Experiences at Dog-Friendly Disney Resorts

[focusondisney]

We also just returned from POR (Jan29 -Feb1). We saw 2 different small dogs on Monday afternoon on the walkway from the food court to the pool area/ bayou rooms. I did not see if they had been in the building or not. That was it, never saw another dog or heard any barking. We were in building 36 & walked to the lobby several times & from POFQ one afternoon.

We only saw 1 dog in the parks, a golden retriever I think. He had a service dog training vest on.

 

[116EV]

If you have an experience (good or bad) at one of the four dog-friendly Disney resorts, please share it here.

If you brought your dog(s) and you’d like to tell us how it went, please do!

If you’re not a fan of dogs and you want to relate an experience you had at one of these resorts, please do!

This thread is a bit of an experiment, so there may be some changes to the format and “rules of the road" as time goes on.

Here are the ground rules for this thread:

1) NO DEBATE. Any posts other than reports of experiences with dogs will be removed. If you have questions about the policy, or want to discuss the policy, there's probably a thread on the dog policy on the Resorts board. If you can't find one, feel free to start a new one.

2) You’ll notice that I haven’t invited reports of dogs in theme parks or resorts not participating in the trial. That’s because at this point, we have to assume that those dogs are service dogs, and are there with the knowledge and approval of the resort or theme park. This thread isn’t the place to discuss that. If you want to complain about the presence or validity of service dogs at WDW, send it to this address: WDW.Guest.Communications@disneyworld.com

3) NEW: Please don’t copy and paste social media posts about experiences with dogs at Disney resorts. The purpose of this thread is to report YOUR personal experiences. Otherwise, we’re just going to end up with yet another out-of-control argument thread where people argue their side by pasting in Twitter and Facebook posts that support their position. Any such posts from external sites will be deleted.

So we recently found out about this from a friend. Interesting back in December we stayed on property and I saw a woman walking a couple of dogs. I had no idea what to make of it. But her dogs were well behaved as we passed each other. So my experience was a good one.

 

[hllb]

We did not stay at a dog friendly resort but saw 4 dogs in parks. 3 at AK which were absolutely service dogs. The 3 owners all wore medical alert sashes in addition to the dogs’ vests. The other was at EP. it was a small yorkie and sat in the lap of its owner in a wheelchair. Well behaved but probably not a service dog.

 

[brave321]

I was at POR over NYE week in Alligator Bayou. I think I saw one dog in the lobby and I think I remember it was a husky with a service vest on. But other than that I didn’t see any

 

[mn51]

We just returned from 10 nights at POR. Saw a woman with a couple of small dogs in a small carriage. Also saw a couple of service dogs in the parks. We did not hear any dogs barking.

 

[MPD]

We stayed at the Yacht Club January 29-February 3. We saw two very well behaved dogs at the resort - one on a leash and the other in a carrier. We saw one or two service dogs per day (all wearing service vests) in the parks.

 

[DVCjj]

We stayed at the Yacht Club January 29-February 3. We saw two very well behaved dogs at the resort - one on a leash and the other in a carrier. We saw one or two service dogs per day (all wearing service vests) in the parks.

If

 

[DVCjj]

I was at the Yacht Club 1/29-Feb 2 and saw not a single dog. Not even an inkling of dogs welcome.

PS: YC renovation was lovely.

 

[skyp4WDW]

I was at WDW for the last week of January. While walking from Hollywood Studios to Epcot, I watched a woman In the beach area of Yacht Club let her dog pee AND poop in the sand by the beach chairs and swing. She started to walk away and I asked her if she was going to "pick it up" and she said no because she didn't have a bag with her. I then said, "Do you realize that people let their children play in the sand here?" She then made a nasty remark about people just needing to get used to having dogs at Disney whether they like it or not!

I decided to walk through AofA and Ft Wilderness later in the week and check out the dog situation there. I almost stepped in dog poo twice at AofA and heard barking in the Mermaid section. At Ft Wilderness, I couldn't walk anywhere without running into dogs. It was mid-afternoon and I heard a lot of barking in the loops. I also saw poop on the main sidewalks, on the side of the road, and in unoccupied sites. Also disturbing was the number of large and aggressive breeds I saw(German Shepard, Pit bull, and Mastiff). The woman walking the Mastiff was elderly and barely able to hang on to him as he lunged at me. That was frightening!

I sure hope Disney will go back to the No Dog Policy when the trial is over before someone gets mauled.

 

[wagner1225]

We just returned this very day from a week at Fort Wilderness & we saw many dogs. I asked the front desk about it and they couldn't give me a straight answer, you'd of thought I'd asked the $24,000.00 question. I did find out that one RV'er had 9 corgies, another had 3 American Boxers and two Pomeranians, also saw a tiny Yorkie coming off of Haunted with this young girl (being held) and we saw them again at the bus stop at the Fort, the little dog had a "in training" thing on but I didn't see any trainer, this dog was tiny.. I'll keep my feelings to myself but will note that when we got on the bus, another rider asked me about it and we were both wondering the same thing. Also the dogs we saw at the bus stops at the Fort, there were no crates plus dogs were being walked all around, not a certain area as, I believe, they said there was. We were in the 2600 loop and early this morning when we were headed to take the golf cart back (me in car, hubbby on cart) we saw this gentleman in the grass trying to clean the bottom of one of his shoes off, like it was poop but we don't know for sure but it looked like it by his actions (that depoop shuffle) and he was alone Still in the fog about the do's an don'ts. Let me add a something, we were in line for Big Thunder and in front of us was a young man, he lost both of his legs and part of his arm and we were so taken back about his strength and walking without a dog or assistance- that sure brings things back into prospective but like I wrote Disney- no one is enforcing anything and the more you let people get away with, the more they'll do.. I don't want to think they brought that tiny dog into Magic on a fake something but another camper told us you can buy certification stuff online.. and I did ask, when I wrote Disney, if they checked all credentials. so that's my take..

Dogs have always been allowed at FW Campgrounds, I last heard that they were not allowed at Cabins

 

[VAfamily1998]

Dogs have always been allowed at FW Campgrounds, I last heard that they were not allowed at Cabins

With this new change from a few months ago, dogs are now allowed in the cabins. A CM I spoke to via phone in December told me pet dogs (not service animals) were restricted to 2200 and 2300 loops, and when I stayed in January I was in a 2800 loop cabin and did not see or hear any dogs in my loop. I have seen people on this board state otherwise; that they stayed in a loop other than 2200 or 2300 with their pet dog.

 

[Napoleon Dynamite]

Just returned from YC. Saw one dog one time during our 5 nights there.

 

[zillayen]

Stayed at YC 2/27-3/4. Saw one dog during our trip, hanging out on the porch in front of the pool. Very well behaved white Lab.

 

[My3SweetSuns]

Just returned from an AMAZING weekend at Yacht, didn’t see a single dog.

 

[sachilles]

Just stayed from 2/27 to 3/6 at POR. Didn't see a single pooch on property, nor any evidence of them.

As with others, I saw dogs in the parks, but none that seemed to be a nuisance. I'm not a huge dog lover, so what I consider a nuisance is a pretty low threshold.
I did see a patch of grass by Pirates of the Caribbean that was a dog relief area, with a guest lying down on it....not sure he understood the sign.

 

[china mom]

3/6/18 11:00 PM AoA cafeteria, spotted by my SIL. When she went to the front desk to ask about the policy, she was told "well if it is a 'comfort service dog' then there's nothing we can do"

Maybe next time, we should have a copy of the law with us to hand the uninformed CMs.

 

[disneyseniors]

We didn't stay at POR but visited a few times in the past week, and never saw a dog. But, we were only there for an hour or so each time, so....

We saw 2 service dogs in the parks, and one definitely NOT a service dog. It was a black lab who wagged it's tail, looked at every one and grinned ! and wanted petted, and licking his owner. He also pulled at his leash trying to get to other people. I felt sorry for the dog being in a crowded , hot park. He did not act like the "real" service dogs we saw. There is no mistaking them, IMO.

 

[OddDisneyFan]

We checked in to POR a couple days ago. Confirmed that buildings 24, 80, and 95 are used for “pet friendly” rooms, though I suspect that only part of the building is designated for such use. In our case, we wanted zero chance of pet noise, so we requested a pet-free building, and was told by WDTC that could not be guaranteed. I pushed back somewhat firmly on that, and they were apparently able to get Guest Services to guarantee a pet-free building, to which we were indeed assigned.

As others have said, service dogs could be in any room (service dogs are *not* pets), so we also requested a deep clean since our son has allergies to some dogs. When we checked in, the CM confirmed that both requests were on the reservation, but I cannot confirm the deep clean. The carpets and beds were very clean, but not so much the curtains or some of the shelves, so a deep clean may not get everything.

I will also say that we have seen perhaps 2 dogs in the 3 days here at POR. We’ve seen more than a dozen at the parks and at Disney Springs, and most of the ones we saw at the parks wereobviously not legitimate service dogs.Nevertheless, we never observed barking or any other inappropriate behavior from any of them, and I say that as someone who is 100% opposed to permitting pets on property.

 

[LSUmiss]

We didn't stay at POR but visited a few times in the past week, and never saw a dog. But, we were only there for an hour or so each time, so....

We saw 2 service dogs in the parks, and one definitely NOT a service dog. It was a black lab who wagged it's tail, looked at every one and grinned ! and wanted petted, and licking his owner. He also pulled at his leash trying to get to other people. I felt sorry for the dog being in a crowded , hot park. He did not act like the "real" service dogs we saw. There is no mistaking them, IMO.

When did you go? There was a training program there recently where service dogs in-training were invited to the parks. So, if you were there then, those dogs hadn’t “graduated” so they wouldn’t have appeared like service dogs b/c they technically weren’t, but they were legitimately in the parks.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Stayed POR 2/22-2/28. Saw a dad and son with their dog once. They were sitting on a bench and the son had the dog in his lap giving kisses. Didn't hear any barking or see another dog all week.