10 Refills Each Day!

[disneyfav4ever]

Where did you get this information??

I believe that poster is a CM.

 

[DisneyHolidayFan]

I believe that poster is a CM.

Thanks for the info! I guess he/she would know.

 

[monkeyknuckler]

We buy the mugs mainly because the drinking water in WDW is so awful. The flavor of a soda is just enough to mask that swampy taste. I wonder if all the areas around Orlando have smelly water, or if its just a ploy from WDW to get people to buy something to drink. Oh, if you don't think WDW has smelly water, you probably live nearby and are used to it.

 

[pumba]

we were told about the Coke being free to Disney quite a few years ago and the coffee (Nescafe) was free because of the advertising........I have dozens of the mugs and I would let the kids I babysat for each have their own design and color.....worked for many years.....some of mine are back to Port Orleans and Dixie Landings.....Dolphin, All Stars, the Year of a million dreams cups, and the new ones that we got in May........so we love them and we think they are worth it for us......We have coffee in the AM ...hubby does mixture of coffee with cocoa in his .......we get soda or iced tea during the day and for sitting around the pool....at Pop Century we had apple juice and alot of the frozen slush........yes it is worth it for us......

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

1) Sponsors give their products to WDW, or pay cash.
2) Examples:
. . . coke fountain drinks are free to WDW
. . . coke in bottles are given to WDW for the bottle charge (I think 5-cents)
. . . all the park maps are printed and paid for by Kodak
. . . all the Nescafe coffee is free to WDW
. . . sponsors (eg. Test Track) pay $millions per year for operations & maint

I had guessed that Coca Cola paid Disney for the sponsorship, much the same as GM did/does for TT. However, the free fountain drinks and heavily discounted bottles are even better. Amazing - imagine the profit margin!

 

[tony609]

- Are the mugs a good deal? Soda is always a high mark-up item, so no, buying it is never a good "deal." Purchasing one soda pop each day of that average six night stay would cost (correct me if the math is wrong here) slightly less than $13.84 - even less if only purchasing coffee. Staying longer than six nights, yes, a good deal. Going back for refills at various times, throughout the day, yes, a great deal.

1 soda from the vending machine at POP Century is I think over $2.00..I want to say $2.25 to $2.50..if it's $2.25 then it's less on 1soda per each 6 night stay ($12.50)..if it's $2.50 then the mug is a better deal being $15.00 for 1 soda a night, HOWEVER you do get more soda in the bottle than the mug. But you didn't discuss ounces only cost. Now I don't know what a small,Medium or large soda costs in the POP Century food court. I would imagine a large is at least $2.50 if not more.

I did enjoy your post, i am just adding my thoughts on the mug vs buying a soda. I sometimes buy the mugs, but hardly ever refill them as I don't want to carry them all day or take them back to the room.

 

[ElizabethB]

We never get the mugs. We can't be bothered with keeping track of them, carrying them around with us, going to specific locations for refill, etc. We just buy the drinks we want, when we want them.

 

[M-I-C-K-E-Y]

Based on the (surprising?) news that Coca Cola provides soda syrup free of charge to WDW, I've come up with some new numbers:

- Eliminating syrup from the mix (which I've seen listed as 5 cents per serving) we're left with CO2 tanks, water, and ice. From what I've read, a 10lb CO2 tank costs approximately $5 to refill. That tank is said to make about 1000 servings of soda water, which would bring the cost to about 1/2 a cent per serving!

- Water: They do filter the water (somewhat) at WDW, at least for the ice machines. Presumably they also filter the fountain machines. Figuring the water processing costs would be next to impossible, without some inside information. Likewise for machine maintenance and cleaning. Let's go out on a limb and say that the true cost of the water needed to make that serving of soda run WDW 3 cents.

- Ice: With the same factors for filtration, maintenance and cleaning, with the added cost of electricity needed to create ice, let's guess at 2 1/2 cents per serving.

All told, the safe guess (without syrup) might be 6 cents per serving. Unfortunately, I cannot say what size that serving might be - let's just call it a standard mug, since that's what we're discussing here.

- Mugs: As originally mentioned, these would be purchased in bulk, with a true cost of less than $1 each. We'll go with $1.

- With these new figures (brace yourselves) at the listed price ($13.84, including tax) someone would have to refill that mug 214 times during that specific stay for Disney to begin losing money!

- Average stay at WDW: Six nights? Just a guess. Therefore, you would need to refill the mug over 35 times each day of your stay before Disney began losing money on the venture.

- Coffee profits (based on the previous comment that WDW is also provided that for free) might be similar. There's no CO2 involved, nor would ice be a factor, but there's cream(er) and sweeteners. Let's consider it the same as the ice/CO2 costs.

- Once again, the mugs are a good deal if you're drinking more than one beverage per day, and are staying six days or less. Longer stay? Lots of thirsty mouths? Get the mugs!

Either way WDW is making out like bandits, which one might expect. It's funny, we were somewhere off the beaten track yesterday for lunch. A nice meal, but they listed refills at 79 cents per glass. Based on what's come to light here, that's pretty funny!

 

[MichelleB]

Here's a slightly off-track question.....we have several of these mugs at our house. I always hand wash them because it doesn't say if they are dishwasher safe. Do you run them through the dishwasher????

 

[carmie3377]

Here's a slightly off-track question.....we have several of these mugs at our house. I always hand wash them because it doesn't say if they are dishwasher safe. Do you run them through the dishwasher????

I run ours through the dishwasher - top rack only. I've washed them quite a few times since our trip last fall and they still look brand new. I don't use the heat drying though so I don't know how heat drying would affect the design.

 

[dbenlee]

Ours from last summer have been through the dishwasher (top rack only) and through the heat dry and still look great. They seem to be sturdy and the design on the is durable.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We used to buy the mugs every trip until we tried the regular DDP. It just seemed like too much soda since we were also getting a soda with our meals.