"Rapid Fill" Mugs coming to WDW Resorts

[Wizzard419]

That is kind of funny when you think about it, Disney actively is trying to prevent people from gaming the refill system while they still actively game the credit card system to prevent getting charged swipe fees. The card companies then, to combat the practice, raise the swipe fee rates, which then gets added onto the prices anyway.

[Amy]

I guess that would depend on how much a mug holds. If you're slamming back 16 ounces of soda in 2 mins, that might be a bit excessive.

If it's really hot and you drink a Powerade, not really.

I think the mugs are more like 10 -12 ounces. My complaint was that sometimes they hooked up the wrong soda to a dispenser. Nothing like anticipating a nice refreshing swig of Coke and getting Diet Coke instead ~ yuck!
And I agree with b-babe, sports drinks generally aren't needed under normal circumstances, but if you sweat a lot or it is really hot and humid, they can be a plus. I believe the regular gatorades and powerades aren't much better calorie and sugar wise than pop though.

[Goofyfan]

Amy that is soooo true. My wife and I were dining at Tony's at M.K. she ordered a Diet Coke and they came back with a unsweetened Iced Tea. She hates tea with a passion.... The look on her face was priceless. I almost choked on my drink because it was soooo funny. She didn't see my humor. Oh well.... the meal was fantastic.

[Amy]

Amy that is soooo true. My wife and I were dining at Tony's at M.K. she ordered a Diet Coke and they came back with a unsweetened Iced Tea. She hates tea with a passion.... The look on her face was priceless. I almost choked on my drink because it was soooo funny. She didn't see my humor. Oh well.... the meal was fantastic.

[NaCler]

I think Amy is right and the mugs hold 12 ounces or less if you use ice. I just think its funny to put a time limit on the refills since the mugs are named RAPID Refill. The main issue people were having was that they would hold down the button and lift their finger off for a second to talk to their kids or some other reason then the machine would not let them continue to fill the mug until 2 minutes was up. It frustrated a few people that I saw.

[Wizzard419]

My guess is that if they did it any sooner/no delay at all, they would have families buy a single mug and then just use it to fill up water glasses from the room/transfer.

[Amy]

My guess is that if they did it any sooner/no delay at all, they would have families buy a single mug and then just use it to fill up water glasses from the room/transfer.

The explanation I heard when I was there was that the delay was indeed to cut down on drink sharing. If you are going to annoy a whole bunch of rule abiding guests in the process though, it seems a shame. Plus the cheats are likely going to figure out how to get around the system anyhow

[NaCler]

How would a 2 minute delay stop the drink sharing? It would just take a few minutes longer to share with the family.

[Amy]

How would a 2 minute delay stop the drink sharing? It would just take a few minutes longer to share with the family.

The way it was explained to me, the delay prevents you from filling the cup, pouring it in another container for someone to drink, filling it again, etc. That's the thing, it doesn't prevent drink sharing, just spreads it out as you pointed out. You could still easily share a mug among several people...as long as they didn't mind all drinking from the same cup. And most families I know share beverages anyhow, so it probably wouldn't matter to them.

[Wizzard419]

I still wonder how long until the system starts to turn a profit, yes the people are stealing/abusing the system, but the product being stolen is very cheap.

Even if you were to abuse the system, the workers are trained enough to not intervene for such a low value abuse. Even if they caught you, they wouldn't be calling the cops and odds are they wouldn't try to track you down through security to charge it back to your room.

[boilerbabe]

The whole thing seems silly to me, it shouldn't be this difficult to fill your mug if you want something to drink!

[Cardinals314]

This is kind of relatable, but the regular price for drinks have recently gone up slightly. Regular drinks were $2.59 and $2.99 for regular and large and are now $2.69 and $3.19. Juices have increased from $3.59 to $3.79 while coffee and tea moving up from $2.19 to $2.29.

[Cardinals314]

Art of Animation now has Rapid Fill cups

[Goofyfan]

My guess is that if they did it any sooner/no delay at all, they would have families buy a single mug and then just use it to fill up water glasses from the room/transfer.

The explanation I heard when I was there was that the delay was indeed to cut down on drink sharing. If you are going to annoy a whole bunch of rule abiding guests in the process though, it seems a shame. Plus the cheats are likely going to figure out how to get around the system anyhow

Amy: Bravo. You just hit the nail on the head.....Just follow the rules

[Wizzard419]

Probably the only way to prevent "drink sharing" would be to automatically add a mug per guest in the room, which then would defeat the purpose of the new system since everyone that would use the drink dispensers already paid, which would mean there was no purpose to the new system in the first place.