Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Yep. You know you wanted it. So ... it seems like as WDW crumbles, TDO is testing a system at the All Star Sports food court to combat the HUGE loss of soda sales with old refillable mugs. They are selling mugs with an RFID chip that will only allow the beverage dispensers to fill mugs with said feature. They apparently are using chips on the regular cups as well, so if you buy a lunch you may be able to refill that cup for an hour or 90 minutes, but not bring it back at 9:30 p.m. Yes, this is where all that monorail, parade, attraction money is being spent. Let's forget about the fact that many folks have old mugs that were sold under the 'bring 'em back whenever you come here and the drinks are on us' policy (whether in writing or not, before the Soda Nazis come in). I have an ASS mug (that sounds so wrong) from around 1997-98 as well as mugs from probably a dozen resorts from that era where I was told year after year after year the same thing. And I so enjoy the 'looks' I get when using my WL classy mug these days. I can't wait to hear the nastiness that the poor food court CMs will have to deal with as Disney attempts this ridiculous plot (yes, that's what it is) by some mid level exec to close a 'loophole' and make the company more money (which it won't but that's a whole other subject). No, I don't enjoy watching trashy people come in and fill water bottles and two-liter Coke bottles with beverages. But this isn't the answer either. NEXT GEN: now playing at the ASS Food Court!
Originally Posted By ChiMike I would like to know if it puts a limit on the time in between refills. That would be interesting to find out. Say, one family comes down with their old mugs and buys one new mug. They then camp out (like at the Fastpass machines with 7 tickets at a time) and keeps refilling the new mug and transfering content to the old mugs. I can see Disney already thinking of this and putting a short time limit in between refills. That would surely drive some honest people insane if they are thirsty, since the mugs have been shrunk so small, and can't get a refill for 2-3 minutes. I would also like to know how long the unlimited length of stay is. I would figure it varies and with some people it could be as long as 14 days. So is each mug good for 14 days? These are the operational issues I would hope they have thought of. NOTE: The last mug I ever purchased was in 2002 and that was for coffee. I no longer drink soda, especially in the Orlando heat. Yuck.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 No idea, Mike. But if it's like any/everything else at The Walmarted World of Disney, then my guess is they haven't thought it out. So, you could certainly be right. Either you get folks who buy one new mug and just keep refilling it, which blows the point of doing it. Or you have thirsty screaming guests saying 'I spent $15 for this piece of (blank) it's 98 degrees out and it won't let me refill it for another 32 minutes'. Utter stupidity. I wonder if there's an APP for refilling yet?
Originally Posted By Bolna <<These are the operational issues I would hope they have thought of.>> I guess that's the reason why the value resort guests are allowed to play guinea pigs for this. Rather alienate the guests who stay there than at the deluxes - however, that would be too logical for a company who reduces monorail hours for exactly those guests...
Originally Posted By njDizfan But But But just think of all the lost revenue they are losing from not selling me a new mug. And Spirit, if you cannot document this ASS mug is in fact refills for life with a photo or internal Disney documents I call shenanigans
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Well, since the food items have been completely homogenized by One Disney anyway ... I'd say if I were staying at the ASS and wanted my free soda, I'd just walk next door or take the first bus there to ASMu or ASMo and have the same food with free beverage.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<And Spirit, if you cannot document this ASS mug is in fact refills for life with a photo or internal Disney documents I call shenanigans>> I can't so it must not be real, right? ;-) I just have hundreds of WDW visits where I dined at said locales with the mugs and was told as late as 2009 (haven't used mine since ... couldn't find my ASS one when I stayed there last year, but didn't really want to eat that cuisine anyway) 'yep, those old ones are good until they fall apart'. But I am sure the constant CMs, including managers/leads, that told me at a dozen plus locations across property for YEARS AND YEARS and told thousands of other guests the same thing were all just mistaken and/or wanted to get back at their evil rat employer by telling guests to steal soda and juice and coffee. Yeah, sure! Like I said, I wouldn't want to be an ASS CM (that does sound so bad) right now! ;-)
Originally Posted By ChiMike What all their decisions fail to take in account is human nature. Most seasoned operation folks like SJHYM could easily sit down and look at some of the latest plans and ask twenty questions within seconds on 'what if?'. NEXT GEN, this, and all the other guest management stuff is all based on certain business facts and suppositions. I believe that the suppositions at least never take into consideration human nature and guest behavior because the people drawing them up haven't been on the front lines for a while, or ever. So, good for them to try to protect their product. I don't fault them for that. However, I wonder if they understand that 'guests will be guests' and within a month have the new system figured out - or be totally inconvenienced by it and scream. Just as with Xpass; figure out a way to game it - or be totally inconvenienced by it and scream. Not trying to sound like Jeff Goldblum, or compare guests to Dinosaurs, but it really is how it is.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^the question really is how much money is Disney wasting on these machines and all the downtime their labor pool will have when dealing with malfunctions, complications they haven't thought about (like what Mike said above) and angry guests who were told one thing, but now are expected to pay more and do something else.
Originally Posted By hopemax > That would be interesting to find out. Say, one family comes down with their old mugs and buys one new mug. They then camp out (like at the Fastpass machines with 7 tickets at a time) and keeps refilling the new mug and transfering content to the old mugs. < When I read the news yesterday, it included that there was a 5 minute "waiting period" on refills. So if you fill your cup, you have to wait 5 minutes so you can fill it up again. So if you scan and then pause too long making a selection, I guess you are also stuck waiting 5 minutes (If they work like the water park ones. I waited too long once and had to rescan). As for the old mugs, a couple of months ago my Dad mentioned that while talking to someone at French Quarter, the CM said that they were encouraged to tell people using newer styles that they needed a new mug, they were specifically instructed that if a person had one of the old Dixie Landings or Port Orleans mugs that they should leave them alone.
Originally Posted By ChiMike See !! They did think of it. LOL. I guess they do know their guests! Ouch, 5 minutes! Spirit is so dead-on. There are going to be a lot of thirsty ticked off guest clanging their mugs against the soda machines in protest! Like when guests crowd the FP return line waiting for their time, I'm sure it will make for great people watching as crowds gather in front of others waiting for their 5 minutes. What a logistical nightmare!
Originally Posted By njDizfan I have heard this technology may even incorporate different mug scenarios, just to make it even more user friendly. You can get a mug just for the resort, just for the parks, for resort hopping, park hopping, with water parks,and an everywhere mug. Imagine the line of people at guest services with their mugs trying to add an extra day or adding a park feature to their mug. And imagine the CM handing out a price list for these feautures and trying to explain why their $15 mug is only good in certain places and needs an upgrade.
Originally Posted By ChiMike What a complete mess If that happens... I'll go back to the FP thread. There was nothing wrong with the old way. Simple. Clean. Easy. Just as they did with the DDP, they are trying to turn this place into one giant cruiseship with all inclusive pricing.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Just as they did with the DDP, they are trying to turn this place into one giant cruiseship with all inclusive pricing.>> I know a special Spirit who has been saying that for years now! And wait five minutes for a refill?!?! i wouldn't wait that long at most restaurants. I'm going to wait at a food court because I gulped down a tiny portion ... or started filling up with Coke before I saw they had Cherry Coke and now I have one ounce of something I don't want ... oh yeah, these folks at Disney are geniuses. And I would bet you almost anything that the whole program came from Disney execs trolling places like this and reading about people like myself who bring the mugs back (at the food price points and quality, it really is either a 'give me my free soda with my $10 fast food sandwich or I'll dine off property and you won't make a penny off me' scenario). Social Media at its finest. Anything on the Parks Blog about this? It's time for some Pam Brandon spin.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>And I would bet you almost anything that the whole program came from Disney execs trolling places like this and reading about people like myself who bring the mugs back<< ... And see you said you never work for free! Who knows, this test could go away as a clunker. Some of these things are so ingrained now in the guest dynamic that it will be very hard for them to implement on the resort-wide scale, thanks to their aggressive growth over the last two decades. Like taking away Fastpass for every guest. We'll see, anything is possible, at Disneyland.
Originally Posted By hopemax > And I would bet you almost anything that the whole program came from Disney execs trolling places like this and reading about people like myself who bring the mugs back (at the food price points and quality, it really is either a 'give me my free soda with my $10 fast food sandwich or I'll dine off property and you won't make a penny off me' scenario). < Yeah, my parents too. A couple times a month they eat breakfast at French Quarter, and my Dad gets his mug with coffee (as dreadful as it is). They are perfectly capable of making breakfast at home, but they might miss the beignets. However, the beignets are not so good as to purchase beverages each trip. Same thing with zebra domes at AKL.
Originally Posted By WDWVacationer ...So...do you guys think this is good or bad? I sense negative vibes and don't know why! LOL And I doubt the same money that was used for this would have paid for monorails and new attractions.
Originally Posted By ChiMike I will always defend Disney in cracking down on entitled guests who think the rules do not apply to them or that they own the place. I also will back Spirit up and say that many guests in the late 90s bought unlimited mugs, encouraged by Disney to do so. Disney as Disney does, changed the program due to GUEST DEMANDS, and left these folks in limbo. I think these RFID sensors are another example in a long line of examples of Disney using and paying for a blow torch to light a tea light.
Originally Posted By hopemax It's bad. Putting aside, were the old mugs refillable for life for now... Like Spirit mentioned, what if you change your mind on what you want? Are you happy having to wait 5 minutes to refill? What if you are so thirsty that you down your first cup, are you happy waiting to refill? What does this do to the waits at the drink machines, especially during peak meal times. From what I've seen at PO, lines already can get a few people deep at peak periods. Now you will have people messing around trying to figure out what to do. And as it is now, you can have multiple people filling at once, if the taps are far enough apart. Will that work with the scanners, or will only one person be able to fill at a time? Are you okay with a longer wait?
