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[daddyof2]

I can't say that we noticed much smoking when we visited last year (maybe I'm immune?) but I do know ithe smoking ban isn't strictly enforced by the CM's

[littlebitofpixiedust]

THIS and the litter are the main reasons why I prefer to go to Disneyland California once a year instead of more trips to DLP. Honestly I think its a cultural issue. The UK, Ireland and USA are very similar in many cultural and social issues,which includes smoking. On mainland Europe attitudes towards smoking in particular and other smaller issues such as what is considered rudeness  /bad manners etc are very different to UK / Ireland /USA.

As PP have said in the UK themeparks the no smoking in non smoking areas is enforced more than at Disney. This is comes right from the top senior management enforcing the no smoking rules and making sure that the front line ride and attraction staff know that this rule should be enforced no matter what.

It is the senior management at Disney who are to blame for this continued rule breaking. Why should the ride and attraction CM's enforce the no smoking rule when each tier of senior management don't care???

Also in regards to the litter and general daily cleanlinesses of DLP. This again is down to senior management and cost cutting. In Disneyland California for example, there is a separate department just for emptying bins, keeping attraction queue lines litter free, sweeping the ground etc. Each CM has a set area / rides attractions which they must keep clean throughout the day.

In DLP it is the ride / attraction CMs who are responsible for keeping their areas clean, emptying the bins etc. Is it any wonder that litter builds ups as the CMs have to load / unload people, operate the ride / attraction AND empty the bins, sweep the ground and pick up litter??

So BOTH these problems are the fault of senior management and until changes are made by senior management, unfortunately the smoking and litter will continue

Yes I believe it would be senior managers that should enforce these rules, I felt very sorry for the staff collecting the amount of litter afer dreams... But they were all smiling some signing whilst doing so all in good spirits. I guess the sad fact is they're used to it? During the day I've never noticed DLP being unclean or much litter about it was just on this occasion after dreams as we waited a good 20 min until crowds left until leaving the park.

Still find it totally unacceptable they're bins everywhere there's no excuse in my opinion. I will always love DLP I've never visited California or any others as it would be too long of a journey to fly my son, so I can't compare. But it's still beautiful and despite the issues they face I will continue to visit 

[lovindisney87]

I am a smoker and I also find it disgraceful that any one would light up in the queue lines or anyway too close, me and dh always use either the smoking areas, or we stand way away from anyone else. Never would I dream of lighting up in a queue, on a ride or walking down amongst people and children. To be totally honest we hardly smoke over there during the day as we are too busy concentrating on what our kids want to do. In the evening when they are in bed we take turns to stand outside away from hotel rooms and other people.
Hope your son is ok, I too would be fuming x

[HildeKitten]

Don't come to Belgium then their theme parks are full of teens drinking beer and smoking in the queues...

I'm actually Belgian and living in Belgium and I have to say that I disagree with that statement.
Sure, there were some people smoking the times I went to a Belgian themepark, but the issue definitely wasn't bigger than in DLP.
I have seen people having a beer, but not to the point where they were drunk or tipsy, they were just having a beer (bare in mind that people here are allowed to legally have a beer from 16 and upwards, and places that sell beer are legally obliged to check their age, at places like themeparks they are pretty strict about this). You can see people having a beer in Disney Village, and heck, the hotel bars serve alcohol (if I'm not mistaken you can get alcohol at some places in the parks too).

But all that aside, I agree with other posters that there are many issues in DLP.
And the really sad thing is, I'm sure that everyone here on this forum that goes to DLP regularly, or has been a fair amount of times since it opened in 1992, can immediately tell several (horror) stories of things that went bad due to other guests.
Things that very likely wouldn't happen if CMs actually responded when they had to instead of suddenly feeling the need to be somewhere else when approached or witnessing it. Or fobbing off complaints with some excuse or other.

Sadly I feel that things won't change unless there's an attendance drop, and it's obviously because of these issues. DLP is very much aware that whilst people complain, the issues aren't big enough to keep most from returning, so they don't change things to make sure that the offenders also come back to spend their cash at the resort XD

[littlebitofpixiedust]

Yes I have a few horror stories but then I've visited over 30 times since opening  but I try to not let it ruin the magic or put us of returning because overall its fantastic. And as with any tourist destination you'll get a few "bad eggs" that I'm not directing at any nationality in particular, it's going to be the same wherever you travel.

I think the point is a lot of people don't expect this at a Disney park? But for me smoking is nowhere near as bad as grown adults pushing kids out of the way ect. One man on one occasion was swearing Infront of many children at a character and the cast member with him was incredibly calm and said " if you don't stop the characters will have to leave." Have to feel for the CMs some guests behaviour is terrible.

[HildeKitten]

Oh gods, it is. And I do think CMs should act very strict on it, because it could really ruin someone's visit.

Mind you, adults shoving (just no, and especially not kids, you can get places without shoving!) is unacceptable. But I also think it's unacceptable to shove kids in front of adults queuing because obviously "kids first". That's a big pet peeve of mine and the reason why I only bother with roaming characters when it's a character I _really_ want to meet, or low season and there's hardly anyone else trying to meet them. As an adult, you can stand there waiting for ages and not get a chance (unless you are assertive and risk the ire of many a rude parent) because parents keep pushing their kids in in front of you.

I always feel REALLY bad for the parents and children that are trying to queue, because they're having such a hard time meeting the character trying to behave like decent human beings, while all these rude selfish people that are clearly not behaving like they supposed to are getting in in front of them.
It just gives a really crappy signal to kids I think.

This is one of the reasons why I think that all characters should have a queue. You get far less misery when people have to queue for a character than when they can just mob it.

[littlebitofpixiedust]

I totally agree with you on that one id rather que for a character meet, I never even bother trying otherwise. Really ruins the atmosphere if everyone is pushing and shoving 

[HildeKitten]

It really does!
I don't really understand why they just don't set up queues.
I remember back in the day (2007 I think it was) you had this meet and greet train type thing in the Studios, and they organised orderly roped off queues for that in just a couple of minutes.

Why not do that with "roaming" characters, or characters that will come out at certain times in certain areas that people are aware of (like the Villains behind the castle during the Halloween season); Just set up the ropes for queues a few minutes in advance and things will go a million times smoother!

The argument of "but not everyone will meet the character" is utterly invalid, because that's the case _anyway_, no matter how you set up the meet and greet.

There's often such easy sollutions to DLP problems/issues and it continues to baffle me that at DLP they don't seem to see them XD