewhere to park possibly farther away from crowd, but have to have generator running for air conditioning. Anyone ever take their driveable motorhome to a park and leave the generator running? Is this allowed? Is there parking? Thanks. If not won't go to DC.

I would not leave a generator running while I was not near by, strange things happen I would hate to see a fire start. You can check your pet in at the Disney Pet Boarding/Kennels for daycare, much safer and your dog may enjoy it, is close to the Fort. Below is some info from the Disney web site.


Day Care
Pet day care is available to pets looking for the ultimate day-long getaway. Drop off your pet in the morning and pick up your pet later in the afternoon. Pets will enjoy the same luxurious suites and condos as overnight Guests, as well as the same great amenities and services.

For more information, prices or to make an appointment, call (877) 4 WDW-PETS or (877) 493-9738, or visit the Best Friends Pet Care website.

 

[North of Mouse]

Anyone take their motorized RV to any of the parks and can you leave generator on? We have a Class B, and a dog. We were going to take Disney transportation everywhere, we usually only spend 5 hours tops then come back, but considering going over to Discovery Cove (never been). If we did this, would unhook and drive over, park in the back of the lot and turn on the generator for the dog, this way we could come out and check on our pet, etc. have her close, as DC is a long day. Our RV is small so sure I could find somewhere to park possibly farther away from crowd, but have to have generator running for air conditioning. Anyone ever take their driveable motorhome to a park and leave the generator running? Is this allowed? Is there parking? Thanks. If not won't go to DC.

Sorry, but running the generator would not be allowed in the parking lots of Disney, not sure about other park's lots, but really doubt it.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . take their driveable motorhome to a park and leave the generator running? Is this allowed? Is there parking? Thanks. If not won't go to DC.

1) Can't leave a vehicle or generator running in a parking lot.
2) But, you CAN leave the generator running while on a site at The Fort - and just take the bus or boat to the parks.
3) In fact, the pet rule is, no pets unless the RV has air conditioning.
4) So, A/C generators are expected.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Too bad. We would only do it at Discovery Cove and park out of the way of others way in the back, etc. and would Continously check on it. As far as the comment above about not leaving a generator running, we always do that when we have our pets. If we go into a restaurant, we leave our gen running for A/C of course. It's why we love having our small motorhome and being able to bring our pets. We don't spend too much time at the parks either without coming back to check on our pets. Maybe I'll call DC for the heck of it. Our new addition bichon which was my mom's before she passed would be ok in pet care, but not my yorkie, she is nervous and old, and can't handle boarding.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . would Continously check on it . . .

1) When you go, what is the park's guarantee that you will check on it frequently? And, on what kind of frequency schedule?
2) Many folks would say that, and not do it.
3) Unfortunately, parks cannot go on one person's assurances.

 

[North of Mouse]

If we go into a restaurant, we leave our gen running for A/C of course.

We also leave our generator running to keep our MH cool while eating at restaurants, but an hour unattended in a restaurant is not comparable to several hours in the parks unattended.

Why not leave your MH at FW with the pets and AC running on electric, then take your car to the parks, take a taxi, whatever - then the pets would be comfortable if you didn't want to kennel them?

 

[tiggerdad]

Have you considered a taxi to Discovery Cove? I know you say it is an all day thing, but would the dog be okay in the RV with puppy pads down?

 

[Maligator]

I know you say you continuously check on it and I'm not trying to be critical but... a vehicle can get hot enough to kill an animal in a matter of minutes on a hot day. Unless you are coming back every half hour or so which is impractical when visiting a park, a failure of the generator or the A/C unit could mean a slow agonizing death for the dog.

Ijust priced it out for our trip next month and a rental car from the Disney car center is only $20-30 a day. Might be an option as well so you can leave Fido at the Fort on Shore power or drop him off at the kennel.

 

[Nan P]

I wouldn't chance leaving our pet with the generator for more than an hour, and it's also not allowed. Too much can happen. We have been to Discovery Cove twice and if you have the opportunity to visit there for a day, Oh Wow. Find a way. We left our dog with A/C running (electric) at the Fort and drove. We had a great day at DC and from when we left til we got back, it was about 8 hours. Long day for our dog, but , she is she was fine with it. If the kennel is out of the question, I'd think about renting a car if your pups can be alone all day.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

To Malligator, Nan and NOM, what is to say shore power won't fail? Going to DC and leaving my pet for 8 hours at a campground with shore power is unthinkable and far worse and the odds of something happening to them greater. I would not go to DC and leave my pets alone at the campground that long as you suggest. Never leave our pets unattended at the campground for more than 4 hours. The reason I want to bring them to DC and leave the generator running and continuously check on them, is bc I feel more comfortable with them being right near me, with one of us checking on them continuously, then me leaving them with the air conditioning hook up at the campground and not being able to check on them for 8 hours, that freaks me out and is much more dangerous to a pet. What kind of RV's do you have? And just traded ours for a brand new 100K RV, I don't have an old beat up motorhome. The odds with our gen and them being closer, and us checking continously is far safer and better then leaving them 8+ hours and being farther away. I will guarantee you that I check on my pets more often and take as good of or better care of them then you do. Our pets are everything to us. I would bet anything on it.

 

[North of Mouse]

To Malligator, Nan and NOM, what is to say shore power won't fail? What kind of RV's do you have? And just traded ours for a brand new 100K RV, I don't have an old beat up motorhome. I will guarantee you that I check on my pets more often and take better care of them then you do. Our pets are everything to us. I would bet anything on it.

Well, sorry you have gotten so upset - we are all just trying to offer helpful suggestions. Have never known FW power to fail, but would trust them more than anywhere else I know to keep things going!

Also, would say that all these helpful campers have very nice dependable RV's with lots of experience, and not 'beat up old motorhomes' as you so inelegantly call them (by the way, brand new, or price, has nothing to do with it!). We all enjoy our stays at FW very much. We don't have pets, but lots of these other campers on here have loving pets that they well care for - above and beyond, so don't think you'd better bet on otherwise!!

Will offer no more suggestions, but hope everything works out, and you can have an enjoyable vacation.

 

[peg110]

As Sundancer 330 mentioned, the Best Friends Pet care is also available. We took our 140 pound Yellow Lab with us to FW one year and used their services. They were absolutely wonderful. It was actually kind of funny watching our dog when we went to pick him up. I think the girl bringing him out completely under-estimated him. (We actually have a video). But he seemed to enjoy it there as well (not at first. I think separation anxiety, but the second day was no issues with him at all)

 

[Maligator]

My comment on the generator was due to the fact that I've read a lot more posts about generators failing for one reason or another than I have shore power. This is especially true at Disney World since they generate their own power and use underground lines that are less susceptible to outage even during hurricanes. I'm sorry you took our suggestions negatively but I really thought the reason for posting such a question was to get opinions. Good day and I hope you have a fun trip.

 

[Sundancer330]

To Malligator, Nan and NOM, what is to say shore power won't fail? Going to DC and leaving my pet for 8 hours at a campground with shore power is unthinkable and far worse and the odds of something happening to them greater. I would not go to DC and leave my pets alone at the campground that long as you suggest. Never leave our pets unattended at the campground for more than 4 hours. The reason I want to bring them to DC and leave the generator running and continuously check on them, is bc I feel more comfortable with them being right near me, with one of us checking on them continuously, then me leaving them with the air conditioning hook up at the campground and not being able to check on them for 8 hours, that freaks me out and is much more dangerous to a pet. What kind of RV's do you have? And just traded ours for a brand new 100K RV, I don't have an old beat up motorhome. The odds with our gen and them being closer, and us checking continously is far safer and better then leaving them 8+ hours and being farther away. I will guarantee you that I check on my pets more often and take better care of them then you do. Our pets are everything to us. I would bet anything on it.

I love my dog almost as much as my kids. But the last thing I will ever do is take the dog on vacation, its not fair to the dog and I don't want to worry and have to keep checking on him, its my vacation not the dogs. And mechanical devices do break down, we have a generator on our boat and during the first year a circuit board went bad while it was running and you would not believe the smoke, we thought we had an engine room fire.

 

[tiggerdad]

Please let's not allow this to turn into a post on "Theme Parks and Strategies". I admire the OP's dedication to their animals, but I will take your bet on the whole "love my pets more than you" thing.

It's a risk either way with shore power vs. generator. Either can fail, and newness, oldness, and certainly not price has absolutely nothing to do with it. My camper was brand new and had to have the AC replaced within the first month due to compressor failure. This would have happened whether I was on shore power or generator.

I don't typically take my pets on vacation, but I have a good resource in my parents living next door and being able to take care of them for me. Lots and lots of people take their pets on vacation and I think nothing bad of them. To be honest, they can be at home inside while you are at work and have the power fail just as easily as the shore power at Disney or the generator.

Just call Discovery Cove and see if they have a policy. If they do, follow it. If not, carry on or change your plans as needed. We all hope you have a good vacation and let us know how it goes and post some pics if you can.

 

[Nan P]

Sorry to have upset you.... but we do love our pup maggie and she is family. She is very comfortable in our 2011 40 ft Monaco motorhome with all the bells and whistles and has been traveling with us for 11 years and loves it. Have a nice vacation.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

When I ask what type of RV you have, if u have a large A, etc., u may not be used to using your gen as much as someone with a smaller C or B who may boondock and dry camp more, take it more places, etc. and use gen more often. Someone like ourselves who had a B+ and now a B are used to using our generator all the time, as we go everywhere with our RV, even day trips. Never had an issue in 16 years with our pet. But of course you have to watch carefully. Like mentioned above, anything can happen anywhere with any kind of power. An A isn't going to go to a park like my B can. It's very scary to leave my pet unattended in any kind of heat anywhere I go, so do understand. For us it's safer to be close and check more often. But whatever works for you. We spend a lot of time with our pets on vacation so we like to bring them. Hopefully no hard feelings. Thanks for the comments.

 

[tiggerdad]

Good camping and let us know how it goes.

 

[KristinU]

We've done what you're suggesting for a couple of touring types of things - Corvette Museum and Indy Motor Speedway come immediately to mind, but we've maybe done it a couple other places. We've only done the genny with A/C thing for an hour or so, though. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be for more than that and I wonder if I'd be spending my day worrying rather than enjoying the dolphins and stuff...and that's an expensive day so I'd want to make sure we enjoyed it to the fullest. But it is a plan that I'd entertain for a few hours with some check ins if I didn't have any alternatives. For us, we'd probably be most likely to leave the RV plugged in at the Fort and rent a car for the day and have one person go back mid day for a potty break and dog walk. Best of luck as you decide what to do!