Disney Park and Resort Photo Updates

7/13 Disney’s All Star Music Resort New Refillable Mug Stations for RFID Cups; New Broadway Marquee Movie Posters

Denise

Hi everyone!

A friend had mentioned that new marquee posters were being installed in the Broadway area of Disney’s All Star Music Resort, so we went to check that out – and found that the new refillable mug stations had been installed in the All Star Music Intermission Food Court (not yet at the other two All Star resorts). The mug stations were not in full use yet last night, but they definitely look different than the refillable mug test 2 years ago.

2 years ago, there was a long lever that the cup would sit against – very different than these newer soda fountains. These look much more like the regular fountains, except for the screen and what looks like levers at the bottom of the fountain.  Refillable mugs have been quite controversial on message boards for the last 15 or so years – before that, Cast Members would tell guests to bring the mugs back for life (I was told to when I bought mugs in the mid-90’s). But eventually, Disney would put up signs saying the mugs were for the length of stay. Apparently, there will now be a tiered system – I’ve seen prices on other websites, but I don’t want to post anything until I see official signs at the resorts.

After we put up a refillable mug article and videos 2 years ago, I occasionally heard that the refillable mug test had “failed”. It took a lot longer than I expected to come to fruition, but I fully expected some sort of system to eventually be set into place. I am disappointed that it sounds like mugs won’t be able to be re-used on subsequent trips. There has only been one style for the last couple of years, and I have a lot of friends who visit every month or two. I would still love to see resort specific mugs make a comeback!

Here is our video with narration from 2011. I’ve seen questions about whether regular cups would also have the RFID chip – and back in 2011, they did. From what I understand, the company has changed as well – and this program is now being called Rapid Fill.

What are your thoughts on this new program? This is no longer a test, and we will cover it fully when the machines are in use.
Last week, a friend posted on Facebook about the Mary Poppins marquee poster being installed in the Broadway section of Disney’s All Star Music Resort. There used to be a different Beauty and the Beast poster here, and that has been swapped out.  Newsies, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Tarzan posters have all been added. There is one more space still unaccounted for. We took photos over 2 days. The Newsies poster was on the ground the first day, and installed the second.

I like that they’ve changed out the signs – and also think it’s interesting that with the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks film, that it seems Mary Poppins is being promoted a bit more in the parks lately (including the topiary at Epcot).