service dogs were refused entry at Disneyland

[muffyn]

There was a group of friends who had service dogs going to Disneyland in the last week.
They were refused entry because it was a group and the cast member told them he did not believe they were service dogs, they were only trying to bring in their pets ( since they didn't have document proof of their service dogs)
One of the dogs is trained to help her owner by alerting her to her upcoming seizures. so Dog barked,, CM said that was proof it was a pet. Her dog (and most service dogs) are trained that if something happened to their owner they seek out attention to bring help (If you ever see a service dog wandering,,, find help ASAP!)
They did get their tickets refunded but were refused to talk to manager etc, was just told to leave.
someone said people are trying to sneak dogs in to the park by in bags, I don't know how that could be true since they always bag check.
another comment was Disney is running their own dogs to try to distract "fake service dogs" in the park, Many service dogs are just stone cold on their task, but those that warn of seizures & low blood sugars react differently.
plus the CM's that have to see a document are not trained correctly

 

[SueM in MN]

I’d suggest they contact Disability Services at (407) 560-2547 or email disability.services@disneyparks.com

Information to include would be:
- who visited/who of the group had dogs
- were the dogs wearing vests or other marking (not required to, but helpful)
- were the dogs leashed, what was their behavior
- date and time of visit
- which park and where they entered
- location where they were denied entry (at security/before or after scanning in/somewhere else in the park)
- general description of the CM (security CM, CM at ticket scan, Guest Relations, CM at attraction)

 

[Evita_W]

They cannot refuse to allow you to speak with a manager, but my suggestion for future reference is if there is more than one service dog in a group of people, make sure those with service dogs enter separately from each other and do not appear to be a group, especially when going through security or entering the parks.

And remind the CMs of what they are legally allowed to ask, those that know the questions that are allowed are far more likely to have legitimate service dogs.

If Disney is trying to distract "fake service dogs", that could be a major liability, as if they somehow distract a real service dog and it fails to do its task, there could be very dangerous consequences for the person that needs the service dog.

Definitely have them contact disability services, as this is not right at all.

 

[DisSurfer878]

Is this a personal experience of yours? Like, do you personally know those who were involved in the incident?

 

[muffyn]

Is this a personal experience of yours? Like, do you personally know those who were involved in the incident?

no not personally. my D-I-L has a service dog & is on various message boards pertaining to them. she got the information from there.

I think being 1st time visitors, they were just intimidated by the CM guard that said NO and dint push it further, except to get their refund on their tickets...

 

[SueM in MN]

Closing this thread since it’s not first hand information and the people who purportedly had issues are not on this board to see any advice that is given here.