Magic Kingdom...not so magical.

[jloucks]

A real service dog is something you don't notice.

They're quiet, focused and keep to themselves.

Quoted for truth.

The second there is any kind of spectacle, you are probably dealing with a fraudulent dog.

 

[jloucks]

I mixed up my animals. There's Poodle Lady, there's the poodle I saw being dragged around for photos, and the doge at the Pluto m&g.

I'm not an expert, maybe this is a medically or psychologically necessary service animal, so I obscured the head. Here is a guest - Disney bounding as Pluto himself - taking his animal to Pluto to be petted. A curious sight so I snatched a discrete photo from afar.
(Incidentally, I thought these animals usually have aggressive notes on them explaining how it's a criminal offence to pet a service dog...)

View attachment 432187

Right off the bat I notice that this dog is a breed that, for many good reasons, is generally selected for service animal use. My gut feeling is 95% of all legit, professional trained, service animals are labs/goldens. So, I am leaning towards legit on this case. (yes, I do know about the legit poodle school out there, that is the other 5% )

It is not a criminal offense to pet a service dog. At least, not in Texas. This is a good thing as toddlers and little kids do not read and constantly grope the service dogs in the school my daughter works for.

Now, if you are distracting the animal without permission and the owner runs into a pole, you would probably be liable for the visit to the Ready Clinic and a few stitches. ...so best not to distract the working animals.

Hint: a professional animal will not be distracted by anything in the environment that is not being offensive. No squirrels, cats, fire jugglers, other dogs, etc. are going to distract the animal. You are going to have to run up and start molesting the animal to cause a distraction. If the animal is jumping at you for a pet, it is likely a scam animal. LOTS of training goes into anti-distraction. My daughter was in FAA and raised rabbits, so we had some around the house. The school borrowed them to use in training. The dogs are trained to walk right by a cute live little wiggly bunny! For a dog, that is the gold standard of distraction prevention training. If the dogs do not master this, they flunk out!

 

[mlee10]

@jloucks pretty sure you and I have had this discussion sometime ago.

As the owner of a service dog I will say the following:

Our dog has extensive training and is insured on a separate insurance policy. My daughter has epilepsy and anxiety. While both conditions are treated with meds, Nala is an extra layer of comfort and care for her. We have done 2 trips to Disney since owning Nala and have never brought her with. We are doing a trip in March and she will be coming this time. The reasoning behind not bringing her the last two trips is that we did not want to give her added stress as she was still very young. Since we have now had her for several years and have introduced her to many large events (football games, hockey games, amusement parks) we are confident she can handle anything thrown at her as this is her "Job". We will not bring her everywhere with us and will only bring her with us if we feel Layla needs her. She will actually be far more comfort to Layla when we get back to the hotel room for rests and at night.

There is a major difference between and "emotional support" dog and an actual working "service dog". Service dogs have hours and hours of training and as stated before should blend in. Nala wears a harness and a bandanna that all identify her as a service animal with signs that say "do not pet, I'm working". When in a restaurant she lays right at Layla's feet the entire time. The idea of people using their emotional support animals and service dogs is frustrating and so wrong. They are doing damage to their animal.

I will say that we would probably bring Nala to meet pluto if she was in the parks with us and we saw him, just because I think it would be

a great photo!

Side note: We DO NOT get upset if kids or toddlers run up to pet her, we do try to kindly educate. But, for the most part, unless Layla is having a really bad day, we will let anyone who asks pet her. Nala is very social and super friendly. Most people don't ask to pet her, I'm sure part of that is because of the breed!

 

[Rosanne]

Spent the day (Monday 12/9) at the Magic Kingdom and I have to say, it was rather underwhelming.

We parked at TTC about noon and planned on heading to the entrance to take the boat to WL for lunch at Whispering Canyon. Construction was a nightmare, I can't imagine the chaos at park opening.

Was a beautiful day so the boat to the lodge was wonderful as was lunch. Great service and food. The lodge is just amazing at the holidays.

Once back at the park, not so much. Had a FP for Buzz. The posted stand by wait time was 50 min, the line for FP was about 15 min before we scanned our bands and then another 30 min once inside. Same thing happened with our FP for Jungle (Jingle) Cruise. FP at the MK seems like a failed attempt. Have AP and FP seems much better and controlled at the other 3 parks. Did stand by for Big Thunder with a posted wait time of 50 min and were on in 30 min, again the FP queue was lined up beyond the entrance.

Did mobile order for Dole whip and was so convenient, don't know why more people weren't using the service, but better off for me.

The "service dog" thing is completely out of hand. This is becoming common everywhere, not just WDW. There were 2 dogs at lunch that were obviously not trained. They were eating scraps off the table. We saw another dog on the boat shaking so hard, I thought it was going to have a heart attack. Also about 5 in the park that looked so lost, confused and overwhelmed in the crowds. I love my dog and would never put him through the torture of bringing him to a theme park. I consider it abuse. However we did see one that was obviously a trained working service animal. The difference is night and day.

With the FP and Play apps, it is just sad to see so many people wandering with their faces in their phones, not to mention stopping in the middle of a crowded walkway or just walking into me and others. Phones are the new scooters and strollers causing accidents.

The park itself seems so outdated, worn and dirty. I understand budgets but I also know profits. Still don't understand why "Under the Sea" is an omni mover and not trackless. Many of the "face" characters don't even look or act like their counterpart. So many CMs just look unhappy. Even with half of EPCOT under construction, it has been a better experience. With the new Skyliner, the rest of WDW seems to be fresh and evolving while leaving the MK behind.

The place is really showing that it is 50 years old and a new and improved entrance experience isn't going to help.

We are FL resident season passholders & after 10 yrs we are ready to "Hang Up Our Ears"...we were at MK yesterday. After driving for one hour, parking our car & walking to gate, we were told that the park would be closing at 6 pm because "Mickey's Xmas Party" needed an extra ticket ($$) and they were sold out!! But, she sweetly told us we could always stay there until 6 and then go to the other parks. Two were closing at 7 and one at 9:30. However, we were there to see the show on the castle at 9:00 pm. "Too bad," she said. So our pass was not valid for Tues after 6pm because of the Xmas party. Well, I recently had knee surgery & was prepared to rent a scooter - but I was not willing to pay $ 60 for 3 or 4 hours. We had arrived at 2:30 pm expecting to stay at MK until 10 pm for the show. We all know it takes almost an hour to get in & out of each park. By the time we were told about the closing at 6 pm, it was already 3. We took the Monorail to MK and were able to get on 2 rides. All in all, we are disgusted with Magic Hours & Special Parties that cost extra $$$. It limits passholders time in the parks. And forget "Fast Passes" as all of the people at the resorts get them 60 days ahead. We can only do 30 days and by then everything is gone. Since most of those people are visiting one time only from other states or countries - we feel left out of the loop even tho we are paying every month year round to visit the parks. In addition - it doesnt seem to matter anymore even when you visit the parks on days the kids are in school (during the week) as parents dont seem to mind taking their kids out of school for one day so they dont have to wait in line. AND how about we seniors that have been faithful Disney customers for 50 yrs (Disneyland & Disneyworld)? How about allowing the seniors to use the fast pass lanes as they are unable to wait in 3 hour long lines, especially in the heat?? Pandora Flight of Passage we have managed to get in ONCE since it opened. And I figure we will be dead and gone by the time we would be able to get into Star Wars. With Magic Hours before & after & special Parties limiting our time now in the parks - all of the fun has gone out of our visits. We have also noticed, instead of it being the happiest place on earth, people are angry after long line waits with children that are bored and screaming. Somehow, I dont see Walt as liking these new parks. He must be rolling. (BTW - we also commented that the parks arent as clean as they used to be). It's just too crowded. The end of my rant.

 

[NickMaio]

I don't believe that many folks doubt that animals can have a place in treatment. Rather, the question is, is it necessary to bring a service animal to a trip to Disney (or anywhere else for that matter) where it appears to be a mere luxury or convenience, as opposed to a legitimate need?

For some people - a resounding Yes.
I am sorry but any form of treatment for mental issues are not a luxury.
The challenge right now is that you do not need any documentation or physician referral for a support animal.
Of course I am talking about people who have trained proper support animals for numerous issues.

 

[bsiev1977]

We are FL resident season passholders & after 10 yrs we are ready to "Hang Up Our Ears"...we were at MK yesterday. After driving for one hour, parking our car & walking to gate, we were told that the park would be closing at 6 pm because "Mickey's Xmas Party" needed an extra ticket ($$) and they were sold out!! But, she sweetly told us we could always stay there until 6 and then go to the other parks. Two were closing at 7 and one at 9:30. However, we were there to see the show on the castle at 9:00 pm. "Too bad," she said. So our pass was not valid for Tues after 6pm because of the Xmas party. Well, I recently had knee surgery & was prepared to rent a scooter - but I was not willing to pay $ 60 for 3 or 4 hours. We had arrived at 2:30 pm expecting to stay at MK until 10 pm for the show. We all know it takes almost an hour to get in & out of each park. By the time we were told about the closing at 6 pm, it was already 3. We took the Monorail to MK and were able to get on 2 rides. All in all, we are disgusted with Magic Hours & Special Parties that cost extra $$$. It limits passholders time in the parks. And forget "Fast Passes" as all of the people at the resorts get them 60 days ahead. We can only do 30 days and by then everything is gone. Since most of those people are visiting one time only from other states or countries - we feel left out of the loop even tho we are paying every month year round to visit the parks. In addition - it doesnt seem to matter anymore even when you visit the parks on days the kids are in school (during the week) as parents dont seem to mind taking their kids out of school for one day so they dont have to wait in line. AND how about we seniors that have been faithful Disney customers for 50 yrs (Disneyland & Disneyworld)? How about allowing the seniors to use the fast pass lanes as they are unable to wait in 3 hour long lines, especially in the heat?? Pandora Flight of Passage we have managed to get in ONCE since it opened. And I figure we will be dead and gone by the time we would be able to get into Star Wars. With Magic Hours before & after & special Parties limiting our time now in the parks - all of the fun has gone out of our visits. We have also noticed, instead of it being the happiest place on earth, people are angry after long line waits with children that are bored and screaming. Somehow, I dont see Walt as liking these new parks. He must be rolling. (BTW - we also commented that the parks arent as clean as they used to be). It's just too crowded. The end of my rant.

You’ve been a pass holder for 10 years, but you don’t know that they have the Christmas parties this time of year? Or you don’t double check the hours before you make the trip?

 

[KBLovedDisney]

please tell me “KB” doesn’t stand for KatieBug...!!!!!

But seriously, I am not THAT evil...

 

[KBLovedDisney]

OP, it really wasn't your passage that gave me KB vibes but more so your thread title. No harm, no foul. Unfortunately, Disney services have seemed to be going down slightly through the years and the FP system is so freakin confusing and can be somewhat of a hassle.

You no troll. I'm no troll...that you know of.

 

[jloucks]

@jloucks pretty sure you and I have had this discussion sometime ago.

As the owner of a service dog I will say the following:

Our dog has extensive training and is insured on a separate insurance policy. My daughter has epilepsy and anxiety. While both conditions are treated with meds, Nala is an extra layer of comfort and care for her. We have done 2 trips to Disney since owning Nala and have never brought her with. We are doing a trip in March and she will be coming this time. The reasoning behind not bringing her the last two trips is that we did not want to give her added stress as she was still very young. Since we have now had her for several years and have introduced her to many large events (football games, hockey games, amusement parks) we are confident she can handle anything thrown at her as this is her "Job". We will not bring her everywhere with us and will only bring her with us if we feel Layla needs her. She will actually be far more comfort to Layla when we get back to the hotel room for rests and at night.

There is a major difference between and "emotional support" dog and an actual working "service dog". Service dogs have hours and hours of training and as stated before should blend in. Nala wears a harness and a bandanna that all identify her as a service animal with signs that say "do not pet, I'm working". When in a restaurant she lays right at Layla's feet the entire time. The idea of people using their emotional support animals and service dogs is frustrating and so wrong. They are doing damage to their animal.

I will say that we would probably bring Nala to meet pluto if she was in the parks with us and we saw him, just because I think it would be

a great photo!View attachment 432215

Side note: We DO NOT get upset if kids or toddlers run up to pet her, we do try to kindly educate. But, for the most part, unless Layla is having a really bad day, we will let anyone who asks pet her. Nala is very social and super friendly. Most people don't ask to pet her, I'm sure part of that is because of the breed!

Yes, we have had this discussion over the years. My daughter is still training dogs, against parental advice. I think she should be 100% focused on her studies now that she is at college, but better than a boyfriend so hey, win win? She has her, I think, 6th dog now. Only one completely flunked out, so she is a really good trainer. Oh, and we adopted the flunky, he is now a simple pet. A pet that goes to the potty on command, follows point direction better than a toddler, and walks next to you perfectly and without distraction while on walks. No, we don't present the flunky as a legit dog, ever. he is just a pet. Sidenote: he flunked out for hoarding. Seriously, we could not train him to not hoard fluffy stuff. Toys, pillows, towels, scarves, barbies, anything fluffy he would pile up first chance he got. We had one other dog demoted for traffic distraction, but he still got a job, but just not leading a blind person.

I don't get upset so much when the toddlers and preschoolers paw at the dogs so much as I do with the parents. The vest clearly says no touching but yet....

Honestly tho... that is also part of the training. You don't want a dog to be startled at a random toddler pack groping. Those kids stick their fingers everywhere. ...anything that looks like a button gets pressed.

Yea, our dogs are insured for $50,000 each through the school. Seems kinda high, but accidents could happen. Some super strict rules on what the dogs can do in their off time. For starters zero unsupervised yard time. ever. This one is one of the harder ones.

 

[NickMaio]

@jloucks pretty sure you and I have had this discussion sometime ago.

As the owner of a service dog I will say the following:

Our dog has extensive training and is insured on a separate insurance policy. My daughter has epilepsy and anxiety. While both conditions are treated with meds, Nala is an extra layer of comfort and care for her. We have done 2 trips to Disney since owning Nala and have never brought her with. We are doing a trip in March and she will be coming this time. The reasoning behind not bringing her the last two trips is that we did not want to give her added stress as she was still very young. Since we have now had her for several years and have introduced her to many large events (football games, hockey games, amusement parks) we are confident she can handle anything thrown at her as this is her "Job". We will not bring her everywhere with us and will only bring her with us if we feel Layla needs her. She will actually be far more comfort to Layla when we get back to the hotel room for rests and at night.

There is a major difference between and "emotional support" dog and an actual working "service dog". Service dogs have hours and hours of training and as stated before should blend in. Nala wears a harness and a bandanna that all identify her as a service animal with signs that say "do not pet, I'm working". When in a restaurant she lays right at Layla's feet the entire time. The idea of people using their emotional support animals and service dogs is frustrating and so wrong. They are doing damage to their animal.

I will say that we would probably bring Nala to meet pluto if she was in the parks with us and we saw him, just because I think it would be

a great photo!View attachment 432215

Side note: We DO NOT get upset if kids or toddlers run up to pet her, we do try to kindly educate. But, for the most part, unless Layla is having a really bad day, we will let anyone who asks pet her. Nala is very social and super friendly. Most people don't ask to pet her, I'm sure part of that is because of the breed!

Thanks for sharing - - - Hope your trip is a blast

 

[DryerLintFan]

Yes, we have had this discussion over the years. My daughter is still training dogs, against parental advice. I think she should be 100% focused on her studies now that she is at college, but better than a boyfriend so hey, win win? She has her, I think, 6th dog now. Only one completely flunked out, so she is a really good trainer. Oh, and we adopted the flunky, he is now a simple pet. A pet that goes to the potty on command, follows point direction better than a toddler, and walks next to you perfectly and without distraction while on walks. No, we don't present the flunky as a legit dog, ever. he is just a pet. Sidenote: he flunked out for hoarding. Seriously, we could not train him to not hoard fluffy stuff. Toys, pillows, towels, scarves, barbies, anything fluffy he would pile up first chance he got. We had one other dog demoted for traffic distraction, but he still got a job, but just not leading a blind person.

I don't get upset so much when the toddlers and preschoolers paw at the dogs so much as I do with the parents. The vest clearly says no touching but yet....

Honestly tho... that is also part of the training. You don't want a dog to be startled at a random toddler pack groping. Those kids stick their fingers everywhere. ...anything that looks like a button gets pressed.

Yea, our dogs are insured for $50,000 each through the school. Seems kinda high, but accidents could happen. Some super strict rules on what the dogs can do in their off time. For starters zero unsupervised yard time. ever. This one is one of the harder ones.

I have a foster dog that hoards, right now. She likes to collect shoes and put them in her bed. Doesn't chew them or anything. I guess she just likes stinky feet

 

[NickMaio]

We are FL resident season passholders & after 10 yrs we are ready to "Hang Up Our Ears"...we were at MK yesterday. After driving for one hour, parking our car & walking to gate, we were told that the park would be closing at 6 pm because "Mickey's Xmas Party" needed an extra ticket ($$) and they were sold out!! But, she sweetly told us we could always stay there until 6 and then go to the other parks. Two were closing at 7 and one at 9:30. However, we were there to see the show on the castle at 9:00 pm. "Too bad," she said. So our pass was not valid for Tues after 6pm because of the Xmas party. Well, I recently had knee surgery & was prepared to rent a scooter - but I was not willing to pay $ 60 for 3 or 4 hours. We had arrived at 2:30 pm expecting to stay at MK until 10 pm for the show. We all know it takes almost an hour to get in & out of each park. By the time we were told about the closing at 6 pm, it was already 3. We took the Monorail to MK and were able to get on 2 rides. All in all, we are disgusted with Magic Hours & Special Parties that cost extra $$$. It limits passholders time in the parks. And forget "Fast Passes" as all of the people at the resorts get them 60 days ahead. We can only do 30 days and by then everything is gone. Since most of those people are visiting one time only from other states or countries - we feel left out of the loop even tho we are paying every month year round to visit the parks. In addition - it doesnt seem to matter anymore even when you visit the parks on days the kids are in school (during the week) as parents dont seem to mind taking their kids out of school for one day so they dont have to wait in line. AND how about we seniors that have been faithful Disney customers for 50 yrs (Disneyland & Disneyworld)? How about allowing the seniors to use the fast pass lanes as they are unable to wait in 3 hour long lines, especially in the heat?? Pandora Flight of Passage we have managed to get in ONCE since it opened. And I figure we will be dead and gone by the time we would be able to get into Star Wars. With Magic Hours before & after & special Parties limiting our time now in the parks - all of the fun has gone out of our visits. We have also noticed, instead of it being the happiest place on earth, people are angry after long line waits with children that are bored and screaming. Somehow, I dont see Walt as liking these new parks. He must be rolling. (BTW - we also commented that the parks arent as clean as they used to be). It's just too crowded. The end of my rant.

Please let WDW know this -
I will echo your sentiments whole heartedly - - - - it has become such a money grubby greedy company lately.
We were there last August - - and experienced the same booted out at 6pm for the Halloween parties, in AUGUST!!! Come on now WDW.

 

[mlee10]

Please let WDW know this -
I will echo your sentiments whole heartedly - - - - it has become such a money grubby greedy company lately.
We were there last August - - and experienced the same booted out at 6pm for the Halloween parties, in AUGUST!!! Come on now WDW.

It would seem to me that the smart thing to do would be to allow annual pass holders to stay for whatever parties they want to stay for and not charge them extra. Give another incentive for people to become passholders.

As someone who is not a passholder, I have no problem with passholders getting major benefits, they pay enough money!

 

[DryerLintFan]

It would seem to me that the smart thing to do would be to allow annual pass holders to stay for whatever parties they want to stay for and not charge them extra. Give another incentive for people to become passholders.

As someone who is not a passholder, I have no problem with passholders getting major benefits, they pay enough money!

Most pass holders actually save a LOT of money. Food and merch discounts, free photopass downloads, park hopper included, free parking at the parks, and they already get a discount on the special event ticket prices.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Please let WDW know this -
I will echo your sentiments whole heartedly - - - - it has become such a money grubby greedy company lately.
We were there last August - - and experienced the same booted out at 6pm for the Halloween parties, in AUGUST!!! Come on now WDW.

It would be nice IF you could enjoy the time in the MK until 6pm! The problem is (at least for us regular paying customers) that they let the party goers in at 4 or 4:30!!!!! I have been in the MK when the hoards were let in. It was awful. Forget getting on the rides without long, long waits, and it was actually dangerous trying to get around all the crowds of people in the walkways. It seems that those of use who don't do the parties and pay for our day get the short end of the stick. If the party starts at 7pm, then please Disney, let them in at 7pm. I don't have a problem with the party goers taking advantage of this perk, but it just seems unfair to the regular park goers.

 

[Lilofan]

It would be nice IF you could enjoy the time in the MK until 6pm! The problem is (at least for us regular paying customers) that they let the party goers in at 4 or 4:30!!!!! I have been in the MK when the hoards were let in. It was awful. Forget getting on the rides without long, long waits, and it was actually dangerous trying to get around all the crowds of people in the walkways. It seems that those of use who don't do the parties and pay for our day get the short end of the stick. If the party starts at 7pm, then please Disney, let them in at 7pm. I don't have a problem with the party goers taking advantage of this perk, but it just seems unfair to the regular park goers.

Isn't that a perk for DVC members that they get that VIP early access to the party?

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Isn't that a perk for DVC members that they get that VIP early access to the party?

I don't know? But I put it on Disney for doing this. I don't judge people for taking advantage of it; I probably would too if I could
I just think there are more and more of these parties which restricts the park times for regular paying guests, is all. I blame Disney for the money grab and the conditions that led up to it. IMO

 

[NickMaio]

It is such a greasy money grab - - - once and a while would make them "special" events, but when they are multiple times per week its ridiculous.

 

[DryerLintFan]

It would be nice IF you could enjoy the time in the MK until 6pm! The problem is (at least for us regular paying customers) that they let the party goers in at 4 or 4:30!!!!! I have been in the MK when the hoards were let in. It was awful. Forget getting on the rides without long, long waits, and it was actually dangerous trying to get around all the crowds of people in the walkways. It seems that those of use who don't do the parties and pay for our day get the short end of the stick. If the party starts at 7pm, then please Disney, let them in at 7pm. I don't have a problem with the party goers taking advantage of this perk, but it just seems unfair to the regular park goers.

Isn't that a perk for DVC members that they get that VIP early access to the party?

Definitely not just a perk for DVC. We've been to two parties, one they let us in at 4 and one they let everyone in at 6. If you read the posts about the parties on this board you'll see the "norm" is to be let in at 4 and Disney will actually let you book fastpasses from 4 to 7

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

It is such a greasy money grab - - - once and a while would make them "special" events, but when they are multiple times per week its ridiculous.

The "special event" now is when the MK stays open to 11pm for us commoners. I'm waiting for Disney to charge more for those days.