Disney Is Banning Large Strollers And Smoking From Its Parks

Disneyland has been open in Anaheim, California, since 1955. And it's about to change in a big way.

Next month, the park will add a new section called Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Disney World in Florida will also add a Star Wars themed section this summer.

And as you might have experienced firsthand or heard from friends or family members, Disney's parks become packed with crowds and long lines.

Now, add Star Wars fans to the mix.

"They expect it to be an onslaught, pretty much," Los Angeles Times travel industry reporter Hugo Martin (@hugomartin) tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson.

So Disney is making a couple changes that will take effect May 1.

No more large strollers. No more smoking locations.

And if you plan on bringing a cooler, skip the dry ice. It was banned on March 28.

Smoking was already prohibited in many areas of the park, but the new ban means designated smoking areas within the park will no longer exist.

"If you want to smoke at the Disneyland Resort, you're going to have to go to some areas in the Disneyland hotels or out on the sidewalk, pretty much outside of the parks," Martin says.

For strollers or stroller wagons, they must be smaller than 31 inches wide and 52 inches long.

But ultimately, Martin says he doesn't think the new rules will have a huge impact on how many people visit the parks. "I don't see anything that's really going to reduce the crowds as they've been growing," he says.

Marcelle Hutchins produced this interview and edited it for broadcast with Tinku Ray. Serena McMahon adapted it for the web.