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Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:16 pm
by NemoRanger
My curiousity has finally reached a level that I have to ask this question.
Is it really worth taking those refillable resort mugs with you to the parks?
I hate carrying stuff with me to the parks. I have bought many resort mugs over the years but have never taken them to the park because I do not want to have to hold onto it all day or carry it around in a backpack.
Everyday I see hundreds of families carrying these mugs with them. If everyone has a mug then that is a lot of mugs usually left to one person to handle.
I know how they work at your resort but its not like in the parks we have beverage stations everywhere. As far as I can recall only the Electric Umbrella at Epcot has a soda machine open to anyone.
Can you get them refilled by handing them to people at the QSR counter? Is there some special place in MK to refill these that I do not know about? I just can't see any reason to drag these mugs with me all day.
I think I must not be seeing something since I am not a family man. Maybe there is some benefit to carrying these when you have kids. Can someone enlighten me please.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:23 pm
by drcorey
NemoRanger wrote:My curiousity has finally reached a level that I have to ask this question.
Is it really worth taking those refillable resort mugs with you to the parks?
I hate carrying stuff with me to the parks. I have bought many resort mugs over the years but have never taken them to the park because I do not want to have to hold onto it all day or carry it around in a backpack.
Everyday I see hundreds of families carrying these mugs with them. If everyone has a mug then that is a lot of mugs usually left to one person to handle.
I know how they work at your resort but its not like in the parks we have beverage stations everywhere. As far as I can recall only the Electric Umbrella at Epcot has a soda machine open to anyone.
Can you get them refilled by handing them to people at the QSR counter? Is there some special place in MK to refill these that I do not know about? I just can't see any reason to drag these mugs with me all day.
I think I must not be seeing something since I am not a family man. Maybe there is some benefit to carrying these when you have kids. Can someone enlighten me please.
I always thought they were just for that visit.
a souvineer of your visit sort of thing.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:25 pm
by delsdad
I fill my mug with my morning caffeine :lotscoff: at the resort. I consume it on the way to the park. Usually finishing just as I enter onto main street. I rinse it out in the mens room, put a paper towel inside to soak up the drips, and clip it to my backpack. After a long hot park day, I return to the resort. I stop at the QS restaurant at my resort and rinse then refill my mug with the evening beverage to enjoy on the way back to my room. There I change into swim suit, rinse and refil mug again, BUT this time with a

, then head to the pool with the family for a swim before stopping at the QS for a hot chocolate in that mug before bed. It gets a lot of use each day. And yes it does get washed out with detergent a few times a day. My DW uses hers in much the same fashion, however she prefers a :rumncoke: for the trip to the pool.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:32 pm
by avengador1
I thought they were supposed to have implemented the smart mugs with imbeded RFID chips, maybe this has changed. I found this information on another website.
Disney has added a new UPC bar coding system to the self-serve refill stations that, for the first time, controls a previously unenforced policy. Although the refillable mug program has always been advertised as available during an actual length of stay that allows guests to refill their mugs during their trip, in reality, guests often brought their mugs back on subsequent trips to refill them free of charge. With the UPC code tied to a guest's hotel reservation, this new system closes this loophole altogether. That is, once your stay has ended, your mug is no longer refillable. Those mugs you bought on previous visits won't work next time you vacation at WDW.
Another loophole that may close with this new system is that you might not be able to use your mug at any other resort except at the one you are staying. For example, if you stay at one of the resorts for a few days and purchase a mug there, and then you move over to another resort for the balance of your vacation, the mug might not be refillable at the second resort.
It doesn't sound like you can get your resort mug filled at the parks unless you bought it there.
Read more about this here:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/refilla ... hanges.htm
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:36 pm
by avengador1
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:36 pm
by delsdad
avengador1 wrote:I thought they were supposed to have implemented the smart mugs with imbeded RFID chips, maybe this has changed. I found this information on another website.
It doesn't sound like you can get your resort mug filled at the parks unless you bought it there.
Read more about this here:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/refilla ... hanges.htm
Ive never even tried to get it filled at the parks. As of late April, themugs at the Beach club, where I bought and filled my mug, did not use the tags.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:09 pm
by GaTechGal
delsdad wrote:I fill my mug with my morning caffeine :lotscoff: at the resort. I consume it on the way to the park. Usually finishing just as I enter onto main street. I rinse it out in the mens room, put a paper towel inside to soak up the drips, and clip it to my backpack. After a long hot park day, I return to the resort. I stop at the QS restaurant at my resort and rinse then refill my mug with the evening beverage to enjoy on the way back to my room. There I change into swim suit, rinse and refil mug again, BUT this time with a

, then head to the pool with the family for a swim before stopping at the QS for a hot chocolate in that mug before bed. It gets a lot of use each day.
That's exactly what my husband does. The only reason he has it in the parks is because he's usually drinking coffee in it as we wait for the bus in the morning.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:41 pm
by NemoRanger
GaTechGal wrote:That's exactly what my husband does. The only reason he has it in the parks is because he's usually drinking coffee in it as we wait for the bus in the morning.
That makes sense for adults to have them. I just never understood why entire families bring them. I saw one family of six bring them the other day. There were falling off the stroller and all I could think was WHY.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:44 pm
by Goofyernmost
NemoRanger wrote:That makes sense for adults to have them. I just never understood why entire families bring them. I saw one family of six bring them the other day. There were falling off the stroller and all I could think was WHY.
In all probability it's because they didn't listen or read the rules and felt that if they bought one at the resort they could get it refilled for free anywhere on site.
To my knowledge the don't even sell refillable mugs at the parks, much less refill them. At least I have never seen one.
Re: Refillable Resort Mugs at Parks
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 10:21 pm
by Big Wallaby
As far as delsdad's use, the nice thing about those mugs is that if you have a backpack already they add a negligible amount of weight to the rest of the load.