Disney Bans Smoking, Vaping At Its Theme Parks

Not even Cruella de Vil would be welcomed into a Disney theme park if she came to the entrance with a lit cigarette on the end of her opera-length holder.

Starting May 1, Disney theme parks, water parks and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex are going smoke-free.

With the ban in place, parkgoers who wish to smoke or vape will have to exit to designated areas outside of the security area.

“It’s about time,” Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Service, told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s the happiest place on Earth. Why should people be subjected to smoke at Disney?”

The Downtown Disney District in California is also instituting the ban, but Disney Springs in Florida will still have designated smoking areas.

Smoking was already severely limited at Disney resorts, and guests caught puffing in rooms, balconies or patios could be charged a “room-recovery fee” between $250 and $500.

Disney has been slowly eliminating smoking on their physical properties as well as in their intellectual properties.

At a shareholder meeting in 2015, Robert Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, announced Walt Disney Studios would “prohibit smoking in movies across the board: Marvel, Lucas, Pixar and Disney films.”

It’s yet to be seen how Disney will apply the smoking prohibition to Fox-based media following the acquisition, though it’s something anti-smoking advocates are already pushing for.

But putting out cigarettes and turning off vape pens aren’t the only changes Disney is making to its guidelines.

Disney is putting the brakes on strollers measuring more than 31-inches wide and 52-inches long. The parks will also be enforcing their ban on wagons, which has largely been ignored.

“These updates are designed to help guest flow and ease congestion,” Lisa Mendillo, Walt Disney World Resort communications manager, wrote in the blog announcement.

To go along with this change, Disney will soon begin renting double strollers. Instead of the traditional side-by-side models, these strollers are built to have one child sitting behind the other.

Additionally, Disney is freezing out the option to pack coolers with loose or dry ice. The company recommends using reusable ice packs instead. Guests can still pick up complementary cups of ice at any Quick-Service location.

These major changes are being made in advance of the new Star Wars land opening on May 31.

In fact, Theme Park Insider notes Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is responsible for taking out the last remaining designated smoking area at Disneyland.

For all the guidelines, visit DisneyWorld.com/Rules or Disneyland.com/Rules.