Opinions From Those with Dogs

[bozley0621]

We are driving to FW from northern VA for our first stay (at the Fort, not Disney) October 13-19 in a premium site. Hubbs wants to take our three golden retrievers and I prefer to leave them home with the sitter. The boys are old-hats at camping. (Last summer, we drove from San Diego to northern VA over the course of two-and-a-half weeks, seeing the sites along the way, and then, lived in the camper for another month.) Normal camping trips are not like Disney World!

I know how we do Disney and think it will be more tiring working in time to care of the boys.

We are rope droppers that sometimes have to drag ourselves out of bed to get there (we’re fine once we get moving). This will mean getting up even earlier to take care of the boys. Likewise, when we get back, sometimes it takes all my energy just to shower to wash the day’s sweat off before crawling into bed. Now we’ll have to add in walking the boys. (For the record, we rope drop, leave the park around 1, and then head out again late afternoon. I don’t want folks thinking that the boys would be alone from park open to close all day.)

The boys love the dog park, but there is no guarantee that we’ll get a site somewhat near the one at FW. I know from experience that if the campground is huge and the off-leash area is far away, we’re less likely to make the hoof to let the boys off-leash. We’ll be relying on our bikes to scoot around the campground, so it isn’t as easy as putting them in the golf cart like my in-laws do.

Also, we normally have the boys contained in a playpen-type set-up when they are outside with us at the camper. Otherwise they get tangled in their leashes every two minutes. Does FW allow this type of set-up?

Am I over thinking this? I’d be grateful for perspectives from others with dogs that normally camp with their them - both those that opt to leave the fur-kids home for Disney trips, and those that take them along.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

One of the big reasons we still camp is so we can bring our dog. She loves to travel and has been to many places in her 10 yrs of having us as humans. We dont usually go to the parks since it requires a trip back to the trailer during the day. We dont leave her inside for more than 6 hrs due to her diet and health. After walking around the park for 5 or 6 hrs and then getting back to Fort wilderness and then walking her, its just too much for my feet anymore. Leaving her home isnt an option.
If you have alternatives I would leave them home on a trip where you were planning on doing the parks.

 

[skyp4WDW]

There's a two dog max per site.

 

[Corgidad]

Actually the 2 dog limit is for the Cabins while the limit for campsites is 4 dogs per Disneys policy. I have seen more than 4 dogs per campsite numerous times especially in January when the big dog shows are in Orlando, seems like a lot of those dog show people go to the Fort after the show for a few days of vacation. So Bozley0621 it just comes down to if you will have time for them. We have dogs also and plan our park days similar to yours (except the rope drop) and for us it works out fine and the dogs are happy to be with us. You can also consider Best Friends for them during the day as it is about 1 mile from the Fort, it would be expensive for 3 but it is an option.

 

[2rad4u]

We are dog lovers and we currently have 3, two of which camp with us 95% of the time. Both are small dogs, a schnoodle and a dachshund.

The third is a larger dog, a Boxer, and she stays with our son while we're gone.

That said, we boarded our two "normal campers" when we went to Disney. We love our dogs, but we were both glad we did not bring them!

If we go to a "destination" where we will be away from the camper for extended periods, we board them. That's our rule.

It's better for us AND the dogs. Just my 2 cents.

 

[allaboutthemouse]

This is a tough one...I feel your pain because we went through the same dilemma when we went October 2017, taking our girl or leaving her for a 15-day trip traveling from Maryland...I can tell you our experience....

We ended up taking her, and ultimately I’m glad we did to be able to make those memories with her as she always liked camping with us...just know it may be a different kind of Disney vacation, not as go-go-go, spontaneous, but more of always thinking, “we have to get back to check on the dogs” kind of Disney vacay...don’t know if that matters to you.

We hired a Disney photographer and got some really nice family photos at the Fort with all of us.

Took her to the Halloween dog costume contest thing, which she seemed to enjoy lol

Something to keep in mind, I don’t know how your dogs react to loud noises...Our girl does not like thunderstorms, and we didn’t have those, but she was definitely NOT a fan of the fireworks every night...we could hear them clearly in the camper and she would try to stuff all of her 170-pound self in the far corner of our room by our bed every night, shaking, when they went off, felt so bad for her...so we only saw the fireworks from the beach one night because we didn’t want to leave her.

We only went to Disney parks two days that whole stay(not staying past 7), went to sea world, Kennedy space center and Lego land, so we were back at the camper pretty early every evening to feed her, take her out, which was normal for us at that time as some of our kids were smaller with bedtimes.

We also took her to the best friends pet place one day mid-stay for a “spa” day for her, she got a bath, all that...

Having said that, we are going again November 2019 for a 10-night stay and will not be bringing her this time...just don’t want to subject her to the stress of the fireworks and she’s not as good of a traveler as she used to be now in her old age, she’s 10, and really slowing down..
My avatar is her in her younger years...
I don’t know if that helped you or not, but that is our experience

 

[2goofycampers]

They do allow the play pen type enclosures. We see them all the time.

 

[StormyCA]

I highly recommend Best Friends Pet Resort. We take our Dachshund there for day care and he was fine. He's a barker so we can't leave him in the trailer. Plus, who wants to break up your park day or end it early to head back to walk a dog? BFPR hours are one hour before earliest park opening to one hour after last park closing, so drop/pick up is no rush.

The cost for 3 Goldens day care might be a bit pricy though. We're paying $34.00 per day (resort rate with AAA discount) for a 'private room' for our dog.

 

[Eeyore daily]

I have two dogs, one a lab mix and one a terrier mix and I love them to death however if I was going to Disney and could take them I probably wouldn't. I feel like it would be selfish of me to drag them along and then having to walk even more to let them outside just seems like too much work. They'd be stuck inside all day where as if I left them at home they'd get attention and treats whenever they wanted and I wouldn't have to be thinking "ugh we still have to walk the kids" when we get back to our site.

 

[team bradfield]

our dog keeping the RV safe, we did open the large shade for him the next day, he could see 3 sides, we have a Canary this is a screen shot from it. He sleeps most the day.

 

[bozley0621]

our dog keeping the RV safe, we did open the large shade for him the next day, he could see 3 sides, we have a Canary this is a screen shot from it. He sleeps most the day.

A handsome outlook indeed!

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

We are driving to FW from northern VA for our first stay (at the Fort, not Disney) October 13-19 in a premium site. Hubbs wants to take our three golden retrievers and I prefer to leave them home with the sitter. The boys are old-hats at camping. (Last summer, we drove from San Diego to northern VA over the course of two-and-a-half weeks, seeing the sites along the way, and then, lived in the camper for another month.) Normal camping trips are not like Disney World!

I know how we do Disney and think it will be more tiring working in time to care of the boys.

We are rope droppers that sometimes have to drag ourselves out of bed to get there (we’re fine once we get moving). This will mean getting up even earlier to take care of the boys. Likewise, when we get back, sometimes it takes all my energy just to shower to wash the day’s sweat off before crawling into bed. Now we’ll have to add in walking the boys. (For the record, we rope drop, leave the park around 1, and then head out again late afternoon. I don’t want folks thinking that the boys would be alone from park open to close all day.)

The boys love the dog park, but there is no guarantee that we’ll get a site somewhat near the one at FW. I know from experience that if the campground is huge and the off-leash area is far away, we’re less likely to make the hoof to let the boys off-leash. We’ll be relying on our bikes to scoot around the campground, so it isn’t as easy as putting them in the golf cart like my in-laws do.

Also, we normally have the boys contained in a playpen-type set-up when they are outside with us at the camper. Otherwise they get tangled in their leashes every two minutes. Does FW allow this type of set-up?

Am I over thinking this? I’d be grateful for perspectives from others with dogs that normally camp with their them - both those that opt to leave the fur-kids home for Disney trips, and those that take them along.

You are overthinking if you are just worried about being near the dog park, there are so many great places to walk the dogs. Our favorite is actually the canal. Try to get a loop that is near the canal. Or even if not, the Fort is great if you have pets. Tons of walking areas that are away from more crowded areas also. We love bringing ours. Boarded one of ours once and she lost so much weight I will never do it again. If you have family to watch then I would think about it but we actually enjoy the time walking around with our dog in the Fort.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

I do think tho that we will get some kind of canary type thing to watch ours and the heat in the RV next time we go even though like you we do not leave her all day. If you are going to be gone for many hours there are places to board down there like people are saying. We had a couple times boarded ours at the Parks for the day, sadly they no longer have that. But for us, we do spend time at FW and with our pet, don't leave her unattended for too long.

 

[team bradfield]

QUOTE="tinkerdorabelle, post: 60455815, member: 23303"]You are overthinking if you are just worried about being near the dog park, there are so many great places to walk the dogs. Our favorite is actually the canal. Try to get a loop that is near the canal. Or even if not, the Fort is great if you have pets. Tons of walking areas that are away from more crowded areas also. We love bringing ours. Boarded one of ours once and she lost so much weight I will never do it again. If you have family to watch then I would think about it but we actually enjoy the time walking around with our dog in the Fort.[/QUOTE]



the old RR tracks behind 700 and the dog walk behind 800 is a great place to walk our dog, he loves the new adventures, Turkeys & Deer, he got to see an Armadillo one evening! we walk every morning then we stop back at RV before heading to dinner and take him for a ride in the golf cart and another walk. we try to get back before the fire works go off, he gets more attention on vacation then he does at home, i swear

 

[bianca]

We took our three dogs with us in December for 3 weeks. Worst vacation ever! It's not that they were horrible or anything, but they took up so much time that we didn't enjoy ourselves. While they normally sleep in at home, at FW the minute they heard other campers up, we had to get up. There was no sleeping in, too many required walks and entirely too much whining when we didn't get back from the park before dark. We decided not to even entertain the notion of returning to the fort until they are all "no longer with us". Your experience may vary.

 

[SteveH]

We have three dogs, and love them all. I'm actually camping right now with two of them, Wire Fox Terriers, our 14yo Golden is at home the trips have gotten to tough on her. While I love to take my dogs camping, if I'm not around them a lot I wouldn't take them and leave them in the RV all day. Vacation isn't just about me, it's about everyone on the trip, dogs included. Disney is one place I tend to want to go all day, if I were there for a few weeks and could take it easy I'd take them but for a few days I think I'd leave them at home.

 

[team bradfield]

We have three dogs, and love them all. I'm actually camping right now with two of them, Wire Fox Terriers, our 14yo Golden is at home the trips have gotten to tough on her. While I love to take my dogs camping, if I'm not around them a lot I wouldn't take them and leave them in the RV all day. Vacation isn't just about me, it's about everyone on the trip, dogs included. Disney is one place I tend to want to go all day, if I were there for a few weeks and could take it easy I'd take them but for a few days I think I'd leave them at home.

I can agree, a few days would be tough, we are 1300 miles from FW so 2 weeks minimum for us. our last 2 dogs we always kenneled, they did not travel well, motion sickness.

 

[friendofeeyore]

In Nov & Dec trip. If we were going to be gone more than 4/5 hours, we let them stay @ Best Friends. In fact, they had a spa day on one of their visits. We will be back in May & plan on using Best Friends for our long days @ the parks. Missy does not like the fireworks, so we are home with her when they go off. You know your fur babies, do what is best for their safety & your fun. Safe travels.

 

[rajak73]

We take ours, Yorkie, with us when we travel. He travels well. Last trip, July 2018, we boarded him at Best friends for a week while we enjoyed the parks with DS and family. Didn't have to worry about power going out, needing to go back, etc. We used best friends on previous trips and have no problem with them. Now a trip this year, we are going to kayak down the Niobrara River, go on the Black hills, he can't go most places so we are boarding him locally. The place walks them twice a day, 1 mile each time, and takes very good care of them.

cost for 3 Goldens day care might be a bit pricy though. We're paying $34.00 per day (resort rate with AAA discount) for a 'private room' for our dog.

What? No tv or bedtime story? LOL

 

[loves to dive]

I think you are going to have to just go with your gut. You know your babies better than anyone. We have a little yorkie who is rarely left alone and can't be boarded because she is too people dependent. My honey works from home so she is rarely by herself and was the runt of the litter so she is submissive around other dogs. She can't be put in play time and she won't eat if she is stressed. She also doesn't like to go poop outside (she is potty pad trained). All of which adds up to she travels with us. Before we got the RV we had to make sure we found hotels that were pet friendly and never left her in the room longer than the time to go to eat. I always worried the whole time that a maid would come in the room and let her out (she also doesn't use a crate, extremely spoiled rotten). That is one reason we bought the RV, so we could actually go places together instead of honey staying home with the dog (that was his excuse). Now we can at least go to Florida to dive instead of giving it up completely. We haven't had the RV for long and so far she isn't thrilled with staying in it alone but we have been getting her used to it when we go to where it is stored to work on it. We do have a camera and a temperature sensor all hooked to blue tooth so we can watch her. We have a trip planned to the fort in Oct. and she will be going. Thankfully, for us, honey isn't crazy about crowds so won't spend more than a hour or two at one time in the parks, he also will have to do some work so he will most likely be spending a lot of time in the RV with her. If your babies are comfortable being boarded, it sounds like that might be the better solution for both ya'll and them.