New Refillable Mug Policy- Thoughts?

[Soarin08]

Saw someone ranting about it on my Tumblr, pulled up the article, and here it is-

http://www.mousesteps.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=121

My thoughts?

Agree. 100%. I cannot tell you how many people at Ft. Wilderness would come waltzing in with their supposed "lifetime" mugs and literally drain the soda machines. Now maybe they were "lifetime" 15 years ago, but according to our managers, any kind of a policy like that, if it even existed, had not been encouraged for at least 10 years. And would the guests get irate when we'd tell them no!

Maybe it's because I've worked for Disney for going on 3 years, but I can see where they're coming from on this. I've witnessed guests cutting corners and all-out stealing so many times, it's no wonder Disney keeps having to hike prices to cover the losses that the guests seem to have no trouble causing. People seem to get angry over ticket prices rising each year, but if they'd quit doing things like even cheating on the refillable mugs, I don't think that would be necessary.

Granted I've seen guests take things from merchandise to entire meals- had a family at Trail's this spring who used fake names, ripped off a $150 meal, and later got caught by security at the resort where they admitted the whole thing. $150 at one place might not seem like a lot, but property-wide... yeah, that would explain a $4 price jump in a ticket to cover those types of daily losses. Also would see guests with THEIR OWN CONTAINERS at the soda machines, not even using the mugs! Umm, your own container for water, fine... but soda??? Please.

I sometimes think certain types of guests think Disney owes them whatever they want while on vacation but... not exactly.

So I'm hoping this goes property-wide if it works well at the All-Stars. I'll have to look next week and see how it's all done.

Don't mean to sound snappy but I think you guys can see where I'm coming from... I hope. And if you don't, well, I hope I haven't offended anyone.

[lonepalm]

I, personally, just think it's a shame that Disney would even have to think about doing this. What ever happened to people's honor and honesty? Why have we as a society stooped so low to try and cheat people and corporations out of everything? Same goes for corporations as well....they try to nickle and dime everyone for every little thing, but that's besides the point. I just don't know what ever happened to a person's conscience and honor and decency. I don't believe that anyone is owed anything in life. Everyone should earn what they get, and get what they earn. I am also sorry if I have offended anyone, but that's just my personal feeling. Sorry for the rant, but I think our society needs to re-evaluate ourselves and our morals and way of life. Now, of course, there are some good, honest, decent people out there, and it is a shame that there are a few that ruin it for everyone, but the fact of the matter is that the prevailing mood and thought process of society is that we are owed something....a sense of entitlement seems to be in the air. I am in no ways perfect, but honesty and morals are something I do take seriously and pride myself in said traits.

[Soarin08]

I, personally, just think it's a shame that Disney would even have to think about doing this. What ever happened to people's honor and honesty? Why have we as a society stooped so low to try and cheat people and corporations out of everything? Same goes for corporations as well....they try to nickle and dime everyone for every little thing, but that's besides the point. I just don't know what ever happened to a person's conscience and honor and decency. I don't believe that anyone is owed anything in life. Everyone should earn what they get, and get what they earn. I am also sorry if I have offended anyone, but that's just my personal feeling. Sorry for the rant, but I think our society needs to re-evaluate ourselves and our morals and way of life. Now, of course, there are some good, honest, decent people out there, and it is a shame that there are a few that ruin it for everyone, but the fact of the matter is that the prevailing mood and thought process of society is that we are owed something....a sense of entitlement seems to be in the air. I am in no ways perfect, but honesty and morals are something I do take seriously and pride myself in said traits.

Your thoughts are what I was thinking, actually. Kind of sad to restrict EVERYONE now because some people think they can beat the system and get away with it.

[Wizzard419]

A long time about I brought up that the mugs were never truly lifetime but yeah if people are going to be tacky and keep brining back the mugs eventually they are going to have to start doing it.

[dimagineer]

Great Idea! Surprised they did not come up with this sooner. It will benefit everyone.

[annafab]

I'm kind of in awe of the technology behind this and want to learn more about how they work. Are there sensors on each lever? Do you scan the cup on the machine and then it'll let you get soda? The problem is, though, that the more techno these machines have to be, the more man-power will have to be expended to fix bugs (and the more impatient guests may get). What if the cup doesn't scan? What if the sensors stop working? Eventually the normal "new tech" bugs will get worked out, but then the general wear and tear will come into affect. I think it'll work. I just hope that the expense of the technology and the expense of repair/maintenance is less than the expense of the stolen soda/mugs. (Which, I'm sure it is. Smarter people than me have been working on this project. lol)

[Wizzard419]

They are probably RF tags, cheap to produce and sealed up so the beverage won't affect them. Since, like most things disney does, it's outsourced the onus is on the maker to fix any bugs (which are minimal since RF tags as gatekeepers have been working well for ages now).

Also, don't worry about the cost, you'll be paying for it.

[annafab]

The tech issues that I think will most likely come up aren't with the tags on the mugs but with the sensors on the machine. And I was talking about the expense in terms of whether or not it's a good business decision, not whether or not it'll impact guest costs.

[yodiwan1]

Ive been on cruise ships that have that delay policy and it really sucks. Lines get really backed up.

[Wizzard419]

The tech issues that I think will most likely come up aren't with the tags on the mugs but with the sensors on the machine. And I was talking about the expense in terms of whether or not it's a good business decision, not whether or not it'll impact guest costs.

It sounds like the machines aren't new tech by any means so most of the kinks should be worked out.

[annafab]

The tech issues that I think will most likely come up aren't with the tags on the mugs but with the sensors on the machine. And I was talking about the expense in terms of whether or not it's a good business decision, not whether or not it'll impact guest costs.

It sounds like the machines aren't new tech by any means so most of the kinks should be worked out.

I think you're right about "new tech" kinks. But think about any tech-y machine - from Fastpass machines to escalators - they all break down and have issues from general wear and tear. (Which I mentioned in my first post.) The concern is that when/if sensors stop working for various reasons, it'll lead to lines and frustrations all around. Especially since you can't even get a one-time drink without using the sensors.

[Wizzard419]

I would imagine there is a manual override to kick it back to normal function since you always need a backup plan. That and they will probably use multiple machines in each location, there is (going by existing notes) a sensor failure would only affect a single lever. It looks like they won't use them for one time drinks, but rather for "bottomless" beverage places but adding a hard time limit to those.

[Len90]

We personally only used the mugs the one time we were at Contemprary (1999/2000) and found it to be a good feature. However, it just turns into drinking too much soda as you buy sodas with every meal and then would feel obligated to have a mug of soda each day. We now prefer to buy a 12 pack of cans and a case of water at the Hess Express as we arrive. It helps to cut down on drinking too much soda.

If it works for Disney... Great. If it doesn't work out okay. Either way this really will not affect me at all.

[Amy]

Ive been on cruise ships that have that delay policy and it really sucks. Lines get really backed up.

That's the only thing I can see being a problem for me. I will sometimes decide I want one thing, have a sip and decide I don't really like it, or perhaps the syrup in that dispenser is out, so all you get is soda water. I do like that they will allow you to get ice and water still since Mom and I would fill our water bottles at the resort first thing before heading out to the parks. We had asked if we were allowed to do that and they had said no problem.

[Wizzard419]

The system is only there to provide soda to paying customers, so you could go all day and fill up your mug and just pour it out.