Trial Run for Dogs in Resort Rooms

[Dis703]

What bothers me is that by starting this policy right away at a busier time of year, that really leaves few to no options at WDW for people who already have trips planned. We leave in 3 weeks and WDW is showing no availability at any resort for our party of 5 from November 9-17. If we were given notice of this new policy months ago we may have been able to switch to a different resort or at least had the option to.

Definitely bad on Disney for springing this so suddenly. I think for many who are fine with moving, and able to do so, saying they were going to start in 6 months or more would at least give some options.

 

[millie]

And if the family goes to the park, even for a half day, where do you propose they keep their dog other than in the room? Assuming they are taking Disney Buses...they leave the room, walk to the bus stop, wait 15 minutes, take the 15 minute ride to the park, spend 4 hours at the park, return to the bus stop, wait 15 minutes, take the 15 min return trip and get back to the room. That is between 5 and 6 hours depending on transportation waits.

As I have said repeatedly I have already booked day care for my dog at Best Friends. Why does everyone assume it will be otherwise for other pet owners?

 

[alicecooper]

Hopefully she has good info but the problem I see is there are two dog relief stations right up against the Royal rooms and preferred. The only way there is to walk your dog by these rooms. They have no purpose unless dogs will be close by. Same goes for AoA.

I completely don’t buy they don’t think many will do this. Disney’s #1 goal is revenue and they wouldn’t be doing all this if they weren’t expecting a cash success story.

agree. they have thrown out their Health and Safety policy after 46 years for dog $.

 

[Dis703]

Hopefully she has good info but the problem I see is there are two dog relief stations right up against the Royal rooms and preferred. The only way there is to walk your dog by these rooms. They have no purpose unless dogs will be close by. Same goes for AoA.

I completely don’t buy they don’t think many will do this. Disney’s #1 goal is revenue and they wouldn’t be doing all this if they weren’t expecting a cash success story.

I thought the same about the Royal rooms, but didn't check the map again to see where the Preferred rooms are.

Only time will tell I suppose. I'm not booking until our trip in 4 weeks, so we'll see if there is any more info by then.

 

[agavegirl1]

Expecting a fire and brimstone rant from Pete?

No, of course not. I was surprised by a few things though...

Allergies and barking were mentioned but not fears and phobias.

The repeated mention of being "stunned by poll results".

Comments:

"Does everyone really believe Disney will not designate pet friendly and not pet friendly rooms?"

"Does everyone really believe people will bring a pet that doesn't behave with them?"

Well, based on CM responses and past performance by Disney and it's guests...yes and yes.

There was discussion of enforcement options which brought on discussion of the lack of availability at Best Friends should a pet have to be removed.

I just thought maybe they might have actually read some of the thread and not just looked at the poll results.

 

[b2k1121]

Maybe someone can look up that local Animal Control phone # & post it so all of us have it at the ready for our trips!

Should we also call the police when a baby cries for too long?

 

[DisneyFive]

I actually wanted to point out that 1000 responses is nowhere near enough statistical responses for the number of people who stay in WDW resorts. There are 25,000 rooms on property, you'd need 2000 responses just to have a statistical response for 1 NIGHT of guests, never mind a full year of guests.

You know the old saying. There are three kinds of lies: lies, d**ned lies, and statistics.

Dan

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think Pete made some good points. He seemed to be focusing on the experience of Universal and dogs and how it doesn't seem to be an issue over there. And he said he is going to try it with his dog!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I genuinely didn't see the other posts specifically referring to mine and I think I've read almost every post! Just the one that you mentioned that I thought was referring to multiple posts in more of a general way! And while I've tried to explain how my frustration had affected my post, I've definitely seen such instances on both sides of the fence. Again, as I mentioned in a previous post to you, as a dog lover, I feel really conflicted about this situation, but I also feel really taken for granted by Disney, where I've spend a whole lotta money over the last 10 years, by the way they've handled things.

And to answer your question - again I think I've established that I think poop is just a tougher clean than the other examples, lol! Others may not feel that way and that's fine - we all get upset about different things - you just mentioned a bunch that people often discuss in a previous post, some of which don't bother me much when I'm there. What will I do if I step in dog poop at POR, you ask? I will probably bring extra shoes for both of us (perhaps I should have been doing it with the sneakers all along and we've just been lucky (I only did it with the Dansko sandals before). I will do that, so if we're in a rush, we can do a quick clean and a shoe change, and then do a more thorough cleaning later! I feel like that's a solid plan! In any case, honestly my biggest concern is being with WDW with a large group slowing me down and the obligations and such. New experience. But no matter what, my girl and I are going to have a very special time together! (of course, my DIS research always helps me in that endeavor.)

I'm sorry about your back to back (to back) vacation experiences. A hurricane would be stressful enough, but to be in Vegas during that horrible event must have been terrible. We have some dance friends (NOT going on the trip to WDW!) whose dad was also flying in when it happened - they were so stressed about it.

Yes, I've been on the community board but mostly just on one thread...although that thread was once referred to as a dumpster fire so there you go, lol! Thanks for chatting!

I'm glad you have at least one concern solved! Hopefully you'll get more as time goes on. The DIS was invaluable in my research for my trip. I truly was so grateful about all the things I learned. I'm glad you guys are going to have a special time together no matter what

Thanks for the comments about the vacation experiences. It was a little bit stressful but we were also staying well away from Mandalay Bay (though we did go to the Luxor and Mandalay Bay several nights later as we had Blue Man Group to go to). There was increased police officers all over the Strip for several days after but then they left. Odd as it sounded while the police officers were there it felt both a calming and an alert concern to us. Probably the thing that stuck out to me the most is there was a girl on the rental shuttle (to take you to the rental car facility) that was crying and seemed like she had been crying for a while. I know the driver of the rental shuttle did mention what had happened the night before so people were aware of why they were detouring and why part of the Strip was closed when we arrived but my mom, who went with us, and my husband and I couldn't help but wonder if the girl crying was because of the shooting and we felt just awful about that being a very real possibility as to the reason behind her crying.

The hurricane was stressful though we did keep ourselves glued to the t.v plus we came armed with a suitcase full of food plus flashlights (which actually Disney gave us another one). Others may not feel the same as me but I was glad it happened during the night (well also that it was not an upper CAT) because I was able to sleep through most of it.

Oh a dumpter fire..yikes lol. It was good chatting with you as well!

 

[wdw4rfam]

I literally just had a CM make fun of me for switching resorts because of this trial dog run. I had booked POR, but figured it was worth it for my family to switch to AKL for about $300 more and avoid the dog issue. The CM laughed and said, "Let me get this straight, you don't want to stay at POR because of a possible dog issue, but you want to go to a resort with all of the animals? RAHAHAHA."

Did you tell her she may have to learn more about the resorts since she works for them?? Last time I was there, the animals did not stay IN the rooms or hallways, or elevators, or walkways. What a moron.

 

[Tink-osophy]

As I have said repeatedly I have already booked day care for my dog at Best Friends. Why does everyone assume it will be otherwise for other pet owners?

I'm guessing availability at Best Friends isn't unlimited, though. Plus, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that, at least, some dog-owners won't want to (or can't) pay out that extra money for BF when they don't have to and so will leave their dogs in their resort rooms during the day.

 

[ponygirl0nj]

Mousekeeping has been on the downslide for a while now. This definitely isn't going to help matters. There are way too many irresponsible pet owners out there that aren't going to return to their room regularly to walk their dog or clean up their messes. I can also understand people's concerns about the fleas, odors and fur. This is going to be a disaster. I feel Disney is going to drive more people away with this decision than bring new people in.

 

[Moneypenny]

I have a stay at AoA coming up in November and sent an email yesterday. I'm a dog lover and owner (although we are between dogs at the moment), but do have allergies to some dogs. My family doesn't want to change resorts as we've never been to AoA and are excited to be a family suite. I'm 99% sure we won't experience any problems, but I asked that I be guaranteed a non-dog room and expressed frustration at the timing of this change which came so late that we couldn't take it into consideration when we made our resort choice. I received a call a few hours later and, while polite, the CM stated that I'd probably already stayed in a room with a dog in it since service animals are allowed in any room at any time. He indicated I couldn't be guaranteed a non-dog room, but since we'd booked the generic "family suite" and dogs were only going to be allowed in the Cars suites, it would probably be fine. I did ask what would happen if we were located near a barking dog and the owners didn't come back within 30 minutes to quiet it. He said they'd be required to come back. I kept asking what would happen if they didn't come back and he just kept responding that they had to. I thanked him for his time and our conversation was polite and professional, but I didn't really feel better about anything after the call.

A couple hours later I got a call from a much more sympathetic CM who basically asked what he could do to make me happy. (I don't know why I got this second call because I didn't indicate I wasn't satisfied with the first call. I think maybe wires just got crossed on all the calls they are supposed to making.) I explained we didn't want to change resorts, so he put a deep cleaning request and a non-Cars suite request on our reservation. I'm now rethinking the deep clean because we want to have our room ready early, if possible, and I truly think the chances that we end up in a room that previously had a dog in it that I'm allergic to are quite low. He's also gifting us with some extra fast passes, but said he was just going off shift and wouldn't be back until Thursday. He's going to call me Thursday when he's added them into my MDE. I'm a little skeptical this will actually happen, but we'll see. I'm not sure a few fastpasses equate to the upgrades others are getting, but he caught me off guard when he asked what he needed to do to make me happy and I wasn't prepared with anything other than a non-dog room, LOL! He offered up the fastpasses unsolicited.

 

[JediBonas]

This thread is really sad to read through. So much hate and negativity. This is why I say I love animals more than some humans most days.

Volunteer in a pet shelter. You might just change your mind.

I have volunteered at a pet shelter, all my pets (well, not my ferrets) were adopted from shelters, my THESIS was a marketing plan for a local non-profit animal shelter, I have animal tattoos, I LOVE animals.

I do NOT, 100% NOT want dogs at a resort I'm staying at. I do NOT want to hear or smell a dog. I do NOT want to be on MDE with a dog, nor should my family need to wait for another bus because someone's DOG is given more consideration then my son and his allergies.

 

[wdw4rfam]

Should we also call the police when a baby cries for too long?

Definitely- then that person can board their baby next time they go instead of bringing it along.

 

[Tink-osophy]

Should we also call the police when a baby cries for too long?

...If the baby has been left alone in the room - yes!

Seriously, I don't think comparisons between dogs and babies are appropriate or relevant.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No, of course not. I was surprised by a few things though...

Allergies and barking were mentioned but not fears and phobias.

The repeated mention of being "stunned by poll results".

Comments:

"Does everyone really believe Disney will not designate pet friendly and not pet friendly rooms?"

"Does everyone really believe people will bring a pet that doesn't behave with them?"

Well, based on CM responses and past performance by Disney and it's guests...yes and yes.

There was discussion of enforcement options which brought on discussion of the lack of availability at Best Friends should a pet have to be removed.

I just thought maybe they might have actually read some of the thread and not just looked at the poll results.

Granted I have not watched the episode (I'm really behind on my Podcast episodes since just before my September trip) so I don't fully know all of the episode (but you bet your butt I'll be watching it in the very near future) but there have been multiple people who have been very focused on the poll results..as in they use that to make their point. Is that not ok for Pete to be focused on that if others are also just as focused on what the Poll results are?

 

[Madame]

Should we also call the police when a baby cries for too long?

You wouldn’t go check & make sure the parent & baby were ok if it went on too long? I would & if I got no answer I’d call the police. But again. A baby is not a dog & is not left alone for hours at a time.

Some of these babies are like dogs arguments are not logical.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I think Pete made some good points. He seemed to be focusing on the experience of Universal and dogs and how it doesn't seem to be an issue over there. And he said he is going to try it with his dog!

I've seen a lot of comments here and other places that point to Universal, which makes sense on one hand since it's an example that's been going on for a while. But on the other hand, I haven't been there but I've heard it's not quite as spread out in terms of travel time and pet supervision. The other thing that I think is a little different, is that I think that they seem to have clearer pet policies. Regarding supervision, it says "Pets should be supervised at all times while in the hotel or on the property", which is very different than saying a dog can be unattended in a room for 7 hours. To be clear, I'm not saying whether or not a particular dog could manage 7 hours, or whether it is people's intention to do that, just that from a policy standpoint, the expectations are pretty far apart.

ETA: I've heard via this thread that there are a lot of pet friendly hotel chains, but I haven't seen other policies posted so not sure how Disney's are in comparison.

 

[agavegirl1]

Granted I have not watched the episode (I'm really behind on my Podcast episodes since just before my September trip) so I don't fully know all of the episode (but you bet your butt I'll be watching it in the very near future) but there have been multiple people who have been very focused on the poll results..as in they use that to make their point. Is that not ok for Pete to be focused on that if others are also just as focused on what the Poll results are?

I was just noting that since he was "stunned" by the poll results, reading more of the thread would have answered some of the questions in his comments as well as provided him with the phobia concern and the responses CMs have been giving to those calling/emailing with concerns which have done little to allay their fears. It would have been nice for some of that to be addressed as opposed to how well trained Abby is and how fabulous this will be for the panel members covering events and stories for the podcast.

That's all. I think the poll results are interesting and have remained consistent throughout. Reading the thread gives better perspective.