If You Want To Take Your Dog To Disneyland, These Are The Rules To Know

As a dog mom, I'm constantly trying to figure out whether I can bring my dog with me, wherever I go. In a perfect world, he'd be invited into every establishment, but after a lot of trial and error I know better — there are tons of places in which dogs are not welcome. Most of the places that dogs are not allowed are pretty intuitive, like indoor restaurants, movie theaters, and concerts. And some of the places that you'd assume would be completely unfriendly to dogs, actually are. You've likely never even asked yourself if you can bring your dog to Disneyland, because you likely just assumed that you could not. But the reality is that you can, kind of.

The folks at Disneyland understand that a family vacation leaves no one at home to watch the family dog, or cat. So, to make it easy for families who have pets, they allow them on the premises. While of course your can't bring your pet on rides with you — don't worry, they wouldn't enjoy it anyway —you can board them in a kennel for the day. The kennels are available on a first come first serve basis and you can't reserve one ahead of time. Located right by the main entrance, the kennels allow family pets with valid and up-to-date health records to stay for the day. Technically, you can board your bird or rabbit too, as any pet that's not illegal in the state of California is considered OK in the Disneyland kennels.

Each pet's kennel at Disneyland will cost $20 for a full day's rental and is literally nothing more than an empty kennel. You'll have to bring your own water bowls, toys and blankets to help make your pet comfortable. The kennel will open 30 minutes before the park opens and will close 30 minutes after the park closes and is open every day that the park is. The catch? The kennel attendees are not permitted to touch your pet. So, if you choose to board your pet, someone from your party will need to stop by periodically throughout the day (at least once every four hours) to feed and walk your pet. While there are grassy areas around the kennel, your pet must be leashed and supervised during their time out of the kennel.

Once you pick up your pet for the day, you'll need fully leave the Disneyland premises, as once the park closes, no pets are allowed on site, aka none of the Disney Resort hotels allow pets. The only exception to these standards are in the case of a service animal, which is not only permitted on the park grounds and in the resorts, but also on some rides. So, if you don't have anyone to watch your pet, you can bring it with you, so long as you find an animal-friendly hotel or vacation rental, and don't mind having to check in with your pet throughout the day. In essence, if your dog is good with being crated and you have no other options, you can definitely take your dog to Disneyland, they just won't be able to enjoy the park with you.