The reduction of single-use plastics has become a hot topic around the country, and there are several states where you’ll see political pushes to do so.
Disney Conservation Fund Goals
And a new law in California is about to nudge those efforts along a lot faster. And it will likely affect your stay at Disneyland.
California Governor Gavin Newsom just announced a law that will ban hotels from providing guests with plastic shampoo, conditioner, lotion, or soap bottles.
The new law, effective in 2023, will mostly impact hotels with more than 50 guests rooms. However, it will also change smaller resorts’ policies with less than 50 guests rooms in 2024. Non-compliance could mean a fine of $500 for a first offense and $2,000 for any violations after that.
Disneyland Hotel
So, what does this mean for your stay at a Disney resort?
Gran Destino Deluxe Suite – Club Access
Currently, Disney Parks and the Disney Cruise Line have made some major changes by getting rid of plastic bags, opting for paper straws, and changing the MagicBand packaging. While they’re currently reducing plastic usage, the Disney Conservation Fund has still projected to make bigger changes in the resorts over the next few years by reducing in-room plastics by 80%.
Paper Straws in the Disney Parks
And, although Disney World and the Disney Cruise Line have started to use refillable toiletries, they aren’t everywhere just yet. Disneyland, on the other hand, is going to have to get with the picture sooner rather than later with the new law just around the corner.
Refillable Toiletries
Disney’s most expensive deluxe resorts seem to be the last hold-outs in switching to the refillable products mounted in the showers. We’re eager to see what choices they make in light of this development.
Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!
WE KNOW DISNEY.
YOU CAN, TOO.
Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation.
Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever!
What are your thoughts on the switch to more conservation-friendly products? Let us know in the comments below!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
Great news for the environment that Disney and others will be doing away with individual bottles. I know a lot of these changes are adjustments for all of us, they’re really minimal accommodations to address the major problems we’re facing.
I’m disappointed to see DFB encouraging people to bring their own bottles to take home product. While some people may fill a couple of bottles of the typical hotel size, others will see an opportunity to fill bigger bottles. That’s stealing, and we all pay for it in higher room rates. If you like the products, buy them, please.
I hate those wall pumps. WE have stayed at three different hotels in the past two months including a WDW resort and all three had a non functioning pump. Also, one of the bottles at the Disney resort ran out of body wash. I really don’t want to call housekeeping at 5 AM when I am trying to catch an early bus to HS.
You would have to be careful using them . People could tamper with the bottle
Is it sanitary to use after another patron not really . The small containers everyone gets there own than throw it out for garbage . Saving the world and people get sick by using the same container I don’t know about it .😃
Is it sanitary to use after another patron not really . The small containers everyone gets there own than throw it out for garbage . Saving the world and people get sick by using the same container I don’t know about it .😃
I’m not a fan of this at all.
I’m in my 50s and have never used hotel toiletries in my life. I always take my own. I don’t just mean Disney, I mean everywhere. I’m not American so I don’t know if that makes a difference.
Unless people are sucking on the pump (and then you suck on it, too), I don’t think it is particularly unsanitary (as long as the dispensers are locked so that people can’t tamper with them. If you are worried, use some of the soap or bring sanitizing wipes to give the pump a little scrubdown. Alternately, people who have concerns can, and have always been able to, bring their own bath products with them.
We’ve had nothing but good experience with the wall pumps in the bathtub. The little bottles were a sweet souvenir but I am on board with the efforts to eliminate that kind of waste.
Hopefully, the plastic bags Disney is getting rid of won’t include garbage bags in the trash cans. Very unsanitary if they do!
I love the wall mounted bottles! With three of us in my family with long hair there is never enough shampoo & conditioner in those tiny bottles. I don’t see how it could be unsanitary, we all use the soap dispensers in public restrooms.
I like them, even though I bring my own products, I save the individual products to give to friends who give them out at homeless shelters. They are great for people who can afford the luxuries we have!
What on earth are people doing with the dispenser that could make it unsanitary?!
Let’s save the world we live in and take for granted!
When we first stayed at AS Music many years ago, there were dispensers on the wall in the bathtub. They worked fine. While we have enjoyed taking home a mini-ears bottle of shampoo and a soap or two, I’m happy to go back to the dispensers with the very nice H2O products. I kind of laughed about the idea that it was unsanitary to use the dispensers after you’ve spent all day touching dirty, germy handrails and safety bars. If you are worried, bring your own stuff or use a Lysol wipe (or just soap and water) on the pump tops. My late husband was an RN and he had no problem with dispensers.
I agree with not encouraging people to fill their own big bottles – that’s really dishonest – but it’s easy to buy the items you may like in the shop. You can also bring your own products if you are fussy about your hair or perhaps sensitive to fragrance.
This is such a Kroc.
They remove quote single use toiletries even though they are not single use. They remove plastic straws. BUt the hard plastic forks, plastic cups, plastic containers All of which produce more waste than straws and shampoo. So when will they ban these items?
It’s all for optics. Let’s say we’re doing dong someyhing not actually do it.
I think it’s good they are starting somewhere. In July my country banned single use plastic bags so super markets and any other retailers here now are only allowed to provide paper or re usable bags. At first I thought ha what’s that going to do they still allow tones of other single use plastic however I see it’s just a small step to hopefully one day going as plastic free as we can 🙂 big ups to Disney for the change I’d love to see them change their cutlery to bamboo and bio degradable storage containers for food 🙂
Hotels (or whoever mandated these changes) need to come up with a different solution. These individual sites have multiple uses: as souvenirs, for the next leg of the trip, charity back home, or for guests in my home.
The large pumps can malfunction, be unsanitary or be empty.
Note: I take wipes and wipe down remote controls, and other items that housekeeping may miss.
But how about a different container other than plastic for the individual bottles?
We just stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel in Disneyland. They already use the dispensers for their H2O products. It was not unsanitary in the least. The arguments presented by John and Tom are biased and not valid. It appears neither of them like California or Disney. The Resort was immaculate and Disney’s efforts at protecting the environment are laudable.
I’m interested to see the changes. Pencils instead of pens? Large reusable bottles and bar soap in cardboard boxes? I know many resort no longer have trash bags…..
I want to know how all these people think THIS is going to fix the environmental damage for the last 150 years of the industrial revolution? Disposable gloves in healthcare, diapers , sanitary napkins, 49 other states not banning these thing.ms.
Wake up! Disney is a money making corporation. This is just another scheme for them to make more on their bottom line. In the gift shop, those toiletries are $20 ea.
Even Pop Century is over $150/night, but I hafta share soap with strangers. Yuck!
And for the person who’s husband is/was an RN, hospital’s DO NOT refill soap dispensers, it’s against the law. They replace cartridges. Most dispensers in hospitals that I have seen in recent years are automated too, to prevent people from touching them to reduce exposure.
People gat stag infections from door knobs.
We recently stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel in Disneyland. They have already replaced the disposable soaps with soap dispensers. They are very sanitary, contrary to the opinions expressed above. California and Disney are on the right environmental path.
About the only thing Disney seems to be good at lately is virtue signaling…this nonsense will certainly add to that reputation.
This isn’t Disney’s doing in California. It’s the state legislature & governor. Soon they won’t have to worry about waste from out of state visitors thanks to terrible service by way of “living wages” and “environmental protection” laws all while creating city blocks filled with homeless people.
Marriott Hotels Is Doing This Too. Starbucks Is Replaciing there Straws And Other Fast Foods Too All plastic Strws must Be Gone By January 2020
I am so glad to see Disney’s concern for plastics ruining our environment. I’m sure they will be announcing that plastic bubble wands of all kinds will no longer be sold. This is another great step to saving the earth… Or is it just about saving money? You decide.
I really didn’t care for it. If I knew before I came I would have brought my own shampoo, conditioner and body wash. I feel it’s unsanitary other people using the same bottles. I think that they should have the small individual bottles. It’s more sanitary for each individual.
The fact that people are COMPLAINING against this law is absurd, in my opinion. We share soap dispensers with people when we go into a public restroom, and even some gyms (and I’m sure other places) have these dispensers for those who don’t bring their own toiletries. I think this is a great step to take, and if you’re THAT worried about sharing a dispenser with other people, bring your own stuff. It’s really not that difficult.
We really should be working towards reducing our plastic waste, and it’s going to take baby steps with one thing at a time. People are too afraid of change and want to cling to their convenience.
Tim,
It would make me soooooo happy to see those stupid bubbles go bye bye! They are a nuisance!
Anyway…..I miss the little bottles of shampoos, conditioners, and body washes! I’m one of those that brings empty bottles to fill up and take home because I pay a pretty penny to stay at Disney and that’s one of the perks that they took away from me! Just my opinion and I will continue to do it!
Genuinely unbelievable that people are complaining about this. Any small step to reduce plastic waste is a step in the right direction.
It isn’t unsanitary, plenty of hotels worldwide already dispense toiletries in such a way and it’s perfectly fine.
People need to wake up and have a bit of respect for the planet that literally allows us to be alive.
This is not a step to reduce waste by any means, its nothing but a corporate mandate by Disney (and others) to save money and costs, if you really buy into that its doing any good for the environment your blind. They all just want you to think it is. For the money Disney is charging why should guests have to bring their own?? I think its gross they are making everyone share now out of the same dispenser. All for some spun PR story about reducing waste when its really not, just so they can save a buck. Keep charging more and provide less and less.
Hence the reason I will never go to Disneyland again. California is crazy.
The Disney paper straws hold up though they still have the gross mouth feel, but the Disney Starbucks green straws are just awful. It left green stuff on my lips which means I ingested some of it and it dissolved with 2 inches of my frap left. Yet Starbucks served my frap in a PLASTIC cup! Why not use a waxed paper cup and a plastic straw that works? Or wax your flipping straws so they work? I bring my own toiletries, but prefer to use the hotel’s bar soap because I have had house keeping toss my soap from home and If they provide bar soap, I know it will be replaced every couple nights. I hate body wash and end up with most of it running off my hands and down the drain. Hotel soap used to be paper wrapped like home bar soap. Why not provide it paper wrapped instead of in a plastic bag? The rest can be big in large containers touched by dozens of hands and likely not cleaned (yuck). And in this big anti plastic push why are the selling one use plastic bottles of water for $4 instead of selling metal water bottles and putting filtered bottle fillers into the parks? Wait, they make money off bottled water, i have my answer.
firstly, Brandon, plastic forks and knives are made of biodegradable plastics made from corn, so don’t worry about that.
secondly, I am all for this except for one thing – I can’t stand the body wash. it doesn’t lather well, and you are forced to use too much of it when a bar of soap would last much longer and perform better.
love the paper straws. reminds me of my childhood, when we had paper straws at school. 🙂
I know people who donate their unused toiletries to military over seas. I hope this doesn’t have a negative impact down the line.
I’ve used the full size soap dispensers three times and have had problems twice. The metal is rusted or the pump falls out. I think there could be improvements.
For me, they were always souvenirs. You are paying for them, so you should be able to take them home. I loved taking them home and reliving being there.
I also have experienced empty and non functioning bottles. I am not a fan of politicians deciding for me what I can and can’t do, can and can’t buy, can and can’t eat.
We now have our own stock of plastic straws that we bring with us. We hate the weird tasting paper straws that are big enough to plum a house with and get mushy.
This is not a bad thing, bravo! A very small step to addressing a very big and pressing problem. And for all the whataboutism that tends to follow these topics, ANY choice to reduce single use plastic is better than NO change to status quo and we can all do better.
Maybe it’s because recycling isn’t a foreign concept to me, but as a Canadian visiting the parks I struggled having to throw everything in the garbage when I was there last. Why not just encourage recycling to be a thing?
I am all for doing more to save the environment, but this seems more of a cost-saving measure for Disney than an environmental policy. People will bring their own plastic bottles to fill, or their own toiletries in plastic – it’s just shirking responsibility for that plastic from the company, and the government, to the consumer. Unless they’re providing completely refillable glass or stainless steal bottles, there’s no actual attempt to save the environment here and it’s a “feel good” measure designed to do nothing more than present the optics everyone’s saving the environment, but ultimately does little. That’s without factoring in people breaking the pumps or potentially tampering with the bottles.
Most of the travel-size bottles you buy in store, at least here, are #2 plastics, which can still be recycled even in light of the plastic crisis and countries refusing to take a lot of plastics. #2 are still valuable, and there’s compostable products coming out that could improve packaging for samples.
I feel like there are better ways to deal with this than just axing the mini Disney toiletries.
The only problem I have with dispensers are that they are very unhandy for us that like to take baths and not showers. Otherwise they are fine.
When we stayed at Disney World this summer it was this way and it was really no problem at all. It did not seem unsanitary (you cannot get into the bottles). It was actually very convenient to have a pump instead of having to get product out of the little bottles.
What about the massive amount of plastic that covers new toys allowing every piece to be visible, not to mention the plastic toys, popcorn buckets, drink cups? The light up toys with batteries that are used and then discarded due to lack of interest? Single use plastic flatware and wine and drink cups at food and wine. Straws, lids and shampoo aren’t the biggest villians. The list sadly is overwhelming!
I recently fell and have balance issues. Trying to hold on in a slippery shower, especially on a moving ship, trying to pump tiny amounts of shampoo and conditioner out of those pumps is dangerous for me. How does a kid reach them safely. Do I have to go in with my still short 10 yr old son to give him shampoo, etc. I don’t care for this pump set up at all. I understand why it’s being done but also don’t understand why the bigger, for profit items aren’t being addressed.
Some of these comments make their writers look ridiculous! I love a Disney freebie (or 2) as much as anyone, but the time has come to move on – and Disney has no choice in this as it’s a law change. If you’re worried about germs, then use a wipe first! I agree completely with all of the recent changes regarding plastic waste – the amount of plastic carrier bags used in US supermarkets for instance is appalling, but maybe we notice it more because here in the U.K. we’re all used to taking our own bags, or paying for plastic ones.
Totally absurd many of these comments. How do people use these bottles themselves to consider them any more unhygienic than the hundreds of things we come into contact with each day. I’m sure that mousekeeping will be paying more attention to the said items in any case.
My main concern is that people could tamper with the products. Are the bottles locked so they can’t be opened? If so, then I’d have no problem with it, but if not, then I won’t be using them. I am surprised that people are laughing at the comments about products being tampered with. We live in a time when people open and lick containers of ice cream and put it back when they are standing in the middle of the grocery store. Just think what they’d do behind closed doors. I knew a guy that bragged about replacing shampoo left in a public shower with Nair Hair Remover. I’m not taking any chances if they are not locked.
People. I just returned from WDW resort where I found the large bottles much easier and more convenient than those tiny little bottles that you can’t squeeze the produce out of. The bottles ARE locked in with a special key needed to remove the bottles. As for being sanitary? Hello?? You are in Disney, touching the most contaminated surfaces imaginable. If you are a germ freak, do some reading and learn that you need a bountiful amount of “germs”, good and bad, to maintain a healthy immune system. If you are still freaked out, take the same wipe you use to decontaminate the remote and wipe down the tops of the toiletry bottles, and while you’re at it remember to wipe down every single other surface that someone might have touched because you might touch a germ if you don’t.
I, too, would have concerns about someone (maybe you) tampering with the full-sized bottles, however they are locked in, so put that out of your mind.
As for finding empty bottles on arrival….unlikely. There is an indicator line that is easily seen and I’m sure Mousekeeping will be paying particular attention to this as they do so many other details for your stay.
As for the comments here on how this won’t “fix” the environment…you sound super-silly. Of course it won’t fix it, but like my town in CT banning single-use plastic bags, it’s an effort that slows the contribution of waste in our landfills. No it doesn’t FIX the problem that you have contributed to for all these years and it isn’t a first step. See how you are freaking out over tiny bottles and straws? Imagine if they changed more all at once. Yikes!
If you think that Disney should continue to pay for your excessive use (or theft) of the tiny bottles that you “collect” and pass the costs on to me with higher room rates, that’s an interesting perspective. If you choose to “donate” them or use them for guests in your own home, then pay for it out of your own pocket. Not mine.
Yes, Disney is a money-making conglomerate. But realize that they are not looking to irritate you by taking away what you think you have a birth-given right to. They are preparing for upcoming law changes, with full realization that they will have much push-back from you. They have provided other extras in the rooms that were not provided previously. Mouthwash, larger/nicer hand lotion. They have off-set the take always (required by specifics in upcoming LAW) with little extras (that are not covered in the law, i.e. mouthwash & larger lotion). Remember, Disney wants you to be happy. Disney also knows that you’re smart enough to see through something that would appear to be “for optics”. They are simply gearing up for current and upcoming changes in the law.
If you don’t like germs and high room rates, then perhaps change in vacation venues should be considered by you. Stealing, ahem, I mean getting your money’s worth out of toiletries only raises the room rates for you and for me.
This is obsurd! We pay plenty of money to be able to have individual packaging for Disney products in the room. They can actually save money by keeping track of how much is dispensed, or they could cut back by handing out larger bottles that you can leave with. Locked up products mildewing away on the shower wall are not my idea of a luxury resort. As a DVC member, this will make my blood boil. Between doing away with bags and straws, its enough. What happened to good old fashioned recycling packages, or using sustainable packaging? Cosidering all the money I pay for the property maintenance, you should be able to leave some of the tiny favors for your guests. Its bad enough you cannot drink an ice coffee without the straw turning to mush in your mouth. Lets not be fooled, cutting costs is not just for the enviorment, it also allows for them to keep more money in their pocket.