Trial Run for Dogs in Resort Rooms

[MikeNamez]

This sounds fantastic hopefully they adopt the policy at each of the resorts. MANY other resorts including some at Universal already allow dogs and you don't hear about any horror stories their. People are blowing this way out of proportion, dogs are no problem. Cats, that's a different story.

 

[agavegirl1]

There apparently are going to be specific rooms where the dogs will be accepted. Does that mean Disney is limiting the number of "dog friendly" rooms at the resorts?

Interesting. Say a dog owner calls for a pet friendly room at AoA but there are none left. The CM on the phone "steers" them to POR or Yacht Club if they want to bring Fido. More revenue for DIS. Could work.

 

[LSUmiss]

It's my opinion and my personal experience does count.

It’s a HUGE overgeneralization. U can’t possible know ALL or even most of the dog owners.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Since it’s only certain resorts, I don’t see the big deal. If you don’t like dogs or are allergic or whatever the issue is, don’t stay there. I will not bring my dog every trip, but I like the option. I have had tough choices to make about going on trips when I had elderly dogs or dogs with chronic conditions that would not do well boarding. I always said wdw should have at least one pet friendly hotel & that they could charge a good bit b/c there are ppl willing to pay that for that privilege.

For those of us who booked a room at one of the new dog friendly resorts, then this is a big deal. In the future I will avoid them, but right now we are at POR, arriving in 12 days, and we have made all our plans already. Most likely we won't end up anywhere near a dog, but it still worries me.

For what its worth, I also get upset when there is a last minute closure to a pool or restaurant at the resort. Disney never seems to give enough notification for big changes to the resorts.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Couldn’t agree more. There are plenty of responsible pet owensrs out there just like there at plenty of irresponsible parents. The ridiculous questions of what will they do when they’re at the parks. IF I brought my dogs, it would be no different than the routine at home when we are at work. I would make a schedule designed to accommodate them. I understand that some ppl wouldn’t want to do all that on vacation but then this isn’t aimed at them. And $50-$75/night is a good bit. I would think anyone willing to pay that a night for the privilege would be more likely a responsible owner as there are plenty of cheaper options.

When we had a dog it couldn't be boarded either, but we always left him with family. And while he was super well behaved and a Very Good Boy, this type of situation and unfamiliar environment would have made him very anxious. As responsible dog owners, we would have known that it wasn't right for our dog but I do feel that these concerns/questions are valid, as not everybody behaves responsibly with pets, etc. And even sometimes people may have good intentions but Disney is the kind of place where plans can easily go amiss. When I read your quote, all I could think of was the Disney "newbie" (and there are a lot of first timers) that has no idea how big Disney is and how long it takes to get around. Even as a fairly experienced Disney traveler, I know there have been many times I've made plans to get back to the resort, and then the line you're in takes longer than posted, you wait forever for a bus, etc. And I've only been dragging tired kids, not worrying about getting back to lonely dog. I know a lot of places allow pets, just something to consider...

 

[Wubar]

This sounds fantastic hopefully they adopt the policy at each of the resorts. MANY other resorts including some at Universal already allow dogs and you don't hear about any horror stories their. People are blowing this way out of proportion, dogs are no problem. Cats, that's a different story.

Oh boy. Now, alongside the current war of dogs or no dogs, comes the new battle of dogs vs cats! hehe *Hide the children, batten down the hatches*

 

[LSUmiss]

It's my opinion and my personal experience does count.

Your pp didn’t say, “in my opinion”
responsible dog owners are the minority. You presented it as a factual statement. Of course it counts for your opinion.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I voted no.

My daughter takes her dog on vacation and has never found a pet-friendly hotel that allows you to leave your dog unattended in the room all day. Surprised Disney will allow that. The Disney upcharge is about the same she pays to leave her dog sitting in a kennel so I can see why people might do this.

Most of the people I know who would actually take their pet on vacation, are also the ones who allow their pet on the beds/furniture. Not where I want to rest my head at night..

I will book one of the hotels that is NOT pet friendly when going to Disney.

I was wondering about leaving the pet unattended in the room - the article says that they have pet daycare available but it doesn't say that guests can't leave pets in the room...just curious...

 

[LSUmiss]

It's 'not a big deal' if making a new reservation ~~ Yes, I will choose a different resort. But I have a Jan YC reservation for Marathon weekend ... no hope of changing that now.
Very disappointed that Disney is implementing this new "trial" on such short notice.

I totally understand that part. I do think it’s crazy that they would make something this big basically effective immediately.

 

[Lisann]

It’s a HUGE overgeneralization. U can’t possible know ALL or even most of the dog owners.

You know it's fine if you disagree with me, but there is no need to be rude. I'm not asking you for stats on your statements.

 

[croach]

For those of us who booked a room at one of the new dog friendly resorts, then this is a big deal. In the future I will avoid them, but right now we are at POR, arriving in 12 days, and we have made all our plans already. Most likely we won't end up anywhere near a dog, but it still worries me.

For what its worth, I also get upset when there is a last minute closure to a pool or restaurant at the resort. Disney never seems to give enough notification for big changes to the resorts.

Fair criticism for sure. I'm going to guess a lot of people aren't booking Disney trips in the next 12 days that it's going to affect you but I get the concern. And it's absolutely fair for people to have concerns about dogs at the resorts. But like I said early, this isn't some new concept for hotels and I think Disney will handle it well. But like a lot of Disney and non-Disney things, people go crazy because something doesn't meet their world view and make comments without really thinking about how things will work. But hey that's why we all enjoy forums right????

 

[LSUmiss]

You know it's fine if you disagree with me, but there is no need to be rude. I'm not asking you for stats on your statements.

I apologize, but I wasn’t trying to be rude. However, I find over generalizations like that offensive. It’s different if you say in your opinion like did later. But making a statement that’s presented as fact, in my opinion, was also rude. To be fair, I do agree that there are many irresponsible pet owners. But, I also think that there are irresponsible parents & ppl too.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

I don't stay at Universal hotels and if they start a widespread " pet trial " at WDW then I will no longer stay there as well. I hope to hear back from GS in the next few days.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I think this topic qualifies as an all out DEFCON-1 DISBoards moment, on both sides of the argument!

 

[fla4fun]

This sounds fantastic hopefully they adopt the policy at each of the resorts. MANY other resorts including some at Universal already allow dogs and you don't hear about any horror stories their. People are blowing this way out of proportion, dogs are no problem. Cats, that's a different story.

I don’t stay at any “pet friendly” resort, because of cleanliness and flea/tick concerns. I check the pet policy before I check the parking policy. Perhaps the reason we don’t hear any horror stories is that the patrons care less about those issues than they care about others. I now have four Disney resorts I can no longer patronize. I can’t take the risk that I could end up in a pet room if the non pet rooms are overbooked. I will not be covered in flea bites if I can prevent it.

I hope it does NOT spread to all of them, unless and until Disney housekeeping improves to the point they can handle the additional burden, including treating for fleas and ticks between guests. They aren’t even cleaning the rooms properly now, which I put down to not having enough staff to give them the time to do a room properly. It’s going to take more than ten minutes a room to take care of a pet room. My last couple stays, I had issues even getting the bed linens changed once in an eleven day trip. They didn’t think this through from a cleanliness standpoint.

 

[Wubar]

But, I also think that there are irresponsible parents & ppl too.

Truer words may never have been spoken. Or typed.

 

[Disney Parrothead]

I HATE THIS IDEA!!! I am not fond of dogs and my husband is allergic, so we'll really have to reconsider where we stay next time we visit. We are DVC members and love staying at Boardwalk and Beach Club resorts for the proximity to Epcot. But with one of the dog-friendly hotels being Yacht Club, we will not look forward to staying in that area anytime soon.

 

[Realfoodfans]

We've often taken dogs to stay in hotels on holidays - but those trips have been days spent WITH the dog - walking, sightseeing, visiting National Trust properties etc - you get the idea. The dog has only been left in the room during mealtime - in fact at one hotel there was an area of the restaurant where dogs were allowed as you were not allowed to leave them unaccompanied in the room. Another hotel in Wales had a dog listening service where you could go in the restaurant and listen in on your pet to make sure they were settled but could not leave them in the day. I still think WDW is not the right place for them.

 

[FlyingBelle]

For those that are concerned about dogs left in the room all day, if I brought my dog (a 7 lb cavapoo) we would go back to the resort in the afternoon, just as many of you do today with little children to take naps.

Worried about dog poop... I can guarantee that dirty diapers end up on the room floors and potty accidents happen with kids too. Unfortunately. I would assume the $50 or $75 fee goes towards extra cleaning. Gross, I know... but it happens. I worked at a high-end toy store years ago and could tell you stories of what we would find on the shelves or the seats of the ride-on toys. Some people are just disgusting.

It looks like DME will only allow service animals, not sure if they plan on changing that policy or not?

A few years ago I would have been in the majority stating no dogs! However, we recently adopted our dog to help DD10 sleep at night (she has an intellectual disability). Pup sleeps in a kennel in DD's room next to the bed. It's been a a great 7 months with the dog and DD hasn't left her room in the middle of the night since! We do a lot of camping in a trailer and take the dog with us, but our Disney trips we're looking at boarding her (either at home or the Best Friends Pet Resort across the street from POR), or renting someplace offsite that allows pets. $50/night is a little steep, but we would consider it because we love staying onsite and having the dog next to DD's bed is a big help for her, especially in over-stimulation environments like Disney. And no, we don't claim her as a comfort animal.

FWIW - our dog doesn't shed at all, my very allergic DS and dad have no allergy issues with her, we give her the flea meds regularly, she doesn't bark (whimpers a bit when the kids go off to school, but that's it), potty trained, she's used to being kenneled when we're not home, and she's allowed on the sofa but not the beds.

 

[croach]

I don’t stay at any “pet friendly” resort, because of cleanliness and flea/tick concerns. I check the pet policy before I check the parking policy. Perhaps the reason we don’t hear any horror stories is that the patrons care less about those issues than they care about others. I now have four Disney resorts I can no longer patronize. I can’t take the risk that I could end up in a pet room if the non pet rooms are overbooked. I will not be covered in flea bites if I can prevent it.

I hope it does NOT spread to all of them, unless and until Disney housekeeping improves to the point they can handle the additional burden, including treating for fleas and ticks between guests. They aren’t even cleaning the rooms properly now, which I put down to not having enough staff to give them the time to do a room properly. It’s going to take more than ten minutes a room to take care of a pet room. My last couple stays, I had issues even getting the bed linens changed once in an eleven day trip. They didn’t think this through from a cleanliness standpoint.

And the great thing about it is people still have several other Disney hotels to choose from just like people do when check the for other hotels. Now people with pets have hotel options at Disney. and everyone can be happy. /sarcasm font on that last sentence. Pretty sure people aren't happy.