Disneylvr,
At the risk of beating a horse that's on life support, let me add this...
I think we all can agree that the official policy is "one mug, one resort, one visit". The sticking point is what to make of the good number (but not all) of CMs that openly contradict this policy. There seem to be two schools of thought on this:
1) WDW "HQ" doesn't know what they're talking about and doesn't really set the policies for each resort.
2) This really is the written policy for each resort, but the CM's and the food court management have stopped enforcing it due to the rather anarchistic nature of the drink bars in the food courts. They realized that, over time, as more and more people started to reuse the mugs that unless they wanted to dedicate a couple CM's to guard the pop machines it was a "lost cause". A lot of the CM's and their front-line management decided it was better to "join them rather than fight them."
Let's look at #1. If it is a locally set issue, like the refills being free vs. a small charge, then how do we explain observations like DMRick's recent one where she (got it right!) saw a CM tell a guest the mugs were "good for life" when there was a sign on display in the food court that said they were only good for the length of stay? If this was a policy diviation approved by the local resort management, then why do they display the sign???
Also, another piece of evidence cited for the "local policy deviation" point of view is the practice of some resorts charging for re-fills vs. others giving them out for free. But charging for refills is not a change from the stated official policy. The e-mail responses from WDW do not say the refills are to be totally free of charge.
In the case of #2... If I'm not mistaken the philosphy of the mugs being "good for life" is a relatively recent concept to come forth. From what I recall the understanding from the intitiation of the program was that they were good for "length of stay" only. But as more and more people bought them, people discovered that they could in fact resuse them without being challenged. And a concept was born. The idea took hold with the regular visitors. Disney did make some attempt to control things by changing the mug designs or handle colors.
But the horse was out of the barn. When there was genuine doubt about what the actual policy was, people began to think things like "Hey, I'm already dropping a ton of money on Disney", "I hear that WDW gets their syrup free, or almost free, from Coke", and "Lots of people report that the CMs didn't stop them when they reused theirs"... and the reusage grew. So we have reached the point were CMs openly tell people that the mugs are "good for life" even though signs within their sight often state otherwise.
But it sounds like the end of the confusion may be in sight when the barcode programs are put in place. One of two things will happen: 1) WDW will then have a mechanism in place to enforce its long time policy and the CMs won't feel like they have to wave the white flag, 2) WDW will alter it's policy and give free length of stay stickers to people presenting them with the proper resort mugs from previous visits. We'll have to wait and see which it is.
And this "official" email response fails to use the phrase "....refill beverages (including hot coffee & tea) at your Resort for the length of your current stay only" OR "cannot be used for future stays." Some guests may interpret the "official" response to mean your current stay only and others may take it to mean they can bring it with them to WDW again and use it their next current stay.
In the above line of reasoning you would also have to conclude that staying at a resort once entitles you to use that resort's pool during any future WDW visits. "The next current" is an oxymoron. It's like saying "the tomorrow today".
No one is claiming that anyone is slow, dense, or stupid. But I also think that when presented with two options from people in authority, it's human nature to want to accept the option that's more personally advantageous.
I know it is a very debatable issue. I do not reuse my mugs but have been told at the WL last month when I bought their mug that they are good for life. I don't think the CMs know the rules or chose to ignore them. I do know that the official stance of WDW is that they are good for your current stay. Now if only the CMs would get it right too!
