This was posted on several other boards and Mouseplanet.com
"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."
http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/refillable_mugs_policy_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."
http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/refillable_mugs_policy_changes.htm
:veryconfu :shrug: :lookaroun
