Hello, my name is Jon. I am addicted to diet soda. Hi, Jon! My addiction can become expensive when in a theme park. Four- or five-dollar soft drinks will hurt your vacation budget. Sure, if you prefer alcoholic beverages, you laugh at the price of soft drinks. However, people, like myself, can rack up a high bill on just soft drinks in a theme park day. At Universal Orlando, the “Coca-Cola Freestyle Souvenir Cups” can ease the monetary pain of soft drink addiction.

If you purchase a freestyle cup, you can get free refills all day on the day of purchase. Universal Orlando’s legal team would want me to share their standard disclaimer. It reads “refills are limited to no more than one (1) pour from the Coca-Cola Freestyle® machine per 10 minutes and valid day of purchase only. Sharing is not permitted.” You can also refill your cup at any beverage location that sells fountain soft drinks.

Very recently, the price for these cups increased. The price jumped one dollar from $16.99 to $17.99 for one freestyle cup. The other pricing option for these cups remained the same. For example, If you buy two at a time, then they cost $15.99 each. If you buy three to six, they cost $13.99 each. Universal Orlando has always marketed the three to six pricing group together. Perhaps there exists a secret buy more than six promotions but I lack that knowledge. If you normally get a food/beverage discount with your annual pass, then discount applies for this also. Universal Orlando does offer some more collectible, higher quality cups but those cost about $10 more.

However, once you own a cup, you can bring it back to recharge for additional days of refills. These additional days cost $10.99. With my premier annual pass, I pay slightly under $10 including tax.

Also, once you own a cup, you should be able to get a one-time refill at any beverage location for about $1.59. I say “should” since this policy seems to change as often as I write about soft drinks. If you have your freestyle cup but only want a refill or two, this option might help.

To clarify, many freestyle machines reside in various locations within the parks. Also, to clarify, these freestyle cups do not work at the resort hotels. The resort hotels have their own freestyle cups that only work at the individual resort.

I love the freestyle cup system. I rarely can be spotted without one of my cups when inside Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure. These cups can save you lots of money if you need your soft drinks. With a freestyle machine in CityWalk, you can take a break for a meal without having to pay for another soda. Also, on nights with Halloween Horror Nights happening, guests can get an extra bonus with their day of refills. The freestyle cups work until Halloween Horror Nights ends. So, in theory, you could get a recharge during early park admission around 7:30am. This would enable you to drink Coke products for at least 16+ hours. Of course, if you are going to be in the park that long, caffeine would be a great idea.

I hope this helps with your beverage planning. Thanks for reading.