Refillable cups

[WDW_Emily]

I know that the cups are only really good throughout your visit. but i have seen people in All-Star with cups from the wilderness lodge from 2004. Is Disney not really strict on this rule? every year we go we get 4 mugs and we now have at least 16 in our household.Main question here is even though i know it's not really allowed, are you going to get in trouble with Disney if you bring cups from previous years?:shrug:

 

[smk]

Interesting.....

Say 500,000 people did this over a 7 day period, refilling 3 times per day....at $.05 per fill, that would total $525,000 if my math is correct. I dont know how much the bottom of the ladder CM makes, but wouldnt that cover a minimum of 20 peoples salary for a year possibly?
:shrug:

Exactly! I don't think there would be a half million people everyday doing this but close enough on some days. It all adds up. Buy new mug, factor that into the cost of your repeat trip and deal with it.

 

[betteratmk]

:veryconfu We just got back today after a 7 night stay at POP, Everyone was using anything We bought 3 new mugs and honestly I had to look and look for the line on "good for resort stay only" When I found it it was on the bottom of the mug in such illegible and faint writing that you needed a magnifying glass to read it!! Honestly people new to Disney will have no clue!

 

[WDW_Emily]

:veryconfu We just got back today after a 7 night stay at POP, Everyone was using anything We bought 3 new mugs and honestly I had to look and look for the line on "good for resort stay only" When I found it it was on the bottom of the mug in such illegible and faint writing that you needed a magnifying glass to read it!! Honestly people new to Disney will have no clue!

The first time we said on property back in 2004 we were so confused the mugs then were the pop hotel opening ones and i kept wondering where to get the blue and green ones. later i learned they were from old trips and different resorts:hammer:

 

[Phonedave]

I never buy the mugs

I just stick my head under the fountain

The soda in my hair also saves on gel.

-dave

 

[fosse76]

Exactly! I don't think there would be a half million people everyday doing this but close enough on some days. It all adds up. Buy new mug, factor that into the cost of your repeat trip and deal with it.

If the same average guest fills up three times a day over the course of a week, they consumed (at most) $1.05 worth of soda. They initially purchased the mug at let's say $12.00. If it costs Disney $2.00 to make those mugs, they would have had to consume more than 200 drinks from that mug before Disney loses money. I doubt that the number of people who bring mugs from previous visits comes close to 1000 a week. I'm sure there is a tilt in favor of profitability to Disney, otherwise they would have enforced the policy years ago.

 

[Hakunamatata]

If the same average guest fills up three times a day over the course of a week, they consumed (at most) $1.05 worth of soda. They initially purchased the mug at let's say $12.00. If it costs Disney $2.00 to make those mugs, they would have had to consume more than 200 drinks from that mug before Disney loses money. I doubt that the number of people who bring mugs from previous visits comes close to 1000 a week. I'm sure there is a tilt in favor of profitability to Disney, otherwise they would have enforced the policy years ago.

Right, but my point was that the money Disney makes from selling stuff helps to pay peoples salaries. If you steal product from Disney that they would have otherwise sold, you reduce the amount of money Disney has to pay its employees. Disney then lays employees off.

 

[epcotWSC]

I view the mugs as a souvenier. It lets me save money on soda (let's face it, $12 on soda can be used in a few days) and I get to bring something home that says Walt Disney World & the year without wasting money on something else.

However, to answer the question, they don't care from what I've seen. 2 years back at OKW they had the fountain soda behind the counter near the pool. Last year, it was out in front (not behind the counter). You could just walk up and take soda even if you didn't have a souvenier cup as long as the CMs behind the counter didn't care (I had a cup though so it didn't matter). I remember the cup was the same as the 07 cup without the '2007' on it. I kind of felt jipped since I could have used the old cup. This year, though, new design and stuff, so I'll be buying a new one.

 

[Lucky]

It doesn't just cost Disney 5 cents each time someone refills an old re-fillable mug. Many of those people would have paid $2 or so for a soda if they weren't using their old mug.

But I agree with those who say Disney could easily enforce the policy if they really cared about it, so I wouldn't necessarily call it stealing, immoral, or illegal.

 

[epcotWSC]

It doesn't just cost Disney 5 cents each time someone refills an old re-fillable mug. Many of those people would have paid $2 or so for a soda if they weren't using their old mug.

But I agree with those who say Disney could easily enforce the policy if they really cared about it, so I wouldn't necessarily call it stealing, immoral, or illegal.

Well to be technical, using the above example, it would cost Disney $0.05, but they lose out on $1.95 of profit .

At the same time, anyone who uses a mug, every time they use the mug, Disney makes less profit than had they sold you the soda separately. If you buy a mug and use it 15 times it's $0.80 per soda vs. $2.00 per soda. So instead of making a $1.95 profit, they only make $0.75 profit each time you fill up. If someone just jacks soda without buying a mug, then they lose $0.05. If that person does it 10 times in a trip they lose $0.50. If 1,000 people do the same thing in a week, they lose $500. Which in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean much. However, if 10,000 people steal 10 sodas every week and you multiply that over a year it adds up to $260,000, which means a bit more.

Also, if you decide to bring a mug from the prior year and each year you filled it up 15 times. That'd be 30 times with one $12 mug. So you would only be paying $0.50 per soda. If you did that over 16 years and used 15 sodas every time you went, it would mean that you got 240 sodas out of that mug which in turn means that you got each soda for $0.05 each. Meaning zero profit. So in this sense reusing a mug over multiple years isn't so bad because you still gave Disney a profit until you use it for that 241st time. It's better than just straight stealing soda I guess. I still think that it's best to just buy one every year as part of your souvenir budget it's not bad. Plus it pays for itself if you get soda 6 or 7 times.

 

[WDWRLD]

Ok...enough with all the detailed numbers. Keep it up and the suits will reailze that if they charge 25cents for the little paper cups to put pancake syrup in that they can make bug bucks. Wait......butter and ketchup......:ROFLOL::ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

 

[betteratmk]

:shrug:

:veryconfu We just got back today after a 7 night stay at POP, Everyone was using anything We bought 3 new mugs and honestly I had to look and look for the line on "good for resort stay only" When I found it it was on the bottom of the mug in such illegible and faint writing that you needed a magnifying glass to read it!! Honestly people new to Disney will have no clue!

I think if Disney really cared, it would be more visable on the new mugs. That said, I would be uncomfortable knowing this and not buying a new one! But I also don't think it's tragic if people re-use it as well. But at least make sure it's the same mug and not a completely different one:ROFLOL::ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

 

[hrcollectibles]

I miss the days of resort themed refillable mugs. And I also Miss choosing what style I wanted the Short or tall one.. I buy a new mug at each visit. One of the times I saw someone filling a gatorade bottle with soda :shrug:.

 

[WDWRLD]

I miss the days of resort themed refillable mugs. And I also Miss choosing what style I wanted the Short or tall one.. I buy a new mug at each visit. One of the times I saw someone filling a gatorade bottle with soda :shrug:.

I too really miss the short fat version....

 

[WDW_Emily]

:shrug:

I think if Disney really cared, it would be more visable on the new mugs. That said, I would be uncomfortable knowing this and not buying a new one! But I also don't think it's tragic if people re-use it as well. But at least make sure it's the same mug and not a completely different one:ROFLOL::ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

Sometimes they put the year on the mugs(the last time i think was 2007?) but if they don't stop people it's not going to stop. I liked the resort themed ones better also. Maybe next year it'll come back

 

[Phonedave]

it adds up to $260,000, which means a bit more.

Not saying if your analysis is correct or not, but in a company the size of TWDC, they have a term for amounts like $260,000 over the course of a year





rounding error.




-dave

 

[gettingsmaller]

rounding error.

LOL. seriously.

Going to the excellent post with the example of profit vs. cost, etc.. The thing that was left out was the fact that Disney gets that money up front. So, imagine that they put it into a CD or something and let it gain interest for all that time that you are going back year after year getting free refills. Also, as I was typing the words "going back year after year", I was struck by the fact that--HEY, DISNEY LOVES you if you are coming back year after year and staying in their resort. A few 5 cent sodas aren't worth them upsetting that apple cart, if you know what I mean. You don't kick the cash cow in the udder... On the flip side, I'm not saying that it's morally okay to say "well, they're making money, anyway, so I can do what I want." HOWEVER, I DO think that if they are not VERY clear about how the mugs are to be used before/when they are purchased, they have no right to expect the customer to have ESP or magically discern the rules Disney wants to use. Printing the rules in small, illegible Chinese writing on the bottom of a cup could hardly be considered "openly displaying the rules".
So, one could question whether it really even IS a rule. Unless it is clearly posted or (I would argue) conspicuously written on the cup, is it REALLY a "term" of the purchase 'contract'? Hmmm... This argument might be a loophole around the whole moral/legal problem...

 

[Hakunamatata]

This argument might be a loophole around the whole moral/legal problem...

Only for those who honestly dont know about the restriction. For the thousands that do, and continue to re-use mugs, its theft. Actually, for everyone that re-uses mugs its theft, but I feel I can cut some slack to those who honestly dont know.

 

[figmentisgreat]

I try to justify this "debate" by saying that, with the amount Disney overcharges for things like stuffed animals, t-shirts, and pins, the minute amount of money that they lose when I fill up a mug from a past year, is negligible at best. Additionally, I feel that as long as you spend the $12 for the mug initially, Disney does not lose that much money, and it is much less immoral.

I also realized that Disney would only lose $12 each trip if someone reused mugs from past trips. That makes it a little less than the amount we were thinking in past posts.

Normally, I wouldn't post on something like this, but it's a moral debate that I have struggled with every time I go back!!! Truthfully though, I normally just buy the new mug each time, especially since I'm a college kid and tend to need travel mugs for my morning coffee anyway!

 

[disney magic 06]

I'm used to seeing people using old mugs, including the resort specific ones at a different resort but I must admit to being shocked to see some one filling a popcorn bucket one day on our last holiday!!

 

[scarpiapiano]

There was a thread not too long ago where someone who worked for Disney stated that CMs are told not to approach or confront guests who are using older versions of the mug. The cost of soda in the mug doesn't even add up to $.05, so Disney doesn't really lose money on repeat "offenders."

$13.00 divided by $.05 = 260 mugs of soda before Disney starts to lose money. I could drink that much on a hot, humid afternoon.