Disney - Free Drink Refills

Showing I can take it as much as I can dish it out and possibly eating a little crow in the process. :)

Screamscape has a quick report that says Epcot's Electric Umbrella eatery now has a pair of self-serve beverage stations allowed guests free refills.

Have to agree with Lance on this one that it sounds like a 'test' to see how it affects things before slowly spreading it throughout rest of the parks.

I'm assuming at this point you have to be a customer of said eatery to refill your drink. It's not like you can wander in and just start filling drinks.

I think it makes perfect sense for sit-down restaraunts in the parks to do this. It 'encourages' people to come in and get a meal.

Just to note again, it's not free drinks. It's free refills inside the eatery. Could be a good compromise - sit down and eat and we'll let you refill as much as you want until you go.

Awesome. In hot weather in Orlando I've always eaten at the affordable sit down places (like the Liberty Tree Inn in the Magic Kingdom.) to get "free" refills. The entrees are a little more than a counter place, but I've put away something like 10 refills on one particularly hot day. Even with the tip you still can really save money by doing that.

This is obviously some sort of evil ploy for Disney to take more of our money and line their coffers. Shame on both of you for falling for such a scam!

Poor Gonch will have to pay a couple more bucks per to get in Disney now.

They give out free doritos and fritos as well. Wheres the complaint on that since they've been sponsored by Frito Lay for decades.

Will Koch wasn't the inventor of free but I do give him credit for widespread usage.

Free isn't free, SO WHAT! IM HAPPY!

Not sure it'd work that way as long as they keep it in the restaraunts, Chuck.

I'd rather spend that money on a Q-bot. ;)

Man, Disney is going to lose billions of dollars now and have to close all their parks.

I still can't believe that you don't drink at least one drink at every amusement park you visit. If it's a two or even three dollar addition to the price your actually saving money or breaking even by drinking just one at these parks and if by chance it's hot and you need fiver or six drinks durring the day don't even mention the 25-30 dollar per person it would cost to do so, therefore making their 59.95 addmission 89.00 per plus a 49.99 Qbot and you've just spent $150 per person for one day. Might as well purchase the VIP program.

I drink several, but the price per drink is still less than what the parks add-on. And it's not 2 or 3 dollars. In the case of Magic Springs it's $30 for my family of 4. Who the hell spends $30 on drinks in one day!?

And to play on the words of a wise man who posted earlier in this thread:

Q-bot isn't free. SO WHAT! I'M HAPPY! ;)

Disney and free in the same sentance. Will wonders ever cease?
:)

It's not a big deal. They have this in the hotels already. You pay $8.00 for a drink, and you get free refills during your visit.

I think the next step is more likely to be cook your own food rather than free drinks on the midways. They just don't want to hire more servers.

Aren't drinks right across the midway free anyways? At the Coke exhibit?

First free on-property transportation, then free AIRPORT transportation, free FastPasses and now free drinks? What is the world coming to?

Maybe If Disney is going to do this, AND it works, it may become the normal in the industry in a couple of years.

^ Ice Station Cool no longer exists. It got taken down a few years ago.

And while the unlimited drinks thing is true, and very useful, there's a difference between offering free drinks in the relaxing, more-inactive hotel environment than in the fast-paced, constantly-moving environment of a crowded and very warm amusement park.

Again, just to clarify. It's just free refills inside the sit-down eatery.

There's a big difference between 'free drinks' at a park and self-serve 'free refills' when you go into a restaraunt to eat.

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RavenTTD said:
I think the next step is more likely to be cook your own food rather than free drinks on the midways.

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I can think of about ten parks where I'd jump at the chance to cook my own food.

Indeed. Free Refills, you're still paying $3-$4 for the drink. You can just get more when the cup runs low... until you leave.

So for an AVERAGE (pronounced "Not Chuck" ;) ) person, that brings down the average cost per drink to a more reasonable $1-$1.50 (Most people will refill twice in an average sitting at a restaurant)

If I spent a full 12-hour day at a park, which I rarely do, and it was hot out, and price was not a concern, I could easily drink 5 large drinks (32oz each) over the course of that long, hot day. Let's say each one of those drinks is normally priced $3.00 (about right for some parks, cheap compared to others). That's $18 in soda I consumed that day! Tacking on $7 to my admission is no big deal. Now not only can I have my 5 drinks for less than half the price, I can have even more if I feel thirsty and knowing it's not costing me anymore, will probably drink even more than I would otherwis and be happier at that moment, at least until I think about all of the sugar and calories the next day.

Another perspective. There is no way I would spend $18+ in soda at a park in one day. I would rather stop at the drinking fountains all day. But just $7 for all the soda I want? No problem. And I don't have to carry around a souvenir bottle all day and deal with it when I get on rides, nor do I have to share my drink (I'm weird like that, but I rarely get sick so it pays off)? THANK YOU! *** Edited 4/3/2007 8:15:41 PM UTC by Acoustic Viscosity***

Ice station cool is still there, but has a differant name now.

Flyingscooter,

I have been waiting almost a year for the new shield season to start.

^ I was gonna say, I must have been hallucinating when I was there three weeks ago and had me some Beverly.