We were hanging outside Sasparilas eatery at Grand Floridian Hotel new years Eve and I walked inside the joint and bought a refillable soda for my girl. Sasparilas has 2 self service soda machines that only accept valid cups with computer chips on the bottom. 3 refills within the hour of first use are permitted. Cast members working the food area said the machines are very new. Bugs bugs ...Too many bugs still need to be worked out as 2 cups later and 3 trips to the cashier just to fill one lousy disposable cup soda.
2 things I find odd about this: most people pay $380 to 1,000 per night, depending on time of season and room size/location. Coke thievery typically is not the "M.O." of those shelling out $600 per night. Yes, I know an off property opportunist could park free at Dis Springs and bus over to Grand Floridian and abuse the soft drink policy; or worse a "lowly" All Star family (gasp) invading and grabbing some unpaid soda. But what percentage is that??? Very small don't ya think. Also, inventory is cheap. My God soda is not an expensive inventory item. This just makes Disney look like a penny-pincher and gives soda buying hotel guests(me) a hard time with these bugged up computer chips.
Soda is pure profit for Disney. Using just a regular paper cup the breakdown is: $0.12 for soda $0.07 for the cup $0.01 for the lid $0.015 for the straw Other searches seem to verify the soda cost at around 10-13 cents per cup–but this also assumes you're putting a normal amount of ice in the cup. So, you buy a $2 soda. We'll take 8.5 cents off the top for the cup, lid and straw. That leaves $1.915 in soda you have to drink. Divide that by 12 cents and you're looking at roughly 16 (20 oz) sodas and the restaurant breaks even. Beyond 16, and they're losing money. Disney refill cups cost Disney less than a dollar each but sell them for $18 for length of stay. Six flags sells a bigger cup that is good all year for $24.
One of the reasons I never buy soda in a restaurant and especially not in an amusement park. I went to a rather small amusement/water park in Arkansas. I am sure their profit margin is pretty small as they are in the middle of nowhere and I believe a season pass was $45. Still, Pepsi products were free at many fountains throughout the park along with vats of sunscreen which they encouraged guests to spread on liberally. This was a number of years ago and I would not be surprised if the policy has changed but I still think it shows that soda is so cheap you can give it away without digging too far into your profits.
I never touch the stuff. Nothing but empty calories, and I've never understood why anybody would find the mouth-feel of carbonation appealing.
Holiday World in southern Indiana has free soft drinks, sunscreen, and parking. A 1-day ticket costs less than $50, and their most expensive season pass is about $160, yet somehow they still manage to turn a profit just fine Holiday World Theme Park & Splashin' Safari Water Park I just got back from WDW this morning, and the price creep was noticeable more than ever. Particular "highlights" were a quick-service cheeseburger that cost $15, and a $6 industrial-quality pretzel. I don't think I saw a single quick service entrée that cost less than $10. I expect high prices when I'm in a theme park, but they've really been pushing it recently
