4 Walt Disney World Resorts to accept dogs

[Incomudro]

Just got off the phone with POR. It now seems dogs will be allowed in any available standard or garden room with no floor restrictions. There will be four areas on the grounds, look at the map, so the dogs can do their business. I'm wondering how many people will be willing to walk their dogs to the designated areas in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. Or will they just let the dogs "go" at the first convient hidden spot?

Often dogs go in the most convenient spot.
They don't/can't always wait.
There will be problems.
That among many reasons, is why dogs don't belong in hotels.
In saner times dog owners understood that.

 

[Incomudro]

Here's my issue with the new dog policy - lots of it going smoothly is contingent on people following the rules. If any of you have spent any time in a Disney FB group, you can very quickly see how BAD humans are at following rules and/or feeling that they should be excluded from the rules, hence all my comments about further abuse of ADA laws.

Temper tantrums to get free (and ridiculous) upgrades? Check!
Fist fights while waiting in line? Check!
Falsely claiming a dog to be a service dog? Check!
Not watching children? Check!
Letting children urinate where they shouldn't? Check!
Flipping out over being given a gray MB at check-in? Check!
Character didn't spend enough time with child - flip out and scream? Check!
Bus broke down = trip ruined? Check!
You didn't plan ahead and make ADRs or FP+ and you want a refund because you didn't get to do anything? Check!
You got too drunk and behaved obnoxiously at 2am and people asked you to be quiet but you flipped out? Check!
The trash can was 10 feet away, so you left a huge pile of trash next to your room door? Check!

I could go on and on and on.

Do I think all dog owners are like this? Heck no. I don't hate dogs, either - I hate humanity's inability to curb its own behavior or to have empathy. I also think there is a large segment of the population that is extraordinarily selfish (see above list) and that doesn't treat their pets with any kind of dignity and will drag them all over God's creation regardless of how the dog feels about it or whether the dog is welcome there, and they will lie through their teeth to do it.

EDIT: Honestly, among some people it's like it's a contest to see who can get the best free upgrades/freebies.

Yea, who's to say any dog owners won't do any of the above plus dog?
Rude with dog.
Rotten kid with dog.
Drunk with dog, etc.

 

[Movielover]

In Civilized times it's usually up to the dog owner to dispose of that waste properly...

 

[Incomudro]

In Civilized times it's usually up to the dog owner to dispose of that waste properly...

And there will be dogs that go as soon as they exit their rooms.
As soon as they exit the hotel, etc.
It's going to happen.

 

[Movielover]

And there will be dogs that go as soon as they exit their rooms.
As soon as they exit the hotel, etc.
It's going to happen.

Yes it will, Everybody poops and it's up to the responsible dog owner to either clean it up or alert a CM.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

When you are expecting a fully functional food court with 6am-11pm when you book and you arrive to find a mess tent with limited hours. Thats not an inconvenience thats a major change in the hotel's offerings just like pools being out of service.

Thats a situation which requires compensation, Sorry but we ALLOW Disney to get away with this kind of bovine excreta

Didn't you get the free pin collection?

Oh, you didn't go.

Yes it will, Everybody poops and it's up to the responsible dog owner to either clean it up or alert a CM.

Bingo! These alleged "problems that will happen" - worst case scenario, what, you encounter poop on the grass? Lawd, how will they go on? Magic ruined!

You'd expect dogs can't reason so well, but humans should be able to do so.

 

[njDizFan]

I think people don’t realize that they’ve most likely already stayed in a hotel with dogs.
At a Waldorf? Hilton? Four Seasons? Marriott? Loews? Etc etc etc etc etc. Many of their properties accept dogs. They do not have some huge explanation on their websites.

Unless you have a phobia and purposely seek out hotels who do not allow dogs, looking for a pet policy on every website, then really you probably have already stayed in a hotel that allows them.

That’s why I think this is being overblown. Everything with Disney is always overblown into a huge drama and ignores reality. Lol



Read my above response.

What it boils down to this whole issue may be a non-starter. There may be very few families that decide to bring their dogs and those dogs may be well behaved. Disney may adopt a fair policy that caters to both people who bring their pet and people who do not want to be near the pets. But we may not know this for many months.

The one issue I have with your posts is that you keep insisting the equivalency of other hotel chains with Disney. Not many people are bringing 2 children to the Four Seasons for a 10 day stay. It's a lot different when you bring a dog for a weekend trip or overnight stay and are not permitted to leave the animal unattended. There are just too many differences to list. Guest activity, room maintenance, child/ dog interaction.

As noted this isn't rocket science but this is a big change for Disney as a hotelier and I hope they are up to the challenge by implementing the right policies.

 

[21stamps]

What it boils down to this whole issue may be a non-starter. There may be very few families that decide to bring their dogs and those dogs may be well behaved. Disney may adopt a fair policy that caters to both people who bring their pet and people who do not want to be near the pets. But we may not know this for many months.

The one issue I have with your posts is that you keep insisting the equivalency of other hotel chains with Disney. Not many people are bringing 2 children to the Four Seasons for a 10 day stay. It's a lot different when you bring a dog for a weekend trip or overnight stay and are not permitted to leave the animal unattended. There are just too many differences to list. Guest activity, room maintenance, child/ dog interaction.

As noted this isn't rocket science but this is a big change for Disney as a hotelier and I hope they are up to the challenge by implementing the right policies.

I think plenty of people bring their children to all of the hotels I listed. I know it’s blasphemy here.. but reality is, people do bring kids on week + stays outside of Disney-related vacations.

 

[disnyfan89]

Often dogs go in the most convenient spot.
They don't/can't always wait.
There will be problems.
That among many reasons, is why dogs don't belong in hotels.
In saner times dog owners understood that.

I've seen kids pee off the side of the Jungle Cruise Boat. Parents change their kid's diapers on their table at LTT during dinner and leave the dirty diaper for the poor busser to clean up. Guests (adults) who will pee their pants (or worse) or throw up and walk away cause they are too embarrassed to admit they had an accident. Lets also not mention the other bodily fluids certain guests leave around in their hotel room or when creating a special magical moment in the parks.

Accidents happen and sometimes there will be a mess that needs to be cleaned up. By your logic humans don't belong in hotels either...

 

[GoofGoof]

I think people don’t realize that they’ve most likely already stayed in a hotel with dogs.
At a Waldorf? Hilton? Four Seasons? Marriott? Loews? Etc etc etc etc etc. Many of their properties accept dogs. They do not have some huge explanation on their websites.

Unless you have a phobia and purposely seek out hotels who do not allow dogs, looking for a pet policy on every website, then really you probably have already stayed in a hotel that allows them.

That’s why I think this is being overblown. Everything with Disney is always overblown into a huge drama and ignores reality. Lol

Let me try to explain this again one more time.

You are completely focused on yourself and assuming that every other person does or should act the way you do. You travel with your dog and stay at various hotels so everyone else should just accept that and it’s “lol” and “a huge drama over nothing” if they disagree. You may not realize this (or maybe you do) but it comes off as pretty condescending when you belittle people and dismiss their opinions as trivial because you don’t agree with them. It’s a free country and you are entitled to act however you want but if you want people to have a civilized, adult discussion it’s not really helpful to just dismiss anyone who disagrees with you.

Here’s the point you are missing. WDW is not the same as a regular vacation. How many other places that you visit allow kids to frequent bars and lounges. Zero. How many other places have the insane amount of dedicated online sites and fanatical regular visitors, not many. It’s not really 100% comparable to a lot of other travel. Many people stay a few nights at a hotel with a pet for various reasons. I don’t think it’s very common for people to bring their dog on a week long vacations at a place where they are spending most of their time away from the room. As I said before, there is literally nothing for a dog to do at WDW. Besides the theme parks being dog free there are no restaurants you can bring a dog to, no dog parks on property, no natural or other attractions where you can bring a dog and even the outdoor shopping mall is dog free. If a person brings their dog to WDW they are very likely to have the dog spend a lot more time in the room than a lot of other vacations. Many towns and beaches are very dog friendly and you could bring your dog on a vacation with you and spend a whole lot of time there actually with them.

Another thing that makes WDW different is a lot of different types of people visit. For example there are people like you who travel to all different places, there are people who mostly go to a more local beach area or low key stuff for annual vacations but infrequently visit WDW and then there’s the Disney people who mostly only visit WDW. The people in group 1 have likely stayed at another resort that allows dogs. The rest of the visitors don’t frequently come across dog hotels so this isn’t something they are accustomed to. I personally spend a lot more time at condos or rental homes then hotels for my vacations and I always make sure the places I rent are pet free. So for people who don’t frequent hotels that allow dogs this is not a minor change. You also will have a lot more dog owners who do not usually travel with their dogs coming to WDW. As I have said before some of those people will use this policy to use the Disney hotels as “dog boarding”. Again that means the dogs spend a lot more time in the room. This is not as likely or common for a lot of other pet friendly places.

A lot of Resort destinations that are similar in nature to WDW have more restrictive policies. As I have stated before, Caesars, which is one of the biggest Casino operates in the world and manages tens of thousands of hotel rooms allows dogs but has specific rooms designated on specific floors of their properties and the per friendly rooms are labeled when booking on the website. Loews at Universal allows dogs but in specific rooms and doesn’t allow guests to leave them unattended. Universal and Las Vegas are similar in nature to WDW in that it’s a vacation destination where people spend a lot of time away from their rooms in places not exactly dog friendly. You keep making the blanket statement that other hotels allow dogs and people probably already stayed somewhere dog friendly so it’s not big deal. While this is true, the policies are not all the same so it’s not a true apples to apples comparison. I can stay at a Caesars or Universal hotel and know that I will not get a pet friendly room and there will not be a dog locked in the room below me or next to me barking. I also suspect that a lot of the other chains have pet specific rooms too. They may not advertise it that way publicly because they don’t want the dog owners to feel slighted, but it just makes a lot more sense logistically to avoid issues with cleaninf and also allergies.

I do think it’s possible for Disney to allow dogs in select rooms at select resorts and it really won’t be a big deal to most other guests. The issues I personally have are with the execution of the rollout, leaving dogs unattended and also not clearly stating that there will be specific rooms allocated to be pet friendly that are lumped together to allow the least amount of interaction with other guests. The overreaction you perceive is really Disney’s fault for not laying out a clear plan and not giving people enough notice. They should have known better based on history that people would have a reaction.

 

[GoofGoof]

What it boils down to this whole issue may be a non-starter. There may be very few families that decide to bring their dogs and those dogs may be well behaved. Disney may adopt a fair policy that caters to both people who bring their pet and people who do not want to be near the pets. But we may not know this for many months.

The one issue I have with your posts is that you keep insisting the equivalency of other hotel chains with Disney. Not many people are bringing 2 children to the Four Seasons for a 10 day stay. It's a lot different when you bring a dog for a weekend trip or overnight stay and are not permitted to leave the animal unattended. There are just too many differences to list. Guest activity, room maintenance, child/ dog interaction.

As noted this isn't rocket science but this is a big change for Disney as a hotelier and I hope they are up to the challenge by implementing the right policies.

You said pretty much exactly what I was trying to say...in like 1/8 the amount of words. Well done

 

[21stamps]

Let me try to explain this again one more time.

You are completely focused on yourself and assuming that every other person does or should act the way you do. You travel with your dog and stay at various hotels so everyone else should just accept that and it’s “lol” and “a huge drama over nothing” if they disagree. You may not realize this (or maybe you do) but it comes off as pretty condescending when you belittle people and dismiss their opinions as trivial because you don’t agree with them. It’s a free country and you are entitled to act however you want but if you want people to have a civilized, adult discussion it’s not really helpful to just dismiss anyone who disagrees with you.

Here’s the point you are missing. WDW is not the same as a regular vacation. How many other places that you visit allow kids to frequent bars and lounges. Zero. How many other places have the insane amount of dedicated online sites and fanatical regular visitors, not many. It’s not really 100% comparable to a lot of other travel. Many people stay a few nights at a hotel with a pet for various reasons. I don’t think it’s very common for people to bring their dog on a week long vacations at a place where they are spending most of their time away from the room. As I said before, there is literally nothing for a dog to do at WDW. Besides the theme parks being dog free there are no restaurants you can bring a dog to, no dog parks on property, no natural or other attractions where you can bring a dog and even the outdoor shopping mall is dog free. If a person brings their dog to WDW they are very likely to have the dog spend a lot more time in the room than a lot of other vacations. Many towns and beaches are very dog friendly and you could bring your dog on a vacation with you and spend a whole lot of time there actually with them.

Another thing that makes WDW different is a lot of different types of people visit. For example there are people like you who travel to all different places, there are people who mostly go to a more local beach area or low key stuff for annual vacations but infrequently visit WDW and then there’s the Disney people who mostly only visit WDW. The people in group 1 have likely stayed at another resort that allows dogs. The rest of the visitors don’t frequently come across dog hotels so this isn’t something they are accustomed to. I personally spend a lot more time at condos or rental homes then hotels for my vacations and I always make sure the places I rent are pet free. So for people who don’t frequent hotels that allow dogs this is not a minor change. You also will have a lot more dog owners who do not usually travel with their dogs coming to WDW. As I have said before some of those people will use this policy to use the Disney hotels as “dog boarding”. Again that means the dogs spend a lot more time in the room. This is not as likely or common for a lot of other pet friendly places.

A lot of Resort destinations that are similar in nature to WDW have more restrictive policies. As I have stated before, Caesars, which is one of the biggest Casino operates in the world and manages tens of thousands of hotel rooms allows dogs but has specific rooms designated on specific floors of their properties and the per friendly rooms are labeled when booking on the website. Loews at Universal allows dogs but in specific rooms and doesn’t allow guests to leave them unattended. Universal and Las Vegas are similar in nature to WDW in that it’s a vacation destination where people spend a lot of time away from their rooms in places not exactly dog friendly. You keep making the blanket statement that other hotels allow dogs and people probably already stayed somewhere dog friendly so it’s not big deal. While this is true, the policies are not all the same so it’s not a true apples to apples comparison. I can stay at a Caesars or Universal hotel and know that I will not get a pet friendly room and there will not be a dog locked in the room below me or next to me barking. I also suspect that a lot of the other chains have pet specific rooms too. They may not advertise it that way publicly because they don’t want the dog owners to feel slighted, but it just makes a lot more sense logistically to avoid issues with cleaninf and also allergies.

I do think it’s possible for Disney to allow dogs in select rooms at select resorts and it really won’t be a big deal to most other guests. The issues I personally have are with the execution of the rollout, leaving dogs unattended and also not clearly stating that there will be specific rooms allocated to be pet friendly that are lumped together to allow the least amount of interaction with other guests. The overreaction you perceive is really Disney’s fault for not laying out a clear plan and not giving people enough notice. They should have known better based on history that people would have a reaction.

I read til “opinion”.

It’s not an opinion that many hotels accept dogs.
It has nothing to do with me bringing my dog on vacation.
It is a Fact that most popular hotel chains accept dogs at many of their locations.

Therefore, if anyone has ever been to a hotel outside of Disney World, there is a strong chance that you have stayed at a hotel which allowed pets.. and you probably didn’t even notice.

 

[MissingDisney]

Sometimes it’s helpful to keep reading. Just for information sake, and not let emotions take over. Good or bad.

 

[JenniferS]

I read til “opinion”.

It’s not an opinion that many hotels accept dogs.
It has nothing to do with me bringing my dog on vacation.
It is a Fact that most popular hotel chains accept dogs at many of their locations.

Therefore, if anyone has ever been to a hotel outside of Disney World, there is a strong chance that you have stayed at a hotel which allowed pets.. and you probably didn’t even notice.

 

[xdan0920]

You guys are arguing with an adult that punctuates her posts with “lol” regularly. Maybe it’s best to do what many of us have done, and use the ignore feature?

 

[21stamps]

Sometimes it’s helpful to keep reading. Just for information sake, and not let emotions take over. Good or bad.

View attachment 239472

Ok, I read the rest of the paragraphs.

@GoofGoof -I say the same as my previous comment.
Unless you are either a pet owner wanting to travel with your dog, or maybe someone with a phobia of dogs.. then I don’t think most people search hotel/resort websites for pet policies. Most policies are not in plain sight, and I don’t think it’s common for a hotel to state “specific rooms in Area A accept dogs” on their website.

I think Disney World is a shock because most people don’t/didn’t realize that most hotels already accept dogs.
There’s over the top comments about how dogs will pee and poop all over outside of the rooms.. I think one person called the policy “trash”. It is IN LINE with what everyone else is already doing. None of these other hotels appear to be having mega issues.

 

[MissingDisney]

Ok, I read the rest of the paragraphs.

- This is highly emotional and charged. No basis (yet) for any of the horror at WDW so far as it’s new. If it happens...well then.... I shared my prior experience and personally, we won’t stay at one of these resorts but I won’t condemn or lump together all who choose to and are excited about the change. And for the record, my issue was regarding animals being stressed. Not people.
I won’t make light of allergies or fears, or question the need for one to take their dog on vacation. I try to stay in my lane. I do wholeheartedly blame Disney, as do others, for this mess. The implementation was horrendous and those who have true concerns have valid complaints. It’s Disney’s responsibly to make it right. No each other’s.

 

[GoofGoof]

Ok, I read the rest of the paragraphs.

@GoofGoof -I say the same as my previous comment.
Unless you are either a pet owner wanting to travel with your dog, or maybe someone with a phobia of dogs.. then I don’t think most people search hotel/resort websites for pet policies. Most policies are not in plain sight, and I don’t think it’s common for a hotel to state “specific rooms in Area A accept dogs” on their website.

I think Disney World is a shock because most people don’t/didn’t realize that most hotels already accept dogs.
There’s over the top comments about how dogs will pee and poop all over outside of the rooms.. I think one person called the policy “trash”. It is IN LINE with what everyone else is already doing. None of these other hotels appear to be having mega issues.

This was actually one of my points. A lot of people don’t know that other hotels allow pets because they don’t stay at those hotels. They do stay at WDW hotels and they are not happy about it. Not everyone who visits WDW stays at dog friendly hotels or any other hotels for that matter on a regular basis. You are assuming that everyone else does everything exactly the way you do. People are all different. This is not my opinion...it’s a fact.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I can tell you with 100% certainty that I have in the past avoided places that allow dogs for my vacations. I rented a house in the outer banks last summer and we did pick one that was no dogs allowed. I regularly stay in condos through timeshares. None of the places I have stayed allowed dogs. When we drove to FL a while back when I still had an infant and needed to stay over night at the midway point in SC I avoided hotels that specifically allowed dogs. Kids crawling on the floor putting stuff in their mouths with pet hair is a bad mix. These are just a few examples and I had my own dog at home during some of these trips. I reiterate again, I don’t have a problem with dogs at all, but I don’t want to stay with a stranger’s pet. I don’t think I’m alone on this.

One other thing. There are always going to be over the top comments on both sides. Ignore it or if you choose call those comments out and dispute them individually, but because people say ridiculous things doesn’t mean that others don’t have a valid point. You are lumping all the people with issues with this change together and then taking the most extreme examples. At least some of us have valid points...I think. There’s a pretty easy compromise that would make the vast majority of people happy but it’s out of our hands if Disney decides to go that way.

 

[GoofGoof]

You guys are arguing with an adult that punctuates her posts with “lol” regularly. Maybe it’s best to do what many of us have done, and use the ignore feature?

I never use ignore unless the person is being offensive to me. It takes a lot to offend me....this isn’t even coming close

Believe it or not I actually think we are not that far off from each other’s viewpoints.

 

[21stamps]

This was actually one of my points. A lot of people don’t know that other hotels allow pets because they don’t stay at those hotels. They do stay at WDW hotels and they are not happy about it. Not everyone who visits WDW stays at dog friendly hotels or any other hotels for that matter on a regular basis. You are assuming that everyone else does everything exactly the way you do. People are all different. This is not my opinion...it’s a fact.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I can tell you with 100% certainty that I have in the past avoided places that allow dogs for my vacations. I rented a house in the outer banks last summer and we did pick one that was no dogs allowed. I regularly stay in condos through timeshares. None of the places I have stayed allowed dogs. When we drove to FL a while back when I still had an infant and needed to stay over night at the midway point in SC I avoided hotels that specifically allowed dogs. Kids crawling on the floor putting stuff in their mouths with pet hair is a bad mix. These are just a few examples and I had my own dog at home during some of these trips. I reiterate again, I don’t have a problem with dogs at all, but I don’t want to stay with a stranger’s pet. I don’t think I’m alone on this.

One other thing. There are always going to be over the top comments on both sides. Ignore it or if you choose call those comments out and dispute them individually, but because people say ridiculous things doesn’t mean that others don’t have a valid point. You are lumping all the people with issues with this change together and then taking the most extreme examples. At least some of us have valid points...I think. There’s a pretty easy compromise that would make the vast majority of people happy but it’s out of our hands if Disney decides to go that way.

I get that.. and I agree with Disney letting people switch right now.

Let’s say people don’t travel outside of Disney hotels, fine. But let’s use an example of The Four Seasons at Disney World. Not Disney owned, but obviously people go there to visit Disney.

Here’s their main page. btw-I’m not arguing, I’m just trying to show that this isn’t going to be the problem that most people appear to think it will be.

Nothing about pets, right?

So let’s check the bottom of the page..

Nothing about pets jumped out.. we’re planning our vacation.. so let’s keep reading about the amenities..

Nothing anywhere about pets.
Now, I want to travel with my dog (hypothetically), so I’m going to keep looking.. let me check the FAQs..

And there it finally was.. in the FAQs. A description consisting of 3 short sentences.

I have to believe that the great majority of travelers are never even checking for that, and that’s why they don’t notice.

Disney being a “omg something changed!!!” type of place has everyone up in arms. I just hope the ones writing letters and calling to complain about this policy stop for a moment and think first.