Smoking Ban

[stephk1981]

I hope not, this makes me wish Disney would just enforce the current smoking areas

 

[saskdw]

I quit back in January for the 297th time (exaggerating, of course). And I'll be trying for the 298th time again soon.

I consider a freedom to make personal choices, (especially when playing by all the rules, and not harming others health and well being), to be of importance.
It's a slippery slope when a personal privileges and personal choices are taken away.

I hear what you are saying. I don't know if smoking will ever become illegal, but there is such low tolerance from the non-smoking public (which is over 90% where I'm from) that smoking anywhere outside of your own home will become more and more difficult.

 

[cruisin5]

I assume there will be a DSA outside the IG entry at Epcot.

 

[Clockwork]

I assume there will be a DSA outside the IG entry at Epcot.

Hopefully!

 

[Traveling on cc points]

All it will take to stop that is to have the police issue a few tickets at $200 a pop and the sneaking of smokes will stop quickly.

That is exactly why I said a lot will depend on how Disney handles it. I highly doubt Disney will have the police on hand to be issuing tickets. As has been stated before, a lot of people don't put any research into their trips and will just assume that everything is the same as the last time they were there. Time will tell.

 

[Disxuni]

but isn't that going to be anywhere you go? You have to go outside of restaurants, stadiums, museums, etc.? If you plan accordingly to try and be closer to the front every [X] hours I think it can be minimized as well

Sorry, I do not find that to be a good enough resolve. Restaurant, stadium, museums is nothing compared to a theme park that goes around for miles. You're comparing apples to oranges.

You have to plan at being near the entrance at certain times is not a solution. You clearly do not know any smokers at all, or at least haven't had enough experience with them.

Going back and being near the entrance at certain hours is the same as taking time to going all the way back to where you just came from, which goes back to the original issue at hand.

If you take 20 minutes going to a smoking area, smoke and relax for 10 minutes, going back to where you were, that is 50 minutes. Almost an hour. If you need to smoke every hour, maybe every hour and a half, or every two hours, that's going to take a lot of time out of the parks, as well as "planning to be in the front at certain times" an inconvenience to other plans they may have, or want to have.

 

[Gingerfun1]

I could be 100% wrong but I think this will create more people breaking the rules and sneaking a smoke in corners. As of now, there are at least 2 spots we can "legally" go. Now people are going to sneak one whenever they think they can get away with it. A lot will depend on how Disney deals with the rule breakers, if they simply tell you that you have to put out the cigarette and move on with no consequences people will continue to do it over and over again. I always planned my fast passes around where the smoking areas were when I knew we would have time to kill.

I truly don't know what I would do as a parent with small children. I hope that I would suck it up and still go for them but I'll be honest and say that I would not be a pleasant mom to be around after a few hours.
These last trips will be very different as we will do our 3 fastpasses and leave the park. I have cancelled all of our ADR's within the parks and eat at restaurants off site. We kept CG brunch & the boathouse as our only Disney reservations.

You'll put your ability to smoke easily ahead of your kids having fun? That's sad.

 

[MLA95]

Thank you! I have nothing against smokers at all, only rude inconsiderate people. I really hope people will follow the rules, but with that said, I really hope that this ban doesn't discourage families ( with a smoker in them) from visiting. Example: mom or dad smokes and doesn't want the hassle of having to leave the park to smoke, so they don't want family to vacation at Disney anymore.) Just because a few people break rules, doesn't mean the majority will.

Well that unfortunate ban is exactly what is going to happen with my family and many others. It saddens me to the point that I have cried but a crabby mom is no fun for them and me leaving them with DH to go off for an hour to walk all the way out and back in is not going to work. I don’t smoke around my kids and they have never seen me do it and they are teenagers, they don’t even know. Hard for mom to make an excuse to be gone for an hour at a time. It really is sad.

 

[Spaceguy55]

my high school had a smoking section ... I graduated in 1996

My high school did too, but not just for cigarettes..it was the parking lot

 

[MLA95]

You'll put your ability to smoke easily ahead of your kids having fun? That's sad.

It’s not putting it above it but you don’t realize that it is an addiction and if you don’t have it after so long you get beyond irritable and that is worse than vacationing somewhere else

 

[Traveling on cc points]

You'll put your ability to smoke easily ahead of your kids having fun? That's sad.

Did you even read my comment or just decide be rude for no reason? I don't have small children. I said I would hope that I would suck it up for them if I did.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sorry, I do not find that to be a good enough resolve. Restaurant, stadium, museums is nothing compared to a theme park that goes around for miles. You're comparing apples to oranges.

You have to plan at being near the entrance at certain times is not a solution. You clearly do not know any smokers at all, or at least haven't had enough experience with them.

Going back and being near the entrance at certain hours is the same as taking time to going all the way back to where you just came from, which goes back to the original issue at hand.

If you take 20 minutes going to a smoking area, smoke and relax for 10 minutes, going back to where you were, that is 50 minutes. Almost an hour. If you need to smoke every hour, maybe every hour and a half, or every two hours, that's going to take a lot of time out of the parks, as well as "planning to be in the front at certain times" an inconvenience to other plans they may have, or want to have.

yup - it is an inconvenience ... but planning can help - just like with every other aspect of planning to be Disney

And Museums can occupy hundreds of thousands of square feet - the Museum of Natural history in NYC is over 2 million square feet and is a completely smoke free facility where you are not allowed to smoke anywhere on museum grounds or in the surrounding park .... how is that not comparable?

 

[cruisin5]

Well that unfortunate ban is exactly what is going to happen with my family and many others. It saddens me to the point that I have cried but a crabby mom is no fun for them and me leaving them with DH to go off for an hour to walk all the way out and back in is not going to work. I don’t smoke around my kids and they have never seen me do it and they are teenagers, they don’t even know. Hard for mom to make an excuse to be gone for an hour at a time. It really is sad.

Maybe you can change the way you plan a day at Disney? Spend 1/2 day at the park, head out of the park for lunch, hop to a different park.

Do your teenagers really think you don't smoke?

 

[MLA95]

Sorry, I do not find that to be a good enough resolve. Restaurant, stadium, museums is nothing compared to a theme park that goes around for miles. You're comparing apples to oranges.

You have to plan at being near the entrance at certain times is not a solution. You clearly do not know any smokers at all, or at least haven't had enough experience with them.

Going back and being near the entrance at certain hours is the same as taking time to going all the way back to where you just came from, which goes back to the original issue at hand.

If you take 20 minutes going to a smoking area, smoke and relax for 10 minutes, going back to where you were, that is 50 minutes. Almost an hour. If you need to smoke every hour, maybe every hour and a half, or every two hours, that's going to take a lot of time out of the parks, as well as "planning to be in the front at certain times" an inconvenience to other plans they may have, or want to have.

There is nothing in the front of Mk but shops, how many times can you heard your family in the shops? And to find a realistic excuse to do that to the rest of your party knowing without them knowing where you going. They aren’t gonna go with me.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

There is nothing in the front of Mk but shops, how many times can you heard your family in the shops? And to find a realistic excuse to do that to the rest of your party knowing without them knowing where you going. They aren’t gonna go with me.

There are character meets (Mickey & Minnie and Tinker Bell), there is the stage show in the hub, there is the flag retreat ceremony, there is the afternoon parade that goes past the front square, there is the train station, good spot to see Happily Ever After - plus shops and food offerings. Plenty of reasons why a family might go towards the front of MK

 

[Lilsia]

Here you can't smoke with in 100 meters to the entrance of any business or private residence. Which makes it almost impossible to find a place outside that you can smoke as well. Not a lot of places that aren't 100 meters from an entrance to something.

I would actually love that. I am allergic to cigarette smoke and try to plan my trips to the grocery store at very off times because people are smoking right up to the door and putting them out in the ash tray provided at the door. And the same with leaving, people walk out the and stop and light up right by the door. A person should be able to walk into a grocery store without inhaling someone's smoke.

 

[Farro]

my high school had a smoking section ... I graduated in 1996

Yes, I already acquiesced later in the thread.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I hear what you are saying. I don't know if smoking will ever become illegal, but there is such low tolerance from the non-smoking public (which is over 90% where I'm from) that smoking anywhere outside of your own home will become more and more difficult.

Funny enough, we'll probably swap smoking cigarettes for smoking pot in the next generation (aka - smoking cigarettes in public is unconscionable, but smoking pot is just fine)...and no one will question the dichotomy until the next generation hits and the long-term effects of pot and 2nd hand pot inhalation are known...and then we'll repeat the next cycle with whatever the next relaxing drug is...

But, life is too short to make pariahs of anyone...particularly since we all tend to be in glass houses on some issue...a little courtesy and common sense by everyone would probably go a long way to solving these issues "in the gray" which benefits everyone vs having harsh "black and white" boundaries which are certain to harm someone...

 

[cruisin5]

There is nothing in the front of Mk but shops, how many times can you heard your family in the shops? And to find a realistic excuse to do that to the rest of your party knowing without them knowing where you going. They aren’t gonna go with me.

Tony's, the bakery (Starbuck's), The Plaza, Casey's are all very close to the front of the park. Plan on eating at any one of those, skip out for a cig before the meal and again after.

In Epcot, plan lunch near France/England.

I understand you are not happy about the new rules if I still smoked I wouldn't be happy either. But, you can modify your plan to make it work or not. Maybe try Universal if Disney doesn't meet your needs.

I don't think of this as "Disney bans smoking in the parks", but "Disney was the first major theme park to ban smoking". They will all be non-smoking in the future.

 

[saskdw]

I would actually love that. I am allergic to cigarette smoke and try to plan my trips to the grocery store at very off times because people are smoking right up to the door and putting them out in the ash tray provided at the door. And the same with leaving, people walk out the and stop and light up right by the door. A person should be able to walk into a grocery store without inhaling someone's smoke.

Some people still do that as the odds of a cop driving by at that moment are slim, but it's less and less people all the time.