So, here’s what I know about Halloween in Disney World:

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Tickets:

The price of the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets varies by date and whether they’re purchased early or at the gate. In 2011, the cheapest tickets (pre-purchased) were $51.07 for children and $57.46 for adults during the month of September, and went up to $55.33 for children and $60.66 for adults in the month of October. Purchasing at the gate (day of the party) will cost you more, and being a DVC (Disney’s Vacation Club) member or being an annual passholder will net you a discount.

In 2011, the tickets went on sale on the first of May, and the dates of the parties are usually released around the same time.

The MNSSHP is what is called a hard ticket event- which means that you can’t get into the party with your normal park tickets- you must buy the specific event’s tickets to attend. Even if you choose not to attend the party, it’s a good idea to check for the dates of the party, because the Magic Kingdom will close to normal guests early on those dates.

If you do plan to attend the Disney World Halloween party, I highly recommend ordering your tickets as soon as you know the dates that you’ll be there- particularly if you’re going very close to or on Halloween. Also, be aware that locals will be more likely to be attending during a weekend, which will drive party attendance higher. Mid-week in September will be the easiest time to get tickets, but even so, plan ahead.

 What Happens at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party?

Halloween in Disney World is always festive, but the actual party is even better. There are a lot of activities going on, and, even better, LOTS of atmosphere.

While the actual list of activities may change from year to year, I can’t imagine that they’ll change much. At the MNSSHP that we attended in the Magic Kingdom in September of 2011, we had:

Trick or Treating- While Disney encourages kids of all ages to participate, I didn’t notice any adults or older kids trick-or-treating. To be fair, the actual passing out of candy wasn’t all that noticeable to me anyway, as I was absorbed in all of the atmosphere.

Dance Parties- Themed dance parties take place all across the Magic Kingdom. In 2011 there was at least one Villain’s dance party, and I assume those are yearly, as well as other character dance parties.

Character Meet ‘n Greets- True, these take place even during normal park hours, but you’re much less likely to have to wait a long time at a hard ticket event like the Halloween Party in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. This, of course, depends on how big the crowd is and what the crowd demographic is, but in general, hard ticket events mean lower crowd density and the majority are attending all of the special events rather than trying to do things that they can do during normal park hours.

Boo To You Parade- Disney World’s Halloween Parade is a pretty special event. It has its own parade music, its own floats, and its own special atmosphere. More below.

HalloWishes- Disney World’s Halloween fireworks show is called HalloWishes. Like the parade mentioned above, it has its own music and fireworks show, and they do some really funky things to the castle during the show that didn’t happen the last time I watched the usual Wishes fireworks. More below.

Atmosfear- The absolute best thing about Halloween in Disney World is the atmosphere. Seriously. As far as parties go, I like the Christmas party much better, but the Christmas party doesn’t have… Oh wait, I’ll tell you below.

Our Experience With Halloween In Disney World:

AKA, what we thought of the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

I’m going to go in chronological order of my memories here. It’s just easier for me that way.

First things first. As we were about to exit our hotel room at All Star Sports Resort, we peeked out the window and noticed no fewer than 3 families in costume. A whole swarm was leaving the resort at the same time that we did, which was our first clue that the crowds might not be as light as our last hard ticket event had been.

So we made our way towards the Ticket and Transportation Center (or is it Transportation and Ticket Center?), the gateway to the Magic Kingdom. The first hint of Halloween was this:

I know, cool, right? It wasn’t there the day before (the pumpkins, of course- the Magic Kingdom sign is always there except during alien invasions). BTW- if you can’t see all of both pumpkins, click the picture to enlarge.

Jack Sparrow and Crew heading to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

So, we parked and hopped on the ferry. Interestingly, we were waiting right next to this family, who also seemed to pop up all night long, and even got a nod from Jack Sparrow himself during the parade.

Taking the ferry was kind of awesome, because apparently most of Disney World’s guests had no idea that there was a party going on that night. As we waited for the ferry to pull in, and as the crowds leaving the Magic Kingdom filtered past, our entire group was started at in a “What the **** are all those people doing heading towards the Magic Kingdom? Don’t they know it’s closed? And why are they all dressed up as pirates?”  (not everyone was dressed up as pirates, but that did seem to be the costume du jour- not everyone was dressed up either, but about 1/4 to 1/3 of the crowd was, and that’s a lot!)

Apparently, not everyone is as obsessed with planning as I am. The entire first hour I heard “What’s going on? Is something happening? Is the park still open?” over and over…

So, on the ferry, as we approached the Magic Kingdom, we got our first taste of the atmosphere… the haunting strains of the Haunted Mansion sifted through the speaker system. YESSSSS….

Upon exiting the ferry and approaching the actual entrance of the Magic Kingdom, we noticed the party cast member’s most awesome uniforms. I’m not certain why I don’t have any pictures of them, but I’m going to assume that it was my impatient husband that prevented my taking the time to snap a few shots. There were also some cool pumpkin statues, but they were there for the whole season and not just the party.

Periodically throughout the entire halloween party, the Haunted Mansion music would blare through the speakers. So. Awesome. I got giddy every time I heard it. I wish they’d do that during normal park hours.

Another awesome thing that we noticed throughout the party was fog. Yes, fog. Lots of fog, mostly around Liberty Square near the Mansion, but not limited to the mansion.

Lots of costumes too. Mostly teenagers and little kids, but quite a few adults were in costumes too. We saw at least two of these guys:

That right there was worth the price of admission. Oh yeah.

So, we decided to make a circuit around the park to soak up the atmosphere. The place was packed. I mean, PACKED. As in, we paid almost $60 each to get in, yet only rode 3 rides ALL NIGHT packed. But then we saw this:

So cool! These projections were all over the place that night, but always where you’re not looking if you’re rushing from place to place. I mean, you can only see this if you’re coming from Fantasyland to Tomorroland, and there was one on the grass by the pond near Crystal Palace Buffet, and a few others that I can’t remember where.

We headed up through Fantasyland and I noticed the first of these:

There were actually quite a few throughout the park, but since this is the first one that I saw, it was the only one to get me really excited. Yes, I’m easy to entertain. Why do you ask?

It’s just a sheath that they slipped over a light, but it was only there during the party, and that makes it awesome.

About the time we reached Liberty Square, the parade route was already packed out. And, since I knew I had to get pictures to post here, we staked out a spot. Not that it did me much good, only about 3 pictures turned out clear at all.

This is about as clear as it gets, folks.

What I think of the Boo To You parade: It’s cute. I love the music. The floats? Meh. It’s really not that impressive in my opinion, and while I would recommend not missing this parade if you attend the party, I wouldn’t attend the party just to see the parade.

I forgot how much I liked the “It’s Good To Be Bad” part of the parade. And, actually, those floats are cooler than I remembered…

You should have seen the wait for the Haunted Mansion immediately after the parade.

By the way, the Haunted Mansion totally looked awesome during the party.

Plus the fog was extra thick around the cemetary and the pet cemetary.

They also had a Southern Belle type ghost sitting on a rocking chair out front, close enough to the line that she could interact with guests as they waited. Unfortunately, though she was glowing, none of my pictures turned out and I can only tell who it is based on the context of where the picture is in my files.

So, after wandering around a bit, and probably going on only one ride, it was time to find a spot for the HalloWishes fireworks. Somehow we ended up in the Rose Garden in front of Cinderella Castle (surprisingly, the least crowded area that we found was the Rose Garden- who knew?). A really nice lady offered us the two chairs that her friends had vacated, which was amazing- we got to SIT and still see the fireworks clearly!

The Good: Visually stunning and they did some really cool things with the Castle as part of the show.

The Bad: The music that the fireworks are set to is a bunch of modernized pop-ified versions of classic Disney villain songs. Really? The new versions sucked, and we both would have enjoyed the whole show MUCH more if they had simply blended the classic actually-from-the-movies versions of the songs instead. The music that they used was the musical equivalent of the third straight to video sequels. Blech! Totally spoiled the fireworks, which was about half of what we paid to get in to see.

You see what I mean about bad music? I have to admit though, that the HalloWishes is visually the single most spectacular fireworks show that I’ve seen at Disney World. (emphasis on seen and visually)

So, after wandering around a bit more, taking a few pictures (there were some great photo ops during the party- particularly in front of Pirates of the Caribbean), and, maybe, riding one or two rides, we decided to head out. At the park exit, we noticed a few awesome things. For one, when you heard thunder and lightning crash, the clocks (I believe one on Town Hall, and one on the train station) would flash and shake. For two, there was a series of small jackolanterns above the arch that spelled out Happy Halloween. I did take a picture, but it didn’t really turn out. Take my word for it, it was cute.

Then as we left we noticed a bunch of people running around and posing. Lo and behold! This:

So cool! Unfortunately, you can’t see the scale of this thing, but it was, oh, about 5′ tall. No joke.

So, would I recommend going to spend Halloween in Disney World? Yes. It was definitely over crowded, the fireworks music was lame, and you get less out of it than you get out of the Christmas party. But. It’s really pretty stinkin’ cool. I like the Boo To You music, you get free candy, and the fog and Haunted Mansion music piped everywhere is great. And better than that, there’s just this high energy vibe that you get from everyone else that I’ve never seen at the parks before. Everyone is excited, they’re running around, they’re laughing, they’re dressed up, and they’re fizzing like Pop Rocks. And that’s pretty hard to beat.

(Caveat- Your Milage May Vary)

So, did I miss anything? Anything that you’d like to add about Halloween in Disney World or the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party?
 

So, since this is going to be a big post, I’m dividing it up into sections.

The Drive Down To Walt Disney World:

Those of you who know us in real life may find this to be a bit of a shocker- we went to bed before 10pm the night before and got up at 4:30am. For those of you who don’t know us personally, this is insane because we work second shift and normally go to bed at 4:30am. Nuts. And yes, we were tired. We were on the road by 5:30am (lovely wife that I am, I made breakfast for us both before we left), had a fairly uneventful drive down to Yulee, FL, and arrived at our hotel in Yulee about 6:45pm. Not bad. I’ll probably get into why we now stop overnight in part of the How To Plan A Trip To Disney World section when I get to it. For now, suffice to say that we didn’t like Yulee as much as Lumberton, NC, but it was not bad and only 3 hours away from Disney World, making for a nice first day at the parks.

The Holiday Inn Express in Yulee, FL:

I’ll probably give this a post of its own with more detail later- if you want to know about it in more detail and don’t want to check back for the link,I suggest signing up for my RSS feed.

First off, it’s considerably larger than I thought it was from the pictures. The rooms are all indoors (I had to explain to my husband that that’s NORMAL for a hotel- he’s used to Disney World’s Value and Moderate hotels where the room entrances are all outside), the decor is really nice, there’s a huge dining room where the free breakfast buffet is, there’s free wifi (pathetic wifi- if this is important to you, ask for a room near the router or whatever they use- I could log into FaceBook but couldn’t play any games while in our room). Glen, the front desk clerk when we checked in, was AWESOME! Just the right blend of professional and friendly, and once he got the size of us, a bit of his humor began to peek through. We would totally invite Glen to poker nights if he lived near us.

The good: The room was really nice. King bed, comfy chairs, roomy, nice bathroom- the kind of place that I’d like to set up shop if we were going to the beach for a week instead of Disney World (and it is 10 miles from the beach- I think Fernandina Beach?).

The bad: In the middle of eating our dinner in the room, we started comparing the Holiday Inn Express in Yulee to the Best Western in Lumberton, NC that we’d stayed in the previous year. On all points, the Holiday Inn Express was coming out ahead, but when comparing the similarities (king bed, quiet, so on), I looked up and said “Oh look- there’s even a big bug on the wall like in Lumberton!” at which point my husband got up to inspect/kill/clean up the bug. Which turned out to be a baby scorpion. Did you know that there’s a species of scorpion that’s native to Florida? We didn’t. We do now (yes, I looked it up on my iPhone).

Otherwise- it was very nice there.

All Star Sports Resort at Disney World:

So, the next morning, we got up really early again, and arrived at our hotel at Disney World, All Star Sports, at 10am. We’d done the online check in but managed to get a trainee- which made the normally very simple process of “Let’s see your id. Ok, here’s your room key and welcome packet. Have a magical day!” take about 20 minutes. About 5 minutes of that was our fault because we had a special room request which they had to do some homework on. In the end, it was totally worth it, because they gave us room 6162 in Surf’s Up!. It’s a King bed, handicap accessible room on the first floor and is 3 doors down from the closest room to the food court (those 3 doors down was a good thing, because it put us just around the corner of the hallway that lead to parking, and very close to the ice machines (we bring a cooler for drinks and food rather than renting a fridge). Amazing room and location.

The view from our room's doorway- behind those bushes is the pool, behind that big star is the food court.

We also walked the ENTIRE All Star Resort area the first afternoon- that includes Sports, Music, and Movies. It’s a lot of walking. But, I did it for you. Because I’m working on an All Star Resort post and pictures are good things.

The Food At Walt Disney World:

Awesome. Of course. They’ve recently revamped their menus to be “healthier”, which is both good and bad. Bad because this means a lot more soy/low fat junk, good because there are actually vegetables on the menu. I hope they keep that, at least. Yogurt is now listed as a dessert on many quick service menus. I was offered 3 vegetable choices at the food court to go with my baked chicken (delicious, by the way). While you can special order a double bacon cheeseburger (from the old menu), the new Angus bacon mushroom Swiss burger is AMAZING. And I don’t even like Swiss cheese.

We didn’t do any table service restaurants on this trip, but I’m trying to convince hubs to do it a few times on the next trip.

It may not look like much, but this broccoli salad from Columbia Harbour House (Magic Kingdom) is one of the best things that I've ever eaten.

September Weather At Walt Disney World:

Hot. And humid. And hot and humid. We were there Sept 17th, through Sept 23rd, and the highs were all 88 degrees and up. Which doesn’t sound bad until you find out that the humidity had matching % points. For example, the hottest day was 91 degrees and 91% humidity. I’m not kidding, I’m not exaggerating.

The Walt Disney World Parks:

We didn’t do any extracurricular activities on this trip, aside from a short trip to Downtown Disney, so no mini-golf, La Nouba, or Disney Quest reviews.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

Normally I would put the parks in order of when they opened (also, popularity- it’s more or less the same thing), but we hit Hollywood Studios first, and this is a trip report, so, I felt like doing it this way.

Overall- I liked this park more than I usually do, but we also didn’t stay till park closing on either of the two days that we were here. We became bored easily, because it’s a pain in the you know what to wait for Voyage of the Little Mermaid (the earlier you are, the longer you have to STAND to wait for the next show- and who wants to do that? It’s a 15 minute wait!) and The Great Movie Ride really needs a bit of updating. Back when they had two scenarios it was a lot more fun, plus the actors were a lot more into it. These days, you only get “No more red light.” and “What is this? Jersey?” for comic relief and never get to see the Western scene catch on fire. Plus, they all sound like they’re repeating a memorized poem in school, not playing a gangster/tour guide. We don’t do heights either, so if we can’t catch Toy Story Mania, there’s not much else for us besides Star Tours, awesome though it is.

Upside, we got to hit Toy Story Midway Mania TWICE on this trip- a never before accomplished feat. Amazingly, when we got there, it was only a 40 minute wait, so we grabbed FastPasses and hopped in line. We only had to wait about 20 actual minutes to ride, and finally got to see the talking, interactive Mr. Potato Head. Can we say “awesome”? Awesome! (You don’t see him when you’re in the FastPass line- the only way we’ve ridden before).

On Toy Story Midway Mania- my pained expression is from trying to get the camera to actually shoot before we had to offload.

We also got to experience the new Star Tours 3D. While I miss the awesome cheez of the old Star Tours (and particularly think the robot on the screen before you enter is super lame compared to awesome-hair-chick from the old show), the 3D is really good and the show is soooo clear! The ride itself is much smoother and more realistic, though the whole thing combined made me a little queasy every time we rode it. We went on it 4 times and got Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Leia, that fishy head commander guy, Naboo (Gooberfish!), Hoth 3 times, Tatooine (Podracing), a few space battles, the Death Star, Coruscant, and I think one or two other scenarios that I can’t remember right now. About the only thing that we missed that we really wanted was Bespin, but that’s only because we didn’t realize that Yoda was also a scenario. So, next year, we want Bespin and Yoda.

In line for Star Tours II

American Idol Experience was fun as always, but my husband is starting to get the feeling that there are a few plants in the contestants. To be honest, I think he may be right. The mere fact that they tell you “these are real park guests- just like you!” is usually a hint that they’re not, and my husband thinks he saw two of the contestants (different shows) on our last trip. I have a better memory for words, he has a better memory for faces, so I couldn’t say. Also, they’re still doing that really annoying “I got the music in me” song. Really? I’d rather hear another contestant or leave the air conditioning sooner. The finale show is always the most fun, but also the most crowded, and both days took place after we left the park. So. Bummer.  Upside, we totally got Ali as the crowd warmer for the second show we saw. He was my favorite from last year- still is. “Bye, Ali!”  “We love you, Ali!” “You look hot in those jeans, Ali!”

Ali

Epcot:

I’m not sure what to say about Epcot. It hasn’t really changed much except for a few menu changes and the new Mexico restaurant and the new Italy restaurant (which we didn’t actually see).  La Hacienda de San Angel is beautiful inside, and you can bring your food from the renovated Cantina de San Angel inside to enjoy the view and air conditioning until 3 pm, at which point you’ll have to clear out so they can set up for dinner.

DH in a booth in the middle of a La Hacienda De San Angel dining room

Magic Kingdom:

A lot has changed at the Magic Kingdom since our last trip.

The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh got a new queue area. So cute! Eeyore’s stick house and Pooh’s house can actually be crawled in. There are all kinds of interactive things going on. If you pump a see-saw in one section, gophers come out holding onto carrots, some sort of popcorn ball machine thing, daisies with bells for petals that you can spin, and my favorite- a rope. That says “pull gently”. It looks like Gopher is attached to the rope, and when you let go, he pops up out of a hole. It was so freaking cute, because several kids were actually flat on their backs on the ground trying to pull the rope far enough to get the gopher out.

Then there was the bee hive queue divider- wavy metal tubes with plastic “bees” that you can slide around on the tubes and into the hives. Periodically there’s a buzzing noise, but wasn’t able to find out if this was random or triggered by something.  And then as you near the entrance, there are several touch screen panels with honey oozing down them. If you place your hand against the screen, the honey flows around your hand. You can wipe it off, draw pictures (if you’re quick- that honey flows fast), and if you know where to wipe, you might uncover a hidden character.  The ride itself is the same, but it’s so worth waiting in line just for the line!

The Haunted Mansion also got a new queue area. As you approach the Mansion’s entrance, you’ll see a sign. On the right, it says “Entrance” with an arrow, on the left, it says “Cemetery Entrance” and an arrow. Take the cemetery entrance at least once. Other people have written much more complete posts on this than I will. I COULD be more detailed than they, but, it’s been almost a month, and I’m feeling lazy.  So, I’ll just post a few pix and call it enough. I’m very impressed at the seamless reentrance into the main line again. Very well done.

Also, they’ve added more Doom Buggies to the line. I’m not sure if they’ve doubled the number, but it seems that way. Also, and we’re not sure about this, but it seems as though the ride has been speeded (sped?) up a bit. Not much, but… the ride just seems shorter somehow. I have no objections, because really, there is now practically no wait at all except being held between loadings, but it does seem to reduce the spooky atmosphere a bit. It may just feel faster because of the proximity of the other buggies, though. But if you’ve been before and you’re going again, please pay attention and let me know what you think. (note: a friend of a friend is a CM who says that the ride is exactly the same speed that it’s always been)

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin got a few new aliens to shoot at. I couldn’t pin point what, exactly, is new, or whether the new ones replaced old ones, but, there’s just a LOT more to shoot at.

The New Fantasyland is still being built, and that whole section is still walled off, with really cool murals depicting the new Fantasyland on the walls. But, now you can see most of Beast’s castle and part of Prince Eric’s castle, a lot of the rock formations, and some other things. I can’t remember what. I’ll have to dig out my pictures.  It’s really trucking along, though, and I can’t wait to see it finished!

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party:

I’m not going to write much here because, well, it’s now been 2 months and I’m still brain dead, and because I’m going to do a whole post at another point.

Cool Halloween-y pictures were projected in seemingly random places

Main points:

Fireworks are good, but the accompanying music is BAD. Not bad in a good way, bad in a bad way. Classic semi-spooky Disney songs butchered in the most obscenely modernized pop trashy way possible.

Atmosphere is awesome. Fog all through the Haunted Mansion area, periodically playing Haunted Mansion music in the entire park. Oh, and there’s a ghostly lady outside of the mansion talking to guests (not as cool as it could have been).

The parade was good.

All in all, the only area that the Christmas party didn’t beat the Halloween party at is that the Halloween party has fog. Which is awesome.

Jack Sparrow and Crew heading to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Disney’s Animal Kingdom:

We actually skipped Animal Kingdom on this trip. I know, I know, it’s usually my favorite park, right? But it was REALLY hot and humid, and AK is a lot of walking. Plus, there were too many other things that we had trouble hitting at the other parks due to the large crowds.

The People At Walt Disney World:

This was pretty cool. Despite that most of the guests seemed to be first timers, this group actually followed direction well. Almost everyone was friendly (not always the case), and it was so great hearing people crack up at shows because the jokes were new to them. The absolute best moment was at the Country Bear Jamboree where half of the theater was filled (rare to have so many), and everyone was laughing at the jokes and clapping to the songs. Best. Ever.

And now, I’m going to add a few photos and get this post up. It’s been waaaay too long!

One of my fave pix

Stuck in line for Big Thunder waiting for the lightening storm to pass

In line for Peter Pan's Flight

Want A Disney Refillable Mug?

The Disney World refillable mugs are probably the most common souvenir among Disney fans who stay on property.  After all, you buy them to use while you’re on vacation, but they’re still perfectly functioning travel mugs- perfect for the commute to work, drinks at home, and to save the planet (banishing styrofoam  cups forever) while at work.

The Disney refillable mugs change design every year, which makes them something of a collector’s item to Disney fans since for most vacationers, the Disney refillable mug will be totally different on their next vacation.

Year of a Million Dreams Resort Refillable Mug

The Disney World Parks Refillable Mugs:

The only refillable cups at the Disney parks are at Animal Kingdom (though I swear that I’ve seen them elsewhere). These cups are very large and do not have handles, so if you purchase one, make certain that you don’t mind carrying it around all day, or going up to the front to take it out of your locker every time that you want a drink. The last that I’ve heard, the refillable cups are much cheaper than Disney’s other refillable mugs, but require an extra $1 every time you want to fill up. Quite frankly, these are more hassle than they’re worth for most families, but if you have a party member who prefers to sit out rides, or who doesn’t mind washing out the cup and stowing it in a backpack, it might be worth buying one to share as a family. The cups are very large.

The Walt Disney World Water Parks Refillable Mugs:

The Disney World water park refillable mugs are slightly cheaper than the hotel refillable mugs, but are only good for that current day. For example, the most recent price that I’ve seen is $11 for the water parks refillable mug, and $13.99 for the hotel refillable mug. The bonus here is that if you return to the water parks during your trip, you can bring the mug with you and pay $6 for a sticker to renew that mug for the new day (and you can continue to do this for the rest of your vacation, I believe). Considering that most drinks at Disney World are between $2-3 each, this isn’t a bad deal if you plan to be at the water park for more than a few hours.

The Disney World Resort Hotel Refillable Mugs:

Currently, the Disney refillable mug plan for the hotels is $13.99 for unlimited refills during your stay (please always verify price with Disney- I don’t update things like price all that often). If you book certain packages (usually the Disney Dining Plan), the refillable mug may come free with your package. However, if you’re like us and prefer to purchase everything separately (usually you can get better deals that way), the refillable mugs may or may not be worth it for you.

First of all, you’ll need to know how long you’ll be staying in a Disney owned hotel. If you’re just coming down for a long weekend- say, 3-4 days, and plan to be at the parks every waking minute, you probably don’t want to waste money on a refillable mug that never gets used. If you’re planning on a longer stay (say, 5-10 days) and having breakfast and dinner at the hotel, it’s well worth the money for a refillable mug.  My personal rule of thumb is, if I’m eating at the resort 6 times or more, it’s worth the price. Granted, I usually buy one anyway just because it’s a great souvenir- but we’re talking finances here.

Different Disney Refillable Mugs as seen from the side

Different Disney Refillable Mugs as seen from the front

Different Disney Refillable Mugs as seen from the other side

How To Use Disney World Refillable Mugs:

When you arrive at your hotel’s food court, you’ll see huge displays of refillable mugs in front of the cash registers. Pick the one you want (there are usually several colors to choose from- helpful for keeping family members’ mugs separated) and take it up to the register. Once you’ve paid for your mug, the security tag will be removed and you can take it straight to the beverage dispensers which are located outside of the food court area, in a central location to the seating. As long as you can access the seating area, you can refill your mug, even if the food court itself is closed.

Currently, all you need to do is take your mug over to the soda/water/ice dispensers and fill up. However, they’re doing a test run at the All Star Sports where the mugs have an RFID chip embedded in the mug. In this case, the dispenser has to read the chip before you can fill your mug. Since this may become standard at the resort food courts, you may want to read the section below for more information on this.

In addition to sodas and water (water is always free, even if you don’t buy a refillable mug), there is hot coffee, iced tea, and often hot chocolate (hot cocoa) as well. There is a refillable mug washing station located on each drinks island in the food court, though it just consists of warm to hot water with a motion sensor. If you want to REALLY wash your mugs, you’ll need to bring dish soap and wash it in your room (I recommend the tub because the sinks are too shallow to easily accommodate the mugs).

The New RFID System For Disney Refillable Mugs:

Disney’s policy on the refillable mugs was that you should only use the mug during the vacation in which you purchased it, and only at the hotel that it was purchased at. That wasn’t too bad in the beginning when Disney had a different mug for each resort (please bring that back, Disney! I cherish my Pop Century mug!). Now that all the resort mugs are identical, it’s much more difficult to police rule breakers. Not that the rule was ever enforced anyway.

The problem is that a lot of people were bringing the plastic cups from their room down to the food court and filling up there. Or, doing the same, but using one refillable mug to fill up the other cups. Basically, a lot of people were getting free drinks who didn’t pay for the privilege.

Rather than actually tell guests “No, you actually have to pay for your drink”, Disney has taken the passive aggressive route and is now testing out a system that will actually lock the soda dispensers unless you’ve paid up front.

They are currently testing an RFID tag system at the All Star Sports Resort, and if it goes well, it will probably be implemented at all the Disney resort hotels, and possibly even at the parks. The new system has an RFID tag embedded into the bottom of the Disney refillable mugs that encodes your length of stay into the tag. Once your vacation is over, *poof*, no more free refills.  Apparently it also limits you to something like 4 refills per hour.

The single-use cups also have the RFID tag attached to them (by single use, I mean paper cups). According to the Jeff Lange video, you’re limited to 4 refills total, you can only refill for 1 hour, and there is a time delay between fills.

Basically, the new RFID tags shouldn’t make a difference to guests who follow the rules, but there is some concern among many who continue to use their mugs when they get home. Apparently, the RFID tags burst into flame if they’re microwaved, and many people do choose to microwave in their mugs. Please note that the refillable mugs are #5 plastic and shouldn’t be microwaved or cleaned in a dishwasher anyway.

Disney Refillable Mug FAQ:

I have an old Disney refillable mug from my last vacation, can I use it again on my upcoming trip?

At this very moment, yes, you can use it at any Disney World hotel food court except for the End Zone at All Star Sports Resort, where they are currently testing out RFID tags on the refillable mugs. It is against policy to do so, however, and you may be asked to purchase a new mug instead. Also, if Disney changes all of their mugs over to RFID, you will not be able to use your old mug with the soda dispensers.

Disney is so expensive, I don’t want to have to pay for drinks! Do I have to buy a refillable mug?

No, you don’t need to purchase a refillable mug. Water and ice are always free in the food court dispensers. Also, I’ve not heard that the tea, coffee, and hot chocolate dispensers will have the RFID tag reader installed. Technically, you’re supposed to pay for those drinks as well, but I suspect that Disney isn’t as concerned with those drinks as they are with the sodas (people are more likely to abuse the refill policy on sodas than they are on hot drinks).

I saw Disney refillable mugs on eBay for half the price that you say Disney’s charging for new ones. Can I just buy used ones instead?

Technically, yes. But please see the answer above about using old mugs. Currently, only All Star Sports has the RFID readers installed, but by the time you’re visiting, all food courts may have them. On the other hand, if the mugs are cheap enough, it’s not like you risked a lot of money.

I don’t want to spend all that money on a Disney refillable mug- but I don’t want to break any rules either. What should I do?

It’s totally up to you, but if you don’t want to break any rules, then you’ll either have to bring your own drinks, or buy a refillable mug (or individual serve cups each time). I don’t want to break the rules either. I have over a dozen Disney World Resort refillable mugs in my cabinets at home, but I buy a new mug on each trip. It’s really because I don’t want to be one of those people, but I tell myself that it’s just a really good souvenir.

Do refillable mugs come with Disney Dining Plans?
Yes. According to the official Disney World website, the DDP does come with refillable mugs. However, I only have the information for 2011 and 2012, so always verify before purchase if this is important to you.

Have questions about the Disney refillable mugs? Feel free to ask below in the comments or through my contact page. I can’t guarantee answers and I won’t swear to accuracy, but I have been using them for about 8 years now.