The Disney Refillable Mug – 10 tips you must know

ByChristine Updated on

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Hands down, I believe this is the best deal at Disney World. Seriously. If you are staying onsite, you need to check out the Disney refillable mug program.

In fact, the mug is one of my favorite souvenirs we brought home! I use it for coffee or water when I’m driving. Makes me want to go back to Disney even more! Hmm… that’s probably part of their ‘plan’.

Hand pressing a button to refill a Disney refillable mug in a stainless steel freestyle coke machine

What is the Disney Refillable Mug program?

The Disney refillable mugs are a 16 ounce insulated plastic cup, with lid and handle, decorated in several adorable Disney designs.

While these mugs are free if you are part of the Disney Dining plan, they can be purchased for $21.99 (as of 2/1/2023) and good for 14 days.

Refill your mugs at any Disney resort quick-service location. You do not need to be staying there.

Mug refills include coffee, tea (hot or iced), hot chocolate and sodas or other soft drinks.

Update March 2022: For Disney World’s 50th-anniversary celebration, they released 4 special edition mugs. Lids are either blue or yellow and there are two different mug patterns as shown in the first picture below.

Two pictures - Disney's 50the anniversary edition of their refillable mugs; blue and gold lids with Disney characters on the mugs
50th Anniversary Edition mugs

After just coming back from Disney World and gushing to my husband about the mugs, I knew I had to write out some Disney refillable cup tips! Here they are:

Best Disney refillable mug tips:

1. Choose from a variety of colors and designs

Port Orleans French Quarter has these Disney mugs in 5-6 different designs with black, red, green, orange and pink colored lids. Choose your favorite or select a different color for each member of your party. Note: in 2022, I only the 50th-anniversary mugs being sold.

We purchased these at the quick-service dining location at the resort.

A group of insulated travel mugs sitting on a shelf; pink or black and handles with Mickey Mouse designs on the bottom of the cup.
A group of insulated travel mugs sitting on a shelf; red or green lids and handles with Mickey Mouse designs on the bottom of the cup.

2. Buy a mug immediately

You might as well get as much use out of them as you can!  Head to the restaurant and grab your mug after you get off Disney’s Magical Express, especially if your room isn’t ready. We traveled for 5 hours, by plane, to get to Disney and we were both starving and thirsty.

3. Bring straws

With Disney’s go-green campaign, they do not have plastic straws anymore. Yes, they do have the paper ones. However, anyone with a child knows these straws become wet and unusable after a while due to straw biting and sucking (well, at least for me and my 8-year-old).

Bring your own reusable straws. Ones I found have different colored tips so you can tell whose straw it is. In addition, mine even came with four straw brush cleaners and a carrying bag. We ended up using these in the parks as well.

Six stainless steel straws with colored end caps, a cleaning brush and a gray storage bag.

If stainless steel isn’t your thing, why not try reusable Bamboo straws?  Amazon has these as well.

4. Use it for vitamin water, too

While some quick-service restaurants only have standard soda machines with 8-10 different flavors, a few have Coca-Cola Freestyle machines. These machines feature 165 different Coke products.

We were lucky that Port Orleans French Quarter has these! This is one of the best Disney resorts for adults.

 

Products included various Hi-C flavors, Dasani products (my favorite), Vitamin water, Minute Maid sparkling drinks as well as Coke, Fanta, Mello Yellow, Barq’s (I hadn’t had cream soda in years!) plus many more.

During our resort hopping, we only found these machines at The Grand Floridian besides our home resort. Hopefully, Disney will expand and put these at all the resorts soon.

Coca Cola Freestyle refill machine; Stainless steel area to place cup holder with a computer screen where you choose which flavor you want.
Freestyle Coca-Cola machine at French Quarter
Computer screen with all the refill products available for Disney refillable mugs denoted in circles of various colors.
Refill possibilities

5. Use the mug wash

You don’t want coffee mixed with coke, do you? Maybe you do and that’s fine! But, for the rest of us, use the mug wash!

Each quick-service restaurant has one clearly marked. No more running to the bathroom to rinse out the mug before refilling.

Stainless steel sink under a tiled wall with a blue sign that says 'Mug Wash'

6. Take your mug resort hopping

Mug refills are free at any quick-service resort restaurant. Headed to ‘Ohana’s Character Breakfast? Enjoy the monorail and see the other two resorts linked to it. Stop off at one of their quick service dining locations and refill your mug.

Taking a break from the Orlando heat? If at Epcot or Hollywood studios, take the Friendship boats over to the Boardwalk area. Refill your Disney mug at any of these resorts (except the Dolphin and Swan as these are Marriott resorts) as you are taking a small break.

Soda refill machine with coke, fanta, powerade, lemonade and sprite products.
Refill machine at The Polynesian

7. Use the mug often, but not within 2 minutes

In order to avoid people refilling, then pouring that into another container, Disney’s refillable mug stations are programmed not to dispense anything within 2 minutes of the last fill. After two minutes, you are welcome to refill again.

8. Can’t do half and half

This goes hand in hand with #7. My daughter wanted half coke, half sprite. She started with the coke but received the message she could not refill again for two minutes. If you want to do something like this, just know you will need to come back for that second half.

9. Refill with ice water in the parks

While some people may advise you to just use the paper cups in the park, we find they just get soggy if you let the water sit too long. Take along your insulated cup and pour your ice water into it.

Plus, the closeable lid allows you to put the mug in your backpack or day bag if you can’t drink it right away.

10. Give yourself a daily dose of Disney at home

Maybe I am the only one, but using my Disney World refillable mug at home brings a smile to my face. We had such an awesome trip that I can’t wait to plan another one. I love seeing that Disney cup in my car’s cup holder!

What about you? Do you buy any Disney mugs if you are not on the dining plan? Is it worth it in your opinion? Do you buy one for each member of your party? Let me know in the comments!

For other Disney tips, check out the following posts:

Remember these tips for later – please PIN this post. Thank you!

Disney mug with black handle being refilled at a stainless steel freestyle coke machine with a gray overlay on top with text.

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Christine Zelina

Christine is a mother, wife and travel fanatic. She loves to plan trips, especially using points and miles. Disney is her passion while vacations in Europe have her wanting to move there. To continue reading, click more about me.

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17 Comments

  1. Jill A Coolik says:

    I think I have every mug ever made, resorts, parks and Disney Cruise Line. It’s an illness I tell ya, an illness. At arrival I go running to see the designs before I’ve been checked in. I don’t buy just 1, I always buy 2 (gotta have a spare.) I do buy 1 for each person in my party and use different colored lids so they know which mug belongs to them. They are absolutely my favorite souvenir at WDW. Thank you for your great tips article. I even learned something. NO MORE PLASTIC STRAWS.

    Reply
    1. Christine Zelina says:

      Thank you for your kind words! Yes, we love them, too! I wish they had other designs besides the 50th anniversary celebration this year, though. I enjoy using them at home. As you said, they make a great souvenir.

      Reply

  2. I agree! Especially tip #10! 🥰

    Reply
    1. Christine Zelina says:

      Thanks, Britney!

      Reply

  3. Is the vitamin water sparkling please?

    Reply
    1. Christine Zelina says:

      Hi Lucy, the Vitamin water was not sparkling, it is the same as the XXX-Acai vitamin water. However, if you go to one of the freestyle coke machines, they have Dasani sparkling water in a couple of flavors.

      Reply
  4. Susan Hatcher says:

    Do these leak if you put them in your backpack?

    Reply
    1. Christine says:

      Hi Susan. When we put the cup in my backpack, it was in the outside pocket specifically designed for bottles/cups. It didn’t leak there, but then again, it was mostly right side up. I don’t know if it would have leaked if it was inside the backpack. The seal definitely is not super tight because it’s just a small lever that opens it up to drink. Hope that helps.

      Reply

  5. Another tip is that if you have a meal at any park you can get a refill and then poor into your mug before leaving the restaurant. This is great for hot summer days when you want a little something more than water. We also have a great little stroller organizer that would hold 6 of our mugs!!! Perfect!!

    Reply
    1. Christine says:

      That’s a great tip, Brittney! Thanks for sharing. Might as well make use of that mug in the parks with something other than water. Six mugs! Wow – hopefully there are 6 different colors. LOL.

      Reply

  6. Hi TFT,

    We’re coming to Disney in a few short days!! Always trying to be more environmentally conscious, we’re planning to say no to these mugs. Wondering if it’s still possible to get morning coffee in real mugs, under our Deluxe Dining Plan?

    Reply
    1. Christine says:

      Hi Chris! I honestly have never had the Disney Dining Plan (we bought the mug). I have been searching the web trying to find an answer to your question, but I have been unsuccessful so far. I’m sorry about that. My advice would be to ask either when you check in or speak to a manager. Explain your views and ask if you could get a paper cup for coffee instead. I don’t know how many are in your party, but think about if it makes sense to get one refillable cup instead of one for each in your party. My daughter and I shared one with no issues. Thanks for much for the question and stopping by. Have an awesome trip!

      Reply

  7. I was sad this summer as I found out they no longer sell the mugs at each park….I was exited to collect them all again! I did find out that the resorts sold them so I packed up my family and we hit the monorail to head to a resort. I found them and bought one of each! I love my mugs and use them for my coffee at work, I use a different one everyday. My old ones are losing the characters on them but I still use them. It brings back memories and how I loved being at Disney World! This was one thing I was excited for….new Disney mugs!!

    Reply
    1. Christine says:

      This comment made my morning! I’m glad to know I am not the only one loving my Disney mug. I completely feel it’s one of the best deals at Disney when staying at an onsite resort. Now I need to collect more! Thanks so much for commenting.

      Reply
  8. Elizabeth says:

    can you get the mugs at any restaurant?

    Reply
    1. Christine says:

      Hi Elizabeth! Disney refillable mugs can be purchased at food courts, quick service dining locations and pool bars at all Disney resorts (Value/Moderate/Deluxe).

      Reply