Smoking areas GONE starting may 1st Pinned so people can still see the announcement.

[Texas84]

24 pages. In one day.

 

[RobbinsDad]

It was always going to be about money. Once Disney decided the voices (wallets) of non-smokers mattered more than the dwindling number of visiting smokers then the change could be made. Personally couldn't care less, but it simply follows a trend in the U.S. of banning smoking in outdoor common areas - parks, university campuses, outdoor arenas, etc.

 

[dgauthier]

That's in Atlanta, not Florida.

Miami has these rooms too

 

[LAKid53]

I am sure one of the reasons for this ban is that there is a large percentage of smokers who think that they have the "right" to smoke where ever and when ever they want. The rules and sometimes the laws are are ignored by this segment. Look how many posters on this thread have admitted or said they planned to ignore the rules. Disney gave smokers a designated area, but too many times some entitled smoker made their own area discreetly, or just lit one up out in the open. Smokers are also notorious for littering. I have been to every smoking area in the WDW parks, my wife smokes, all of them need constant cleaning because even with several ashtrays, many smokers ash on the ground, and then when they are finished, they just flick the butt.

Smoking has been banned at many beaches, this was not because some militant anti smoker could smell you 100 feet away, it was because a large segment of the smoking population at the beach used it as an ashtray and left the butts.

As long as there is a large segment of the smoking population that continues to ignore rules, laws, or clean up their mess, there will be more rules, stricter enforcement, more bans, and increased penalties.

I can't speak about the other parks as I have no idea where those designated spots were, but I can understand the ire of smokers using the one between FL and Tomorrowland. No shelter from the sun or rain.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Yeah...but Disney is not likely at all to retrofit to cater to smokers...I serious doubt they’d ever see the profit in that move. As always...we shall see

Oh, I realize that, but there are things they could do to accommodate everyone. I was just throwing out an example of a system that works well. I really don't think expecting people to exit the parks and re-enter is going to work as well as they think. And yep, we'll see, lol.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Yeah...but Disney is not likely at all to retrofit to cater to smokers...I serious doubt they’d ever see the profit in that move. As always...we shall see

I agree with your premise that they won't retrofit to accommodate smokers. But the reality is that the majority respected the designated areas. Sure, every once in a while you'd see someone taking a few drags where they weren't supposed to - but in my observation it was a small minority. What they are doing now is creating an environment where people will try to smoke anywhere they think they can get away with it. It will lead to chaos - again, unless Disney enforces a Zero Tolerance policy with a very stiff penalty if caught. Which they might.

The one thing I thought of is, if they catch you, they can easily scan your MB. Next time you get caught, they scan the band again and if it pulls up that you've been previously "warned", then they invoke a three strike rule. But even then you'll know that you can smoke up until you get the second warning. It just seems a terrible way to conduct business.

 

[beertiki]

Any visitors from Europe were able to survive a 9 hour plane ride without smoking, they can do it at the park too.

 

[justintheharris]

They won't be able to not permit people from bringing their cigarettes into the parks. Too many rely on Disney transportation and won't be able to stow them in a car.

Such as the busses? From resorts? Where presumably they should have known about the ban? They also could throw them out. Yes, I know, that will anger people. But I don’t see how Disney plans to enforce this any other way than by refusing people with cigarettes at bag check.

 

[VJ]

Not holding my breath on it, though.

don't worry, with these new rules you won't have to

 

[biggy H]

How long do you reckon before smoking materials are added to the list of banned items not to bring into the parks?

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Look, neither side is going to win this argument. And it's not about us here on the forum. It's about John Q. Public, who may or may not have come off the boat from some far away land where they've been smoking since they were a toddler. Smoking is an addiction and all the ugliness it entails. They don't want to hear any sanctimonious drivel from non-smokers. The struggle is real, and when it comes down to it, they're going to try and smoke "properly" if they can - but will, one way or another, if they can't.

Any visitors from Europe were able to survive a 9 hour plane ride without smoking, they can do it at the park too.

Hahaha! Have you SEEN these people either before or after their flight? Talk about chain smoking. Or cramming in one last smoke as the patch on their arm takes hold. Ask me how I know.

How long do you reckon before smoking materials are added to the list of banned items not to bring into the parks?

You can disassemble vapes into tiny, indistinguishable pieces. You can try banning them, but it won't work.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Such as the busses? From resorts? Where presumably they should have known about the ban? They also could throw them out. Yes, I know, that will anger people. But I don’t see how Disney plans to enforce this any other way than by refusing people with cigarettes at bag check.

They specifically mentioned that there are smoking areas at the resorts. Also, they're building a smoking area near the entrance of each park...to me that indicates that they won't be asking people to dispose of them.

 

[Calmdownnow]

I am sure one of the reasons for this ban is that there is a large percentage of smokers who think that they have the "right" to smoke where ever and when ever they want

I'm sorry, but in respect of Disney parks, this is just not true in my experience. In more than 20 visits over recent years, the only person I have seen smoking in a non-designated area is me -- and that was because the designated area I used on my previous visit had been removed and I hadn't thought to check the park map because I had smoked in that location for years. The vast majority of smokers have been diligently following the rules -- which makes this ban seem more like an anti-smoker bias than an attempt to address a problem.

 

[eliza61nyc]

It was always going to be about money. Once Disney decided the voices (wallets) of non-smokers mattered more than the dwindling number of visiting smokers then the change could be made. Personally couldn't care less, but it simply follows a trend in the U.S. of banning smoking in outdoor common areas - parks, university campuses, outdoor arenas, etc.

And why is that the trend in the first place?

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Can we all agree on two things.

1. Crap, the lines for standby just got longer early in the day
2. The park is a little less crowded later in the day because trust me, if grandma and pa have to leave to light up, many are just gonna keep on heading out the door and back to the hotel

 

[MadameLeota92]

Question: if you don't have a park-hopper ticket would you have to repay to get back in after going out for a cigarette?

 

[s8film40]

Such as the busses? From resorts? Where presumably they should have known about the ban? They also could throw them out. Yes, I know, that will anger people. But I don’t see how Disney plans to enforce this any other way than by refusing people with cigarettes at bag check.

I think most people keep cigarettes in their pockets, so unless they start doing pat downs at the bag check I think even if they chose to go that route they would only find a very small percentage of cigarettes entering the park.

 

[dgauthier]

Just what's in vape juice, anyway?

What’s in Your E-Cigarette?

As the popularity of electronic cigarettes has grown over the past several years, so have concerns over the health risks tied to them.

www.webmd.com

Nicotine, heavy metals and tiny particles that can harm the lungs have been found in secondhand e-cigarette aerosol, according to the Surgeon General.
"As a parent, I can say that there's a lot on your mind at a time," says Erika Sward, assistant vice president of national advocacy with the American Lung Association. "And that parents have a lot of different balls that they're trying to juggle all at once. But we would certainly urge people to recognize the dangers of secondhand e-cigarette emissions and continuing to keep their kids safe and away from all of these products."

 

[aliceismad]

Question: if you don't have a park-hopper ticket would you have to repay to get back in after going out for a cigarette?

No. You can always get back into the same park with a one-park ticket. Lots of people go to their hotel for lunch/nap/break and come back at night.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Question: if you don't have a park-hopper ticket would you have to repay to get back in after going out for a cigarette?

No, of course not. But that's probably next.