Walt Disney World has another refillable mug problem.
Resort Refillable Mugs
Anyone who has stayed at a Walt Disney World hotel is likely familiar with the refillable mugs sold at the resort. However, just in case you need a refresher, Disney World hotels offer Resort Refillable Mugs for you to purchase and use for FREE refills throughout your vacation. They are 16 oz. insulated coffee mugs, typically sold at each Disney hotel at the resort’s primary Counter Service location. You are entitled to unlimited free refills on fountain drinks, coffee, and tea from participating beverage locations at Disney resorts for your length of stay — up to 14 days.
These mugs can be a great way to save if you drink a lot of soda or coffee, but you need to watch out for a couple of potential PROBLEMS!
While we’re generally big fans of the refillable mugs, we’ve pointed out some issues with using them during resort stays in the past. However, today we’re moving beyond the hotels to discuss the problems with refillable mugs when it comes to Walt Disney World’s theme parks.
Drink Station at Caribbean Beach Resort’s Banana Cabana Pool Bar
Specifically, the problem is you CAN’T use your Walt Disney World refillable mug for refills at the resort’s theme parks. You can refill the mug for free at ANY Disney World hotel (not just the one you’re staying at), but you CAN’T get those free refills anywhere in the parks themselves. So if you’re spending all day in Magic Kingdom without plans to visit any hotels, you won’t be able to refill your mug for free until you get back to your hotel later that evening.
While the mugs might still be worth it, especially for those who have several meals at their hotel each day, they’re arguably much less enticing for guests who spend the vast majority of their vacation at the parks by departing early in the morning and arriving back late at night.
Resort Refillable Mug
Then there’s the storage issue. Let’s say you eat breakfast at your Disney hotel before jetting off to one of the theme parks and want to use the mug for your coffee. Or maybe you plan on grabbing a bite at the hotel when you return home. You’ll either have to return your mug to your room (if the former), head to your room to pick it up before circling back to the hotel’s food court (if the latter), or carry around an empty mug with you ALL day once you finish your drink.
While that may not sound like much, space in a backpack or Loungefly is at a premium during a Disney park day, and carrying a 16 oz. mug that can’t be used seems like a waste (not to mention the potential problem of some leftover coffee or soda leaking all over your stuff). Plus, the more members of your party, the more mugs there are to lug around.
Refillable Mugs at Pop Century
We wish that Disney would figure out a way to make refillable mugs usable at the theme parks, beyond at bottled water refilling stations, which are unwieldy with the mugs anyway. Having mug refills available at even one or two quick service locations per park could be a game-changer. It would arguably benefit Disney in that there it would likely lead to more mug sales, and would benefit guests like you who would be able to better use the hotel mug you purchased!
Refillable Resort Mug Display
While we’re big fans of Disney’s refillable mugs, solving the problems associated with the inability to use them in the parks would make the program all the more appealing!
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Do you use refillable resort mugs at Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments below.
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We bring carabiners for them and put them on our bags and use them as water bottles around the parks. We have our coffee on our way to the park then rinse it out and refill it with the free water cups throughout the day. We’ve also brought them on Disney cruises just as our water/soda cup.
We now love staying at the WDW Swan, so we cannot purchase new refillable mugs.
But we take our old refillable mugs on the Disney ships. The handles make them easier to carry around than the hot and cold cups available at the drink stations. We use the mugs for coffee/tea in the morning, then for the fountain drinks in the afternoon and evening. I am addicted to the Vitamin Water at the drink stations, so I refill my mug several times a day.
Mermaid Nina just did a video about all the other ways you can use the resort mug, definitely worth a watch if you’re considering it! But I agree havingna couple places in each park to refill would be great!
I wish you could bring a mug from a prior trip and have it re-activated. It sounds like some cast members will re-activate them, but it’s not consistent across all resorts. I’m willing to pay the current cost of $21.99 for re-activation. I just don’t need more mugs in my cabinets!
Are the mugs refillable until midnight of the day you check out?
I also use the mug for water during the day. I like to loop a cord or a clip through the handle and hang it from my bag. Ideally a bungee cord long enough I can drink from it without unclipping! But I agree, it would be a much better deal if I could refill at quick service in the parks too.
I usually fill mine right before I head to the park, and then I can pour my quick service drink into it to carry around. They’ll let you into shows and on slow-moving rides with it because it has a cover. I also refill it as soon as I get back to my resort. When it’s empty, I’ll either hang it off my bag with a carabiner or put it in my backpack. I do wish you could fill them at the parks, though.
The mugs are only good for a maximum of 14 days. Theyre supposed to be for length of stay. Our last trip was 19 days so my wife and I staggered when we bought our mugs, shared hers for the first 5 days, mine for the last five.
I just got back from a 2 week trip, that included a 4 night stay at Universal.. they have a cup program that’s refillable at the parks, and that is a total game changer! A family of 4, we saved a TON having that at Universal, because we refilled them at least 7-10 times each!! That would break the bank for us at Disney!! And it was about $15 a piece when we first got the mugs, then it was about $10 each to renew them every day, and that was with a stay on property discount!
Hi Kimberly! The refillable mugs are good for 14 days from the first day you purchase it.
It would be wonderful if we could use the mug in the parks. It would be a great perk considering what Disney has taken away from loyal guests over the last couple of years.
The Contemporary pool really needs a mug refill station! It’s long way from the pool to the lobby!