How's the dog thing going?

joyjoy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 4, 2003
Are they taking over the place yet? pug: I haven't seen much chatter about it recently, although I really haven't looked that hard. Just curious if anyone has any good or bad experiences with Rover in the Resorts yet. I know it's just a few resorts that allow doggies. :dogdance:
 


I know that I have no way to prove service dog vs pet but I think that there has been quite an uptick in pets being brought in to the parks. I blame that on the new et policy at the resorts.

I was there last week and counted four suspected pets one day and five the next..... in the parks. Not including obvious service dogs.

At least two were being wheeled around in strollers, one was a wiggly, excited puppy who was being passed around by family members and one was a Chihuahua tucked under the jacket of a ECV riding guest. I'll buy that one or more may be seizure alert dogs or something but what are the odds that all nine provided a service.

I think the policy has brought out the "give and inch and take a yard" crowd.

I hate that CMs are unable or unwilling to confront and enforce.
 
Being from England we can't bring our to Disney World although I have to admit I'd love him to come on holiday with us xx
 
I know how the dog thing is going for me. We love the yacht club but won't be booking there anymore. which is a shame because the new rooms look so nice

While I know they will clean the rooms thoroughly if you get a dog friendly room. In this day and age where we have to worry about bed bugs. Fleas would be one more thing to worry about. I love my dog but I don't want to stay at the yacht club because of it.


Not sure if my not staying will make any difference but it's all I can do about the matter.
 


I know that I have no way to prove service dog vs pet but I think that there has been quite an uptick in pets being brought in to the parks. I blame that on the new et policy at the resorts.

I was there last week and counted four suspected pets one day and five the next..... in the parks. Not including obvious service dogs.

At least two were being wheeled around in strollers, one was a wiggly, excited puppy who was being passed around by family members and one was a Chihuahua tucked under the jacket of a ECV riding guest. I'll buy that one or more may be seizure alert dogs or something but what are the odds that all nine provided a service.

I think the policy has brought out the "give and inch and take a yard" crowd.

I hate that CMs are unable or unwilling to confront and enforce.
Are chihuahuas smart enough to be service dogs? I love my chihuahua to death, but he's not sharpest tool in the shed. My previous dogs were Goldens and I never doubt the legitimacy when I see a Golden Retreiver wearing a service vest.
 
I know how the dog thing is going for me. We love the yacht club but won't be booking there anymore. which is a shame because the new rooms look so nice

While I know they will clean the rooms thoroughly if you get a dog friendly room. In this day and age where we have to worry about bed bugs. Fleas would be one more thing to worry about. I love my dog but I don't want to stay at the yacht club because of it.


Not sure if my not staying will make any difference but it's all I can do about the matter.
100% agree. We were looking forward to a stay at the cabins at Fort Wilderness in January. Two weeks after we booked, the new dogs allowed policy was announced. I feel like Disney pulled a "bait and switch"--we booked a room at a dog free resort, and then they changed the terms on us. Unfortunately, our dates are not at all flexible because we are going for a specific event (marathon) and since we are a family of 6, we are pretty limited in where we can stay. Over the weekend, I noticed a two bedroom at OKW became available so I switched. I'm sad for many reasons; my kids were really looking forward to the activities of the fort, the proximity to MK, and of course the cost of a cabin is about half the cost of the OKW villa.

*Edited to say: I hope I don't sound too down on OKW--I've actually wanted to stay at OKW for a long time too! And I'm excited about checking it out, it looks gorgeous! It's just that we made plans/set expectations for our kids based on FW, so it's hard to have to switch.
 
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I know that I have no way to prove service dog vs pet but I think that there has been quite an uptick in pets being brought in to the parks. I blame that on the new et policy at the resorts.

I was there last week and counted four suspected pets one day and five the next..... in the parks. Not including obvious service dogs.

At least two were being wheeled around in strollers, one was a wiggly, excited puppy who was being passed around by family members and one was a Chihuahua tucked under the jacket of a ECV riding guest. I'll buy that one or more may be seizure alert dogs or something but what are the odds that all nine provided a service.

I think the policy has brought out the "give and inch and take a yard" crowd.

I hate that CMs are unable or unwilling to confront and enforce.

I don't know...we've seen people with small "service" dogs riding in strollers and on their ECV way before this new policy. That's not new.
 
I went in late October - early November. Originally I was booked at POR, but when the new pet-friendly policy was announced very shortly before my trip, I asked to change to any non-pet-friendly resort. All the other WDW resorts were sold out, so I ended up having to switch to an offsite hotel. On all my previous trips combined, I recall seeing a grand total of one service dog and no pet dogs at Disney World. But on this trip, on most of my theme park days I saw several dogs in the theme park. A small percentage of them appeared possibly to be actual service dogs. Most of the other dogs were smaller breeds (poodles, chihuahuas, etc.) and did not appear to be performing any obvious service. I understand that anyone can decide that any dog is their "emotional support dog", and anyone can buy a service vest for their dog (regardless of whether the dog was trained to perform a service). Although Disney is legally allowed to ask the owner, "What service is the dog trained to perform?" they have not actually been asking this when people bring their dog into the parks, so it's been a free-for-all, and with no process to verify service dog status, apparently all dogs are being allowed in. I also saw dogs at bus stops and saw one getting off the monorail at the Grand Floridian, even though that's not one of the dog-friendly resorts. I don't know if that specific dog was actually a service dog, but overall, there has been an astonishing sudden increase in the number of "service dogs" in the theme parks. I agree with @china mom that the new dog policies are being abused, and I echo everything she said above.
 
Just saw a post in the sticky with a picture of a dog sitting at a table in the AOA food court. So there's that!
Soooooooo grossed out by that. At least put the dog bowl on the ground!

I'm more than a bit worried that if my DH sees that picture and believes that to be how CM's will handle dogs at Disney, that our trip this past January will be our last. :( So I really really really hope that food court is not the norm for the permissive behavior of CM's around dogs!!!!
 
Poly
Contemporary
Grand Floridian
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The Poly now allows dogs?!?!?
 
Oops, I didn't realize there was a sticky OR there had been a bunch of posts about it already. Sorry! Anyway, I read everything available here and have deduced:
1) Fort Wilderness is a poop-fest, or maybe it always has been
2) People are already breaking the rules. Dogs at the table? Umm, no.
3) Some "service" dogs really only serve as accessories.
I guess that's about it. Thanks for the input, everyone. My dog will be staying at the kennel (or, as we call it, the Barky McSlobber Resort) here at home while we're at Disney World.
 
Oops, I didn't realize there was a sticky OR there had been a bunch of posts about it already. Sorry! Anyway, I read everything available here and have deduced:
1) Fort Wilderness is a poop-fest, or maybe it always has been
2) People are already breaking the rules. Dogs at the table? Umm, no.
3) Some "service" dogs really only serve as accessories.
I guess that's about it. Thanks for the input, everyone. My dog will be staying at the kennel (or, as we call it, the Barky McSlobber Resort) here at home while we're at Disney World.
Thanks for the warning. I'm staying at WL, but I like to run in the campgrounds every morning. I'll remember to watch my step.
 

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