change in refillable mug policy?

[disneynut]

My hubby and I just returned from the "World". We stayed at the AKL in a room with a savannah view. We loved watching the animals but weren't at all thrilled with the pool. Anyway, we went over to Saratoga Springs to look around. In the snack bar/restaurant area we were looking at the refillable mugs which are quite generic with DVC 2004 written on them. I asked the cast member there why the name of the resort was left off. She said that all of the mugs were going to that design and would change every season--so no more buying a mug, taking it home, and using it again the next visit. She said the mugs were designed to only be used for length of stay. I had a hard time believing that until I got a copy of the information about SSR, and there it was in black and white. We own at both BWV and VWL. I have a mug from VWL that I have been using for several years.

Also at AKL, I saw a man with an old Dixie Landings mug refill it in the restaurant. He said that he was told once you buy a mug, you can refill it at any resort. The cast member at SSR said that wasn't true.

I don't know if this is only true of DVC resorts or all resorts on Disney property. For $11.95 a mug per visit, it could get quite expensive.!

 

[manning]

Oh NO!! Everyone head for cover.

Darn it, where's my helmet and ear plugs!!

 

[travelbug]

That's interesting. That would (maybe) put to rest the inconsistency and uncertainty about what the policy is. If there is a general DVC design, I'm guessing that there will also be a general WDW resort design??

Thanks for posting this info. This topic tends to be a hot one around here, so be prepared for a variety of reactions.

 

[AJKMOM]

Don't forget the asbestos suit! This is a very HOT topic. Seems that people remember all sorts of advice concerning the mugs. Even though there are rules, someone always knows they were told that they could use the mugs from 1996 in 2004!

 

[barb45]

We know that lately the mugs have all been length of stay AND the particular resort you are staying in. Maybe this is a good thing - if they just have the DVC logo on it maybe they will be good when you move to a second resort on the same stay.

 

[crisi]

Originally posted by AJKMOM
Don't forget the asbestos suit! This is a very HOT topic. Seems that people remember all sorts of advice concerning the mugs. Even though there are rules, someone always knows they were told that they could use the mugs from 1996 in 2004!

LOL! I KNOW that is what I was told with our WL mugs. As long as we stayed at the resort we could bring them back for "any" future visit. This would have been 2002. I even remember talking to a CM about it, and he said it was a resort loyalty thing - they wanted to get you back to the same resort over and over again - if you'd invested $50 in WL mugs for your family, they thought chances were pretty good you'd think twice before booking CBR next time. And there was no sign I saw posted to the contrary. Don't be quite so quick to imply we are lying - perhaps they were always LOS but some CMs gave out wrong information. Perhaps they weren't always LOS but Disney changed their minds. But those of us who were told this are not lying and are operating under the terms as we understood them when we bought our mugs. For one thing, there are too many of us who were told this!

However, I think the LOS mug is a much more reasonable option. They sell enough of them that they should be able to make them for "seasons" if they don't make them resort specific i.e. Print 2004 over them and have four designs - so those of us who go all the time use the "right" mug. There would be a week or two of overlap on each end of the "season" where you could use the mug going out or the mug coming in. And, with some cute designs, they'd make great souvieniers.

 

[DebbieB]

I bought a refillable mug last October when we stayed at CBR. On the side under the handle it says "refillable only at location purchased. Free refills until the end of your stay". It also has 2003-2004 under the picture.

I noticed when we stayed at CBR that people were using mugs from all over the place at the station in the food court. Some were not even WDW, for example 7-11! The cm's working around the station said nothing.

When staying at a non-DVC with a food court it is worth it if you use them. You pay $11.95 but if you buy enough drinks it's better than paying $1.50 or so for each drink. We usually used it for tea at breakfast and then filled up again when we returned to the resort in the afternoon and then sometimes in the evening. Staying at a DVC, we just buy liters at the store and keep them in the fridge, we don't buy mugs.

 

[tjkraz]

Slightly off-topic question.

I've never done the refillable mug thing, so I don't know a whole lot about them. But I thought I saw some sort of TV program once touting a barcode system that was installed for the mugs. As I remember it, the mugs were intended for LOS, and at the time of purchase, each mug would include a unique bar code. The bar code would have to be scanned at the drink station to actually enable the dispensing mechanism. And, at the end of the scheduled stay, the equipment would no longer function for the bar code imprinted.

Did Disney ever use such a system, or am I confusing this with another organization?

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Officially, it has always been the policy.
2) The refillable mug was length of stay, one stay, one resort.
3) The resorts just got lax and stopped enforcing the rule.
4) There have been several attempts to revert
. . . bar codes on cups that activate the beverage dispenser
. . . resort CM's tending to the dispensers
. . . different colored or designed mugs
. . . signs
5) It looks like different mugs and bar codes may win-out.
6) They have already tried it at water parks.
. . . The bar code is scanned at the dispenser
. . . the dispenser fills one mug's worth of beverage
. . . can't refill for a specified time (I think it was 5-minutes)


In my personal opinion, paying $10-$12 for a mug and expecting perpetually free drinks is not reasonable. I think people are trying to take advantage.

 

[lenshanem]

tjkraz, I saw the bar code thing at the water parks last summer.

So it appears if it says DVC 2004 we could use the same mug at all the DVC resorts? I'm wondering if they look the same for all the DVC resorts then?

And I wonder if it is by the year, or will the design change each season? Cause if it is by the year AND a generic one for all the DVC resorts then actually since many of us go several times in a year this actually would make it CHEAP.

Get where I'm going? Say I go to VWL, BCV and SSR in one year - I could potentially use the same mug all year long.

If they really want it to be just for your immediate stay I would think they should do bar codes.

 

[gchiker]

We stayed at BCV in April and were told by the CM that the mugs were LOS. However, when we realized that you had to wait on line for a CM to refill your mug each time, it became less desirable to buy one. It was not the cost that turned us off, but the time involved waiting for one person to fill the mug. We were used to self service at Dixie Landings, where there are multiple self serve drink dispensers.

 

[blossomz]

We're heading back to WL very soon and I was debating about bringing back our mugs from 2000. Are they still the same or should I just save the room and buy new ones when we get there...
They are beige with the green logo. It is the type that can fit in your car drink holder..the one with the skinny bottom.

 

[Scoootch]

Originally, (speaking of my personal experience anyway) I had a refill mug from Y&B from a stay in 2001 - now back then from what I remember, it was suppossed to be good forever but at the resort you bought the mug from -- this I think was about when they started selling them (not sure). Anyhow, the design to this day has yet to change but in 2001, they did not print anything on the mug. No date, when it's suppossed to be good until or any of that. Now, I do not think back then that they realized people would actually bother bringing them back trip after trip. At least my take on it is that they must not have thought the majority of people would have wanted to have been bothered. If nothing else, I don't think they thought it out much at all and then as time went on they realized they wanted to have people buying new mugs which of course leads to more $$ in their pocket. But because it was not very well thought out, they of course kept changing the rules -- 1st they're good forever, then they began posting signs "good for LOS" and now they have finally realized they need to actually print something in writing on the mugs as well as having signs posted. They are as time goes on wising up and doing exactly that -- I had the Y&B mug with nothing but the design printed on it (broke the handle recently ) which I still see people using as recently as this past monday. I have a POFQ refill mug that I just bought on Monday that has printed on the side "Free refills until the end of your stay" on one side of the handle and "Refills only at location purchased" on the other side.
And from my VB trip 2 wknds ago I have a refill mug from there that doesn't say VB on it but has donald duck and daisy duck on the beach and simply says "Summer 2004".

I think they are inching and inching until they get it right to at least have the new mugs sold not be reuseable on future trips - as for the ones sold in the past, I suspect that people will try and keep using them until they either are so worn out they can't anymore or CM's start calling them on it when they see they aren't current. After this past Monday (went to FQ overnight) I don't see them calling people on it. I saw one man filling up mugs from ASMO, another woman filling mugs from Y&B and yet another man filling a POR/FQ mug from before they changed the design to the purple ones - his was green so it was a few years old and the design was getting warn off a bit. And there were plenty of CM's around to notice these things and no one was called on it

So, I guess since they already print "good only for LOS" and people continue to bring them back they're now wising up and printing "summer 2004" so that next winter, fall or whenever they return they'll know exactly when the mug was purchased.
And since they're obviosly not going to call anyone on the past ones - If people own an older one it's kind of like when we bought DVC - the sooner you bought, the more you got out of it.


By the way, this is not to say it is RIGHT or WRONG just that it is what seems to be since they are not calling anyone on using the past ones.

 

[Terry S]

When I bought my first mugs back in 2000 or 2001 at the Y&B club they were in our room with plastic wrapper on them that explained the purchase price and it said "Lifetime Free Refills" on it. They have since changed them to say "Length of Stay Free Refills" (It is the exact same mug in 2004 that it was in 2000)

 

[floridafam]

Scootch,

The VB usually don't say VB on them, at least out of all the times we have been there. I believe the ones from our last trip have flowers on them and say Spring 2004.

I've always liked the way they do the mug program at VB. They change with seasons and sometimes they have special ones for Holidays. We have a really nice glow-in-the-dark Halloween one the kids love.



We rarely get the mugs at any WDW resort because of the hassle of refills but always get the mugs at VB.

On our last trip to VB, I saw a woman filling mugs at the refill station-one was from WL, one was from Carribean Beach and the other was from somewhere else.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

I'll wait for a CM to stop me from refilling my "good forever" mug we purchased in 1995 or 96. Just because Disney has posted their changed the rules doesn't mean they will guilt me into not refilling my mug. BTW the origianl mugs were thermos brand and twice the size of the current cheaper ones. We get a free fountain drink about 2-3 times during our DVC stay.

If Disney wants to change their policy now, thats fine, but they need to stand by the original program. Maybe they could put up a big poster showing all the mugs from each resort /each year and indicate with the universial red slashed circle which mugs are good forever and which ones are not.

 

[BillPA]

original post by: Johnnie Fedora

I'll wait for a CM to stop me from refilling my "good forever" mug we purchased in 1995 or 96. Just because Disney has posted their changed the rules doesn't mean they will guilt me into not refilling my mug. BTW the origianl mugs were thermos brand and twice the size of the current cheaper ones. We get a free fountain drink about 2-3 times during our DVC stay.

I agree with you Johnnie. Our original purchase was for LIFE TIME. I'm still kicking!! And we will try them in about 16 days.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by crisi
LOL! I KNOW that is what I was told with our WL mugs. As long as we stayed at the resort we could bring them back for "any" future visit. This would have been 2002. I even remember talking to a CM about it, and he said it was a resort loyalty thing - they wanted to get you back to the same resort over and over again - if you'd invested $50 in WL mugs for your family, they thought chances were pretty good you'd think twice before booking CBR next time. And there was no sign I saw posted to the contrary. Don't be quite so quick to imply we are lying - perhaps they were always LOS but some CMs gave out wrong information. Perhaps they weren't always LOS but Disney changed their minds. But those of us who were told this are not lying and are operating under the terms as we understood them when we bought our mugs. For one thing, there are too many of us who were told this!

Very nicely worded, crisi!

We also were told our WL mugs were "good forever". We asked when we bought them, and we've told CM's every visit since that they were bought in a previous year, and is it still okay to use them? Every CM answered: "Fill 'em up!", or words to that effect. We did not demand anything, and would not have raised a stink if they said no.

I even pretended to be a new guest last year at WL and asked the CM how long the mugs were good for. The smiling answer was "they're good as long as you keep coming back to stay here at WL".


Personally, I'm not going to get upset if Disney changes their minds on this. Obviously, they're not getting any more accommodation money out of me so there's no need to incent me to stay at WL/VWL.

I do get upset when some people imply that people are lying, cheating or stealing when they report these conversations. I just don't see the need to bash someone who is just reporting what they've been told....and told....and told.


Kind of runs against the "gee aren't we all nice people" thread that's now running on this same board.

 

[Deb & Bill]

CM's may have told you that they were good forever. However, official Disney policy was always been (since they first offered the mugs) that they were good for the length of the stay at the resort you bought them at.

We bought our first mugs in 97 and were informed then about the official Disney policy.

Disney hasn't changed the policy. They are just trying to be more verbal about it.

 

[KNWVIKING]

You can ask a hundred different CM's what the policy is for refillable mugs and you'll probably get a hundred different answers.

I'm with Mr Fedora, I was told lifetime and I'll treat mine as such until someone tells me otherwise and refuses to fill it. In one regard, the mugs are a pain in the butt because unless your planning on returning to your room after a meal or snack to drop them off, you're stuck carrying them everywhere you go.

If they ever did enforce the length of stay rule I would like to see them make the mugs good at any resort or waterpark. At least this way I'd feel like I was getting my monies worth.