Quick Service Soft Drinks: Pricing and Refills

[Dug720]

Yes, that is my experience as well with paper cups. FOUR total fillings. The original plus 3 more refills in the time period offered on the screen. I would imagine these have been adjusted a few times since it started to optimize for Disney and Guest but I think 2 hours would be the maximum. I know it was an hour a few years ago at the moderate/value resorts we bought them. The question for me is .... have they increased the time allowed or since you were at a deluxe, is it possible they get longer? I haven't bought a paper cup in a long time so I don't know.

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I think Disney is pretty consistent with their prices and cup policy across all resorts,
particularly since you can use your mugs at any resort.
$18.99 per mug, one filling every 2 minutes.

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I think its easy. If you will buy at least 6 drinks during your stay at your hotel or another hotel then you will break even on a mug ... and have a souvenir to take home. If you will drink more than 6 drinks you will come out ahead.

Both paper cups and mugs give you refills around the time of your meal. Paper cups will not help you much past that time frame.

Neither have anything to do with getting drinks in the parks, they can't be used there. If you wish to use the refillable drink stations at the parks, you still need to buy the drink & cup. You can pour it in to your mug if you wish to carry it.

I have not stayed at a deluxe in about 8 years - and I had a mug then, plus it was not RFID at the time, so I don’t know. I was taking a break from ML for dinner and went to Contempo Cafe - but I had not hauled my mug with me yesterday, so I had the paper cup with my meal.

 

[coolbrook]

Do the paper cups in the parks have the RFID chips in them?

 

[MrPTato]

Do the paper cups in the parks have the RFID chips in them?

As mentioned above, they don't.

 

[1GoldenSun]

You can also get refills at Sutu'li Canteen in Animal Kingdom.

I had a split stay at Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge last week and I could have sworn the time limit for refills was only an hour at BC, because I was surprised when I got two hours at WL. I could be mistaken, though.

 

[Dug720]

I don’t know what they have, but there is some way the machine knows when you filled it and how many times.

 

[adelaster]

Yes, that is my experience as well with paper cups. FOUR total fillings. The original plus 3 more refills in the time period offered on the screen. I would imagine these have been adjusted a few times since it started to optimize for Disney and Guest but I think 2 hours would be the maximum. I know it was an hour a few years ago at the moderate/value resorts we bought them. The question for me is .... have they increased the time allowed or since you were at a deluxe, is it possible they get longer? I haven't bought a paper cup in a long time so I don't know.

-----------------------------------------------

I think Disney is pretty consistent with their prices and cup policy across all resorts,
particularly since you can use your mugs at any resort.
$18.99 per mug, one filling every 2 minutes.

-----------------------------------------------

I think its easy. If you will buy at least 6 drinks during your stay at your hotel or another hotel then you will break even on a mug ... and have a souvenir to take home. If you will drink more than 6 drinks you will come out ahead.

Both paper cups and mugs give you refills around the time of your meal. Paper cups will not help you much past that time frame.

Neither have anything to do with getting drinks in the parks, they can't be used there. If you wish to use the refillable drink stations at the parks, you still need to buy the drink & cup. You can pour it in to your mug if you wish to carry it.

We don't spend much time in the parks. We refill at multiple resorts. We only stay on property a few days. All told, there is a decision for me. $42 is a lot to spend on drinks. I just wanted to price compare, not have to defend my rational for even asking. If the drinks fall around $3.70 after tax, we could purchase 11 of them before breaking even. Most of the time we refilled rapidly, waiting the three minutes. We could still do that within two hours. Again, I am putting thought into this; I was only trying to learn more here.

 

[MinnieMSue]

We don't spend much time in the parks. We refill at multiple resorts. We only stay on property a few days. All told, there is a decision for me. $42 is a lot to spend on drinks. I just wanted to price compare, not have to defend my rational for even asking. If the drinks fall around $3.70 after tax, we could purchase 11 of them before breaking even. Most of the time we refilled rapidly, waiting the three minutes. We could still do that within two hours. Again, I am putting thought into this; I was only trying to learn more here.

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This is pretty much how I approach things at Disney. I guesstimate what we will order and try to get an idea of what our expenses will be. I was kind of doing the same thing with the mugs but because we will be trheee 15 nights I decided mugs would be best for us. Not doing dining plan is now a no brained with the way we eat. I think what you are doing is smart - why waste money if you can avoid it?