First Time Vacationing with Dogs

[lunarembrace]

I hope I'm putting this post in the right spot. My first post! Plus my first visit to this forum. I look forward to exploring! I did try to search a little to see if there could be relevant posts to my concerns, but didn't dig too far just yet.

This will be a long post! And I apologize for that. I am a super planner, first of all. Right now, I'm planning on a 16-day trip to Disney World with my husband (no kids) for November 2019. And I want to bring our two dogs. This will be our very first trip to Disney World, and I'm hoping 16 days is enough to relax, take our time, enjoy ourselves, and do most of what I'd like to experience. Most of all, this will be our first vacation with our dogs.

I know this will be a daunting task, and I'm hoping to reduce stress on myself and my dogs. They love adventures, but we've only been on day-trips and nothing major.



A little background:
Both of our dogs will be 4 years old November 2019, and both are rescues. Our biggest is 90 pounds, and the small guy is 50 pounds. Their behavior at this time is 'super excite-able'. We haven't had much time to do training, we know we need help, and trust me when I say that training is going to be starting within the month to prepare. It's been a long time coming, anyway. Our dogs are okay with meeting new people, but meeting dogs is a whole different story. They absolutely love meeting new dogs, and they become hard to handle (and they make very loud, uncomfortable sounds) when they are with my husband and I. We do board them for small trips and they do go to doggie daycare, and they are perfectly fine as long as they are not playing in the same play yard together (since our small guy is a bully when his brother is around). I've tried training myself, and tried exposing them to as much as possible, but I just don't have the know-how.

Of course, even after training, if they aren't able to contain their excitement, we know that taking them on vacation will not be the best idea. I hate to leave them for such a long period of time in a kennel, and may cut the vacation short because of this, but I'd like to at least put some effort into opening up a whole new world to vacationing with our dogs.



Anyway! I'm looking for those who have been to Disney World for more than seven days total with their dog. What are things you wish you would have done, or things you wish you didn't do? Does Best Friends close when the park closes normally, or does it stay open when there are special events after hours?

I've looked on Disney's website, and there are four resorts that allow pets, which is awesome! We will most likely be staying at Art of Animation if we do stay for 16 days, just to save my wallet. How did you enjoy this resort with your dog?

My current plan is that they will be in doggie daycare with Best Friends, but be able to spend the morning and evenings with us at the resort, and if there are times we're able to take them out for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. They will not be staying in the room by themselves hardly ever, just because that's super boring. There are a couple of after hour events that I'd like to attend, and our dogs may have to stay in the room for a couple of hours by themselves during the evening if Best Friends is closed during those events.

I'm sure I'll think of more questions and concerns later, but I've only been thinking about this for two days (I strongly obsess). Just looking for others who have been with their doggies (preferably big dogs) and how they've enjoyed it, or didn't enjoy it. I just don't want my dogs to think we've abandoned them while I'm on my dream vacation.

 

[Farro]

I haven't traveled with my pets, but do have experience traveling while having pets.

My own experience is that pets (both cats/dogs) tend to do just fine (knock on wood) being boarded while we are on vacation. Normally they settle in pretty quickly. We are lucky that our vet boards animals, so I have the comfort of knowing they are well looked after. Believe me, I know the stress of leaving pets behind. I always end up wanting to cancel the trip right before we go because I'm so nervous to leave them!

Now we did have one dog that we couldn't board due to his anxiety issues, so we had other arrangements for him.

Our cats we have boarded for 11 nights - they did great! I read horror story after horror story about boarding cats, people almost guilt you into not doing it, saying cats can't handle it, but all of our cats have done quite well with boarding so far. The vet said most cats/dogs have no issues. And they have quite a few long-term boarders ( month stays).

Just trying to put your mind at ease if you do decide to leave your doggies home.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

Would it be easier, cost wise and convenience wise, to simply have a family member or close friend house-sit for you with the dogs while on your trip?

Sounds like a logistical nightmare to me, even if you do have a car. You're looking at going from Art of Animation, to Best Friends (then waiting to check the dog in, which can take time), to a park in the morning, then repeating it in reverse each evening? That's a lot of driving and time spend doing things not Disney related.

If you don't have a car, I think it's a horrible option and shouldn't even be considered. You're going to have to deal with ubers/lyfts, meaning you're stuffing your whole family and pet into a stranger's car?

Leave the dogs at home.

Signed: dog lover and someone who has travelled with his dog, but would never think of bringing a pet to Disney.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

I am a dog owner myself and agree with looking to hire a pet sitter. And by the time you pay for two dogs at Best Friends (have you priced it?) plus The resort charges an extra $50 per night fee for animals, I’m sure a pet sitter will be FAR less expensive, much less hassle for you and the dogs will be in their home environment.

You say this is your first visit, Disney experience is best when you can just hop on the bus and go to the park and enjoy the magic. Not driving back and forth to a kennel and fitting park visits in between.

 

[lunarembrace]

Would it be easier, cost wise and convenience wise, to simply have a family member or close friend house-sit for you with the dogs while on your trip?

Sounds like a logistical nightmare to me, even if you do have a car. You're looking at going from Art of Animation, to Best Friends (then waiting to check the dog in, which can take time), to a park in the morning, then repeating it in reverse each evening? That's a lot of driving and time spend doing things not Disney related.

If you don't have a car, I think it's a horrible option and shouldn't even be considered. You're going to have to deal with ubers/lyfts, meaning you're stuffing your whole family and pet into a stranger's car?

Leave the dogs at home.

Signed: dog lover and someone who has travelled with his dog, but would never think of bringing a pet to Disney.

It probably would be more cost effective to leave our dogs in a local kennel. Where we do currently board if we need to, they get multiple play groups during the day with camera access. We are driving to Disney World, since I think it would just be easier. I guess one thing I didn't think of would be the travel from the resort to Best Friends, since I just assumed they were pretty much a part of Disney and super nearby (which I guess they kind of are, but still requires at least a ten minute car ride). I was thinking we could walk them to the facility, I guess. I don't really mind the driving and parking, but would mind if it took more than an hour to drive to Best Friends and then park in the morning, since I would rather be at the parks a little before or right as they open. I've only ever been to Disneyland (sans car and dog) and that was in 2012, so I really have no idea what I'm getting into once I actually get into the resort and Florida.

Sadly, we don't have any family that would be willing to house-sit (my parents aren't great pet owners), and I have major trust issues on letting a random stranger into my home as far as hiring someone to house-sit.

My most major obstacle is my husband. He hates putting our dogs in the kennel for even just two nights. And he's a giant butt-head, and could possibly greatly dampen my spirits to enjoy myself. I'm sure he doesn't mean to, but he still does it. Often. Haha.

But I do appreciate the feedback! I should have looked up the commute before-hand. This is coming from someone who booked a hotel 2 hours away from a destination in previous years.

 

[Nvrgrowup]

you may want to take a look at at the thread titled dog friendly Resorts faqs. It may give you some idea of the cost and what's involved with keeping your dogs at the Resort. I am a dog lover and have a big boy at home but bringing him to Disney is not something I would do. It would not be a relaxing trip for us.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

And neither of you have any friends? Or colleagues? Nobody you can trust other than a boarding facility which your husband apparently hates?

Trust me when I say this: don't bring your pets on your first Disneyworld trip. It's an absolutely massive property that takes large chunks of hours at times just to go from one location to another. Use your first trip to really enjoy all that it has to offer, then once you have some knowledge, consider bringing them on a future trip.

 

[tnolan]

I've looked on Disney's website, and there are four resorts that allow pets, which is awesome!

This may change come October of this year, as the pet friendly hotel trial may be ending. Which IMHO is the best thing for pets.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We use a pet sitter or doggy day care kennel. I'd never drag my dog to WDW (or cats)

 

[gillep]

As someone who has had to travel with my dog (multiple multi state moves) and stay in hotels, I have found nothing about it that is pleasurable or relaxing. I don't know how far you have to drive, but make sure your dogs are good with that, mine thankfully is great and just sleeps, but he can still only go for so long. Plus, you have to pick places to eat where you can either eat in the car with the dog or in shifts, and you have to go to the bathroom in shifts so that you aren't leaving the dogs alone in the car which makes trips take, or at least feel, considerably longer.

My dog is great in the hotel too, and will sleep through fireworks and such, but not all dogs do. Even with him being fantastic it still isn't a place he is used to and he would cry a little at night and generally be a bit more restless than usual due to all of the noises and scents, it is not relaxing for him and it is not relaxing for me. I also really worry about hotel rooms and have to keep my eye on him the whole time, people drop things and it takes just a second for my scent hound to find anything someone may have dropped, and he can get under beds, and I absolutely cannot unless in the most dire of circumstances.

If you do this I would do a lot of test runs, Disney for 16 days is 100% not the place to try traveling with your dogs for the first time.

 

[DWillowBay]

If you do this I would do a lot of test runs, Disney for 16 days is 100% not the place to try traveling with your dogs for the first time.

Agreed!

 

[Jennasis]

It sounds like you need to rent a dog-friendly offsite villa.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

How are your dogs with loud noises like fireworks, lightening ( fl has a lot of afternoon storms ), screaming kids at the resorts. If they like to bark at noise be prepared to go back to your resort ASAP to calm them down. If this is your first visit you might want to rethink subjecting your dogs to loud noise if they are not use to it.

 

[lunarembrace]

And neither of you have any friends? Or colleagues? Nobody you can trust other than a boarding facility which your husband apparently hates?

Trust me when I say this: don't bring your pets on your first Disneyworld trip. It's an absolutely massive property that takes large chunks of hours at times just to go from one location to another. Use your first trip to really enjoy all that it has to offer, then once you have some knowledge, consider bringing them on a future trip.

We are totally not social butterflies, to put it lightly. =oP I work from home, so I'm basically half hermit. My husband and I aren't very normal, to say the least, since we do keep to ourselves. And my husband doesn't hate the boarding place, he just hates the fact that we aren't home with our dogs, and are instead out of town. The place is wonderful, and know our dogs by name and are super friendly.

I'm surprised there hasn't been even one comment of someone saying they actually take their dog to Disney World. I almost feel bad now for even thinking of it, to be honest. I just thought it would be nice to have the doggies with us. I also didn't realize the dog-friendlyness was a trial run (although I did read it in another post, I didn't really grasp it). I didn't find the initial dog FAQs in my first quick-look on the forums, but will keep looking.

 

[Farro]

We are totally not social butterflies, to put it lightly. =oP I work from home, so I'm basically half hermit. My husband and I aren't very normal, to say the least, since we do keep to ourselves. And my husband doesn't hate the boarding place, he just hates the fact that we aren't home with our dogs, and are instead out of town. The place is wonderful, and know our dogs by name and are super friendly.

I'm surprised there hasn't been even one comment of someone saying they actually take their dog to Disney World. I almost feel bad now for even thinking of it, to be honest. I just thought it would be nice to have the doggies with us. I also didn't realize the dog-friendlyness was a trial run (although I did read it in another post, I didn't really grasp it). I didn't find the initial dog FAQs in my first quick-look on the forums, but will keep looking.

Don't feel bad! None of our family wants to watch our cats either. They aren't pet people.

And it would be nice to have your pets with you, except Disney might not be the best place for that type of trip.

 

[maxiesmom]

This may change come October of this year, as the pet friendly hotel trial may be ending. Which IMHO is the best thing for pets.

It seems fairly certain to be a permanent thing. As much as anything can be at WDW.

But yeah, as much as I love my dogs no way would I subject them to 2 weeks going between a day care center and a hotel. Way too stressful.

 

[reluctantredhead]

I have no experience staying at WDW or DL with my 4 rescue chihuahuas, but I do have experience doing two long-distance moves with them, staying in hotels for as many as 4 nights, and it was quite stressful and definitely not fun. I was constantly worried that they would get spooked and accidentally escape (and somewhere unfamiliar where we'd likely never find them), or that they would bark and disturb people at the hotel (and yes, we always took them to hotels where pets were allowed and paid the fee ). Given all that, I personally wouldn't take mine to WDW (two of them have separation anxiety and get really stressed out on trips too), but I won't judge people who feel taking their dogs with them to WDW is best for them and their dogs in their particular situation.

Having said that, I can totally commiserate with you on the "not having any reliable friends or family to take care of them," and here is how we handle it. We travel often (4-6 times per year), and we always hire a petsitter who spends the night with them in our home. In the early days when we started doing this (the mid 90s), I had younger college-age siblings who jumped at the chance to do this for free, just to get a chance to stay in a place that was either nicer than their dorm room or more independent than our parents' house, lol. Eventually we moved to places where we didn't know anyone (late 90s to early 2000s), and I would always ask my veterinarian for a referral. I found several wonderful people that way, including a retired widow, a vet tech, and a young adult, all of whom could be personally vouched for by my vet. Fast forward to the early 2010s and I started volunteering at an animal shelter, where I made good friends with two different young adults who we hired on multiple occasions and took wonderful care of our dogs. Then when we moved in 2013, we were stumped because our new vet couldn't recommend anyone, and we didn't know anyone either. But a friend of mine told me about two websites (Rover and Pet Sitters International),where you can find local pet sitters in your area, most of whom have reviews from other people and have various certifications, some are licensed and bonded, etc (the people on Pet Sitters International are actually professional petsitters, so they are all licensed and bonded and their fees are a bit higher). Their fees vary, often based on their license/bond status and how many reviews they have. Anyway, we interviewed several and chose one to do a couple of trial "date night" 3 hour pet sits for us, and we also had our neighbor keep an eye out for any unusual activities/noises. Her mom owned a dog grooming business and she volunteered for an animal rescue (we verified all of this), and she ended up working out really well for us. I was really reluctant to do this, but my husband convinced me that we at least needed to try because it wasn't realistic to never be able to travel anywhere, and knowing that my neighbor was going to be looking out for things (and that we told the dogsitter this, lol), helped me to feel comfortable trying.

Last August we moved again and used the rover.com service to narrow it down to several people, all of whom I feel would have done a good job...two were volunteers at our local animal shelter, but one turned out to be a vet tech at our new veterinarian's office. We LOVE that she works there, because we have peace of mind knowing that she has medical training with dogs, and if one of them gets sick she can take them to work with her and they can get treatment. Before we left for our first trip, we hired her a couple of times to do "date nights" so they could get used to her. Now, having stayed with her about 10 times (date nights and longer trips combined), they are quite comfortable with her, and we can relax knowing that they are in good hands. She of course has to go to work 5 days a week, but she makes our house her "home base" and basically moves in during the time we're gone, so they get to hang out with her all night and sleep in the bed with her (yes, they're spoiled, lol).

As far as cost goes, we have found this way more affordable even than boarding. It has always depended on the area we lived in, but generally we have paid anywhere from $35-$100 per day total -- whereas with boarding, you typically pay per dog. And our dogs are much more comfortable being able to stay in their own home and sleep in their own bed, lol.

Ok, this was really long winded and I apologize for that! But I would encourage you to consider inquiring at your vet, local animal shelters, rescues, and/or rover.com or a similar website to try and find someone to pet sit in your home. It is such a relief to us knowing that we have someone we can count on to take good care of them, because what would happen if taking them with us weren't an option? What if there was some kind of emergency and we had to go somewhere that dogs aren't allowed? Having our trusted pet sitter gives us such peace of mind.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have a niece who has a seizure disorder. She and her service dog have made many successful 7+ day trips to WDW, but it's a bit different because he's allowed to go anywhere she is (though they always stay offsite). He does great there, but he is with them the entire time, so they don't have to worry about taking them to the WDW kennel.

I hope some of these ideas/suggestions are helpful...and more importantly, I hope you have a wonderful and stress-free trip no matter what you decide.

 

[reluctantredhead]

We are totally not social butterflies, to put it lightly. =oP I work from home, so I'm basically half hermit. My husband and I aren't very normal, to say the least, since we do keep to ourselves. And my husband doesn't hate the boarding place, he just hates the fact that we aren't home with our dogs, and are instead out of town. The place is wonderful, and know our dogs by name and are super friendly.

I totally understand and can relate to this. I've been a SAHM off and on since our D was born (she's now 16), and H has worked from home since 1994. On top of that we are total introverts, and our idea of a good time on a Friday night is eating pizza on the couch with our dogs sitting next to us and watching Netflix. So I totally get it! Our 4 dogs are family to us and we hate leaving them at home while we're on trips, but we take solace in the fact that we know they're safe at home with our pet sitter (see my last long winded post on this thread, lol)...and she sends us lots of photos!

ETA: We have taken our dogs with us on other vacations...once to Carmel, CA, which is a very dog-friendly town where many restaurants, shops, and designated beaches allow dogs. But that was a different kind of vacation...we basically slept, went to the beach, and went out to dinner...so they went everywhere we did. I just know that mine wouldn't be happy at the Disney kennel, or alone in a hotel room, in an unfamiliar town.

 

[Jen1995]

It probably would be more cost effective to leave our dogs in a local kennel. Where we do currently board if we need to, they get multiple play groups during the day with camera access. We are driving to Disney World, since I think it would just be easier. I guess one thing I didn't think of would be the travel from the resort to Best Friends, since I just assumed they were pretty much a part of Disney and super nearby (which I guess they kind of are, but still requires at least a ten minute car ride). I was thinking we could walk them to the facility, I guess. I don't really mind the driving and parking, but would mind if it took more than an hour to drive to Best Friends and then park in the morning, since I would rather be at the parks a little before or right as they open. I've only ever been to Disneyland (sans car and dog) and that was in 2012, so I really have no idea what I'm getting into once I actually get into the resort and Florida.

Sadly, we don't have any family that would be willing to house-sit (my parents aren't great pet owners), and I have major trust issues on letting a random stranger into my home as far as hiring someone to house-sit.

My most major obstacle is my husband. He hates putting our dogs in the kennel for even just two nights. And he's a giant butt-head, and could possibly greatly dampen my spirits to enjoy myself. I'm sure he doesn't mean to, but he still does it. Often. Haha.

But I do appreciate the feedback! I should have looked up the commute before-hand. This is coming from someone who booked a hotel 2 hours away from a destination in previous years.

I have two large boisterous dogs, and they get surprisingly stressed out in vacation if they aren't with us all the time. Pet sitting doesn't mean hiring a stranger. You can interview people and have them come play with your dogs on weekends while you all get to know each other. My guys are so much happier at home, or of we bring them it is to a beach or cabin rental where they are with us pretty much the entire time.

 

[ellbell]

It probably would be more cost effective to leave our dogs in a local kennel. Where we do currently board if we need to, they get multiple play groups during the day with camera access. We are driving to Disney World, since I think it would just be easier. I guess one thing I didn't think of would be the travel from the resort to Best Friends, since I just assumed they were pretty much a part of Disney and super nearby (which I guess they kind of are, but still requires at least a ten minute car ride). I was thinking we could walk them to the facility, I guess. I don't really mind the driving and parking, but would mind if it took more than an hour to drive to Best Friends and then park in the morning, since I would rather be at the parks a little before or right as they open. I've only ever been to Disneyland (sans car and dog) and that was in 2012, so I really have no idea what I'm getting into once I actually get into the resort and Florida.

Just so you're aware Disney World is huge. The size of a city. You won't be able to walk the dogs to the facility and it could take more than 10 minutes to drive anywhere depending on traffic. You will spend a considerable amount of time driving and on your magic kingdom days you will drive the dogs to the facility then drive to the ticket and transportation center and then catch a monorail to Magic Kingdom, then you will have to do the reverse whenever you want to see the dogs or pick them up.