Disney have eventually unveiled their new refillable drinks options to launch beverages into the new technology age. For a long time you have been able to purchase a refillable resort mug for using at your base resort for the length of your stay. Guests may have been caught abusing the system by using older mugs from previous visits or hopping resorts. Disney Tech have been experimenting with options over the past 2 years and have eventually come up with their solution.
In 2011, guests at the Disney All Star Resort where given an RFID tag attached to their refill cups to test out the technology. The tags allowed guests to refill the cup a limited number of times.
The new solution is Disney Rapid Fill, will start rolling out again in the DIsney All Stars Resort July, 2013.
This option is RFID tag based also but will allow guests to purchase a mug that can be refilled for either one, two or three days. There is also an option to purchase one for the length of your stay which is which is up to 14 days. Guests can extend this further is needed during the same stay. The days that the cups are activated are consecutive. So if you purchased a mug for 14 days you couldn’t use it again 1 month later. Another interesting detail is that the days are calendar based, not 24 hour based. So if you activated your mug at 10pm you will only have 2 hours use for your days allocation.
Updates to the system will also mean that guests can resort hop with their refill mugs. It is also believed that in the near future you will be able to activate a water parks option on your refill mugs.
When guests approach the drinks dispenser machine, the RFID tag in the cup will be scanned and allow your choice of beverage to be dispensed. You will also be able to see how many days you have left on your activated mug. Under the 2011 trial, guests were able to activate iced water as a free option even if they had no RFID tag present. It is believed that this option will continue through to the full rollout. After all Disney never used to charge for this even at counter service food outlets.
The Cost for Disney Rapid FIll will depend on your length of activation.
$8.99 for 1 day
$11.99 for 2 days
$14.99 for 3 days
$17.99 for length of stay (4+ days)