"Rapid Fill" Mugs Coming to Walt Disney World Hotels

[Tom Morrow]

I hate the name Rapid Fill. "Regular cups are UNACCEPTABLE! I need my carbonated sugar water refill as FAST as POSSIBLE!"

 

[dreamfinder]

How will water not be attached

Look at the picture. Notice how the Water still has the old fashioned push bar in it? With no fancy shelf for the RFID reader? Thats how. Just keep it like that.

 

[scoobygirl39541]

What happens if I want about a half mug of coffee just for the taste and pick me up, then a full mug of ice tea a few minutes later? I also used to mix hot chocolate and coffee... guess that's over now too

 

[cspencer96]

They are losing money when someone decides the soda machines are "free" in their eyes, so they keep a paper cup from one day and refill it constantly, or use one mug from ages ago to fill their Solo cups from Walmart. I will never understand why so many people go to Disney thinking "I paid enough, they should give me BLAHBLAHBLAH!!!" That is not how it works, ever. Not anywhere. Disney is a business, and I personally think this change has been a long time coming, as was including the mugs in the Dining Plans.

In non-crazy reality, this is not a change other than a slight price increase that comes with greater flexibility. Why is everyone seeming to ignore that we will be able to use the new mugs at ALL Disney Resorts? That sounds like a great added benefit to me, one that results from Disney knowing that they have absolute control over a concept that was born out of assuming people would be honest.

They could implement something like a mug recycling program, assuming the plastic is recyclable (I have no idea). When you bring in an old one, offer a discount of a few dollars. If you are on the Dining Plan and receive a mug anyways, offer something else. This would be great PR for Disney on several fronts. EDIT: Even better, also have a method to renew RapidFill enabled mugs on subsequent trips for a discounted price.

 

[cspencer96]

What happens if I want about a half mug of coffee just for the taste and pick me up, then a full mug of ice tea a few minutes later? I also used to mix hot chocolate and coffee... guess that's over now too

I don't know how the other dispensers at the beverage bars will be controlled, but it seems to me the other items that are not as high-demand as soda may be less tightly controlled. We haven't seen any news on that yet, though.

 

[muteki]

I hate the name Rapid Fill. "Regular cups are UNACCEPTABLE! I need my carbonated sugar water refill as FAST as POSSIBLE!"

They have to at least make it sound like an improvement. They can't call it a "don't steal from us mug".

 

[allgiggles]

What happens if I want about a half mug of coffee just for the taste and pick me up, then a full mug of ice tea a few minutes later? I also used to mix hot chocolate and coffee... guess that's over now too

I haven't seen anything official that says the mugs will be limited to only be filled every X number of minutes (I may very well have missed it -- I've only seen something about the 1 time use cups being limited to X number of refills within an hour.). The mug limits could just be speculation based on the testing phase a few years ago. I know there was something like a 5 minute "wait" between refills during that test but people who participated said there was always a CM at the beverage station to override the RFID chip in the case of people wanting to mix beverages and in the case of spills or not liking the beverage you originally chose. I suppose it's also possible (pure speculation on my part) that the RFID chip will know that you didn't "fill" the mug (based on the amount of time the dispenser was engaged) and it will allow you another "partial" fill immediately. Maybe????

 

[tissandtully]

I hate the name Rapid Fill. "Regular cups are UNACCEPTABLE! I need my carbonated sugar water refill as FAST as POSSIBLE!"

Mainline it right into my arm!

 

[WannaBWendy]

Why does everyone say that? It doesn't matter if Disney loses money or not. The point is that whatever you get has a value. They might be able to give out free soda, if you have paid for the cup. Then there is a good chance that they didn't lose any money. However, if you return with old mugs then you haven't paid to cover the cost of "free" refills. I wonder for all those that think it is OK to just use the old mugs every trip and never pay for it again, would you walk into a store and take a bottle of Coke (or whatever) drink it and then go back and get another every trip into the store? Do you know how much the store pays for the soda? Could be that it is almost nothing, but, they have a product and they are in business to sell it...not give it away. It's all part of how they pay their bills. If you drink enough you will surely get your moneys worth so why is it so hard to accept that not paying for something that someone else pays for, no matter how small an amount it is, it is still stealing. Justify it in any manner you wish...it is still the same. If they didn't agree to provide you with it for every trip for life, then you are stealing. It doesn't matter how many uninformed, unwilling to confront CM's you talk to it doesn't change anything. If no one ever, ever mentioned it or brought it to your attention that it was not the intent, you might have an argument. Once it was pointed out, then after that it is on you!

One cannot continue to say it's OK because someone once said that it was OK. After they made the announcement that this wasn't the intent, that overrides the past CM information completely.

I guess my questions lie in my naivety. I never reuse an old mug. I don't feel like I am entitled to reuse an old mug. Apparently many feel like they are entitled. I guess I am surprised at the lengths Disney is having to go to.

 

[tissandtully]

Honestly, if Disney just charged a reasonable price for new mugs every trip, I think they could make up the lost revenue by volume.

 

[flynnibus]

I suppose it's also possible (pure speculation on my part) that the RFID chip will know that you didn't "fill" the mug (based on the amount of time the dispenser was engaged) and it will allow you another "partial" fill immediately. Maybe????

The technology has the ability to know what you dispensed, how much, how big of a cup you bought, and knows about time. So yes, lots of variations are possible depending on what Disney wants customers to be entitled to do.

They could be really strict.. or loose... we'll have to see!

 

[Angie Heck]

Finally, I hope this means we'll get a new design finally. I'd be a bit peeved if I have to get the same strange pool picture "Let's pick on Goofy because he's special" motif that I have bought twice since January 2012...

We have 6 of the pool mugs I want a new design!!!

 

[Angie Heck]

Honestly, if Disney just charged a reasonable price for new mugs every trip, I think they could make up the lost revenue by volume.

Is $20 for all you can drink soda for the length of your stay that unreasonable? How much is the one time use paper cup? How much is bottled soda at the gift shop? Multiply that by the number of days and then possible multiple meals. I could see if you were only going for a couple days but they have a separate rate for that anyway.

 

[Timekeeper]

I will continue to use my own mug (with my hacked RFID chip disguised as a tea bag label) while at The World

 

[Unplugged]

I've read through a lot of these posts, but there are so many repeats, forgive me if I missed this.

Last I read, the RFID mugs are good for length of stay, but you will still require NEW RFID mugs on each trip. Dumb! Our issues with buying the mugs everytime (and we do play by the rules and buy them) is that we don't need any more blasted mugs! I'm good with the RFID, but I do not want to buy more mugs. Let me simply buy one set of RFID mugs, then activate the ones I own on future trips for $2 less then a purchase. It makes me feel better (even if it's an illusion) and mirrors Disney's claim to environmental friendliness. NO MORE MUGS Disney.....bad for the environment, and no better to us if they aren't completely reusable.

Also, why don't we have the option to pay a few bucks more so we can actually use the mugs in the parks? We already have to carry the blasted things everywhere to avoid countless trips between the room and a drink dispenser for a small refill either going to or coming from a park. Besides, the mugs aren't that big, but the convenience would be huge.

Disney...here's your "must do" summary:
1) RFID mugs should be reusable from trip to trip
2) RFID mugs should be usable in the parks

 

[Unplugged]

I will continue to use my own mug (with my hacked RFID chip disguised as a tea bag label) while at The World

Put some cool graphics so it's less obvious (perhaps some giant 9" Mickey Ears) and you're set! When can we start ordering them? (With a mug that big, you should be able to embed a bettery powered RFID reader in it to hijack other mug IDs. Then your mug can toggle through the IDs to keep fillin' that bad boy up! LOL!!!)

 

[Unplugged]

This is just pathetic! I really do not like being monitored on how much I drink at WDW nor do I need to be reminded by a computer. It is becoming more evident as to why my hotel stay will no longer be at WDW..

Oh man. Just imagine the potential. You have about 30 refills (tracked) in a day because it's one of those 98F/98% humidity days. Then you walk very little (tracked) due to the sweltering heat.

You try to get on Rockin' Roller Coaster where it's cool inside but the FP+ Mickey Scanner talks (in a friendly Mickey or Goofy voice) and says "Sorry Fatso, your caloric intake is 5,000 today but you've only walked off 1136. Please walk the parks some more and come back when you can fit in the safety restraints!"

Unlimited potential all right.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Last I read, the RFID mugs are good for length of stay, but you will still require NEW RFID mugs on each trip. Dumb! Our issues with buying the mugs everytime (and we do play by the rules and buy them) is that we don't need any more blasted mugs! I'm good with the RFID, but I do not want to buy more mugs. Let me simply buy one set of RFID mugs, then activate the ones I own on future trips for $2 less then a purchase. It makes me feel better (even if it's an illusion) and mirrors Disney's claim to environmental friendliness. NO MORE MUGS Disney.....bad for the environment, and no better to us if they aren't completely reusable.

Also, why don't we have the option to pay a few bucks more so we can actually use the mugs in the parks? We already have to carry the blasted things everywhere to avoid countless trips between the room and a drink dispenser for a small refill either going to or coming from a park. Besides, the mugs aren't that big, but the convenience would be huge.

Disney...here's your "must do" summary:
1) RFID mugs should be reusable from trip to trip
2) RFID mugs should be usable in the parks

Bravo! Good points, and I think most of us here would agree!

Something else that came to mind on the option of using them in the parks is the amount of waste generated across the parks and resorts by the use of paper cups. If they offered refills property-wide, this would cut down on the amount of paper cups used and thrown away daily. I'm sure some of this gets recycled, or I hope it does, but still if you figure on average there are 130,000 guests in the parks, and of those let's just say they are buying at least 100,000 cups per day (just to make the math easy) if not more. If 5% of the guests brought their mugs into the parks, that would cut down on 5,000 paper cups a day being thrown away. Over the course of a year, that's more than 1.8 million cups being thrown out, collected and recycled. It's not much, but it does add up in that fewer cups would be used (cost), the trash has to be emptied a little less frequently (labor), as well as hauling, recycling is carrying a bit less (overhead). Oh, and if they have standalone fountains like at the resorts, it further reduces labor costs and even order fulfillment. Soda consumption would go up slightly, but using the new machines, they could actually put limits on that as well while at the parks.

A little can make a difference. Who's to say what the actual numbers would be, but when you're talking about 47 million people a year, little bits add up quite quickly.

 

[disney4life2008]

And like I said... "they haven't sold 'mugs for life' in ages"

So you're upset you are being forced to pay for what you should have been paying for all along. This is simply enforcing what you should have been doing all along. You don't have to be happy about it.. but you should at least come to terms with it.

If you don't like it.. take your old 'mug for life' to Guest Relations and see what they do for you.

LOL your funny

 

[Taylor]

In the last week, I have used the same mug to borrow soda (I give it back in the MAGICal restrooms) at the Contemporary, WL, PO and . I am really trying to get some serious drinking in ASAP.

I wish there was a love button because this post was awesome.