smoking areas/non-smoking areas?

[Harmony]

Okay, I know that this might be taken the wrong way by many people...esp smokers...so let me first say that most of my family (mom, brothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc) are smokers so I don't mean any disrespect.

However...on our last trip (2nd wk of June) I tried to find nice shady areas to relax with my 23mo old, who has lung issues, but the only places I could find were "smoking areas." (born w/ a defect so one lung smaller than the other)

Why would WDW set aside so many of those areas...nice shade, benches..for smokers? I would think the smoking areas wouldn't be so large or nice. I figured that they would save those nice areas for quests that don't smoke. (if they did have nice areas for non-smokers, they were certainly hard to find)

Everytime a smoker would light up, I had to move. It was hard trying to find a place that had nice shade for him and a bench for me. We either had to go into a noisy gift shop or I would find a nice tree and stand next to his stoller.

Just an observation, not a criticism so I hope that smokers don't take offense.

 

[WDSearcher]

You need to remember that the hardest part of getting smokers to use "smoking areas" is getting them there in the first place. If all the smoking areas were out in the hot midday sun, with no shade or trees or nice views or things to look at, how many smokers do you think would use them? And, frankly, just because someone chooses to smoke is not license for Disney to stick them back behind a door or next to a dumpster. (I'm not a smoker, FWIW.)

There are many, many quiet, lovely, non-smoking places to sit all throughout WDW. I'm surprised you always ran into smoking areas, because the number of non-smoking resting locations far outweighs the number of smoking-permitted ones! However, to help you not have this happen again, you might want to make note of your guidemap, which tells where all the smoking locations are. That way, you can avoid them. Also ... if you get to a shaded area and you're unsure if you'll end up moving due to smoke, just look around. If there's a place to deposit cigarettes (usually a tall, skinny beige-colored receptical), then you're obviously in a smoking area.

 

[Harmony]

There are many, many quiet, lovely, non-smoking places to sit all throughout WDW. I'm surprised you always ran into smoking areas, because the number of non-smoking resting locations far outweighs the number of smoking-permitted ones! However, to help you not have this happen again, you might want to make note of your guidemap, which tells where all the smoking locations are. That way, you can avoid them. Also ... if you get to a shaded area and you're unsure if you'll end up moving due to smoke, just look around. If there's a place to deposit cigarettes (usually a tall, skinny beige-colored receptical), then you're obviously in a smoking area.

That's just it, in some of the places I was sitting...there weren't any bins to deposit cigarettes. That's why, when I realized that it was a smoking area, I kept moving.

At one point, I just figured people were lighting up wherever they pleased so I asked the CM if this was a smoking area...esp since I saw no such place to put out a cigarette...and he said "yeah." (I was waiting for my DH and sons in the area in front of the RnRC so I had to move far from the ride area)

I am not saying that smokers should be out in the sun...but I am saying that Disney should have nice shady spaces w/ benches for non-smokers as well. It just seemed that it was very difficult to find a nice, cool, shady non-smoking areas this time around.

BTW...I still have my suspicions that some people were lighting up wherever/whenever they wanted 'cause I saw a couple of people walking around w/ a cigarette in their hand.

I'm just extra sensitive to this issue 'cause of my sons health issues.