Rapid Fill Mug Program Fails (at more ways than you might think)

lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
Because people shouldn't and generally don't expect 'free refills' just because the machine is there. This is the classic 'well they didn't stop me...' entitlement attitude. "there was no sign saying I COULDN'T just take the apple...'
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They don't? I can only think of one place I've ever been where there were not free refills on the self-serve fountain.
 
pax_65

pax_65

Well-Known Member
One other thing... if you're staying at two or more Disney resorts during your stay, your mug should work for the "length of your stay" across the different resorts. What difference does it make if you're staying 5 days at the Contemporary and 5 days at the Poly or 10 days at the Poly? One "length of stay" mug should work for 10 days in both circumstances. As it is now (according to what we were told), you have to buy a separate mug for the second hotel stay, even though they are both Disney resorts. I wasn't about to pay for two mugs for every member of my party.
 
carolina_yankee

carolina_yankee

Well-Known Member
pax_65 said:
One other thing... if you're staying at two or more Disney resorts during your stay, your mug should work for the "length of your stay" across the different resorts. What difference does it make if you're staying 5 days at the Contemporary and 5 days at the Poly or 10 days at the Poly? One "length of stay" mug should work for 10 days in both circumstances. As it is now (according to what we were told), you have to buy a separate mug for the second hotel stay, even though they are both Disney resorts. I wasn't about to pay for two mugs for every member of my party.
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I believe the mugs are indeed good for length of stay. I think the new program allows you to use the mugs at every resort, not just the one you are staying at (unlike the old program).

We did a split stay the last two weeks at POFQ (4 nights) and OKW (7 nights). The mug we bought POFQ for "length of stay" worked just fine at OKW each night. I believe LOS gets you 14 nights regardless of resort status, and you can expand it longer if you have proof of a continuous reservation.

We didn't have any problems with the mugs and refills are indeed free - you just have to wait the requisite period. That wasn't a problem for us - we would fill up for our meal, and then near the end of the meal get refills, and then refill again on our way out.

I really doubt current mug users are shifting to hot chocolate in order to circumvent the waiting period, though people abusing the system (that is, using old mugs past their expiry dates) might be. It was also cold many days the last two weeks, so hot chocolate would have been a good choice.

Dirk
 
xdan0920

xdan0920

Think for yourselfer
fbb said:
They'll raise room rates irrespective of whatever happens with the coke machines.
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Yep.

The idea of raising the room rate a few dollars to offset soda cost is comical at best.

Say MBA TDO ACCOUNTANT guy says, "hey! I got it figured, let's make the rooms cost $304 a night instead of $299 and then we can lose the fancy soda machines and improve guest satisfaction." It goes up the chain, "Brilliant" "Give this guy a raise" "progressive thinking" now it's implemented. Woohoo. Free soder. Next year, new MBA TDO ACCOUNTANT guy says, "Hey, why are we giving away soda???? That's 398163964 gajillion dollars in revenue we are losing. Let's charge for soda and we can make 28798264986 bazillion dollars." Goes up the chain....."Brilliant" "Give this guy a raise" "progressive thinking". Rinse and repeat.
 
tissandtully

tissandtully

Well-Known Member
xdan0920 said:
Yep.

The idea of raising the room rate a few dollars to offset soda cost is comical at best.

Say MBA TDO ACCOUNTANT guy says, "hey! I got it figured, let's make the rooms cost $304 a night instead of $299 and then we can lose the fancy soda machines and improve guest satisfaction." It goes up the chain, "Brilliant" "Give this guy a raise" "progressive thinking" now it's implemented. Woohoo. Free soder. Next year, new MBA TDO ACCOUNTANT guy says, "Hey, why are we giving away soda???? That's 398163964 gajillion dollars in revenue we are losing. Let's charge for soda and we can make 28798264986 bazillion dollars." Goes up the chain....."Brilliant" "Give this guy a raise" "progressive thinking". Rinse and repeat.
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I'm kind of curious before the RapidFill how much the TDO accountants were writing off shrink due to "soda theft". Seems like that would be a bigger incentive tax-wise.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
They don't? I can only think of one place I've ever been where there were not free refills on the self-serve fountain.
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It's mixed... Many don't offer refills but also don't bother to police it

But again the setting and demographic is different between a retail establishment one travels to vs one sitting in your hotel lobby
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
TubaGeek said:
NOOO!!!
I can tolerate pop or soda pop or bubbly or fizzy drink, but calling soda "coke" (unless it's Coke) is outright!
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And obviously you Northerners do not understand that you will find neither "soda" nor "pop" in the South and Mid-Atlantic. You will find "drinks" or "soft drinks" or MAYBE a "coke" that says "Pepsi" or "Sprite" on it (although people speaking of such are shunned, and viewed with almost as much suspicion as the Yanks asking for a "soda"...).

By the way, I agree with most here that the gazillions spent on Rapid-Fill (like MM+) were from an executives dream, probably from members of the old "strategic management" group, from a person who never actually worked retail or, better, owned their own business based on retail customers. The rate of return from returning customers who loved the sense of value and good treatment they got from a restaurant or resort way outstrips the pennies saved by locking down the drink machines... Wasted money in my opinion, especially if it is not easy to use.
 
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flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
71jason said:
I've seen plenty of self-serve units in places that see far more traffic than a tucked-away quick-serve in a hotel. E.g. Turnpike rest stops, Union Station McDonalds. And those that choose to enforce don't use 5-cent stickers, they use common sense and observation.
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Again... It's about the location, demo, and design.

How many do you see in a hotel lobby ?

Huge difference between putting it on your doorstep vs a location you travel to and are only there because you were going there. They can count on each customer to have limited opportunity/desire to walk up and use their own containers
 
JimboJones123

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
carolina_yankee said:
I believe the mugs are indeed good for length of stay. I think the new program allows you to use the mugs at every resort, not just the one you are staying at (unlike the old program).

We did a split stay the last two weeks at POFQ (4 nights) and OKW (7 nights). The mug we bought POFQ for "length of stay" worked just fine at OKW each night. I believe LOS gets you 14 nights regardless of resort status, and you can expand it longer if you have proof of a continuous reservation.

We didn't have any problems with the mugs and refills are indeed free - you just have to wait the requisite period. That wasn't a problem for us - we would fill up for our meal, and then near the end of the meal get refills, and then refill again on our way out.

I really doubt current mug users are shifting to hot chocolate in order to circumvent the waiting period, though people abusing the system (that is, using old mugs past their expiry dates) might be. It was also cold many days the last two weeks, so hot chocolate would have been a good choice.

Dirk
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It is worse. A mesurable percentage of people simply are not buying sodas at all any more.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
asianway said:
Eat a lot at Earl? I don't see you as a Pizza Planet guy
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PP (not the ride and not what I saw some dude doing on a wall outside the Indy queue) was not even open at all when I was at DLP.

I was pleasantly surprised that Earl (where I had a pair of lunches) now has the free refills and is advertising it on leaflets at the Disney hotels. My guess is that McD's will be next.

But, no, most of my 'free' beverages were from Disney's own stock at the concierge lounge of my resort.

BTW, did I miss another blogging whores meet-greet-and-eat-for-free at DD? I think I may have seen a picture of my old pal Adam deep-throating a corn dog!
 
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ABQ

ABQ

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
Have you had Moxie?, Some would consider Beverly nectar compared to it It's definitely an acquired taste..., This is the area that calls Soda Tonic, Think Northern NH and Maine.
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I looooooooooooooove Moxie. How can one deny its power? Everyone should experience it at least once. Had a friend that lived near the grave site of Moxie's creator, yes, we poured a can nearby in his honor.
 
JimboJones123

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
A nine-page thread on refillable mugs ... to certain Spirits that's like a pair of Imagineer undies.

Now, whether I want to read it all on a brisk German afternoon while sipping an ice cold Schwip Schwap is another thing.

But something must have gone down on my Spirited Fifth thread since I see it be locked (yeah, Pirate speak since I am still so happy that DLP's Pirates was looking so good during my recent visit, while MK's puny version continues to have major issues that are ignored). I guess the Spirted Sixth Sense will have to debut on MAGIC later this winter with tales aplenty.

I do want to thank my good friend Georgie K for putting me on that email list over a dozen years ago, so I saw him and Meg and Co standing with a PhotoShopped Blue Alien Sex Kitten and large blue shovels in their hands, which I am sure won't be large enough to carry all the blue pooh away when Potter 2.0 debuts and they still haven't announced anything for WDW beyond this 6-7 year escapade with James Cameron and Company, as soon as I checked email last week. What a hoot that was.

Oh, I also drank lots and lots of Coke at DLP ...unlimited, you could almost say.
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Don't knock the beastly alien nipple flopping. The kids are going to love those things bouncing around in 3D while floating on a smoothly rocking boat.

Kill me now.
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
PP (not the ride and not what I saw some dude doing on a wall outside the Indy queue) was not even open at all when I was at DLP.

I was pleasantly surprised that Earl (where I had a pair of lunches) now has the free refills and are advertising it on leaflets at the Disney hotels. My guess will be that McD's will be next.

But, no, most of my 'free' beverages were from Disney's own stock at the concierge lounge of my resort.

BTW, did I miss another blogging whores meet-greet-and-eat-for-free at DD? I think I may have seen a picture of my old pal Adam deep-throating a corn dog!
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Yes, I referred to it was the West Side Soup Kitchen in another thread, noting it got more coverage from the CP overlords than the Avatar groundbreaking
 

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