Towel Animals

[trene]

Are we allowed to keep the towel animal that mousekeeping does for you? Are they just for looks to "spice" up your vacation?

 

[tubachick]

mine somehow stowed away in my luggage

and now have a happy home

from WL

this one didn't make it home with me, but I am sure it found a nice new home with another guest.

 

[melomouse]

You will get several different responses on this one - many folks say that mousekeeping told them to keep the towel animals and take them home.

We seem to always get them. They're cute. I never "take" them home and my kids don't even ask. To me, it's a special treat when you get back from the parks. But just as I wouldn't be inclined to throw a washcloth or a towel in the suitcase going home, I just wouldn't take a towel animal, and I kind of tend to think that mousekeeping doesn't get to say....

 

[Deb & Bill]

The housekeepers don't own the towels and washcloths. I don't take home towels and washcloths that don't belong to me. I take a picture of the towel creature and that's all I take home.

 

[bicker]

That's really it. The housekeepers don't care -- they're not held responsible for the missing items. Since it is almost impossible to monitor towels, this practice is reflected in higher room rates for everyone, including those who weren't lucky enough to enjoy the towel animals in the first place, which is especially unfair to such guests.

I suspect very few guests actually take them home; if it ever becomes a commonplace practice, I think we will end up being able to log this on the tally of services that Disney would have to end, due to being unable to control how guests react to it.

 

[DVC Sadie]

We would never take towel animals home. I think that the people who do take them home would not have a problem with taking a towel from any hotel and bringing those home as well.I do believe everyone ends up paying extra in the long run. JMO.

 

[Stitchfans]

We didn't take ours home, but I sure wish I had remembered to take a picture of our puppy. he sure was cute. then on our next trip we didn't get one. maybe we will on our trip next spring '07

 

[Carrieannew]

Are we allowed to keep the towel animal that mousekeeping does for you? Are they just for looks to "spice" up your vacation?

I always wanted to ask the same question. But my flamesuit is in the shop. Didnt want to risk it. Thank you for asking. Now we know.

 

[Kahana-ri]

We had two towel animals made for us during Christmas. I automatically felt they made them especially for our enjoyment-so I took them home. I never thought anything of it. When we got home DH saw I had brought them home and was shocked. He was like - your not suppose to take those!
At the POP though they had a table set up for the kids to make towel animals and to take them with them. How do you tell someone, 'great towel animal you made, but don't forget to leave them here'? I believe they make them to keep.
With what we spend at Disney, I am cool with looking at our Christmas towel animals cozy here at the house.

 

[TDC Nala]

I've kept two of them, mostly so they could pose for photos. I left one at the BCV because I couldn't figure out what it was.

 

[daisyduck123]

We took ours home too...mousekeeping told us they were for the kids.

 

[Zim]

I would not have thought to take them home, mostly because we've got more than enough stuffed animals as it is. But I know on the 7-day cruises you can take a towelgami class.

 

[dbenlee]

I would have to agree with Zim, we already have enough stuffed animals in this house. To add towel animals would be over crowding. Besides, I always thought those towels were intended to be reused by Disney as towels or new towel animals after washing.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

Guests steal towels (and everything else not bolted down) from hotels all the time. While it'd be nice if they didn't, the hotels don't care, it is built in to the price. When they order the towels, there is a math thing they do (there are a gazillion formulas in hotels) and part of it counts in how many will be stolen.

Robes are another story. You steal a robe, they'll charge you for it.

 

[digskat]

Those animals are so cute. When we stayed at ASMo we never even had one made for us. Kinda a bummer really, I thought at least one of the 9 nights we stayed there we would have got one.Oh well maybe this year.

 

[Wendy31]

We stayed in a FW cabin last year & got multiple towel animals every day. The kids loved them!

And Dh & I weren't sure exactly what we were supposed to do. On the one hand, I didn't want to offend the mousekeepers who had been so nice to us. I didn't know if we were supposed to take them or not &, if by not taking them, we were offending them. And I never saw a mousekeeper to ask.

On other other hand, I would never take a towel from a hotel so why would I take a towel animal? One of the towel animals that was left was a little purse for my DD which was made w/ 8 washcloths! (I counted!) They seriously didn't mean for me to take 8 washcloths home, did they? It was the cutest thing & I felt bad for leaving it if we were supposed to have taken it because I know the mousekeeper left it especially for DD. But, 8 washcloths!?! I never would have been able to live w/ myself. If we had taken home every towel animal we received, I would have a whole linen closet full.

So, I took pics every day of our new towel animals. On our last day, DD & DS asked if they could take one home. DH & I relented & let them each take a duck home which was made w/ 1 handtowel/each.

And, a year later, I still feel guilty.

So, except for the 2 ducks, we left all of our towel animals. I worried that the mousekeeper would be upset when she came to clean our room & saw that we had left all of them. But I just didn't feel comfortable taking them.

So, I'm glad someone brought this up. I didn't know what proper towel animal ettiquette was. We just kept leaving tips & "thank you" notes!

 

[MzDiz]

I suppose a good way of finding out for sure is taking them to the front desk and saying "I'd like to take these home with me, should I pay for them here?" and see what they tell you.

 

[Brooknwdw]

We have never gotten any towel animals at the Values..however they did arrange my kids' stuffed animals in cute ways while we were gone.

I always wondered what it was all about & that picture is too cool! I figured it was just a plain white towel folded up in the shape of an animal, but that looks really elaborate!

Well, I am the type that would just call the Front Desk & ask....either answer wouldn't bother me but I would not want to have to wonder about it.

 

[terri01p]

Hello- I know for a fact that you are able to take home the towel animals, they are made as a gift to be taken home, there was a thread on this some time back and someone emailed the head of mousekeeping and they responded that they are indeed a gift for you to take home, and as a matter of fact when we were there in september, we had mousekeeping come in to clean while we were there ( my dd was sick ) and she brought in a towel animal and told her to take it home and take good care of it. She told us that she makes them up as gifts to be given out to guest. So if you do get one take it home an enjoy alittle disney magic.

 

[bicker]

Since there was such confusion about whether towel animals could be taken home or not, I thought I would ask for an official answer from Disney. It arrived this morning:

Dear Brian,

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World Resort.

Although we appreciate your interest, please know the towel animals provided by housekeeping are for the guest's enjoyment during their visit with us.

We appreciate your understanding and look forward to your visit.

If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact us.

Please include your full name, E-Mail address, and reservation number if applicable on all correspondence.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Ronda

WDW Online Communications

PLEASE NOTE: All information is subject to change without notice and should be confirmed just prior to your visit.

So there it is, the official answer: No, towel animals are not gifts to be taken home. Sorry.