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

[DisneyGigi]

But will you enjoy it as much as you would have enjoyed being at Disney, even with the added of inconvenience of having to leave and reenter the parks?

ETA: What email address did you write to?

Bob Chapek- Robert.Chapek@disney.com

 

[LittleBuford]

Bob Chapek- Robert.Chapek@disney.com

Thanks!

I hope you don’t stay away from the World too long, though Dollywood sounds like an awesome place to hang out in the meantime!

 

[Phil12]

 

[DisneyDebRob]

They’re not doing so to feed a dependency. Most people who drink at WDW aren’t alcoholics.

And most smokers follow the rules. For every smoker who is sneaking one in the bushes where they shouldn’t be, there’s someone with to much to drink falling into someone or cursing out loud in Epcot,

 

[LittleBuford]

And most smokers follow the rules.

As my earlier posts make clear, I don’t doubt that they do. I’m not the one predicting a smokers’ uprising!

For every smoker who is sneaking one in the bushes where they shouldn’t be, there’s someone with to much to drink falling into someone or cursing out loud in Epcot,

And I would criticise such people just as much as I’d criticise those who smoke where they shouldn’t.

 

[Tanna Eros]

So you spend all of your time in the parks at the furthest possible point? The reality is about half of each park is around 10 minutes or less from the front of the park. Do you schedule your days around dining and Fastpass? You’ll be just fine.

So I wasn't being crazy in my calculations? I don't recall it being huge when I went, but that was in 1976.
We laid out the maps and looked at the distances when this news came out.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

 

[larryz]

Hey, you! Put out those cancer sticks and join us on page 56!

View attachment 360231

Encouraging smoking is pretty crass.
Disney's point was "Don't be an a**."

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Encouraging smoking is pretty crass.
Disney's point was "Don't be an a**."

That's a pretty tall tale you tell,
Hope this ol' cigar doesn't smell!

 

[larryz]

That's a pretty tall tale you tell,
Hope this ol' cigar doesn't smell!

View attachment 360244

I suppose I can grin and bear it.
As for you, if the tail fits, wear it.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

I suppose I can grin and bear it.
As for you, if the tail fits, wear it.
View attachment 360253

Aww, don't let it get to your head.
People gonna vape everywhere instead.

 

[Phil12]

Lol- oh honey I will be back, just not in May.

Well, you never know. This smoking ban could end being more onerous than most imagine.

 

[Smooth]

 

[Lensman]

OMG! After reading this thread for a day I came back the next day and was further behind than when I first saw it. I was worried I'd never get to the end! And I apologize for the length of this post as it is a direct result of how long it took me to read to the end of the thread before multi-quoting and replying.

I just gave you an example that it would. Maybe not in large numbers. But look at what happened with the smoking ban in bars and restaurants. Attendance dropped.

Do you have non-anecdotal evidence of this?

There are lots of available studies that seemed to show that business didn't decline - sometimes even in the short term, from smoking bans in either bars or restaurants. I was surprised at the result for bars, but expected it for restaurants since you're there for the food and it's absurd to think that you're going to make everyone in your group not go to a restaurant because you can't smoke at any restaurant. What are you going to do, cook for everyone at home or make everyone get takeout?

Here's one: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5307a2.htm

Not entirely accurate. There was a lot of push back from restaurants and bars in Florida. Many bars reduced the % of food served to alcohol consumption or stopped serving food altogether so they could allow their patrons to smoke. One bar in town proudly advertises itself as a smoker's haven...and it's a very popular spot.

Yes, there's always a lot of pushback, but various articles I could find found that (some) restaurant owners were pleased with the results despite their worries. This is part of what enabled the bans to pass in state after state - only 12 states left.

They should look to isolate these areas a bit more - not abolish them. If they created an area (s) that were far enough removed, I think it would achieve a better result.

I think this might have been a better choice for Disney, at least in Florida.

At any rate, it got me wondering how much Disney "spends" on smoking areas. And is this spending attributable to smokers or to non-smokers? That is, when budget time comes rolling around, is the budget for building designated smoking areas compared to the revenue from smokers who use them or the non-smokers who benefit from them by being out of the smoking areas?

Smoking on airplanes was banned long before smoking in other places. As a safety issue.

I don't think that's true. Why do you believe it to be true? Surely not just because smoking in the restroom is banned as a safety issue because people would throw their lit cigarettes into the trash starting trash fires?

The smoking bans on flights in the U.S. first came with a ban on smoking on short flights. It's unclear to me how that is consistent with smoking on commercial airliners being a safety issue.

I don't doing the fact-checking because I hate people thinking of me as calling them out. I still like and trust you, I think everyone needs to be fact-checked. One of my favorite proverbs/quotes is "Trust, but verify" (Доверяй, но проверяй).

Right, because all of the people who were ignoring the designated smoking areas are now all of a sudden going to obey the blanket no smoking rule.

I am a light smoker. I think I'm a pretty considerate smoker. If there are designated areas, I smoke there. If there are not, I deal with it and wait. When I'm at the parks, I'll usually stop for a smoke break maybe two or three times during a day at a park.

Last year, I accidentally lit up in an unapproved area. It looked like I was in the right area based on the map and I saw a few others smoking, so I figured it was fine. After a few hits, a security guard came up and politely informed me that I was not in a designated area, asked me to put my cigarette out, and offered to show me where the dedicated area was. I apologized and put out my cigarette. The designated area was further than I thought, so I politely asked him why he chose me when there were multiple other people smoking in that area. He told me he had already approached them, but they all ignored him and continued on. He said that he was not allowed to physically stop a guest from smoking or attempt to move the guest that was smoking.

On another visit, we had just finished dinner at Trail's End and I went looking for a designated spot. I asked 2 security guards where I could go and they told me to just walk where they couldn't see me and where I wouldn't be disturbing another guest.

Unfortunately, banning it from inside the parks will not stop people from smoking and will only lead to them making their own places and new messes that were otherwise contained.

I wonder if enforcement is made more difficult by the fact that smoking is allowed but only in designated areas? So maybe now, cast members can ask the person to put out their cigarette and if they refuse, call security for failing to obey a cast member when directed (or as someone suggested, "becoming belligerent"?

Disney enables a lot of addictions (sugar consumption is one, pixie dusting is another) but they generally choose not to judge their paying guests. So what are they trying to achieve by this move -- are they staging an "intervention" to improve the health of smokers who are visitors to the parks? Or are they just saying that a category of guests are no longer welcome and regarded as equal in value to non-smoking guests?

I find myself in agreement with @Sirwalterraleigh in suspecting that Disney has done its data crunching and has decided that on the whole, profits will be increased by this move.

Again, literally nobody is going to be trespassed for smoking, just like they aren't trespassed now if they smoke outside the area.

I agree that no one will be trespassed for smoking, just as no one is trespassed for wearing an offensive t-shirt or other inappropriate clothing. No, wait.

Or are you saying that no one will be trespassed for refusing to put out their cigarette or cigar when directed?

I do hope this all works out and everyone gets used to it so we can get back to our usual obsessions here. Maybe we could at least get some pictures of the old designated smoking areas in this thread to lighten things up? Speculation about potential areas for the outside-the-park designated smoking areas would also help to lighten things up!

Say, where do people outside the park gates smoke now? Or do they have to wait until they are inside the park to smoke?

 

[donaldtoo]

 

[StingraySam]

Sorry I haven't read all 56 pages so maybe this has already been brought up but wouldn't be easier to just ban smoking on all of Disney property?

 

[Cesar R M]

two things....vap is not smoke and disney has a track record of amazingly lax enforcement of any sort of rules. hence why what you said occured.

call it whatever you want.. that thing smells and is invasive. It spreads way more than a normal cigarette.
Not to mention that vapers have the annoying habit of spilling everywhere to show off their vaping "skills".

 

[Cesar R M]

Aww, don't let it get to your head.
People gonna vape everywhere instead.

View attachment 360255

and hopefully banned and removed...

Acting like that because you cant control your addiction is childish. And others should not have to pay or suffer for this BS.

Where the attitude of a group who thinks they should have a privilege over the others to fulfill their addiction/dependency should be above of others who dont.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

Again, nobody's rights are being trampled on. Our personal rights end(for the most part) when we step foot on their property and agree to adhere to their rules and regulations. They are being generous in allowing anyone to smoke anywhere on their property.

I find it amusing that people are talking about "rebelling". I mean seriously, rebelling against not being able to smoke at a family theme park is beyond amusing. I can see flooding their guest relations with emails and phone calls, but some folks are making this out to be the next American Revolution.

Very true, it is Disney's property and Disney's rules and standards to set. Merely expressed my own personal thoughts on the topic, the same as everyone else commenting here and on every other thread. As I mentioned in my post which you quoted, I don't even smoke. Lol...

As far as people talking about rebelling, I've not been a part of any of that conversation. But it is a constant thing in most every topic on here and other Disney sites isn't it? Disney makes a change someone doesn't like... paid FP, increasing ticket prices, parking fees, stroller size limits, the condition of the parks, limited park hours, etc. etc. ... and the war is on. People vent their frustrations. It's a forum. It's the nature of the beast.

 

[flynnibus]

why would Disney care if guests are under the influence of marijuana?

Because it impairs people - plain and simple. Maybe they have higher objections to it as well. Maybe they don't want to deal with guest A complaining about guest B. It becomes another dimension they need to police.. which isn't that easy to do.