I went to buy a few Disney gift cards for our upcoming trip. We enjoy having a few different cards, the kids each have a different design, then we have a different design for food, then one for souvenirs, etc. Well, those days might be gone. 

Disney no longer offers the huge collection of gift card designs. They have two to pick from now. Two. Standard Mickey, and Frozen 2. 

Disappointed, I wrote, asking what happened and "To improve efficiency and an overall better experience, we recently updated our gift card vendor, which did result in the decline in available designs. "

I'm not sure how it improves anyone's experience to no longer have dozens of card designs to pick from, but I suppose it does improve the efficiency, on their end. 

​RIP Gift card designs! And if you are lucky enough to still have some of your old cards, might want to save them! 

It was family movie/preview night in our house this last weekend, and we watched the best thing ever. A preview of ALL of the shows that are dropping on Disney+ in about 3 weeks. Want to see them? I promise, this won't be a quiet video. Everyone in the room is going to be full of "Wow!" or "I loved that one!" or "I remember that!". It's awesome. You won't regret a second of this. 

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Disney has had a LOT of price changes in the last few weeks. The Disney Rapid Refill Mugs are not excluded.  Is it still worth it to buy one? 

The price of the rapid Refills Mugs in 2017 was $17.99 for the length of your stay. 2018, it's $18.99, 2019 it has gone up to $19.99 plus resort tax. That's just a dollar and tax more, but... is it worth it? 

That depends. 

​Lets start off with a review about what the Rapid Refill Mug is. 

Disney offers a really nice perk to those staying on Property. A souvenir mug that's not only solid quality but will stand up to many times in the dishwasher and many tumbles onto the floor without any fading, cracks or marks. We have a ton of these mugs and they get used more than any other cup in the house for hot or cold beverages. With the exception of, surprisingly, the 2019 mugs, none of them from 2014, 2015, or 2017 show wear.

Anyone staying at an on property resort can buy one of these refillable mugs, but those who purchased the Disney Dining Plan get to have the mug included at no extra cost. If you want to learn more about the Disney Dining Plan, click right here to read my post about it. 


What is this mug? 

The refillable Disney mug lets you fill up your mug as often as you want, with whatever you want in the food court area of your resort, or any other for the length of your stay. There is a RFID chip in the bottom of it, that allows the owner to fill it up. There is a small time delay between fill ups. If you tried to use a different cup, say a regular sports bottle without the RFID chip in it, the machine won't dispense the beverage.


What can you fill it up with? 

Disney has Coke products, and you'll generally find the same things on tap that you would most any fast food place, Sprite, Coke, Diet Coke, Hi-C, lemonade, root beer, etc. You can also get tea from their tea machine, which usually has four different kinds available, sweetened, unsweetened, white citrus or green. If you like hot drinks, it's all you can drink hot tea, hot coffee or hot chocolate. You will not find juice or milk available to fill in the mug. There are also mug wash spots near the drink dispensers to rinse your cups so if you want to fill your mug with orange soda, the last few drops from your morning coffee won't make it taste strange.


How much does this cost? 


The mug, and it's unlimited refills costs $19.99 for the length of your stay.


Where can I fill this up at? 

At your resort, or any other Disney resort if you feel like carrying it around. You cannot fill it up within the Parks though. If you want to fill it up in the morning and drink it at the bus stop, be prepared to carry it with you until you get back to your room. Since parks no longer have lids or straws available when you buy a drink, it might actually be worth it. 


How does this work? 

After you have selected the color mug that you want, (usually available are red, green, blue, yellow, purple and pink) take it to the cashier and he or she will activate it. Go over to the drink station and follow the instructions on the digital pad. (Basically setting the cup down, waiting a few seconds, then pushing the button to dispense the beverage choice) 


Why is this right for me? 

This might be right for you if

1. You are getting it for free on the Disney Dining Plan
2. You prefer to drink something other than water several times a day
3. You want to take home a mug as a souvenir of your trip
4. You plan to hang around your resort for at least a few hours each day to make use of the mug

Why should I skip this? 

You might not want to buy the mug if

1. You prefer to drink water
2. You aren’t going to be at a Disney resort but for a day or two
3. You don't want the hassle of walking to the food court each time you want a refill
   
   
   

Can I have an example of the savings if I bought this? 

If the average person bought only three drinks a day, let's say (current prices, and subject to change) a morning coffee ($3.29), an afternoon soda ($3.99) and an evening tea ($3.29), based on food court prices it would come to $10.57. On a 3 day stay that equals $31.71. The mug is more than paid for, and it's cheaper to have the drinks, plus the mug to take home as a run reminder of your vacation. Chances are good, you'll fill your mug more than three times a day, too. 

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I'm on the fence as to if I should get this. 

In our opinion, it's completely worth it for the mug since just three drinks in it a day and it's paid for by day three, sooner if you drink more, but I know there are people who don't drink anything other than water, so you'll need to figure out what works best for you. There is always the option of just buying one or two mugs for a family, if some are soda/tea/coffee drinkers and some are not, and sharing.

Since our family does buy the mugs, but also likes to save HUNDREDS with this super easy trick, we consider our drink savings covered. 


What about you? Have you ever gotten the Refillable Mugs before? Do you like them or is it not a good buy for your family?  

                                                                                                                             Photo Disney

The Disney Movie Rewards program is about to have a change. Starting September 26, 2019 Disney Movie Rewards will now be called the Disney Movie Insiders. What do you need to know? 

If you have logged into your account in the last five years, don't worry. Your points are safe. Your account will be switched over automatically. If you have not logged in, you must log in by September 23, 2019 in order to have your account moved. 

Some of the new changes are there will be an app, new ways to earn and redeem, and exclusive member content. You can click here, to read more. 

The current Disney Movie Rewards program currently offers things like gift cards, movies, posters, and collectible figures in exchange for the points code inside of your DVD or Blu Ray cases. You can also earn points by saving your ticket stubs from Disney movies. 

While there isn't much information available yet, the Disney Movie Rewards program has long been a fan favorite, and should continue to be so with it's new updates. 

If you ever thought to yourself, you wished a Fairy Godmother would combine your two favorite stores into one, I thank you. Target PLUS a Disney Store is the dream come true I never knew I had until now! 

Launching October 4th of this year, 25 Disney Stores will be put INTO Targets! Another 40 stores will open the following year. While I don't have much hope we will luck out here locally in our small area, I've got my fingers crossed! You can visit Target's website and read more, or you can google news articles. Sorry! Every time I tried to add a link, my browser froze! Hopefully that doesn't continue into future articles.

Are you excited? I am!! One more reason for me to love Target! Maybe that line of goodies they had last year was a trial period to see how popular it would be.