WDW 101 – Your Pet and Your Walt Disney World Vacation
It’s been on your mind for some time now and you’re finally ready to start making plans. A Walt Disney World vacation is in your future, but there’s this little matter of your beloved pet.
If you’re hoping to stay in a WDW hotel, your dog, cat or bird won’t be able to stay there with you. With the exception of service animals, pets aren’t permitted in your Disney accommodations. Not even your dear sweet hermit crab is allowed.
My pup stays at home and keeps an eye on the homestead while I’m on vacation. In the past, I’ve taken him to my vet’s office for boarding, but for the same amount of money, I can hire family or friends to tend to my fur baby in familiar territory.
This way, I get an extra pair of eyes on the house while I’m away…and my Pepper won’t suffer the stress of being housed in a crate in a strange place with lots of other dogs.
If you must take your pet with you, there are several resorts in the Disney area that are willing to accommodate well-behaved animals. I discovered nice pet-friendly hotels by searching on tripadvisor.com and hotels.com.
The reviews can be helpful as long as you’re able to differentiate between legitimate complaints and whiny rants. Read a lot of reviews…and read them on more than one site. Also be sure to verify that your resort of choice is indeed pet-friendly. Occasionally, there are errors on travel websites.
Staying off-property is usually a last resort for me. Not because of sacrifices in quality, because there are equally great hotels offsite. But it just isn’t the same elsewhere. No magic. If you wish to stay on Disney property, you still have a couple options for your pet.
Photo borrowed from Best Friends Pet Care. Click photo to safely enter their website.
Best Friends Pet Care is the onsite kennel at Walt Disney World Resort.I’ve never used their services personally, but I have noticed their eye-catching facility and engaging website. Policies, information and photos can be found on wdw.bestfriendspetcare.com. Live webcams are available as well.
The final option for this post involves staying in an RV or tent. The campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness resort are yet another pet-friendly alternative. A limited number of preferred hook-up and premium campsites allow well behaved pets and offer the magic found nowhere but Disney.
For more information on Disney’s policies regarding pets and service animals, be sure to see what the Walt Disney World Moms Panel has to say. Visit their website HERE.
What a great piece! We no longer have pets, but people ask me about it all the time. Thank- now I have an answer!!
Glad you find it useful, Didi. I wanted to have the information readily available for my family. I’m trying to talk them into a family reunion down at WDW and we all have pets.
We used their facility back in 2009 when they were still at Epcot. I would HIGHLY recommend them! Very friendly and professional. Our dog was there for 7 days and afte 2 days they called to let us know that he wasnt going potty, so since we were already there we went over to see him. They let us take him out front and walk around. Low and behold he went and went…lol
So since he wasnt that far from all the parks and we didnt have to wait in the lines to get into the parkinglot even though we were driving (we got to go in a special lane) we decided to go over and see our dog before each park and before they closed to take him on a walk and to make sure he went potty.
If we ever have to take our dog with us again I will be using them!
That is so cool! Thanks, Monica. :o)