by Soarin’ Diva
Who doesn’t love those special little touches of Disney magic on their Disney Vacation? There are so many ways to experience a little Pixie dust on every Disney trip. I don’t mean those big things, like being picked to be in a parade, or being upgraded to a nicer room at a nicer Disney Resort (although I definitely wouldn’t turn that down!) I’m talking about those cute little towel animals that Mousekeeping leaves on your bed and in your resort room. The last few years, though, it seems like that little bit of Disney magic has been missing from our trips. I’m not sure what’s happening and why that particular bit of magic is slowly disappearing, but I’m determined to solve this case!
Let’s start at the beginning, our fist family trip to Walt Disney World Resorts in 2009. We wanted to make it extra special for our boys, as it was their first time. The Pirate Rooms at Caribbean Beach Resort had recently been opened, our boys loved Pirates of the Caribbean, so we booked one of those rooms.
It. Was. Awesome! Well, it was awesome for young boys. For us big kids, it was awesome, but the beds are a little on the small side. But I digress, this isn’t a resort room review, so I will carry on with the case at hand. My boys were young enough to bring their favorite stuffed animals with them, and my youngest son’s favorite at the time happened to be a stuffed Charlie Brown doll. Every night when we arrived back at our resort, we would find Charlie engaged in a different activity with a new towel animal. One night he had a television remote in his hand, watching some Disney cartoons with a towel animal. Another night, he had a book open on his lap while reading to a towel animal. On and on it went, every night. We loved it. Our boys loved it. We loved that Mousekeeping did more than just come in and clean a room, they tried their best to make every part of our vacation special. It was magical and wonderful.
Photo Credit: Stephanie Demmler
The next year, we stayed at Pop Century. It. Was. Mediocre. We did get two towel animals, one our first night there, and the other, we had to leave a note begging for them to leave. To give them credit, they did leave it after we asked, but after so much excitement with it the year before, the difference was huge.
Every year after that, we have stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter. We absolutely LOVE the resort, but again, this isn’t a resort review. Back to the Case. Focus on the towel animals. We had the Mickey shaped head on our bed our first night there. I think we’ve all grown accustomed to that little bit of welcoming magic. After the first night? Nothing. The next day? Nothing. We left another note, begging for one for our boys, and to our delight, we did get a towel animal that night.
The next year at French Quarter, again we were greeted with the Mickey shaped head on our bed, yay! After a couple of nights with nothing, we again left a note. We received…no towel animal. Okay, I understand that Mousekeeping is busy. I understand that they may not have time to play with us, and that’s okay, we will accept the loss of the towel animals.
This brings us to 2015, our last visit to French Quarter. Our first night there, we walked into the room, excitedly and eagerly looking for our Mickey head on the bed. Um…Mickey? Hello? Are you here? Did they hide you somewhere else? We did a thorough search of the room, only to come up empty-handed. We didn’t even get our “Welcome Home Mickey Head”. We were at a loss. What had we done to be deserted by any and all towel animals? It was definitely time to get down to some serious investigating.
Upon arriving home, I went to work on the case. Before you ask, it has nothing to do with tipping Mousekeeping. Our family always tips generously without expecting anything extra. Mousekeeping works hard, no matter what, and they definitely deserve the tips. From all I have been able to uncover, this seems to be a disappearance mainly limited to the moderate resorts. Many who stay in value still report sightings of towel animals. Most who stay in deluxe have reported daily sightings as well. Moderate guests? Most are relaying Missing Towel Animal Reports left and right. Why? Why Moderate? Are we not good enough somehow? Have we not done enough to appease the towel animal artists into sharing the love with us?
I still haven’t solved the case, but I won’t stop until the truth is revealed. I have a mission for you, though. I would love a report from you as to whether you have had a towel animal sighting within the last two years, and whether you were staying in a value, moderate or deluxe resort. This case can’t remain a mystery forever. With enough clues, between me and you, I think we can solve The Case of the Disappearing Towel Animals!
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We stayed at Saratoga Spring last October, tipped generously every day and didn’t see one towel creation the whole time we were there. One day the boys’ stuffed animals were arranged on the pillows, but to be honest Mousekeeping had to move them to make the bed so I don’t know if that was intentional. One day we forgot my son’s birthday pin in the room, but there was no acknowledgement. And on another day a note from the “tooth fairy” was on the table since my other son had lost a tooth while we were there and there was no recognition. In all, though, we didn’t go for the towel animals so it’s not that big of a deal. We just wanted a clean room to collapse in at the end of a lonnnnng day. And that we had – the room was always in great shape….even if we did have disappointed boys a few days when they found no surprises in our room.
I agree, the missing towel animals aren’t enough to detract from a nice, clean, comfy bed after being on your feet at the parks all day. It was a very fun and special thing to come back to, but….when you walk back into that resort door and see that bed calling to you….there’s nothing quite like that feeling either. – Soarin’ Diva
We had two rooms at All-Star Movies for eight nights and tipped daily. No animals.
Hi Chris, thanks for reading our article and letting us know. I still love everything about Walt Disney World, I just miss the little things. – Soarin’ Diva
We stayed at Bay Lake Tower for 7 nights, Jan 29-Feb 5 this year, and not once did we see any towels animals, and only once were some soft toys we bought sat together at the end of the bed. This was my first trip to Disneyworld, and after reading all about animal towels and what mousekeeping get up to I was very disappointed and a little sad. We also stayed at Disneyland Resort at Disneyland, and sadly no towel animals there either.
Aw, I’m sorry you didn’t get one on your first visit! Our first was great, there were so many little extra touches that I never would have imagined that made it more magical. – Soarin’ Diva
We have had the same experiences and the same question! We always stay at Port Orleans Riverside. (Essentially every other year since 2005. 2015-almost no towel creations to be found with a very sweet exception of a towel cake for a birthday we were going to celebrate 5 days later. But no animals) Can’t wait to see what you discover. We agree that that small touch was a reason to stay on property. We miss the fun and magic of it.
The small touches definitely make it a little more fun. Of course, it’s not enough to make any part of our stay at Walt Disney World any less fun, or enjoyable, I just kind of miss they way Mousekeeping would play with my kids. – Soarin’ Diva
We got a cool giraffe at POFQ in early April. We tipped generously but never left a note or anything.
You KNOW I absolutely LOVE POFQ, it’s our home away from home resort. Yes, we tipped generously too, but alas…nothing. That’s okay, I still love staying there, I guess it’s just an art that’s no longer being taught to Mousekeeping. I’ve heard the Mousekeepers who have been there a long time are the only one’s left who will still do it, so I guess it’s just luck of the draw. – Soarin’ Diva
We stayed at the Caribbean in October 2016. We generally leave a generous tip every few days (I recently found out different mouse keepers clean the rooms different days & we have started spreading out the tip every day). Every day we left a tip we received a towel animal. It was one of my favorite parts of our trip, to arrive back at the hotel to find a piece of magic left specifically for us.
We stayed at Pop Century about 2 weeks ago. We left tips every day and even left a note the last few days begging for a towel animal. We received NO towel animals. It was very disappointing. On top of that our room was hit or miss every day on the cleanliness.
Keep me posted if you figure out where the towel animals are going. I LOVE THEM!!!!
Stayed at Caribbean Resort in Feb of 2016 and received several towel animals over our 5 night stay. This time we just stayed a week at Port Orleans Riverside from 3/22-3/28/18. Not a single towel animal in sight the entire stay. One day we just had a handful of towels just thrown on the bed, and one day no service at all. I know it’s a big resort, but we were not only disappointed to not receive a single towel animal, but the overall service was pretty poor.
Oh, that makes me sad. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in June, 2017, and we had a wonderful stay. No towel animals, they have pretty much gone extinct, but our Mouse keeping service was amazing. I even came back to a huge Ziploc bag full of toiletries one day. I’m sorry your stay wasn’t as nice, but I hope your park days made up for it.