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

[TDF]

This is exactly what I was thinking as well. And also why I think the decisions were made by people who have never operated a restaurant.

I ran into similar issues, though, in my case it was salad bar theft...people would not purchase a salad plate but try to use a regular plate at the bar. Honestly, the best way to deal with it was simpler than it sounds. Monitor it.

With respect to how Disney manages it's FOH, having a peak time attendant and otherwise training the floor managers (whom I rarely see in the FOH, which is a VERY bad concept for restaurant management) they could station themselves around or near the bar (which is great, because in the food courts it gives you a wonderful view of what is going on around the restaurant).

The system is known as "Point". Basically, the manager walks the restaurant touching all the important parts (including the restrooms) every half hour or so, but outside of opening / closing and shift change, or the need to deal with something specific, they basically stand in one place for the majority of the shift.

Hard to explain on paper, but very easy to implement.

At best, this was done by someone crunching numbers and honestly trying to solve an issue they convinced themselves existed and needed a nifty "21st century" solution for. At worst, it was someone in middle management with aspirations who crafted this whole thing to garner some attention and (as I'm sure he/she thought) get a big feather in their cap.

The only thing I'd add is that this does have a correlation to same mindset that brought about MM+ (love it, like it or hate it), in that instead of dropping 1 billion (or pick your number) into new rides and attractions, Disney is focusing on control mechanisms.

So, with respect to Rapid Fill (I love the name, since it's not rapid...rapid would be like McDonalds behind the counter machines where you just press a button and it fills the cup perfectly)...but, where I'm going with this is...instead of this money and development focus going to something like this (the Coke Freestyle system):

Instead we get this:

Universal has the freestyle soda machines with the RFID readers and it worked perfectly. If you got a refillable mug you just put it under the ice area, it read dispensed ice and you can choose your soda. I saw on a Disney trip a while ago people had to sit there, scan there mugs a good 10 times and then maybe if you are lucky it would work.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I guess I just have more faith in Tom because he actually shows that he cares about the parks a lot more than Jay ever did, or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part that he didn't know about this program and that if he did know about it, he'd have killed it.

Tom was Jay's boss at Strategic Planning. That's enough for me to dislike either.

I know I may get slammed for this, but please don't compare MyMagic+ with the Rapid Fill system. To my knowledge, two completely different non-associated teams worked on the projects, hence why they are completely independent of each other. (For better or worse.) I honestly believe that MyMagic+ is a good concept with heavily flawed execution. RapidFill is a bad concept to begin with, with half-done execution.

They're both products of the larger culture.

I just don't understand how they could not make this work and how management can just get away of turning them off? If they have spent all this money on this system the managers should try to find away of making it work!

Why? They likely did not ask for the system and are interested in serving their customers.

 

[GoofGoof]

It would have been nice if people just didn't steal soda in the first place. Maybe the system doesn't work great, but I think it's the right move to try to at least limit this type of activity. Once you look the other way for a minor theft like soda people start feeling empowered to steal other food items or maybe things from the gift shop. Best to nip that activity up front and weed those kinda people out.

Since they were requiring magic bands for all resort guests anyway it would have been smarter/easier to just build a machine that dispenses soda after you swipe your band/card. If you buy a refillable mug it would get added to your band and you could swipe your band and get soda whenever you wanted. If you buy an individual drink at lunch when you pay it could just add that drink to your band and make it only active for 1 hour. After the hour it's removed. Swipe your band at the scanner on the drink machine and fill up. No need to change the cups or pay for anything more than the cost of installing the scanners on the drink machines which they had to do anyway. In a rare case where an off property guest is eating at a resort quick service restaurant they could be given a temporary card that would be activated for an hour when they pay for the cup and returned at the end of their meal.

 

[ford91exploder]

It would have been nice if people just didn't steal soda in the first place. Maybe the system doesn't work great, but I think it's the right move to try to at least limit this type of activity. Once you look the other way for a minor theft like soda people start feeling empowered to steal other food items or maybe things from the gift shop. Best to nip that activity up front and weed those kinda people out.

Since they were requiring magic bands for all resort guests anyway it would have been smarter/easier to just build a machine that dispenses soda after you swipe your band/card. If you buy a refillable mug it would get added to your band and you could swipe your band and get soda whenever you wanted. If you buy an individual drink at lunch when you pay it could just add that drink to your band and make it only active for 1 hour. After the hour it's removed. Swipe your band at the scanner on the drink machine and fill up. No need to change the cups or pay for anything more than the cost of installing the scanners on the drink machines which they had to do anyway. In a rare case where an off property guest is eating at a resort quick service restaurant they could be given a temporary card that would be activated for an hour when they pay for the cup and returned at the end of their meal.

Or just build it into the cost of the room like DCL does, No muss no fuss no elaborate system to fix what really is not broken and provides a level of service inferior to the average McDonalds.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Maybe Walt Disney World should just follow the lead of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari?

 

[unkadug]

Maybe Walt Disney World should just follow the lead of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari?

elaborate

 

[tirian]

Well, if it truly is LOSING money, why wouldn't the manger turn it off? Every location is a business and businesses are about making money. If those businesses aren't making money, the manager is the first person TDO will look to to fire because he must be doing something wrong if it's losing money, right? Why should a manager have to get fired because of a corporate mistake?

Also, consider the resorts that have turned it off. At the Deluxe level, management often feels the Guests have already paid enough just to be there and should have as smooth an experience as possible. The misperception may be that only the Values were full of teenage sports teams abusing the soda fountains. I'm calling that a misperception because I only stay at Moderates and Deluxe resorts, and I've seen plenty of well-heeled guests filling their personal Whole Foods mugs with Diet Coke.

FWIW, Disney would have to develop completely new hot chocolate machines and Gold Peak Tea machines to integrate Rapid Fill. This initiative was clearly designed to combat soda theft, and with so many resort Guests on the Dining Plan anyway, the entire program seems like a lost cause. Plus, as someone else already pointed out, when McDonald's and Chick-fil-A give free refills on a $1.25 drink, why can't Disney offer refills on a $3 cup? How many Guests actually stay at the hotel all day and drink Coke?

@TheVisionarySoul seems to be right; this is most likely the result of imaginative accounting.

 

[lazyboy97o]

elaborate

Free Soft Drinks
http://www.holidayworld.com/visit/free-soft-drinks

 

[tirian]

This is a wonderful economics lesson!

Forgive me, but I see a big similarity between RapidFill and MM+; they're both giant technological hammers being used to kill metaphorical flies, and Disney is putting metaphorical holes in the metaphorical drywall with their swings and misses.

MM+ isn't a flawed concept; it's just a flawed execution with an over-reliance on planning. No normal person wants to plan every second of every vacation. Mommy bloggers and Disney Commandos aren't normal.

 

[unkadug]

Free Soft Drinks
http://www.holidayworld.com/visit/free-soft-drinks

OMG they have FREE Dr Pepper....I would be in heaven.

 

[tirian]

OMG they have FREE Dr Pepper....I would be in heaven.

That's a nice self-portrait in your avatar.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

MM+ isn't a flawed concept; it's just a flawed execution with an over-reliance on planning. No normal person wants to plan every second of every vacation. Mommy bloggers and Disney Commandos aren't normal.

I have stuck up for the idea of MM+ before; I've said that the current FP system with being able to pick a specific window from your phone on the day of instead of running all over the park would be heaven. Touch to pay is harmless. But I do feel safe in calling the system we got "a hammer to kill a fly".

 

[tirian]

I have stuck up for the idea of MM+ before; I've said that the current FP system with being able to pick a specific window from your phone on the day of instead of running all over the park would be heaven. Touch to pay is harmless. But I do feel safe in calling the system we got "a hammer to kill a fly".

I agree completely.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

If people didn't steal soda in the first place, this program would have never needed to be implemented. Blame the extreme cheap skates, not Disney.

 

[unkadug]

If people didn't steal soda in the first place, this program would have never needed to be implemented. Blame the extreme cheap skates, not Disney.

No...I still blame Disney for bad implementation.

 

[GoofGoof]

Or just build it into the cost of the room like DCL does, No muss no fuss no elaborate system to fix what really is not broken and provides a level of service inferior to the average McDonalds.

Then you have to ban non-hotel guests from the restaurants. That's hard to enforce. I know it's just anecdotal evidence, but a bunch of people around here who are self proclaimed proud soda thieves aren't staying at a Disney hotel when they are doing it.

 

[flynnibus]

If people didn't steal soda in the first place, this program would have never needed to be implemented. Blame the extreme cheap skates, not Disney.

It's the same thinking that justifies bypassing parking fees... condiment sandwiches... etc.

People abuse leeways and then get upset when the freedoms get taken away.

 

[bethymouse]

What a mess! Just get rid of the whole refill system! Some people just have the nerve stealing soda! Dollywood had that system at Splash Country for the amount of time you were there. I never had a problem, but found it ridiculous! I don't get a mug unless I'm on the dining plan. We drive, so we just bring our own drinks. And... until they change the style of the mug, I definitely won't buy one!
As for new MMBand + thing, I have yet to experience that! I'm still quite leery of having to schedule Fastpasses!

 

[JerseyDad]

....Hmmm? ....Free coffee? .....Free hot chocolate? ....Free ice? (not 'locked down')

....Hmmm? ....Free hot chocolate + Free Ice + Free creamer = Free Chocolate Milk

....Hmmmm? ....Free coffee + Free Ice + Free creamer + Free sugar = Free Iced Coffee.

....wonder if the packaged chocolate milk, and prepared coffee drinks (like Starbucks bottled coffees) ...have had diminished sales in the food courts?

....because it's not possible that I'm the only deviant that thought of this.

 

[ford91exploder]

I agree completely.

A sledge-hammer ? tack hammer would be ok for fly killing