To Buy or Not To Buy: The Rapid Fill Refill Question

Is Disney World’s Rapid Fill mug worth it? The value of this refillable cup is going to depend on the length of your trip and your vacation style. Let’s take a look.

Rapid Fill Mug Basics

The Rapid Fill Refill Mug is a thermally insulated plastic cup with an RFID chip. It can be used for beverage refills at any Disney-owned Disney World resort. If you’ve added the Disney Dining Plan to your trip, the Rapid Fill mug is free. If you need to pay cash, the Rapid Fill mug is $22.99. The cup is good for 14 days or the length of your stay, whichever is longer.

When you buy the mug, the Cast Member at the register will activate the RFID chip in the bottom. Keep your receipt in case you have problems using your cup. You’ll also need the receipt if you’re staying longer than 14 days and need to have it extended.

Once purchased, you can refill the mug for free at your resort’s Quick Service location, or at other refill stations around the resort. The standard stations have a choice of 6-8 beverages and usually include at least one non-carbonated option such as Powerade. Coffee and iced tea are also available. Some resorts have Coke Freestyle machines that take the refill mugs.

When you place your mug on the fill pad of a refill station, the screen will indicate how long the mug is good for. If you’ve filled it recently, you may also see a “time until next refill”. There’s a 60-second waiting period between refills, to prevent large groups from sharing a single mug by repeatedly filling it and pouring off the contents.

Now we’re ready for the big question: should you buy it? I like to start with the obvious: if you don’t drink soda, Powerade, or any other beverages that are included in the Rapid Fill options, then probably not. If you’ve gotten it for free with the Disney Dining Plan, well — free is free, right? If you’re paying cash & you do drink soda, then we need to get down to the numbers.

Dollars and Cents

Value isn’t always about money, but it’s good to start there. The starting point for any “worth it” question is always compared to what? Let’s focus on situations where the cup is typically used:

• Eating meals at resort Quick Service locations
• Hanging by the pool
• Grabbing a refill to drink in your room

Most of the time, what you’d get instead if you didn’t have the Refill mug is a 20 oz. fountain beverage, currently priced at $4.79. You can refill the Quick-Service paper cup a few times during a meal, so the right way to compare is how many meals, not how many fills. Plus of course, times that you’d take it to the pool, send someone on a “refill cup run” to bring drinks back to the room for your family, etc.

You need to fill the cup about five times to break even. (You’ll need one extra fill if you’re only drinking coffee or tea, which are cheaper.) It doesn’t matter whether that’s twice a day for three days, or once a day for five days. Unless you don’t eat at your resort or you’re only staying for the weekend, the Rapid Fill mug is usually a good deal. Even if your trip is only 2-3 days, you can easily come out ahead. If you grab a coffee fill-up for breakfast in your room, another on the way to the bus stop, and then fill a third time with dinner at your resort, that’s plenty to get the job done.

It needs to be said that if you buy a case of cans from the local Publix or Walmart, you’ll be looking at about 50 cents a can. That doesn’t stack up too favorably against the cup. But, if you go the grocery can route, everyone has to agree on what they want to drink. The Refill mug does let everyone choose their own adventure – or at least, their own beverages.

The Intangibles

Value isn’t only about money, sometimes it’s convenience or other factors. Individual taste is not up for dispute, and you can’t put a fixed price on satisfaction. Here are some common non-budgetary considerations that are often raised about these cups.

Souvenir value — Many find the cup makes a great souvenir. My kids are too old and cool to use sippy cups, but lidded cups from Disney are a suitably chill alternative when they need to be careful about spills.

If “Joey stole my cup!” is a concern in your group, it’s worth knowing that there are always four different cups on sale. There’s often only one design with your choice of four different handle and lid colors. When two designs are available, they’re usually paired with two different handle colors to give four combinations.

Station location — Most resorts have a refill station conveniently located near the feature pool.  If you spend your time at the quiet pools, you might have quite a hike for refills.  This convenience factor also applies to the location of your room.

Serving size — The cups only hold 13 ounces, about the same as a can of Coke.  If you usually go with a 20 oz. bottle, you may feel like you are constantly refilling.

Eco-friendliness — It feels obvious that the cup is more eco-friendly because it eliminates waste.  Unfortunately, the picture is not so simple: an alternate viewpoint on eco-friendliness relies on life-cycle energy usage.  From an energy perspective, you need to use a polypropylene cup like the Rapid Fill mugs about 17-20 times before it’s greener than paper.

Self-discipline — Many of us take a break from healthy habits while on vacation. But if you’re trying to maintain a limit on your sweet or sugary drinks, it’s definitely easier to resist the call of a cup of soda when it isn’t free.

Rapid Fill Mug Tips

⭐ If you’re staying at different resorts on your trip, you can take your mug with you from resort to resort.

⭐ If you’re planning to pop out of the parks and have lunch or dinner at a resort quick service, your mug will work there even if it isn’t the resort you’re staying at.

⭐ Most resort Quick Service will have four-slot drink trays. These are useful if one person goes with the whole family’s mugs.

⭐ Refill stations at the resort food court or Quick Service will have mug washes nearby. You can dump the dregs of whatever you had before and give the cup a rinse before refilling.

⭐ The mugs won’t work at the parks (except for ice water). There’s no equivalent mug that is refillable throughout your trip for use in the parks.

Is your family pro-mug, or anti-mug?  What motivates your decision?  Let us know in the comments.