Trial Run for Dogs in Resort Rooms

[markman04]

I've posted quite a few times in this thread but maybe I should post about my experiences traveling with a pet. I have been several places with my dogs over the years - Washington DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Virginia Beach, etc. And I'm talking right in the middle of this big cities. I would guess the majority of the stays have been at Residence Inns because they are pet friendly and I get points but one was an upscale Kimpton resort. I also stay at Residence Inns even when not traveling with a pet because I just like them. And I will preface this with I know everyone's experience is different and I'm not saying my experience invalidates anyone else(caveats out of the way). Not once in my travels have I seen a dog running around off a leash, not once have I seen a dog go the bathroom in the lobby or a a hallway, not once have I seen a dog be aggressive, and I really can't recall ever hearing a dog bark maybe more than once or twice. Does that mean it never happens. Of course not. But the point is I think a lot of people that travel with pets try to do so in a responsible manner because they are aware that not everyone has a dog or wants to be around them. I'm sure someone will post "what about the irresponsible owners" but I hope people will just read this and see it as an person's experience that has traveled a lot with dogs and use it as an offset to some of their concerns. If not that's ok too.

Exactly what I've experienced.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I think there is an assumption, maybe by Disney, maybe by others, that very few guests will bring dogs. While that would be great, what if it turns out to be such a popular option that a resort like POR gets hundreds of dogs a day. What if a whole bunch of people grouped together for "Dog Days at Riverside", somewhat similar to some of these other independent groups who gather at Disney on their own. I for one would prefer to see Disney create booking categories for dog friendly rooms, just like they do for pool view or garden view, etc. Then set aside a finite number of rooms, just like they do for their other room categories. If the dog friendly allotment is gone, then you are out of luck, just as you would be for any resort that sold out of the room type that you wanted. I am uncomfortable with the fact that a dog owner can just show up with a dog unannounced and they will be accommodated. Until I see that dog friendly rooms are a booking category and there is a set limit, I will be worried about the possibility that dogs will be put in formerly canine free rooms.

 

[Madame]

I do, actually. No reason not to.

Look back on this thread or others & see the condition rooms that were supposedly ‘deep-cleaned’ were left in.

We’ve been to WDW 6x since 2014 and 2x I’ve found human hair in the room. Once I found what looked like 1/2 bag of Cheerios under the couch cushions. WDW’s standards are not high enough to deep clean for allergies on a consistent basis.

 

[mexi]

Just sent Disney an email letting them know how much I like this idea. Maybe others will too.

 

[mercexe]

And I'm not getting why any dog owner would think WDW is a place to bring pets, even with the new policy.
It is not generally a vacation conducive to spending time with a pet, or even just ensuring the pet is happy. A nature-type vacation, like at a lake or a beach seems more appropriate - somewhere a dog can actually do something besides sit in an unfamiliar 300 square foot room and only be taken out to use the bathroom. The policy doesn't seem to have anywhere you can actually take your dog to do, well, anything, besides use the bathroom without it being crated. What exactly does this accomplish? I certainly wouldn't call it a "pet-friendly policy."

Amen to that.

 

[Dis703]

Disney emails folks have posted and some other sources have said the dogs are allowed in public areas and walkways they just must be leashed and maintain control of them. They can even go in lobby, they just can't sit on the furniture.

That cracked me up, like that is the worse of the worries.

It's Disney, if they can sell more rooms, they will. And what if the folks demand to stay in Royal or Preferred (which cost more) plus have a dog ... $ $ $.

I really never saw them limiting the rooms anyhow. Say someone booked with their dog and they check into the last dog friendly room and the toilet is broken or the AC is shot or something else happens and they need another room. They aren't kicking them out they'll give them a room that wasn't intended as dog friendly. Or they allot 50 rooms and more people want to book and bring their dogs. They aren't going to say no to that money. Same goes for the other way around. The only empty rooms are dog friendly rooms and people checking in have allergies. Too bad, you get what you get.

I wonder how many people will go having no idea as well. I guess I'm at least thankful I use these boards and have a heads up. If I booked and found dogs upon arrival after so many years of never having dogs on property I'd be livid.

 

[Tink-osophy]

As a complete aside, can some kind soul please tell me why I'm getting dozens of emails when there are replies to this thread, even though I unticked 'receive email notifications of replies'? What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

 

[LSUmiss]

I tend to think newbies are going to make the mistake of not understanding what a Disney parks vacation entails and bring a dog thinking it will be great to have the family pet with them. Not necessarily getting the logistics of getting back and forth and time constraints, how long rides, reservations, etc. will actually take. How much time it will actually take in the parks to see and do what they want to do. The dog lovers who are all day park goers already likely won't bring their dogs.

And I agree I know many dogs who love their kennel or pet sitting arrangements.

Newfies btw are such GORGEOUS dogs! But wow, I can't imagine the care for that much fur. It's going back several years, but when I was running rescue we had a "celebrity" dog attend one of our fundraising events. He was a Newfie who won Best in Show probably 12 years ago or so in the Westminster Dog Show. His name was Josh and he was just the sweetest thing. We don't see many of them around so I'm sure you must get a lot of attention when you are out with her.

I’m one who doesn’t have a problem with this new policy, but I do agree this can be a definite issue. But, I would hope they follow the rules so then it would only effect their vacation & not others.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Obviously. I'm trying to show how ridiculous the previous suggestion was. The original comment was not about checking to make sure the dog was ok, it was about the dog making too much noise for them and having them removed.

The hysteria over this has gotten to insane levels that I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading this. I'm convinced if Disney announced they were allowing guests to bring assault rifles and any weapons they wanted there would less outrage than this.

I know! This thread needs more puppy pics!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Almost funny because it's so typical Disney on so many levels. One hand has no idea what the other hand is doing and often throws them under the bus. Even within one department they are so clueless about responses and expectations from customers. For a company "known" for their customer service and makes bank on training other companies, how often are we seeing a complete drop of the ball. I don't know how many times I say, if they only had a dozen folks sit around a table and talk out loud about this they would have seen this coming.

AND this is one of those. I think a small gathering of folks with some smarts could have seen the response coming, the belief this is contrary to the great service they have provided for the special populations and at the very least ... hey let's model this after some other hotels who are successful. They messed up their launch, and they are scrambling. Will be interesting to see where this goes.

Agree! And this has been the most surprising thing to me, and yet also NOT! Not that they wanted to maybe try something to keep up with the trend, or that there are such strong opinions on it, but that it is so poorly thought out and the rollout is so poorly executed - on seemingly every level. It's like they couldn't have done it worse if they tried, and yet there are some consistencies (not good ones) in it so far in terms of other things they've rolled out in the past. I agree it will be interesting to see where it goes. They could have hired me - I've always been skilled in anticipating possible problems and troubleshooting, lol!

 

[mexi]

And I'm not getting why any dog owner would think WDW is a place to bring pets, even with the new policy.
It is not generally a vacation conducive to spending time with a pet, or even just ensuring the pet is happy. A nature-type vacation, like at a lake or a beach seems more appropriate - somewhere a dog can actually do something besides sit in an unfamiliar 300 square foot room and only be taken out to use the bathroom. The policy doesn't seem to have anywhere you can actually take your dog to do, well, anything, besides use the bathroom without it being crated. What exactly does this accomplish? I certainly wouldn't call it a "pet-friendly policy."

For this reason I really don't think this won't be much of an issue. I think most people are smart enough to realize this isn't actually good for their pets. I do not expect to see hundreds of dogs on my next WDW trip.

That's your opinion. My opinion is to let the owner decide if they want to bring their dog or not. When my dogs are kenneled they sit in their run and that's it. They are brought out 4 times a day and have one short play session a day all of which cost extra money to do. I have to trust strangers to actually do these extras. I can only go on their word since I can't actually ask my dogs. If they are with me then they will get all the attention they normally do from me and my family. It won't cause them any anxiety and it won't make my anxiety shoot through the roof.

 

[croach]

And I'm not getting why any dog owner would think WDW is a place to bring pets, even with the new policy.
It is not generally a vacation conducive to spending time with a pet, or even just ensuring the pet is happy. A nature-type vacation, like at a lake or a beach seems more appropriate - somewhere a dog can actually do something besides sit in an unfamiliar 300 square foot room and only be taken out to use the bathroom. The policy doesn't seem to have anywhere you can actually take your dog to do, well, anything, besides use the bathroom without it being crated. What exactly does this accomplish? I certainly wouldn't call it a "pet-friendly policy."

For this reason I really don't think this won't be much of an issue. I think most people are smart enough to realize this isn't actually good for their pets. I do not expect to see hundreds of dogs on my next WDW trip.

What do you think most kennels are for a dog? i don't mean that in a personal way, just that you just described most kennels without the pet's human.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Fwiw I also don't think it's fair that this poll had just yes and no. There should always be an "I don't care" or "Yes as long as there's a segregation". I think that would highly change the outcome of the poll.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I would totally bring my dog if I was within driving distance. I would love that.

Unfortunately we have to fly and that is more hassle than I am up for.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I would question whether this a trial or not. It is on their website as a selling point, they have maps, created new rules and policies, prices, installed equipment and removed their current health and safety policy. Seems like they spent a lot time and money on implementing this. After they announced the new service they have ignored 100s of people's complaints without changing course.

Well I think all we can do is treat it as a trial until something is said otherwise.[/QUOTE]

It's really too bad they didn't give the front line CMs more information so they could have responded more consistently to people if they've been planning it for so long. It wouldn't solve all the issues for people, but it would have helped. I will be in the trial period, and will be giving as fair a report as possible (although again, I don't have any serious issues to consider), and I look forward to seeing other's reports before I go. So far for my experience with the trial, I would like more have preferred a more definite answer about my request for a pet free area, but we'll see how things go...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I was going to mention this last night when I read the Touring Plans blog, but I lost track of things...the article brought up some different things I hadn't thought about - it mentioned this about the homeowner's insurance...

"Who is Liable If My Dog Injures Someone/Is Injured By Someone or Damages Something?
Faster than you can say Disney Legal, you can be certain that Disney will have themselves covered by waivers of liability. If your dog injures someone, you will be responsible for the liability. If you/your dog is injured by someone else’s dog, you will have to seek damages from them. Check with your homeowner’s insurance policy to see if you are covered when you travel, as well as any travel insurance you are carrying. You will also be financially responsible for any damage done to the room by your pet above and beyond normal use and wear."

It sparked a lengthy discussion with my DH, since he is a insurance agent and we often have lengthy discussions about insurance related topics . He seemed to think at this point, generally your coverage shouldn't change if you're away from home (like if there is a dog bite at a playground - he deals with these types of claims all the time), however we talked about the increase in pet friendly hotels, which we were both unaware of, and he said that sometimes the industry lags behind and there may be changes in such things if pet travel really is becoming that widespread. As it is, states vary with coverage, breed restrictions, etc. The example he used was the rise in Uber and the like, which I've seen plenty of threads taking about the merits. In MA where we live, there are a lot of insurance issue with Uber drivers that have accidents while "working" - their umbrella policies don't cover everything, and sometimes their regular car insurance won't cover it since it's considered work-related. I mean, he's no expert, I just thought it was interesting and something I hadn't considered, since I don't travel with a pet.

My husband is like you in that insurance talk bored him (but hey I've had to listen to powerplant talk for years lol).

Yeah it is quite complicated when you consider different states and how insurance companies are filed with the DOI (department of insurance). Really though it should be people looking into their policy contract for possible exclusions, etc.

The company I worked for was in over 35 states by the time I left and only 2 had breed restrictions (not surprisingly CA was one of them) I can't remember off the bat the other one but it was in the east coast. All other states it was a "it's not the breed but the way they are treated" type situation. I also saw a lot more dog bites from small dogs but usually the pay out was $1,000 or so. And a dog bite regardless of the breed forced you to have a dog bite exclusion for the life of the policy regardless if you had the dog involved in the incident or not meaning you were not covered for any animal for any incident for the life of the policy. They did actually end up adjusting that policy to where if you signed a paper stating the dog involved in incident either passed away or was no longer in the household you could have the exclusion removed.

Uber has had uphill battles with my area too (so has lyft) and a concern was def.insurance coverage mainly do they carry enough insurance and are they actually covered. And yes personal versus business auto policy was a big thing my company had issues with. I non-renewed enough policies because someone wanted to cover their car they used for pizza delivery as their job under personal auto rather than business and nearly all the time it was found out because they got into an accident while they were technically working.

And I would agree sometimes the industry takes a while to keep up. It does bring up some things to ponder over. I haven't travelled with a pet yet so I'm like you in that it really hasn't made me go indepth and look into what my policy covers. My cat is so not a travel type companion. It's a chore (edited: corrected a word) to get him to the vet as is lol

 

[markman04]

And I'm not getting why any dog owner would think WDW is a place to bring pets, even with the new policy.
It is not generally a vacation conducive to spending time with a pet, or even just ensuring the pet is happy. A nature-type vacation, like at a lake or a beach seems more appropriate - somewhere a dog can actually do something besides sit in an unfamiliar 300 square foot room and only be taken out to use the bathroom. The policy doesn't seem to have anywhere you can actually take your dog to do, well, anything, besides use the bathroom without it being crated. What exactly does this accomplish? I certainly wouldn't call it a "pet-friendly policy."

You would't get it. The alternative for ppl that have pets is to leave them in a kennel or to board them.

My dogs would be much happier waiting for me for a few hours each day to get back, like they do everyday when I go to work, than sleeping in some box at a kennel for a few days.

So it is absolutely pet friendly when you consider the alternative for me.

 

[KarenP64]

I was going to mention this last night when I read the Touring Plans blog, but I lost track of things...the article brought up some different things I hadn't thought about - it mentioned this about the homeowner's insurance...

"Who is Liable If My Dog Injures Someone/Is Injured By Someone or Damages Something?
Faster than you can say Disney Legal, you can be certain that Disney will have themselves covered by waivers of liability. If your dog injures someone, you will be responsible for the liability. If you/your dog is injured by someone else’s dog, you will have to seek damages from them. Check with your homeowner’s insurance policy to see if you are covered when you travel, as well as any travel insurance you are carrying. You will also be financially responsible for any damage done to the room by your pet above and beyond normal use and wear."

It sparked a lengthy discussion with my DH, since he is a insurance agent and we often have lengthy discussions about insurance related topics . He seemed to think at this point, generally your coverage shouldn't change if you're away from home (like if there is a dog bite at a playground - he deals with these types of claims all the time), however we talked about the increase in pet friendly hotels, which we were both unaware of, and he said that sometimes the industry lags behind and there may be changes in such things if pet travel really is becoming that widespread. As it is, states vary with coverage, breed restrictions, etc. The example he used was the rise in Uber and the like, which I've seen plenty of threads taking about the merits. In MA where we live, there are a lot of insurance issue with Uber drivers that have accidents while "working" - their umbrella policies don't cover everything, and sometimes their regular car insurance won't cover it since it's considered work-related. I mean, he's no expert, I just thought it was interesting and something I hadn't considered, since I don't travel with a pet.

So, I wonder if the insurance you purchase from Disney (that they offer with their packages) would cover you if you're bitten by a dog on Disney's property....

 

[wdw4rfam]

Again for those that keep saying that complaining isn't going to reverse this- I think most of us realize this. What we are trying to do now is damage control so it doesn't spread to other resorts. I myself have already come to the conclusion that 4 resorts are off limits ever again( although I probably wouldn't stay in those anyways). At this point, there are plenty of other resorts to choose from to avoid dogs. But I myself, am emailing and letting my voice be heard so it doesn't go any further to other resorts, so that we no longer have that choice.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

What do you think most kennels are for a dog? i don't mean that in a personal way, just that you just describes most kennels without the pet's human.

Beats me, I don't have a dog. Most places around here seem to be set up like a doggie day camp, with people to play with them, etc. Otherwise most people I know use dogsitters and leave their dog in the home environment they are familiar with and have someone come over to care for the dog. I get this is not an option for everyone. But it seems to me the care that imposes the least stress on the pet is probably the best option. I wouldn't guess that traveling with one to WDW falls in that category.