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"Rapid Fill" Mugs Coming to Walt Disney World Hotels
- Thread starter djlaosc
- Start date
ajrwdwgirl
Premium Member
Yeah, it is really about time they change the mug design. Just laziness on their part.
TyrantBoss
Well-Known Member
The problem with the Rapid Fill mugs is that people may not want to always buy new mugs every time they go to Disney and personally I really don't want to have to carry around my mug everywhere I go in case I get thirsty. Just a pain in the rear end.
I suggest two options that Disney can implement to make this better.
a) Maintain the current Rapid Fill mugs for those who just need to buy the mugs for a souvenir.
The people who buy Rapid Fill mugs can still get Unlimited Refills as per the current program and they are more than welcome to carry the mugs wherever they go.
b) For those who don't want to buy the mugs.... Just program the wristband RFID chips with a code that you purchase to allow you a certain number of beverages per day at the refill stations throughout the parks.
Then...at those refill stations..have cups available. When you are in the park and pass by a station you take a cup, the RFID reader detected your purchased drink plan, and then you can buy a certain number of drinks per day.
Then you can walk off with your "Disposable" cup, have your drink and throw it away if you want to.
If you want to go one step further
c) Have the cups released one at a time when it detects your RFID drink code so you don't have people just walking off with cups and it controls your supply.
This would be much better for everyone.
I suggest two options that Disney can implement to make this better.
a) Maintain the current Rapid Fill mugs for those who just need to buy the mugs for a souvenir.
The people who buy Rapid Fill mugs can still get Unlimited Refills as per the current program and they are more than welcome to carry the mugs wherever they go.
b) For those who don't want to buy the mugs.... Just program the wristband RFID chips with a code that you purchase to allow you a certain number of beverages per day at the refill stations throughout the parks.
Then...at those refill stations..have cups available. When you are in the park and pass by a station you take a cup, the RFID reader detected your purchased drink plan, and then you can buy a certain number of drinks per day.
Then you can walk off with your "Disposable" cup, have your drink and throw it away if you want to.
If you want to go one step further
c) Have the cups released one at a time when it detects your RFID drink code so you don't have people just walking off with cups and it controls your supply.
This would be much better for everyone.
StarWarsGirl
Well-Known Member
At Blizzard Beach, they let us exchange our old mug for the new rapid fill one and pay a lower price on it. Perhaps Disney will do something similar in the resorts
Also, the machines talk.
Also, the machines talk.
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
The most expensive thing about the drink is the cup not the soda that goes in it. By charging the unlimited refills price and then handing out disposable cups every time is loosing money for the business. A lot of places have the cheaper refill if you bring the cup back for this reason. A business charging refill price and getting a new cup each time will never happen. This is also why when you ask for a free water cup most places give you the smallest cheapest cup they have or charge you.
40goingon7
Member
For those of us who visit other parks outside of FL, they have this type of system in place at Sesame Place (limited to 2 fills of a large soda). Before they put this system in we would see families full up any number of containers with soda. Its a shame it has to be put in anywhere but when people exploit the system what do you expect them to do, just let it go? Keep profits up to please shareholders...
FigmentFollower
Member
How about the fact that you have to wait a specific amount between refills? My husband normally downs two cupfuls first before taking one for the road. Now that would mean we would have to wait 30 minutes. LOL
bgraham34
Well-Known Member
My friend is going to try that next month while he visits. He is just curious to see if it works.
stevehousse
Well-Known Member
What is this about having to wait to refill? I haven't heard anything about this???
cinderellafan6
Well-Known Member
I know the system just rolled out today but does anyone know if there is a certain time frame between fill ups?
FigmentFollower
Member
Oh yes there's a timeout/lock out feature that disallows one from immediately refilling one's mug. 
Someone earlier in thread stated that there would be a three to five minute wait between fills. That's fine with me, as long as they can guarantee that the soda mix is correct.
Richterbon23
Member
Wat happens if I am staying at 2 or 3 resorts across the duration of my stay. Will the cup transfer?
That would be possible, the same as it is now. The only thing new is that you would have to wait 3-5 minutes between fills. If you have the time in your life to do that, I guess that you could do it.
dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
They are making it inconvenient for those who were abusing it. Much like removing DTD - Park direct bus service, some people may still park there and transfer to a resort first, effectively wasting an hour or more of time just to save $15. Those are the same people who would reuse a mug to fill others.
I imagine there is no added cost to WDW. Even if they paid some excessive amount for new dispensers, spread it out over a $2 dollar mug cost increase, it gets paid for in months. The cost savings in the soda (as miniscule as it may be) will most likely cover the costs of the RFID technology in the disposable cups. They had to justify this as revenue neutral or a profit line in order to make this change. Current management doesn't spend money unless they think they can make money. Don't think they would have reallocated funds for the Soda RFID Project to the Fix the Yeti project. Doesn't work like that.
I am interested to see if this does bring up the possibility of in park soda down the road. As a small part of NGE, once everyone on property has the mugs or wristbands, tie the dispensers in park back in and voila!
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Funny you should put it that way, because it seems to me that there is a strong argument that can be made that it was customer greed that forced them to take this step. What I mean is how can anyone think that because they paid for a mug there is a never ending ability to fill it, for free, year after year after year? It isn't how much one used it during their current stay it was the fact that people, for some outlandish reason, decided that they could just bring it back and continue to use it.
It is possible that early in it's inception there was an agreement with some that they could return the mugs year after year, but that was only to those that bought them during that promotion, it didn't mean that from now till the end of time that agreement made them, would be assumed by everyone that bought one. I bought one a few years back and it specifically said for the duration of my stay. Just because someone 10 years ago (or whatever) could do it for a longer time, didn't mean that the same deal applied to me. I bought it at a different time under different conditions. By now the mugs that were purchased under that deal have probably long ago ended their productive life...no mug...no free refills. It stands to reason that somewhere those "accountants" figured that if they charged a certain amount for the cup, they could still make a profit if people used it during their stay. I doubt that they ever expected people to haul those things back and forth every visit.
And now, even though Disney has made it perfectly clear that this was not their intent, people still feel that it is owed to them even though no one in authority has ever said it was OK. So I have to ask...where is the Greed. Is it with Disney or their wonderfully reasonable Guests? I've heard the argument time and again that a few years back some CM told them it was alright so they are going to continue to use it that way because they were told that they could. Someone above a regular CM then says, no that is not what we intended, the CM was mistaken, they chose to ignore that. Yet, if any CM tells them something they don't want to hear, they are waddling their way to guests services to complain that a CM can't get anything right. Believe them when it is to their benefit and complain about them if it isn't to their benefit.
nick-pappageorgio
New Member
I have never had a problem with this policy, and have never reused mugs or used them in a manner that this system would prevent. But this whole thing just feels too "big brother" to me. Like we assume our guests will cheat the system so we will police them to the ounce of soda. And maybe that is the case and a lot of people are cheating the system but policing soda refills so closely doesn't exactly leave a great taste in your mouth.