Walt Disney World Resort Begins Trial of Modified Dog Policy at 4 Hotels

I'm so excited about this. When I stayed at the Ft. Wilderness cabins, I had wished my dogs were there. It would be nice if they had a service that transported the dogs to the Best Friends Pet Care Kennel while you went to the park.

Do you think they implemented this program because the recent Hurricane event in FL allowed guests to bring pets to the hotels during evacuations? I was watching some video of the pets participating in talent shows, etc. and it looked like it was a positive experience for many people/animals. Or was this something they had in the works for awhile? I know there are usually a lot of surveys sent out to guests regarding parks, resorts, dining....maybe there was a pet survey recently.

I'm 100% good about having them in the cabins, it makes perfect sense, especially since there are already dog loops at the campground.

The others worry me. I was surprised at POR (where we frequently stay) that the areas were so spread out. I thought (and if it was me), I would have had the "dog section" in well, one section. Maybe a way to fill the "less desirable" buildings?

We're a family that will have to avoid the dogs. Between allergies and my daughter being terrified of dogs, having dogs, even wonderful dogs who are well controlled won't be a good match for our trip.

We are very excited about this. Our dogs are great hotel travelers and its hard at times for us to find someone to watch them.

I was wondering how long it was going to take for them to see the profit potential in allowing dogs. You would be amazed how many people stay at offsite hotels that allow dogs just for that reason. We have done so a number of times ourselves.

I was there during Irma and we saw lots of dogs around with evacuees. They weren’t any problem. My only concern would be doge who were barkers left in their rooms. I would hope people would take them to the Doggie Daycare if they are out of their rooms all day

Here's another vote for no pets please! We have allergies. When we stay at other hotels that are pet friendly my wife and children can immediately tell if it is or was a pet room. We have to change rooms or leave. It's that bad! I understand that there will be designated rooms for pets only. However I agree with Marlyn that barkers could be problems. Plus I would imagine that the wear and tear on pet based rooms would be greater. Will there be an up-charge for pet based rooms? Will they allow pets to come via Magical Express next?

baldburke;2508075 wrote: Here's another vote for no pets please! We have allergies. When we stay at other hotels that are pet friendly my wife and children can immediately tell if it is or was a pet room. We have to change rooms or leave. It's that bad! I understand that there will be designated rooms for pets only. However I agree with Marlyn that barkers could be problems. Plus I would imagine that the wear and tear on pet based rooms would be greater. Will there be an up-charge for pet based rooms? Will they allow pets to come via Magical Express next?

The answers to your questions are in the original post. The answer to both is yes. There is a $50 or $75 per night additional charge per night depending on which resort. They are also allowed on magical express as well as the internal resort buses as long as they are in a carrier.

I will go ahead and predict that this pet policy will go permanent after the test and will be rolled out to other resorts. I can see them getting an extra $100 per night at deluxe resorts. It is way too much additional money for them to pass up on plus they were losing guests to offsite hotels due to the no pets policy.

The one that concerns me is the "code of conduct" where dogs must be quiet when left unattended in the room. That's all fine, but how will they enforce it? If a family is out at a park until midnight and the dog is barking in the room - it's not the owner's problem at that point. It becomes a problem for the people in the adjoining rooms. We had a situation like this last year at AKL, where they allow service dogs to stay with the family. I have no issue with service dogs - those who really are service dogs. This "service" dog was left behind alone in the room next to us and just whined and barked for hours until after midnight. We called the front desk and security came, and they said they couldn't do anything - they wouldn't knock and they certainly weren't allowed to go into the room. Again, service dogs do a lot of great things. But if the dog was a service dog, why wasn't the dog with the family member it was assisting?

Not a big fan of this new policy, but it was only a matter of time. Seems to me Disney should build a new PLUTO Resort, and make that the pet-friendly on-site place for families who travel with pets.....

missymouseworld;2508060 wrote: Do you think they implemented this program because the recent Hurricane event in FL allowed guests to bring pets to the hotels during evacuations? I was watching some video of the pets participating in talent shows, etc. and it looked like it was a positive experience for many people/animals. Or was this something they had in the works for awhile? I know there are usually a lot of surveys sent out to guests regarding parks, resorts, dining....maybe there was a pet survey recently.

I wondered that as well.

marlyn;2508071 wrote: I was there during Irma and we saw lots of dogs around with evacuees. They weren’t any problem. My only concern would be doge who were barkers left in their rooms. I would hope people would take them to the Doggie Daycare if they are out of their rooms all day

Thats why they should only allow mastiffs. Quiet, don't move for 6-10 hours, minimal shedding, turds are easy to find in the grass.

I am curious, why POR has turned into the experimental resort (the soap nightmare, the dog thing, etc).

ThanxForNoticin;2508082 wrote: The one that concerns me is the "code of conduct" where dogs must be quiet when left unattended in the room. That's all fine, but how will they enforce it? If a family is out at a park until midnight and the dog is barking in the room - it's not the owner's problem at that point. It becomes a problem for the people in the adjoining rooms. We had a situation like this last year at AKL, where they allow service dogs to stay with the family. I have no issue with service dogs - those who really are service dogs. This "service" dog was left behind alone in the room next to us and just whined and barked for hours until after midnight. We called the front desk and security came, and they said they couldn't do anything - they wouldn't knock and they certainly weren't allowed to go into the room. Again, service dogs do a lot of great things. But if the dog was a service dog, why wasn't the dog with the family member it was assisting?

Not a big fan of this new policy, but it was only a matter of time. Seems to me Disney should build a new PLUTO Resort, and make that the pet-friendly on-site place for families who travel with pets.....

I love the idea of a Pluto resort. Maybe this test is to see if there is enough interest before they spent all the money on a new resort. They could have the kennel incorporated with it.

Personally, I wouldn't take my dog to a strange place and leave them alone in a room all day and night. Why even bring your dog if that is what you are going to do?

The service dogs I have seen in the hospitals are very well behaved. They don't bark. They very rarely need to be taken out to the bathroom. They don't leave their owner's side. I have seen some that don't even get a drink unless their service dog outfit is taken off. Maybe the one that was barking in the room was a service dog in training.

I wonder why they chose AoA, one of the newer resorts as part of this trial. Well at least it's only certain parts of it so there's a chance we could still stay there. My son and daughter are both allergic to pets so this wouldn't play out well for us.

Someone posted the complete new dog policy on Twitter: management will call the guests if the dog barks when they're out and they're expected to address the issue within 30 minutes.

I'd be willing to bet that on an internal basis Disney has designated certain rooms for guests with dogs. It makes the most sense from a business perspective, especially during this test phase, as I'm sure they're monitoring wear and tear.

Personally, everywhere I go now I see and encounter dogs. In Target, in Starbucks, on my daily subway commute, outside my house, outside my office, etc. So to me this is simply Disney reacting to this trend.