Trial Run for Dogs in Resort Rooms

[Octoberbaby]

I thought the same about the new YC rooms. The floors won't help with the noise insulation, though. People have already been complaining about that.

Also, a few people are belittling other's concerns on here, they've either glossed over or don't care about a lot of the details shared - I only mention it because my concern is Disney doing the same.

I sympathize with people who have allergies, or whatever reason they couldn't be around a dog. I have great confidence in Disney. I don't believe that they will place families with a dog in random rooms. I'm assuming that at each resort, there will be sections for families with and without dogs. I am sure that the people who do have an issue, could make a simple request, and have a pet free room, that would have never had an animal in it.

 

[mikejs78]

Disney is also sanitizing their twitter feed. My tweets about it were deleted.

Huh? Disney can't delete your tweets...?

 

[TeresaWen]

here are a few questions:

1) the policy states dogs are not to be left alone in the room for more than 7 hours. Who is going to monitor this and what happens when it guests do leave their pets for longer?

2) a barking dog must be attended to within 30 minutes. So what does Disney do when that guest is contacted and they

A. Refuse to return to the hotel.
B. Are well over 30 minutes away
C. Claim they are returning but just don't.
D. Return but complain to management that their day was ruined / missed an adr or fast pass.

And what about the dog that is still barking after 30 minutes (and if I was trying to relax in my $600 a night room 5 minutes is too long)

Are they going to remove those guests from the property? Is a cast member going to try to soothe the barking dog?

This has disaster written all over it. Way too many folks will take advantage of Disney's inability and unwillingness to address guests who do not follow rules.

I truly hope it does not last the year trial.

 

[Tink-osophy]

Disney is also sanitizing their twitter feed. My tweets about it were deleted.

Trouble is, brushing it under the rug doesn't make the problem go away!

How many of us would have much more respect for a company that acknowledged and faced these things openly and honestly?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I live in the Suburbs. I find it pretty easy to avoid dogs. Thankfully, I don't even have any close by neighbours who own dogs. Now, I'm not going to freak out if I see a dog or walk by a dog at a resort by any means. But I'm wary of them and always tense.

I live in the suburbs and find it hard to avoid dogs..in fact out of the 4 other houses on just my end of the cul-de-sac (I live in the curve part so I don't pay too much attention to the straight part of the street) 3 out of 4 own dogs. One of those homes actually fosters dogs. The last dog they foster was a dog a person thought at a distance was a pitbull and thus they decided to shoot the dog..now the dog has 3 legs (but thankfully is still alive).

Out of the 535 homes currently built (with a total of 700 expected) there's a high propbability of a dog near me. Not to mention the other neighborhoods by my neighborhood.

Would really depend on the exact location you live in on avoidability of dogs.

What would happen if one of your neighbors moved and another person moved in with a dog?

 

[Dis703]

Yes, but there are major differences between Disney resorts and "many other hotels". A few that I can think of off the top of my head...

1. These "other hotels" have much more stringent rules compared to what Disney is implementing in this trial run. Pets can be left unattended? 7 hours? No size or breed restrictions?
2. Disney vacations are "Dream" vacations. People plan, research, save for, and dream about these vacations for many months, if not years, before their stay so there is lot at stake and a high sensitivity. Any new policy that has the potential to significantly damage the trip becomes a big deal.
3. I would guess that the average length of stay at a typical "other hotel" is far less than at Disney, so the potential impact is lower. So you have to deal with an issue for a night, or two... It's frustrating, but not something that is messing with your family vacation.

I will say, I think that there are ways that Disney could implement this that would eliminate at lot of peoples concerns. It's very limiting though, which begs the question of why Disney didn't think of many of the real concerns and issues with how they are rolling out the trial period.

1) Dedicate a building, or entire wing of a building to rooms that can have dogs. ONLY those rooms can have dogs
2) Dogs must not be left unattended
3) Approved dog paths and "relief areas" are in locations that are away from other resort guests.
4) No dogs on DME

The only issue left unresolved in this case is for people who have a fear of dogs, seeing them as the dog is being transported to and from the room at the beginning and end of the stay.

Personally, the only potential issues for me are barking, previous dog pee, poop, throw up and fleas in rooms (if they don't dedicate rooms), the risk to us from others' dogs walking around on standard guest paths.

Dan

Thank you for pointing out that there is indeed quite a difference between other random hotels and Disney resorts. When I stay onsite at Disney I'm in my vacation bubble and the resort we stay at is just as much a part of my vacation as the time at the parks. When I pick a random hotel to stay at, like our recent trip to Boston, our hotel is just a place to sleep and shower. And if I stay at the Hilton Garden in just outside of Boston to the North or the Hampton Inn 10 minutes to the West it really doesn't make any difference to me. There are tons of options and all I need is a clean room in a reasonable distance to the places I plan to visit during the day. If one allows pets, no biggy I go to the other one that does not.

At Disney first and foremost I want to stay onsite. And then I pick my resorts based on things like the restaurants, decor, ambiance, the pool, and when the whole family is with us the need for a room for 5. We love the mods for reasons like pp mentioned the peaceful, tranquil nature. With a stay at CBR or POR the time spent at the resort feels like a vacation in and of itself. I don't get that at a random hotel. Everything from the cast members to the perfectly managed grounds to the really amazing themed pools adds significantly to our vacation experience.

With only CBR to choose for an affordable (pet free) onsite stay if we can't get a room there we'll have to stay offsite. While we've done that in the past it's just not the same. And not something I want to do again.

The rules you lay out would be helpful. I'd still book POR if I knew we'd be nowhere near any dogs, rooms that had dogs, or any dog relieving areas during our trip.

 

[Gryhndmom]

Wait, dogs will be allowed to ride the bus to Disney Springs? My son is also afraid of dogs - guess we would have to get off the bus and wait for the next one.

No....Disney has stated that dogs will not be allowed on buses. Service animals are the exception under ADA which also allows dogs in any hotel room that a non ADA person can reserve.

 

[jdd]

Just wanted to post an update on our situation. Currently booked at POR for 4 nights right before Thanksgiving (celebrating my 50th birthday - woohoo!!) DH and DS12 very allergic to dogs / cats. We booked through a travel agent and she feels she can change us to Coronado - she's checking on that for me right now. I also made a reservation at the Embassy Suites Orlando, which is a good neighbor hotel, just in case. This new policy just won't work for our family - if they roll it out to all resorts, we won't be able to stay onsite anymore. I really hope that doesn't happen.

 

[Darbie]

Huh? Disney can't delete your tweets...?

When the tweets are posted on their page they can.

 

[blackpearl77]

No....Disney has stated that dogs will not be allowed on buses. Service animals are the exception under ADA which also allows dogs in any hotel room that a non ADA person can reserve.

oh good - thanks. The first released article from Disney said they would also be allowed on the Magical Express bus.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I sympathize with people who have allergies, or whatever reason they couldn't be around a dog. I have great confidence in Disney. I don't believe that they will place families with a dog in random rooms. I'm assuming that at each resort, there will be sections for families with and without dogs. I am sure that the people who do have an issue, could make a simple request, and have a pet free room, that would have never had an animal in it.

I wish we all had that confidence!

People have already been getting very mixed messages directly from Disney about the rooms and it's not very encouraging.

Plus, that doesn't address many other details like public spaces, walkways, barking etc.

And we don't know what Disney will do when these resorts get busier and room allocation gets more complicated.

 

[dizrazzi]

I love dogs and have always considered myself "a dog person", but not on vacation and not at the expense of other peoples' health or safety. I'm with the majority. Definitely not! The posted rules seem way to lenient to me. I bet someone will come up with an idea for some kind of service dog wear that gets around "regulations". Having dogs on Magical Express is just crazy. Lots of dog get sick in vehicles. The people who like dogs better than people will love it. But everyone else, I'm not so sure.

 

[buzznina]

No....Disney has stated that dogs will not be allowed on buses. Service animals are the exception under ADA which also allows dogs in any hotel room that a non ADA person can reserve.

Not on DS buses but they are allowed on DME buses and minnie vans.

 

[Octoberbaby]

Disney is not going to randomly place dogs all over the resort. You guys should have more confidence in them. I'm assuming they will have a separate section for pets, and they will probably be furthest away from the pools, lobby, etc. If you don't like the idea, make a request at check in to be in a pet free location.

 

[Wubar]

oh good - thanks. The first released article from Disney said they would also be allowed on the Magical Express bus.

They will be allowed on the DME buses. Not sure about the buses which go from resort to parks, but from airport to resort? Yes.

 

[BigAlsGal]

That's it! I'm taking my business to Universal! Oh wait.....

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Disney is not going to randomly place dogs all over the resort. You guys should have more confidence in them. I'm assuming they will have a separate section for pets, and they will probably be furthest away from the pools, lobby, etc. If you don't like the idea, make a request at check in to be in a pet free location.

The map of POR (as posted in the POR thread and elsewhere) shows four dog relief areas evenly spaced around the edge of the resort, including one near Bldg 15 which is rather near the lobby.

 

[dizrazzi]

I love dogs and have always considered myself "a dog person", but not on vacation and not at the expense of other peoples' health or safety. I'm with the majority. Definitely not! The posted rules seem way to lenient to me. I bet someone will come up with an idea for some kind of service dog wear that gets around "regulations". Having dogs on Magical Express is just crazy. Lots of dog get sick in vehicles. The people who like dogs better than people will love it. But everyone else, I'm not so sure.

 

[Tink-osophy]

Disney is not going to randomly place dogs all over the resort. You guys should have more confidence in them. I'm assuming they will have a separate section for pets, and they will probably be furthest away from the pools, lobby, etc. If you don't like the idea, make a request at check in to be in a pet free location.

Looking at the map posted much earlier in this thread, there are two dog relief areas right by the quiet pool at YC.

 

[Dis703]

Disney is not going to randomly place dogs all over the resort. You guys should have more confidence in them. I'm assuming they will have a separate section for pets, and they will probably be furthest away from the pools, lobby, etc. If you don't like the idea, make a request at check in to be in a pet free location.

The dog relieving area is right next to the hot tub and quiet pool at YC. At POR and AoA there are at least 3 of these areas and they are pretty spread out. At YC they are allowing dogs at all levels of rooms including Club Level. There is only one elevator and CL is on the 5th floor so I'm not sure how you separate them from people who don't want to be around dogs.