One night stay at RPR Questions (Pets, parking, etc)

[suzieqinga]

I'm hoping all of you experts can help me. My family has a one-night reservation at RPR on March 15. We will be arriving fairly late in the evening, and we plan to go to the parks on the 16th. We got a rate of $149, and I thought that would be worth it to get FOTL for a one day visit.

I understand that we can use FOTL on the day we check out. How exactly does that work? When do we turn our keys in, and when do we check out? We will probably stay at the parks until they close.

We plan to bring our little dog with us. He is one year old and has never traveled before. I understand that UO has a kennel in the parking garage. When I asked the reservation agent about boarding the dog, she said that I could arrange that through the concierge, even on our check out day. Have any of you ever done that? I've never traveled with an animal before, so ANY information and tips you could provide me would be most appreciated.

One more thing. Are we allowed to stay parked in the hotel parking lot while we are at the parks on check-out day? Or would it be best to move over to the Parking Lot of UO since we will have a dog in the kennel?

Sorry for such a long post, and thanks a million for any responses!

Suzie

 

[macraven]

when you check out, you keep the hotel key card. it will be coded for fotl only. no charging priveledges will be coded on it.

you use the key card at the park for fotl the day you check out of the hotel.

if you move your car to the US parking lot, you will hve to pay for parking.
keep it at rph since you already paid the $10 to park there the night before.
as long as you are leaving at the end of the second park day, (checkout day) i would think that would be fine.
when i used a rental, i kept it parked at hrh until i left in the evening for the airport.

don't know about the dog.

 

[rcraw45425]

We too ahve a small dog, a Shi-Tzu. He travels well, but is hysterical if left, feels abandoned. I think that he would howl non stop from when we walk out the door of the room, so that lets out keeping him in the room with us. An onsite boarding kennel might be an option though..........

 

[robvia]

I'll talk about the kennel and boarding your dog.

But first of all, I can't understand why your parents would check into the RPR late at night, and only stay one night. If the dog is small, other hotels will take it with a minimal charge. Your parents could check into another hotel the night before, then move over to the RPR the next morning. That would give them 2 full days of FOTL at the parks. There are many hotels in I-Drive that will accept a small dog with a fee. It's usually if the dog is over 50 pounds that they say no.

Ok, on to the kennel. It's located in the parking garage. You'll have to pay to park at the kennel, unless you have an Annual Pass. And you have to pay a small fee for the kennel, unless you have an annual pass. The kennel is real nice. They've got huge fence cages that go up 6 feet. The cage is a huge rectangle. They have water bowls. Yes, your dog will bark non stop from the time you leave, until you come back.

What we usually do, is put the dog in the kennel early in the morning, tour the parks, then come back at lunch. They tell you to come back at lunch to walk your dog. You can leave your dog in the kennel, and go back to the parks. But you'll probably feel guilty, and won't do it. But you can leave your dog in the kennel until late at night.

Yes, you can stay parked in the RPR lot the day you check out. But the walk from the RPR to the kennel is kinda far. You really need to drive over. So you're looking at $9 to park at the RPR for one night, $9 to drive over and go thru the main parking garage to the kennel, and a small fee at the kennel, about $10 to put your dog in.

Some people leave their dog in their hotel room. This is allowed, but I wouldn't do it. The dog will bark non stop, and the people around your room will complain. It probalby wouldn't matter for a 1 night stay since the dog would be in the room for the morning, but it's just not something you want to do.

Your trip idea can be done, but it's going to be over so fast. They'll be checking in late, and then have to check out the next morning. That's too fast.

 

[suzieqinga]

Thanks so much for the information and input. Maybe we should reconsider staying offsite.

The reason we are only staying one night is that we are going from the Atlanta area to Merritt Island to stay with family for a few days. We thought it would be nice to do a day at the parks before we go see the family. We will leave Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon and drive to Orlando. We will just need a place to sleep for the night. Then we'll check out of the hotel Thursday morning and hit the parks for the day. We'll probably stay until the parks close, and then we'll have about an hour's drive to see the family for the next few days.

We make this trip quite often, so we bought annual passes for our family of four. I thought it might be worth it to sleep overnight at RPR just for FOTL since we will only have the one day for both parks this trip. Do you think that FOTL is necessary during the middle of March? Or would we do just as well staying offsite?

Really, the dog is what's making this so difficult. We really want to have him with us, and he'll be fine for the rest of our trip. But no matter where we stay for the night, we'll have to check out the day we go to the parks and find a place for him until we're ready to leave that night.

Thanks again for any advice or tips you can offer.

Suzie

 

[rcraw45425]

suzieqinga, have you ever used a muzzle? I've thought about the "humane ones" that they sell at like petsmart and petco. Our little guy is just very spoiled, he howls and carries on like a baby if we leave the room and he doesn't realize it or we go downstairs to the basement/gameroom (he hates those stairs). We took him with us to Gatlinburg last T'giving, we had a cabn booked. It was a good thing there were no other people around because you could hear him halfway down the mountain.

 

[gschmerl]

Mid March is still part of Spring break, so the FOTL would be nice to have. Too bad you can't get the two days worth of FOTL you are entitled to with a one night on site stay!

 

[robvia]

If the APs are preferred, and not the bonus pass, then you will be able to park for free, and the kennel will be free. FOTL would be needed in mid March.
What you'll end up doing, is checking in late at night. The next morning you'll drive over to the kennel, put the dog in, and go to the parks. It would be a good idea to get an early start and go to the kennel at 08:00am. There is a paper you have to fill out. They have water bowls. You can bring some food and a toy, but it won't matter, the dog will bark non stop when you leave.
At noon you would check out of your hotel room, go walk the dog, then go back to the parks for the afternoon.
Check out is at 11am, but there is usually a 1 hour grace period. You could ask the hotel for a late check out and you will probably get 01:00pm, I've found this is what they usually tell you when you ask.

What you want to do can be done, and the FOTL will help.