Deciding whether to plan Oct. trip with or without dog

[Topazjewel]

Hi,

My husband and I will be leaving Edmonton, AB on Sept. 25th. We will be traveling in our motorhome. We are hoping to travel a few hours on the Friday and most of the day on Sat. We need to be in Salt Lake city by 1:00 pm on Sunday for the circus. We are hoping to make it to Anaheim by Monday afternoon. From what I've been reading it sounds like the Anaheim Resort RV park would be the closest place for us to stay. We want to be within walking distance to Disneyland.

We are debating whether it would make sense to bring our dog with us. If it was a regular holiday we would take her with us. She is a medium sized dog around 50 lbs. I know that Disneyland has kennels available but I understand there aren't a lot of larger kennels. So I'm concerned if we well be able to get a kennel for her. We also want to go to the Halloween party and I'm concerned that going later in the day the kennel might be full. To complicate things further we also want to go to Knott"s Scary Farm and I don't know what we would do with her then.

I'm also trying to figure out what to buy for passes. We definitely want to attend the Halloween party, and I'm not sure if I should buy that plus a two or three day pass. We are on holidays until Oct. 11th. We want to spend the first few days in Anaheim and then travel back at a slower pace, we might spend some time in Palm Springs.

I would appreciate any input on my plans.

Thanks

 

[Sherry E]

I would suggest not waiting too much longer to get your Halloween party tickets if you really want to go -- one of the nights (10/31) just sold out.

 

[bcwife76]

Do you use a kennel at home that you trust? If so I would leave your dog in AB at the kennel/dog sitter, whichever. If it were a 'regular' camping trip I'd say bring the dog, but Disneyland, etc isn't your average camping trip. I say this as a dog owner (we have a large german shepherd) - she goes camping with us (we are from BC and just went camping down to Oregon with her). But for a trip like this we would not bring her. Of course I say that as we are not in an RV but are cruising down/flying home so dog would be a no-go anyway ;-)

 

[mybestieismickey]

I would say leave the dog home. We used to travel to Disneyland with ours but found it to be to stressful on all of us. So now she goes to the kennel close to home (with a reservation!) and is much happier there than in the car or at the Disneyland kennel that has lots of people and dogs in and out. Keep in mind that we haven't been since before the remodel so not sure about the current policies or exactly what it's like inside.

I have no clue about the drive from Edmonton to Salt Lake, but I would plan on 10-12 hours for the drive from Salt Lake to Anaheim. Your biggest factors will be traffic from Las Vegas on. If you are leaving Sunday night from Salt Lake and stopping in either St George, Mesquite, or Vegas, an afternoon arrival is much more doable, and a lot less exhausting than leaving Salt Lake in the super early morning.

Sounds like a fun trip!

 

[disneyfirsttimer18]

I don't know about the dog. We leave our dog with family when we go on trips.

I live about an hour north of SLC. My advice would be to drive to at least St. George following the circus in SLC on Sunday. Get up early Monday and finish the drive to Anaheim.

When we went to DLR in March, we left home at 5am MST and got to Anaheim at about 8pm PST. We were travelling with 3 kids, so we had several potty stops and also a 2 hour stop in Vegas.

 

[Imdboss]

I would leave the dog at home. With such a long trip and so many unknown factors it sounds much easier to put the dog in boarding at home. We have a dog that we take on our boat with us for most trips but there are some we put her in the "doggie hotel". We made our first trip to the San Juans this summer and just didn't know what to expect so we took her to boarding but when we are going places we are familiar with we bring her with us.

As for your time at DL I would definitely go with a 3 day PH plus MHP. Since the week you are at DL has 3 MHPs you have choices of which to attend but then you'll lose park time on the other nights, although DCA will be open but busy with everyone leaving DL and joining everyone at DCA. Since you are arriving Mon afternoon I would choose that as the MHP night so you don't waste a full ticket day. Since you can get into the park 3 hours prior to the start of the party your arrival time should be pretty good.

 

[ilovelucydog]

I would definitly leave the dog at home. I'm not sure how the weather is where you live, but it can still be VERY hot in Anaheim in September/October. It was 108 a couple of years ago the first week of October. You can't leave your dog unattended at all when it is that hot out. Not even to just run into a grocery store. You will have a much more relaxing vacation if you know the dog is safe at home. Have a fantastic trip!

 

[SMD]

I would leave the dog at home. The dog doesn't know your timeline, and it sounds like a very tight trip with very little room for delays. But, my friends stayed in one of the RV parks last summer, and they hired a dog sitter to check in on their dogs in the RV throughout the day.

 

[endy]

Anaheim Harbor RV is the place within walking distance tho it's a long walk 15-20 minutes. Anaheim Resort RV is not walking distance tho the ART stops right out front. And I believe is the one with the dog walker. I didn't bring the dog but I'm sure I read about this in the campground info. The Resort one is also more expensive but I prefer it to the Harbor RV.
My DS always wants to bring our little dog but I can't justify leaving him in a kennel or doggie daycare and always being on the dog places schedule so we leave him home with a friend. I am thinking of heading (by myself) to San Diego in the fall and bringing the dog, then I think well if I want to go to SeaWorld I'll have to kennel him, pay for the kennel. I know a lot of places are very dog friendly but unless I'm just hanging out at the campground I would worry about the heat and the extra costs.
So I think leaving the dog at home is the way to go.

 

[tarheelalum]

I would leave the dog at home "IF" you have a kennel you trust. Where I live I do not have a kennel I trust so I always take my furry kids with me wherever I go and I change our schedule to adapt. If you do take your dog, I honestly don't see how you are going to be able to go to Knots. But on the days you go to DL, if you get there early in the morning you will get a big kennel for your dog. Later in the day it might not work out. You have to walk them every 4 hours (Disney employees have no contact with them) so that is something you need to consider. Even if you are only going to the Halloween party, there is nothing stopping you from going to the kennel early that morning and dropping your dog off then to insure you get a large kennel for the party that night. You will have to go back a couple of times to walk them before you go to the party though.

Its a lot of work and you will be limited by bringing your dog so you might want to leave them with a kennel or family if you have someone you TOTALLY trust. I don't have anyone like that so our pups always go where we go, and if they can't go, we don't go.

If you do decide to bring your dog please note DL has gotten quite a bit stricter in the last year on the paper work required for dogs. They require the vaccination paperwork from your Vet to be on your Vet's letterhead and they want the date each vaccine was given to your dog and the date each vaccine expires.

 

[StormyCA]

Anaheim Resort RV Park is NOT walking distance. It looks like it is on Google Earth, but because of the freeway, it is a 1 1/2 mile walk. There is the ART shuttle, very convenient. Use the #6 Clementine line that picks up right at the RV registration parking. We stayed there a week in May for the 24 hr event and it was a truly wonderful stay at a clean, quiet park! I haven't stayed at Anaheim Harbor, so can't tell you anything about it. The walk is about 1/2 mile, though.

As far as the dog, we took ours but DH stayed with him at the RV. He's not a Disney guy so he and his BFF stayed behind while my BFF and I went to the parks.

The Disney Kennel really isn't to my taste. It's a 'hands off' kennel, and you are required to attend to your own dog every 4 hours. The attendants will not walk or 'potty' your dog. Plus the hassle of getting the dog to the kennel. You'd basically either have to walk or drive as the ART requires dogs to be crated to ride. You also cannot make reservations, so you toss the dice each day. I'd advise either leaving him home, or making a post to see if any 'locals' know of a good doggie daycare or kennel facility in the resort area.

 

[Topazjewel]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. We have decided not to take our dog with us it wouldn't be fair to her. I was considering Anaheim RV Resort walking distance because we usually walk 7 miles a day. Now that we aren't taking our dog we can use the shuttle.

 

[StormyCA]

I think you've made the right decision. It's hard to travel without them when you RV, isn't it? They just fit so well in the lifestyle that it just seems they should always be with you.

The only place I can walk 7 miles a day is inside Disneyland! You guys are aces!