Hi, I found an old closed thread for reviews from those who had stayed at the resorts with dogs, but I didn't see a recent, consolidated place where people could talk about stays with their dogs/how they managed things during theme park days/how the resort was/etc.
I'm hoping that this IS a thread for - trip reviews/reports of bringing your dogs with you. How was the hotel? How dog-friendly was it? How did you manage care during the day? If you stayed offsite - how'd you make that work?
NOT a thread for - complaining about dogs, complaining about dog owners, complaining about people who bring their dogs when they travel (there's a lot of reasons for that and not here to judge anyone else's pet choices. it's a service that is offered, so this is just reviews for those that have chosen to pay to use it)
I'll start - I adopted two rescues about 18 months ago. I planned to kenneling them or having an in-home sitter while I traveled. Well, as it turns out, they're a bit more traumatized that I first realized and they just fully panic if I leave them in a kennel (they think they're being abandoned at a shelter again) and are very fearful of strangers. Couple that with inflation, and when I ran the math it's cheaper to take them with me than to pay someone to come feed/walk them multiple times a day while I'm gone. Given the amount of travel time it can take to return to walk the dogs, I've been trying to stay onsite so make it as convenient as possible. We go to the theme parks a decent amount (grew up in the area, still have friends and family there) so I've been experimenting on how to make it work. We are Universal passholders this year and have stayed at Sapphire Falls twice so far and Art of Animation once. My biggest gripes have been that the dog rooms are always FAR. I understand why but, at the same time, dog owners are the ones pretty much guaranteed to be going back to their rooms multiple times a day, so placing them the furthest from transportation makes the work that much extra. I'm going to focus on my stays/experiences as it relates to the dogs, and not the resort overall or any issues, positive or negative, that I had that are unconnected to the pets/being a guest with a pet. Here's my reviews of experiences so far (given that this is hindsight, it's probably less detailed than I would've made it had I had reviews in mind at the time, but here it is) -
On the walking, probably relevant to know - I had a severe ankle break in 2019, required 2 surgeries. It's back to working order but will never be 100% again, so standing for long periods of time and walking can take a heavy, heavy toll. At the end of the last Disney week, I went like it was normal, because it is at home but it had swelled so much i couldn't fit it in my sneaker for the drive home. I'm trying to adjust my expectations for next time, but balancing convenience with budget has been a stretch. We're probably taking a break or going back to just one trip per year after this year (we just had unused travel points and universal passes, so we're trying to maximize use before expiration, like lots of others), so that's also playing into what I'm aware seems like insane decisions for someone with walking issues. I was also definitely walking much slower towards the end of the trip (epcot) than the beginning (universal).
I will start with some overall lessons learned:
1. Going forward, I will probably plan to split my park days, taking a break in between so that I can walk the dogs before I go in the AM, walk upon return for break, walk right before going back to the parks, and then walk when I come back for the night. Or just plan on leaving for the day in the early evening, returning once for lunch time walk. Physically/time-wise, it seems to work better than trying to schedule two round-trip returns. I only managed it once or twice. The other times I decided to just stay at the hotel after getting back for walk #2.
2. I think I will probably rely on a car or Uber/Lyft for mid-day returns, rather than Disney transport. Skyliner was great, but the weather can make this a risky thing to rely on for pet care trips. The buses are unreliable at best.
3. On my next visit, I will probably tour Best Friends and consider using them for an MK day, if not the other parks, though it would still depend on if my dogs progress enough to where I feel ok about leaving them in a strange environment.
4. I really wish there were either more hotel options or that Yacht Club (where I think the dogs would be happiest/would be easiest) was anywhere close to within my budget, but it's not. Fort Wilderness and AoA suites are also out of range for me. I wish the pet fee was per visit rather than per night, as that would at least put it closer (though still unlikely). I would still be curious how things are for those that can afford to stay there (it kills me a bit to see the rates now because, growing up there, those were actually our two family-favorite resorts so I would love to stay again at either. My parents took us off-season using Florida resident specials for, not kidding, $99/night. we stayed at both tons of times. we were a family of 5, or 7 if the grand parents came and those were the only resorts in the 90s that really accommodated that well, though we did stay at most of the others at least once to try them out. they were also our favorites because of the "pools" since at FW river country was still there).
5. Plan to walk the equivalent of two park days in one.
Universal's Sapphire Falls (stayed December 2021 and April 2022) -
I have found this to be much more pet-friendly, and the pet fee much more reasonable, than Disney. They respect the dogs door tag and I was able to schedule housekeeping one day without a major issue. I received the welcome bowls/bags/dog tag/mat each visit. they also have room service meal options for dogs, which I didn't try but there are online reviews if you are interested. Other thoughts:
1. room location - the rooms are the bottom floor of building 2. if you use self-park, this requires an elevator ride in the parking garage, walking along the breezeway to the lobby, then all the way through the lobby full of people/running kids, over the breezeway to building 2, to a second set of elevators down to 1, then a pretty long walk down hallways to the dog room area. Noise-wise, you can hear dogs barking pretty clearly in the halls/through the room doors, but once in the room, we didn't really have an issue (in December, our room had two connecting doors and there was a dog on one side for two nights that barked and that we heard clearly). the dog rooms are the longest possible walk to a room on property from the boats.
2. the room itself. I bring a free standing gate for my dogs (they can be runners out the door) and the layout works perfect for me to place the gate and block off the front door/"foyer" area of the standard room so there's no risk of escape in case a worker does decide to ignore the card and come in. The windows aren't ground level, so when I close the blackout curtains, the dogs don't even know they're there (I have one that will sit in the window all day if he can and bark at any dog that walks by). Downside is most of the room is carpet but I bring supplies to clean accidents and so far, so good. There's good floor space to store my belongings and theirs and enough convenient floor space to place their bowls and a dog bed without being in the way at all.
3. the dog walk area - is very large and, because it's behind the resort, the only other people out there are other dog owners. Downside is the back of IOA is right across the street and the noises are bad for skittish dogs (but quieter than Disney). There's only one dog station but it is fairly convenient to the entire area. it always had baggies and the trash can seemed to be changed regularly. Depending on room location, you could have a long walk down the narrow hall to get to/from it. We learned the hard way one night that they run the sprinklers around 11pm, and sometimes at other times. I will definitely be asking if they are on some sort of a schedule next time so we can avoid a surprise shower. I won't spend time on the manners or lack thereof of other guests/dog owners, as that's not something within the resorts control.
4. travel from/to the parks for mid-day walks: i leave the parks to walk the dogs, usually once around lunch, then again in early evening to walk and feed. the walk to/from the boat is much longer from IOA than Studios. I was there during busiest times (christmas and spring break) but usually got on the first boat to arrive mid-day, though the wait for one to arrive could be 20 minutes. At the other times, there was a long wait, especially because people staying at Aventura and Cabana Bay use the Sapphire boats too. I usually had to wait through 2-4 boats, depending on line size. A couple times the line was so long I took the Royal Pacific boat and walked from there (but that of course means MORE walking on an already long walk). In general, the whole process (leaving group in the park, walking to boat, boat back to hotel, walk to room, dog care, walk back to boat, boat back to park, walk back to meet group in park) averaged 90 minutes. If the family was in studios close to the front of the park and I caught the first boats and they came right away, i could do it in about an hour. I'd budget 1-2 hours for this, depending on how fast you walk/how long your dogs take to do their business/etc. If you're leaving near park close, make sure to leave early enough to account for a long wait for a boat and still get back for the next potty time.
5. how it works with planning: totally doable. when I went on the dog walks, my family would either ride things I didn't want to go on or just hang out and take a break (6 year old niece loves the playgrounds) or we'd time it to do meals. I'd either "eat and run" while they remained or I'd text as I was heading back and they'd order for me (or I'd mobile order) and they'd grab it and have it waiting at a table by the time I met up with them. we rode everything we wanted and had a great time.
Overall opinion: so far, this is my favorite dog-friendly theme park hotel and my dogs seem to agree. we're returning in October for a third stay. I really wish the rooms were closer to the boat dock, but so far that's been my only major complaint.
Art of Animation, Little Mermaid Standard Room (Christmas 2021)
I did mobile check-in, but had to stop by the front desk to get the hang tag for the door. I did not receive the welcome kit and, when I asked about it, the employee didn't seem to know what I was talking about. He offered to check with a supervisor, but it was crowded so I told him not to worry about it as long as he had the door tag. Housekeeping didn't enter and I just left a message on the room phone saying to call and schedule if I wanted it. I had easy access to towels (will get to that) so I didn't worry about it. They also left a message about the "security check." However, on the first day, I came back to the room to find the gate moved and both the dogs VERY freaked out. The A/C was also off, which is what really upset me. I called and they swore no one had been in the room, but I am convinced someone entered anyway. They did come and do a security check a different day (again, will get to that) but that was it, as far as I know. I ignored them the rest of the week and didn't see evidence of anyone entering on any other days.
1. room location - FAR. OMG SO FAR. Forget everything I said about Sapphire Falls rooms being far. they are a stroll in the park compared to this. The dogs seemed to all be in building 8, as were we. We were on the back side of building 8, in the back "arm" (or should I say tentacle...oh no wait that's building 7), but the room closest to the elevators (we will get to that in a minute). So, there were like 10 or so rooms farther, but that's it. I know much has been said on the literal hike it is to these rooms and I definitely read all that going in, so I will try not to dwell on it too much, but when you tack on multiple walks to/from with the walking in the parks, it was brutal. I went in with the right expectations that it would be a long walk and it still felt much much longer than I had anticipated. I used Disney transportation because I had left my car at my sister's for the week to avoid the parking fees. If I had to do this again, I would pay the parking, drive from the mermaid lot over to the main building to get on Disney transport, and then pick up the car and drive over again to cut down on it some. I don't think I would drive to the parks, then drive back just because of the hassle it is to get to/from a car there (and when we were there, no parking trams, so not really less walking), but it is an option I'd consider over doing that entire walk multiple times a day again. Also bad, and which I did not realize at the time - the building is close enough to Hollywood Studios and Epcot to get some heavy fireworks noise (you can even see the high ones). This caused our first evening walk to end VERY badly. I made a note of the firework times after that, though we could still hear them from the room itself.
2. the room itself - They did accommodate my preferences, which were ground floor and no connecting door. However, the location was awful. And not just the distance. We faced a.....sidewalk circle? where they stored all the housekeeping carts for the entire area and luggage carts for the building. drove them right up to the building and parked them outside my room in the circle. At 5-6am every morning, we were awakened by people banging things around as they loaded/unloaded the carts and drove them off (and then, of course, there were the motors). Shortly after that ended, the grounds crew came through with mowers and weed whackers. because we were the corner, more than once I heard someone crash a luggage cart into the wall. As for the other side where another room was, we could hear every word the people said, which spooked the dogs because they could hear people they couldn't see. I just tried to keep the TV volume up and that seemed to work. As we were the end of the row by the vending machines and elevators (literally the room basically behind giant Ariel's....tailfin....) we also got noise through the wall from everyone walking past/being lost/dragging their rolling suitcases around. It was really loud pretty much all the time. Also not a lot to say about the size - I was a single person staying with two dogs and thought the room was a bit cramped even for that. there is space to set out their bowls and the bed, but it takes pretty much the rest of the available floor space. the front window was a big problem - i closed the curtain but the dog who loves windows figured it out pretty quick and, for the rest of the week, that was where he sat and greeted everyone who walked past. I did not get any complaints or calls about barking, so my assumption is he didn't do that. The bad thing was once kids figured out a dog "lived" there, they would bang on the glass to get him to come - i ended up making a sign and taping it to the window asking people to refrain from banging on the glass because it upset my pets. The door placement is also awkward - the angle made it difficult to place the gate, as did the ability of the dogs to crawl under the bed unless i somehow blocked that off too. On the positive side...well, the room doesn't have any carpet. Also, they insisted it wasn't true, but I swear they turn down the A/C during the day somehow. Aside from the first day when it was just off completely, When I came back mid-day, the room was always very hot (and this was December!). I ended up going and buying a fan that I would leave running for the dogs because I couldn't trust the room climate control. The A/C ran fine at night, which is why I suspect this was somehow set for Disney cost-cutting. When I called, they insisted it wasn't happening, but i would leave the A/C set at 72 (after the first night, i dropped it to 68) and, when I would come back at noon or 1, it would be 75 or higher. When I came back in the evenings, A/C running again and back down to where I had it set.
3. the dog walk area - the "official" dog walk area was actually the complete opposite side of the building from my wing (and close to the gondolas/their noise) so we didn't go over there and instead just walked in the grass area right outside the room. i did check it out once and there was a stand with baggies available. there's plenty of grass and areas to walk. no issues there. because we were the room closest to maid central station, we got to know the staff after day 1 and I could just grab clean towels from them when I needed them. when i came back mid-day, one of them would usually see us and just offer to do the room check while we were out and I would agree. one day, they said because my dog loved to open the curtains and sit in the window, they would just peep in and didn't even need to go in if the window was open since they could see everything (fortunately, i kept things tidy and put away!). despite my dogs apparent desire to be, literally to one maid, "that doggie in the window," I didn't get any calls/complaints about him or about any barking and all our interactions with the staff were positive and pleasant. they said he just liked to sit there and watch everything happening.
4. travel to/from the parks mid-day: we went to HS, MK, and EP. first, the good, since I know I've had a lot of negative. I was very wary of the skyliner (or, as I referred to it, the death buckets) but, I have to say, they worked great for returning mid-day. The walk at the resort itself is, again, insane, but for HS, even with the transfer and the long walk, I made the entire round trip in about an hour. We were there on Christmas day and I walked onto the skyliner going to and from the resort in the middle of the afternoon. We were super efficient and were ready to go around dinnertime, so I only needed to do one the one trip back. MK was a totally different story. There's the walk to the buses, then waiting for the bus, but one came pretty quickly. I was the only one waiting when the driver arrived and she complained that she was about to go on break and did I really have to get back because another would be along "in 20 to 30 minutes." When I told her I was going back to walk my dogs, she agreed to let me on and drive me back, but that was a bit frustrating. After I walked the dogs, I checked the app for the bus times and got to the stop 5 minutes before one was scheduled to arrive. it never showed. After 40 minutes, I called an Uber, at 45 minutes, the bus came so I canceled the Uber and got on. The round trip ended up taking me 2.5 hours and I nearly missed an ADR. I left around 7:30 for their second walk and, by the time I got back to the room around 8:30, I decided to just stay in for the night and told my family they could keep going without me. This was the only day where I did feel that I missed out on things and on some rides, given the amount of time I spent going back and forth. I really thought the bus would be faster than driving/Uber because of the need to travel to/from TTC but, after this experience, I would reconsider that for next time. On EP day, we went in the morning, then we all went back around mid-day and I walked the dogs, then we hit the pool. We hung out until evening, when I walked the dogs again, then went back to EP until close. Took the skyliner and, while the ride was a big longer than HS, we didn't ever have to wait and the ride itself is pretty quick. The worst part was, given Epcot's size, we had to be cognizant of where we were so that, when it was time to go back, we near the right exit instead of all the way on the wrong side of the park. Going forward where we can, I think park open, very long mid-day break, park close is how we'll do it, because it means I only return once for the dog walking and I get a chance to rest my legs.
5. How it works with planning - ok, trying to keep the "everything that has changed for the worse" hate to a minimum, my take is that it is a LOT but it can be done, with both planning and, sadly, a fairly heavy dose of luck on wait times and Genie+ availability (if you choose to use that or ILLs). Given what we knew would be reduced park time and big crowds, we got Genie+ for each day and used ILL where we could. It still ended up being really, really complicated - we did ILL for Rise, used extra magic hour at HS to knock out all of Toy Story land plus MMRR (entered the standby line right as the regular open guests were walking up), and did Genie+ for Falcon. We also had an 11am ADR at Hollywood and Vine. We managed all the rides in star wars and toy story before our ADR using the extras. I booked a ToT Genie+ as we were sitting down and left for the dogs right after. Returned to do ToT (booked a Genie+ for MMRR a second time because my niece loved it), rode that, then did single rider for Aerosmith, then MMRR Genie+. We finished with a Genie+ for the last Indy show because it was about all that was left and was starting soon, then we left right after that. Trying to juggle Genie and ILL's lack of an ability to pick a specific time or to avoid conflict with ADRs meant I spent way too much time on my phone trying to work the logistics but, much to my surprise, we did make it work. At EP, we drove so we could park and start in Future World for Test Track, using a Genie+ for Frozen and an ILL for Rat. Those were our morning, then the evening was just food booths and walk-ons (we're not Soarin people so this park is our chill day). MK was the biggest hurdle. We didn't make early entry, so we did ILL for SDMT (I skipped. I'm tall so that ride is just not comfortable for me). We had a 3pm Crystal Palace ressie. Using Genie+ and short standbys, I was able to ride Buzz, Space Mountain, teacups, Dumbo, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion before I left for the dogs around 12-12:30. I got back to the front gate from the bus fiasco and got to the gate at 2:45 and went right to CP. After CP, we rode Pirates, Magic Carpets, Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. It required a massive amount of cutting back and forth to do rides based on times/Genie availability. While I was gone/decided against coming back, I missed the rest of fantasyland, character meets (fine with missing that. just for the niece), and Splash Mountain. Overall, I still think we did very well for the time of year and the amount of time out of the park I missed, but I definitely paid for it (both the wallet and the physical walking toll!). As I mentioned, I'm spoiled I grew up there, we go a lot, so I wasn't heartbroken about missing out on things since I've definitely been there, done that on most everything already, but I'm mentioning this for those who may not be that fortunate and are trying to plan for maybe going once or having a lot that they haven't done/seen but really want to experience.
Overall opinion: I chose this because it was the cheapest option during the most expensive time period, but, if I can help it, I wouldn't stay here again. The room is small and the distance is a LOT for multiple return trips. And, even though the building is far, it is not at all quiet between hotel noise, housekeeping noise, skyliner noise, and fireworks. For me, the noise was a much bigger issue even moreso than the room size. And I'm still not convinced about the climate control issues. I did, despite my reservations, like the skyliner and how easy it was to return from HS and EP for walks. Because of that, I would maybe consider staying here again if I could afford the family suites, because that's more than enough space for the dogs, has a better set up (higher windows and interior entry), and I'd have some better location options but, for the cost, it seems like I could probably just stay in a FW cabin. I may end up back in Little Mermaid again sometime out of budget necessity, but that'd be the only reason for the choice. I would maybe also consider it for a very short 1-2 night stay if we were also going to HS or EP, given the transport convenience but only in winter. I think thunderstorm season is too much of a risk when you need to get back to the room at specific times.
In October, we are trying Port Orleans Riverside. I know it still has the same distance/outdoor entry with weird door placement, and front window problems I didn't like, but I'm hoping the bigger rooms and quieter reputation may offset that. That's about the highest dog-friendly price point I can swing. Given the terrible reputation of the buses there, I am planning on keeping the car with me and just paying the parking. We are doing MNSSHP and HS, so, to avoid having to make return trips on Disney transport, we're leaning towards going to MNSSHP a little "late" around 6, instead of at the 4pm entry, so we can just walk the dogs before we leave and then they will be ok until we return for the night and, for the HS day, going in the morning to hammer out what we can, driving back and taking a very long mid-day pool break, then returning to finish up in the evening. If people like this thread idea/post, I am happy to report back after that trip to let you know how it goes.
If you made it through all this, thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to what others may have to say!
I'm hoping that this IS a thread for - trip reviews/reports of bringing your dogs with you. How was the hotel? How dog-friendly was it? How did you manage care during the day? If you stayed offsite - how'd you make that work?
NOT a thread for - complaining about dogs, complaining about dog owners, complaining about people who bring their dogs when they travel (there's a lot of reasons for that and not here to judge anyone else's pet choices. it's a service that is offered, so this is just reviews for those that have chosen to pay to use it)
I'll start - I adopted two rescues about 18 months ago. I planned to kenneling them or having an in-home sitter while I traveled. Well, as it turns out, they're a bit more traumatized that I first realized and they just fully panic if I leave them in a kennel (they think they're being abandoned at a shelter again) and are very fearful of strangers. Couple that with inflation, and when I ran the math it's cheaper to take them with me than to pay someone to come feed/walk them multiple times a day while I'm gone. Given the amount of travel time it can take to return to walk the dogs, I've been trying to stay onsite so make it as convenient as possible. We go to the theme parks a decent amount (grew up in the area, still have friends and family there) so I've been experimenting on how to make it work. We are Universal passholders this year and have stayed at Sapphire Falls twice so far and Art of Animation once. My biggest gripes have been that the dog rooms are always FAR. I understand why but, at the same time, dog owners are the ones pretty much guaranteed to be going back to their rooms multiple times a day, so placing them the furthest from transportation makes the work that much extra. I'm going to focus on my stays/experiences as it relates to the dogs, and not the resort overall or any issues, positive or negative, that I had that are unconnected to the pets/being a guest with a pet. Here's my reviews of experiences so far (given that this is hindsight, it's probably less detailed than I would've made it had I had reviews in mind at the time, but here it is) -
On the walking, probably relevant to know - I had a severe ankle break in 2019, required 2 surgeries. It's back to working order but will never be 100% again, so standing for long periods of time and walking can take a heavy, heavy toll. At the end of the last Disney week, I went like it was normal, because it is at home but it had swelled so much i couldn't fit it in my sneaker for the drive home. I'm trying to adjust my expectations for next time, but balancing convenience with budget has been a stretch. We're probably taking a break or going back to just one trip per year after this year (we just had unused travel points and universal passes, so we're trying to maximize use before expiration, like lots of others), so that's also playing into what I'm aware seems like insane decisions for someone with walking issues. I was also definitely walking much slower towards the end of the trip (epcot) than the beginning (universal).
I will start with some overall lessons learned:
1. Going forward, I will probably plan to split my park days, taking a break in between so that I can walk the dogs before I go in the AM, walk upon return for break, walk right before going back to the parks, and then walk when I come back for the night. Or just plan on leaving for the day in the early evening, returning once for lunch time walk. Physically/time-wise, it seems to work better than trying to schedule two round-trip returns. I only managed it once or twice. The other times I decided to just stay at the hotel after getting back for walk #2.
2. I think I will probably rely on a car or Uber/Lyft for mid-day returns, rather than Disney transport. Skyliner was great, but the weather can make this a risky thing to rely on for pet care trips. The buses are unreliable at best.
3. On my next visit, I will probably tour Best Friends and consider using them for an MK day, if not the other parks, though it would still depend on if my dogs progress enough to where I feel ok about leaving them in a strange environment.
4. I really wish there were either more hotel options or that Yacht Club (where I think the dogs would be happiest/would be easiest) was anywhere close to within my budget, but it's not. Fort Wilderness and AoA suites are also out of range for me. I wish the pet fee was per visit rather than per night, as that would at least put it closer (though still unlikely). I would still be curious how things are for those that can afford to stay there (it kills me a bit to see the rates now because, growing up there, those were actually our two family-favorite resorts so I would love to stay again at either. My parents took us off-season using Florida resident specials for, not kidding, $99/night. we stayed at both tons of times. we were a family of 5, or 7 if the grand parents came and those were the only resorts in the 90s that really accommodated that well, though we did stay at most of the others at least once to try them out. they were also our favorites because of the "pools" since at FW river country was still there).
5. Plan to walk the equivalent of two park days in one.
Universal's Sapphire Falls (stayed December 2021 and April 2022) -
I have found this to be much more pet-friendly, and the pet fee much more reasonable, than Disney. They respect the dogs door tag and I was able to schedule housekeeping one day without a major issue. I received the welcome bowls/bags/dog tag/mat each visit. they also have room service meal options for dogs, which I didn't try but there are online reviews if you are interested. Other thoughts:
1. room location - the rooms are the bottom floor of building 2. if you use self-park, this requires an elevator ride in the parking garage, walking along the breezeway to the lobby, then all the way through the lobby full of people/running kids, over the breezeway to building 2, to a second set of elevators down to 1, then a pretty long walk down hallways to the dog room area. Noise-wise, you can hear dogs barking pretty clearly in the halls/through the room doors, but once in the room, we didn't really have an issue (in December, our room had two connecting doors and there was a dog on one side for two nights that barked and that we heard clearly). the dog rooms are the longest possible walk to a room on property from the boats.
2. the room itself. I bring a free standing gate for my dogs (they can be runners out the door) and the layout works perfect for me to place the gate and block off the front door/"foyer" area of the standard room so there's no risk of escape in case a worker does decide to ignore the card and come in. The windows aren't ground level, so when I close the blackout curtains, the dogs don't even know they're there (I have one that will sit in the window all day if he can and bark at any dog that walks by). Downside is most of the room is carpet but I bring supplies to clean accidents and so far, so good. There's good floor space to store my belongings and theirs and enough convenient floor space to place their bowls and a dog bed without being in the way at all.
3. the dog walk area - is very large and, because it's behind the resort, the only other people out there are other dog owners. Downside is the back of IOA is right across the street and the noises are bad for skittish dogs (but quieter than Disney). There's only one dog station but it is fairly convenient to the entire area. it always had baggies and the trash can seemed to be changed regularly. Depending on room location, you could have a long walk down the narrow hall to get to/from it. We learned the hard way one night that they run the sprinklers around 11pm, and sometimes at other times. I will definitely be asking if they are on some sort of a schedule next time so we can avoid a surprise shower. I won't spend time on the manners or lack thereof of other guests/dog owners, as that's not something within the resorts control.
4. travel from/to the parks for mid-day walks: i leave the parks to walk the dogs, usually once around lunch, then again in early evening to walk and feed. the walk to/from the boat is much longer from IOA than Studios. I was there during busiest times (christmas and spring break) but usually got on the first boat to arrive mid-day, though the wait for one to arrive could be 20 minutes. At the other times, there was a long wait, especially because people staying at Aventura and Cabana Bay use the Sapphire boats too. I usually had to wait through 2-4 boats, depending on line size. A couple times the line was so long I took the Royal Pacific boat and walked from there (but that of course means MORE walking on an already long walk). In general, the whole process (leaving group in the park, walking to boat, boat back to hotel, walk to room, dog care, walk back to boat, boat back to park, walk back to meet group in park) averaged 90 minutes. If the family was in studios close to the front of the park and I caught the first boats and they came right away, i could do it in about an hour. I'd budget 1-2 hours for this, depending on how fast you walk/how long your dogs take to do their business/etc. If you're leaving near park close, make sure to leave early enough to account for a long wait for a boat and still get back for the next potty time.
5. how it works with planning: totally doable. when I went on the dog walks, my family would either ride things I didn't want to go on or just hang out and take a break (6 year old niece loves the playgrounds) or we'd time it to do meals. I'd either "eat and run" while they remained or I'd text as I was heading back and they'd order for me (or I'd mobile order) and they'd grab it and have it waiting at a table by the time I met up with them. we rode everything we wanted and had a great time.
Overall opinion: so far, this is my favorite dog-friendly theme park hotel and my dogs seem to agree. we're returning in October for a third stay. I really wish the rooms were closer to the boat dock, but so far that's been my only major complaint.
Art of Animation, Little Mermaid Standard Room (Christmas 2021)
I did mobile check-in, but had to stop by the front desk to get the hang tag for the door. I did not receive the welcome kit and, when I asked about it, the employee didn't seem to know what I was talking about. He offered to check with a supervisor, but it was crowded so I told him not to worry about it as long as he had the door tag. Housekeeping didn't enter and I just left a message on the room phone saying to call and schedule if I wanted it. I had easy access to towels (will get to that) so I didn't worry about it. They also left a message about the "security check." However, on the first day, I came back to the room to find the gate moved and both the dogs VERY freaked out. The A/C was also off, which is what really upset me. I called and they swore no one had been in the room, but I am convinced someone entered anyway. They did come and do a security check a different day (again, will get to that) but that was it, as far as I know. I ignored them the rest of the week and didn't see evidence of anyone entering on any other days.
1. room location - FAR. OMG SO FAR. Forget everything I said about Sapphire Falls rooms being far. they are a stroll in the park compared to this. The dogs seemed to all be in building 8, as were we. We were on the back side of building 8, in the back "arm" (or should I say tentacle...oh no wait that's building 7), but the room closest to the elevators (we will get to that in a minute). So, there were like 10 or so rooms farther, but that's it. I know much has been said on the literal hike it is to these rooms and I definitely read all that going in, so I will try not to dwell on it too much, but when you tack on multiple walks to/from with the walking in the parks, it was brutal. I went in with the right expectations that it would be a long walk and it still felt much much longer than I had anticipated. I used Disney transportation because I had left my car at my sister's for the week to avoid the parking fees. If I had to do this again, I would pay the parking, drive from the mermaid lot over to the main building to get on Disney transport, and then pick up the car and drive over again to cut down on it some. I don't think I would drive to the parks, then drive back just because of the hassle it is to get to/from a car there (and when we were there, no parking trams, so not really less walking), but it is an option I'd consider over doing that entire walk multiple times a day again. Also bad, and which I did not realize at the time - the building is close enough to Hollywood Studios and Epcot to get some heavy fireworks noise (you can even see the high ones). This caused our first evening walk to end VERY badly. I made a note of the firework times after that, though we could still hear them from the room itself.
2. the room itself - They did accommodate my preferences, which were ground floor and no connecting door. However, the location was awful. And not just the distance. We faced a.....sidewalk circle? where they stored all the housekeeping carts for the entire area and luggage carts for the building. drove them right up to the building and parked them outside my room in the circle. At 5-6am every morning, we were awakened by people banging things around as they loaded/unloaded the carts and drove them off (and then, of course, there were the motors). Shortly after that ended, the grounds crew came through with mowers and weed whackers. because we were the corner, more than once I heard someone crash a luggage cart into the wall. As for the other side where another room was, we could hear every word the people said, which spooked the dogs because they could hear people they couldn't see. I just tried to keep the TV volume up and that seemed to work. As we were the end of the row by the vending machines and elevators (literally the room basically behind giant Ariel's....tailfin....) we also got noise through the wall from everyone walking past/being lost/dragging their rolling suitcases around. It was really loud pretty much all the time. Also not a lot to say about the size - I was a single person staying with two dogs and thought the room was a bit cramped even for that. there is space to set out their bowls and the bed, but it takes pretty much the rest of the available floor space. the front window was a big problem - i closed the curtain but the dog who loves windows figured it out pretty quick and, for the rest of the week, that was where he sat and greeted everyone who walked past. I did not get any complaints or calls about barking, so my assumption is he didn't do that. The bad thing was once kids figured out a dog "lived" there, they would bang on the glass to get him to come - i ended up making a sign and taping it to the window asking people to refrain from banging on the glass because it upset my pets. The door placement is also awkward - the angle made it difficult to place the gate, as did the ability of the dogs to crawl under the bed unless i somehow blocked that off too. On the positive side...well, the room doesn't have any carpet. Also, they insisted it wasn't true, but I swear they turn down the A/C during the day somehow. Aside from the first day when it was just off completely, When I came back mid-day, the room was always very hot (and this was December!). I ended up going and buying a fan that I would leave running for the dogs because I couldn't trust the room climate control. The A/C ran fine at night, which is why I suspect this was somehow set for Disney cost-cutting. When I called, they insisted it wasn't happening, but i would leave the A/C set at 72 (after the first night, i dropped it to 68) and, when I would come back at noon or 1, it would be 75 or higher. When I came back in the evenings, A/C running again and back down to where I had it set.
3. the dog walk area - the "official" dog walk area was actually the complete opposite side of the building from my wing (and close to the gondolas/their noise) so we didn't go over there and instead just walked in the grass area right outside the room. i did check it out once and there was a stand with baggies available. there's plenty of grass and areas to walk. no issues there. because we were the room closest to maid central station, we got to know the staff after day 1 and I could just grab clean towels from them when I needed them. when i came back mid-day, one of them would usually see us and just offer to do the room check while we were out and I would agree. one day, they said because my dog loved to open the curtains and sit in the window, they would just peep in and didn't even need to go in if the window was open since they could see everything (fortunately, i kept things tidy and put away!). despite my dogs apparent desire to be, literally to one maid, "that doggie in the window," I didn't get any calls/complaints about him or about any barking and all our interactions with the staff were positive and pleasant. they said he just liked to sit there and watch everything happening.
4. travel to/from the parks mid-day: we went to HS, MK, and EP. first, the good, since I know I've had a lot of negative. I was very wary of the skyliner (or, as I referred to it, the death buckets) but, I have to say, they worked great for returning mid-day. The walk at the resort itself is, again, insane, but for HS, even with the transfer and the long walk, I made the entire round trip in about an hour. We were there on Christmas day and I walked onto the skyliner going to and from the resort in the middle of the afternoon. We were super efficient and were ready to go around dinnertime, so I only needed to do one the one trip back. MK was a totally different story. There's the walk to the buses, then waiting for the bus, but one came pretty quickly. I was the only one waiting when the driver arrived and she complained that she was about to go on break and did I really have to get back because another would be along "in 20 to 30 minutes." When I told her I was going back to walk my dogs, she agreed to let me on and drive me back, but that was a bit frustrating. After I walked the dogs, I checked the app for the bus times and got to the stop 5 minutes before one was scheduled to arrive. it never showed. After 40 minutes, I called an Uber, at 45 minutes, the bus came so I canceled the Uber and got on. The round trip ended up taking me 2.5 hours and I nearly missed an ADR. I left around 7:30 for their second walk and, by the time I got back to the room around 8:30, I decided to just stay in for the night and told my family they could keep going without me. This was the only day where I did feel that I missed out on things and on some rides, given the amount of time I spent going back and forth. I really thought the bus would be faster than driving/Uber because of the need to travel to/from TTC but, after this experience, I would reconsider that for next time. On EP day, we went in the morning, then we all went back around mid-day and I walked the dogs, then we hit the pool. We hung out until evening, when I walked the dogs again, then went back to EP until close. Took the skyliner and, while the ride was a big longer than HS, we didn't ever have to wait and the ride itself is pretty quick. The worst part was, given Epcot's size, we had to be cognizant of where we were so that, when it was time to go back, we near the right exit instead of all the way on the wrong side of the park. Going forward where we can, I think park open, very long mid-day break, park close is how we'll do it, because it means I only return once for the dog walking and I get a chance to rest my legs.
5. How it works with planning - ok, trying to keep the "everything that has changed for the worse" hate to a minimum, my take is that it is a LOT but it can be done, with both planning and, sadly, a fairly heavy dose of luck on wait times and Genie+ availability (if you choose to use that or ILLs). Given what we knew would be reduced park time and big crowds, we got Genie+ for each day and used ILL where we could. It still ended up being really, really complicated - we did ILL for Rise, used extra magic hour at HS to knock out all of Toy Story land plus MMRR (entered the standby line right as the regular open guests were walking up), and did Genie+ for Falcon. We also had an 11am ADR at Hollywood and Vine. We managed all the rides in star wars and toy story before our ADR using the extras. I booked a ToT Genie+ as we were sitting down and left for the dogs right after. Returned to do ToT (booked a Genie+ for MMRR a second time because my niece loved it), rode that, then did single rider for Aerosmith, then MMRR Genie+. We finished with a Genie+ for the last Indy show because it was about all that was left and was starting soon, then we left right after that. Trying to juggle Genie and ILL's lack of an ability to pick a specific time or to avoid conflict with ADRs meant I spent way too much time on my phone trying to work the logistics but, much to my surprise, we did make it work. At EP, we drove so we could park and start in Future World for Test Track, using a Genie+ for Frozen and an ILL for Rat. Those were our morning, then the evening was just food booths and walk-ons (we're not Soarin people so this park is our chill day). MK was the biggest hurdle. We didn't make early entry, so we did ILL for SDMT (I skipped. I'm tall so that ride is just not comfortable for me). We had a 3pm Crystal Palace ressie. Using Genie+ and short standbys, I was able to ride Buzz, Space Mountain, teacups, Dumbo, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion before I left for the dogs around 12-12:30. I got back to the front gate from the bus fiasco and got to the gate at 2:45 and went right to CP. After CP, we rode Pirates, Magic Carpets, Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. It required a massive amount of cutting back and forth to do rides based on times/Genie availability. While I was gone/decided against coming back, I missed the rest of fantasyland, character meets (fine with missing that. just for the niece), and Splash Mountain. Overall, I still think we did very well for the time of year and the amount of time out of the park I missed, but I definitely paid for it (both the wallet and the physical walking toll!). As I mentioned, I'm spoiled I grew up there, we go a lot, so I wasn't heartbroken about missing out on things since I've definitely been there, done that on most everything already, but I'm mentioning this for those who may not be that fortunate and are trying to plan for maybe going once or having a lot that they haven't done/seen but really want to experience.
Overall opinion: I chose this because it was the cheapest option during the most expensive time period, but, if I can help it, I wouldn't stay here again. The room is small and the distance is a LOT for multiple return trips. And, even though the building is far, it is not at all quiet between hotel noise, housekeeping noise, skyliner noise, and fireworks. For me, the noise was a much bigger issue even moreso than the room size. And I'm still not convinced about the climate control issues. I did, despite my reservations, like the skyliner and how easy it was to return from HS and EP for walks. Because of that, I would maybe consider staying here again if I could afford the family suites, because that's more than enough space for the dogs, has a better set up (higher windows and interior entry), and I'd have some better location options but, for the cost, it seems like I could probably just stay in a FW cabin. I may end up back in Little Mermaid again sometime out of budget necessity, but that'd be the only reason for the choice. I would maybe also consider it for a very short 1-2 night stay if we were also going to HS or EP, given the transport convenience but only in winter. I think thunderstorm season is too much of a risk when you need to get back to the room at specific times.
In October, we are trying Port Orleans Riverside. I know it still has the same distance/outdoor entry with weird door placement, and front window problems I didn't like, but I'm hoping the bigger rooms and quieter reputation may offset that. That's about the highest dog-friendly price point I can swing. Given the terrible reputation of the buses there, I am planning on keeping the car with me and just paying the parking. We are doing MNSSHP and HS, so, to avoid having to make return trips on Disney transport, we're leaning towards going to MNSSHP a little "late" around 6, instead of at the 4pm entry, so we can just walk the dogs before we leave and then they will be ok until we return for the night and, for the HS day, going in the morning to hammer out what we can, driving back and taking a very long mid-day pool break, then returning to finish up in the evening. If people like this thread idea/post, I am happy to report back after that trip to let you know how it goes.
If you made it through all this, thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to what others may have to say!
