So flame me if you want, but your holier then though attitudes won't work on me because if the Cast Memebers don't care why would I listen to you trying to make me feel guility for doing something so bad in your eyes.
Well, without turning this into a flame war, ponder this, from a marketing standpoint.
Maybe you're right, and Disney doesn't pay a dime for the soda. But they ARE paying for the mugs. They're offering the soda (that they get for free) as an incentive to buy the mugs, which provides a profit to WDW. As long as they're selling mugs, the free refills is a fair tradeoff in the eyes of the bean-counters in WDW's accounting department. But if somewhere down the line, someone decides that they're not selling enough mugs, and they'd make more money doing away with the mugs and charging for one drink at each meal (with free refills), then they'll do it. Granted with YOUR holier-than-thou attitude, you can't imagine that you and you alone, using YOUR mug from a prior visit, will make a difference. But get enough people with YOUR attitude, and who knows what will happen?
And as far as your "good authority from various CMs" comment goes, you may very well have heard it from CMs that it's OK to use old mugs. I put it to you that CMs are not necessarily food court managers, or resort managers, or in charge of moneymaking decisions within any of the food courts. And one day, the people who ARE in charge of those decisions will ask those CMs "Hey, does that gujy have a Fort Wilderness mug? IS this Fort Wilderness? Well, then why didn't you stop them?"
Maybe what those CMs are really saying is "anyone annoying enough to bring an old mug in for free refills is probably enough of a yutz to throw a screaming-meemy fit if we try to stop them. So rather than make a ridiculous scene with someone who may be mentally unbalanced, eh, let them have the free soda. You know,
if it's that important to them." I guess for some people, any victory is a good victory, but as you said, I'm holier-than-thou, so naturally I WOULD feel kind of weird taking advantage of a policy that's printed in plain English right in front of me as I appproach the soda machine.
Goofus, meet Gallant. Aaaaaaand...WRESTLE!
