We were there in March. Under the Splash exit area there was a young woman (late 20s, early 30s) who was smoking and not even hiding it. It was a covered area. She was the only one and wasn’t there long, but it was noticeable to everyone around.
It’s annoying, not the end of the world, but annoying. The rest of us obey the rules, but you just get the sense that some people think the rules don’t apply to them.
I think the smoking rule may not apply to much of anyone yet. Still need to wait and see how it is handled. Kind of like line jumping, only there is a real safety issue with smoking. No ashtrays, so will people just throw butts in the trash where they might start a fire?
I think this is one rule they will really crack down on, if for no other reason than to reduce janitorial staff who have to clean up cigarette butts. Money talks, of course.
Just got back and on my first park day (May 8) noted a gentleman vaping as we exited the Dinosaur ride. He obviously knew he was not supposed to doing it, because he was looking around before pulling it out of his pocket and taking a quick hit.
We were there last week. I didn’t see anyone smoking in the park, but did see a couple of people smoking while walking from the park entrance to the bus stop. They were not in a designated area.
Just wrapping up. Maybe 1 smoker and 2 people vaping. But I feel like people are always more brazen with vaping. Clearly were hiding their behaviors. No one in the bathrooms.
I’m actually really concerned about this for my trip in December. Cigarette smoke, even just the smell of it, is a huge migraine trigger for me. I don’t want a day in the parks to be derailed because people just light up wherever they want, since treatment always requires a nap. With the designated areas, I could avoid smokers for the most part, but now, it seems i may have to suffer because some people have no concern for others. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I agree. I have never smoked, and I don’t especially care for the smell of it, but for a destination that has the international draw of WDW (and let’s face it, no other country in the world is as draconian with it’s smoking rules as is the US) to completely ban it in the parks is going too far. Not being able to smoke in a WDW park is not going to result in a smoker becoming a non-smoker overnight. Second-hand smoke can be an issue for people like bar workers who are immersed in a high concentration of smoke for hours a day, 5 days a week (or kids growing up in a house with smokers), but 20 seconds waking past someone smoking, in the open air, is not going to increase your chances of cancer or COPD. It’s just not a “public health hazard” except perhaps for a tiny percentage of people who may have enhanced sensitivity or an allergy, but to me that’s like saying no peanut products can be used anywhere in WDW because a few people have a peanut allergy.
To me, it’s really about “not liking the smell”. Well, you know what, standing behind someone in line for 30 minutes who smells like a rancid pina colada due to all the sun screen slathered on their body is way more offensive to me than walking past a smoking section for 15 or 20 seconds. And don’t get me started on hair products and cologne…
All of this being said, agree with it or not, a rule is a rule and it should be enforced; if it’s not going to be enforced, what’s the point in having it in the first place…
I don’t know what your smoking rules are like but the UK has very strict laws, which I am grateful for. The theme park here that I go to does still have designated smoking areas.
Smoking is not next to the customer relations booth, it’s at the end of either the 2nd or 3rd bus loop, depending on if you go by the downloadable park map or MDE. (They don’t display the same location.)If people were smoking next to customer relations it is outside the designated area.
I guess we’ll see how it goes. I have concerns about enforcement (but that may be due to past experiences with brazen line jumpers and CMs unwillingness to do anything about it) but I’m not sad they want to make the parks smoke free. I was just curious what others have observed.
Unfortunately I believe that without a designated area we will continue to see people smoking in the parks. In the past I have seen a CM confront someone smoking outside a designated area, but all they do is direct them where they need to go. CM will not be kicking people out of the parks for smoking. The majority of people will respect the rules. Its the few that think the rules don’t apply to them that we will continue to see. If the worst that is going to happen is being told that they need to put it out, why wouldn’t they try.
In December I wore those kind of zippy trousers where you can unzip the bottom half to turn them into shorts.
I was in Epcot and feeling a bit cold, so I looked for somewhere to sit down to zip the bottoms back on again.
It turned out I had wondered into the smoking area. It was kinda gross.
But the fault was mine. The smoking area is for people who smoke.
And it’s not unreasonable for smokers to have a smoking area. I’m lucky not to ever have gotten into smoking, but I know about addiction (to sugar, in my case) and how incredibly hard it is to break free from.
Expecting people to leave the parks entirely does strike me as unreasonable. Placing the new smoking areas in the paths of people entering the parks strikes me as just plain stupid.
Disney does need to rethink this one.
I wonder if enough people complain who are nonsmokers if Disney will reverse their decision.
It sure sounds like they should.
I would consider complaining if either (a) the new smoking areas cause me a nuisance or (b) I see multiple people smoking in the parks.
when I was there (the week the ban went into effect), there was about 10 people next to the relations booth smoking. Can’t imagine they all were allowed to just be there without security noticing.
So maybe they moved it after the fact, which would be just fine by me.
Zippy trousers for the win!
I thought I was the only dork who liked those. 
I take them on every trip where I expect wide swings in temperature.
I used to have them for my kids.
I know, right? I kept looking at all the normos with their stupid regular shorts and thinking “what idiots!”
Yeah, you’re not really part of this. We’re not looking for new members.
I think she’s insinuating we’re somewhat juvenile. Which may be true.