Refillable mug question

[ekmom]

Once I buy my refillable mug can I just walk in each time I want a drink and fill it and exit without going through the cashier line?

 

[disneykid4ever]

yes

 

[Stinky_Pete]

That's one of the joys - not having to wait in line!

 

[BamaFan121s]

Yeppers.

 

[duffy]

I always just kinda raised my mug in a salute to the cashier as I walked past the lines of people paying.

 

[Mr. Pig]

The drink stations generally are all outside the cashier stations so at most resorts you don't even have to go near the cashiers.

 

[bullcat_02]

Is it still true that you can take your old mugs from past trips and fill them up? I went in May 02 and still have my All-Star mugs. When I go back & stay in the All-Stars do I have to buy a new mug? Just curious.

 

[Goofyz3girls]

Bullcat 02.......technically you are supposed to purchase a new one.They are considered to be good only through your stay.But...............lets say I've seen people with their mugs which how can I say it they.......looked OLD.The CM's don't bother pressing the issue so you can get away with it.....

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

Is it still true that you can take your old mugs from past trips and fill them up? I went in May 02 and still have my All-Star mugs. When I go back & stay in the All-Stars do I have to buy a new mug? Just curious.

Here is the official policy as stated on the mugs themselves.

 

[canron]

we use ours every year 9 years now..we see it all the time..

 

[minnie61650]

The refillable mugs are only good for the time of your stay during which you bought your mug.

In the past some CM's may have mistakenly told guests they were good for a lifetime.

I have serched the internet many times over looking for PROOF that Disney did in fact have a lifetime
refillable mug at one time . I did not find any articles to back up the claims of a lifetime refillable mug.
I did find a photoshop photo of this PRETEND one:

Here are some articles I did find that were written in 2002 and back up the claim that the Disney resort refillable mugs were never lifetime refillable mugs.



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From this Mouseplanet.com websiteJune,2002:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/ref...icy_changes.htm

In an effort to rein in costs and increase income, the Walt Disney World Resort hotels are making some drastic changes to the extremely popular refillable mug program that may affect many repeat visitors to the resort.

[If you are unfamiliar with the program, you can read about it in MousePlanet's WDW Resorts from A to Z page under "Refillable Mugs."]

According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel entitled "32 ounces of soda not enough? Disney tries out self-serve refills," Walt Disney World is making large 32-ounce soft drink mugs available for free self-serve refills in Typhoon Lagoon. That's the good news. The bad news is that you can only refill your mug on the day of purchase. If you return to Typhoon Lagoon the next day, you can no longer refill your mug for free.

Disney has added a new UPC bar coding system to the self-serve refill stations that, for the first time, controls a previously unenforced policy. Although the refillable mug program has always been advertised as available during an actual length of stay that allows guests to refill their mugs during their trip, in reality, guests often brought their mugs back on subsequent trips to refill them free of charge. With the UPC code tied to a guest's hotel reservation, this new system closes this loophole altogether. That is, once your stay has ended, your mug is no longer refillable. Those mugs you bought on previous visits won't work next time you vacation at WDW.
Another loophole that may close with this new system is that you might not be able to use your mug at any other resort except at the one you are staying. For example, if you stay at one of the resorts for a few days and purchase a mug there, and then you move over to another resort for the balance of your vacation, the mug might not be refillable at the second resort.How will this new system be enforced? Once the UPC code system is fully activated, they can devise a system by which the fountains work only if an "active" UPC code is on the mug.

WDW visitors are already complaining that the new system is yet another line to stand in and just "more time-consuming nonsense cutting into [one's] vacation time."

Did you recently visit WDW and see this change in practice? If you have any first-hand knowledge or experience, please email me or Brian Bennett at brian@mouseplanet.com to provide us with more details.

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Here is another article written in June 2002:

http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/2002/06/24.html

Disney Mug Holders, Beware

"The new system of computerized monitoring of fountain refills being experimented with at Typhoon Lagoon could tighten a rather loose policy at Disney's resorts. They sell 16-ounce souvenir mugs for $9.99.

Guests may refill them at resort snack bars unlimited times with soda, coffee or tea for the length of their stay. Cashiers sell the mugs and then are supposed to keep a watchful eye as guests get their own refills.

But some Disney World employees and regular guests say they take the mugs on repeat visits to the snack bars and fill up -- basically a lifetime of free drinks for one purchase. They are occasionally offered on eBay and at garage sales, testimony to their timeless value.

Cashiers say the mugs' designs aren't changed enough for them to spot old ones. But the new system being tried at Typhoon Lagoon employs a bar code that's read electronically at the drink dispenser and recognizes old mugs." [Orlando Sentinel, via Boing Boing]

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And another from June 2002:

From this website:

http://www.intercot.com/news/2002/june.asp

News Archive - June 2002

June 27, 2002


Refillable Mug Policy Tightening?
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney is experimenting with a new computerized barcode system to be used in tandem with it's refillable mug program offered at their resorts. The program allows guests to buy a mug for each person in their party which then can be used for unlimited drink refills during their stay. The policy change could come as a result of Guests taking the mugs on repeat visits to Disney World to fill up on what becomes basically a lifetime of free drinks for one purchase.

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

Just my 2 cents.

 

[mari360]

You could try... the mugs change every year... the pics on them are different... But CM's really don't pay attention to things like that. when i was there in May 07 people were using old mugs with no problem..

 

[dburg30]

They get all their syrup for free anyway.. Why do they care if you take some?

 

[minnie61650]

They get all their syrup for free anyway.. Why do they care if you take some?

As a business owner I can tell you there are a lot of hidden costs in that mug of soda.

Even if the syrup is free there are still other expenses I am sure that are not covered

Such as the cost to carbonate the syrup ,the cost of the dispensers. the cost of the ice, the cost to deliver the syrup, the pay for the CM's setting up the machines, the electricity to run the machines, the cost to maintain the dispensers, not to mention the cost of liability insurance in case of a lawsuit from a "slip and fall".

I am sure there other expenses I am missing but I assure you there are a lot of "hidden costs" in that mug of soda and even pennies tend to add up when hundreds of thousands of mugs of soda are dispensed weekly.

JMHO

 

[divawife]

Tinks Pixiedust-
Does that mug you show look like the mugs for all the resorts or just whatever resort you were in when you purchased it?
We're going to ASMu- are their mugs the same just without the date for 2008?
thanks!

 

[disneyfan2]

the 2008 ASM don't have the date on them. I purchased one last Feb but it was not the YOAMD 2007 mug, i guess an older style. i do remember a CM question someone about the mug they were using as the design was different. The CM was right at the station doing some refills. For the sake of $12 i will be buying a new one. I don't want to have to hide around. Plus it gives us a souvenir considering we did not get the YOAMD design.

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

Tinks Pixiedust-
Does that mug you show look like the mugs for all the resorts or just whatever resort you were in when you purchased it?
We're going to ASMu- are their mugs the same just without the date for 2008?
thanks!

The mug in my photo is the YOAMD mug. The YOAMD mug is sold at all resorts, except CSR. All YOAMD mugs for 2008 have the same design and colors as one in my photo, but no year is printed on them. The mugs at ASMu have the same design as the one in my photo. The only thing that might vary may be the lid color. In 2007 there were apparently three different lid colors - blue, silver, and um, I forget; white maybe? Anyway, I don't know if any difference in lid colors has been noticed for 2008 or not.

 

[mari360]

wait then what kind of cup does CSR get??? i wonder...

 

[dburg30]

OK, let me rephrase. They also have to pay for cups and ice, but they will give that away for free.

I guess that if they REALLY honestly were worried about it, they would have their soda machines in an area where they would actually be watched.

 

[mari360]

i agree with you...they see it happening and really don't make a big deal of it. As big of a coproration as they are this is probably not too big of a loss to them...