Coca-Cola Freestyle machines

[pryncess527]

I only drink Coca-Cola Classic, so while I can see the appeal and appreciate others having choice, this has no impact on me really.

I have started to see them more and more often.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

They're everywhere around here. We even have them at work. I don't drink soda so I rarely use them. The first time I used one I was a little intoxicated and I was thoroughly confused. I wish someone had recorded it. lol

 

[Christine]

I just hate all the "touching" of the screen, honestly. At least with the regular, old machines, you didn't have that. Now, I'm at a restaurant touching that screen with all the fingerprints all over it and all I can think is that it's a norovirus breeding ground!!

 

[kimmar067]

I saw a few of these machines a few years ago, but didn't necessarily pay too much attention to them other than maybe getting water and iceout of them. Now I'm seeing more and more of them at fairly common fast food and other restaurants, as well as the movie theater I go to the most (although I never buy a soft drink at a movie theater for obvious reasons). One of the big regional fast food places (Jack in the Box) is even advertising their availability, although I haven't seen a machine at my closest one.

Anyone like them? A lot of the options for flavors are a bit interesting, but being able to control the concentration of flavoring would be nice. I thought that the amount of flavoring would be the same if it's Coke or Sprite.

....the first time that I've ever encountered one of these machines was at the Visa cardholders' lounge at the Liberty Inn in the American pavilion during the F&WF...

 

[kimmar067]

....it was the first time I mixed vanilla Coke with the peach juice....now I'm 'addicted'!!

 

[Colleen27]

I like them. I drink diet, which in most places means I have only one choice if I want a soda. The Freestyle machine has multiple sugar-free options, plus the flavor syrups to add even more variety.

The one thing I don't like about them is that they slow things down. A conventional soda fountain can handle several customers simultaneously, as long as they're choosing different flavors, but a Freestyle machine is one-at-a-time. So they aren't great at busy times of day or in busy locations. One of the movie theatres we go to has them (two machines, which replaced two of the bank-style dispensers) and as much as I love being able to get a diet caffeine free cherry Coke with my popcorn, the line can be frustrating when several popular movies are starting at the same time.

 

[bcla]

I like them. I drink diet, which in most places means I have only one choice if I want a soda. The Freestyle machine has multiple sugar-free options, plus the flavor syrups to add even more variety.

The one thing I don't like about them is that they slow things down. A conventional soda fountain can handle several customers simultaneously, as long as they're choosing different flavors, but a Freestyle machine is one-at-a-time. So they aren't great at busy times of day or in busy locations. One of the movie theatres we go to has them (two machines, which replaced two of the bank-style dispensers) and as much as I love being able to get a diet caffeine free cherry Coke with my popcorn, the line can be frustrating when several popular movies are starting at the same time.

Depends on the crowd. Some customers crowd out anyone else and act as if you're invading their personal space if you get too close. I've also seen some traditional fountain machines where the most popular drink is on either end of several selections. The newest Coke Freestyle machine I saw could take two at a time.

The soda machines I remember from my youth were the ones behind the counter at McDonald's. They were open in and had middle and buttons at the top that dispensed a preset amount for small/medium/large, alongside wih a "flow" button. OTHer places these days may have four dispensers with a button for multiple choices a time each one.

I wonder if 7-11 will ever get these types of machines. Their issue is that they usually serve both Coke and Pepsi.

 

[Domo]

They had them in the AMC cinemas in Orlando... very nice! Zillions of combinations available, you were very much in control

 

[uramr]

Which Disney Resorts quick service locations have the freestyle machines now? Thanks!

 

[Domo]

This is a point of contention for me. Go to America and order "large" coke and you get a LARGE coke. Try that over here in the UK and you get a tiddly looking thing. Oh and no refills

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I like raspberry Coke. DH gets vanilla HiC. I think they're fun!

 

[nkereina]

We see them around more and more here. At the movie theater, and also our local Moe's and Qdoba have them as well. Some Royal Caribbean ships also have them. There's also a restaurant in our area that has the Pepsi version of this machine, though I haven't seen it. I guess the Pepsi ones are new and only in a very few select locations. I like the options of the Freestyle machine but my only gripe is that the line can get backed up. Only one person can use it at a time, often people don't know how to use it or can't handle all the options, and many places only have one machine because I assume they are expensive.

 

[soccerdad72]

My kids love them - they like trying odd combinations. I can take them or leave them and my wife is a Diet Coke purist, so the flavors don't do a thing for her. We like the machines on the Royal Caribbean ships, though, since they're easy to continually refill your cups. Only problem is that towards the end of a cruise, many of them run out of a lot of selections.

 

[bcla]

I have noticed that the added flavor has food coloring. The raspberry Coke leaves a lot of red on the side of the cup. The newer machine I used at BK could mix the flavors they had with water or carbonated water. Raspberry carbonated water was kind of pink.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I love them.

Btw, my son (11 at the time, but very precocious) hacked into one once. It wasn't very difficult, but he panicked after he did it (and got a stern talking to from me).

 

[jaiminee krikit]

I love these machines! Unfortunately, we only have a couple in our area. My DD14 and I don't drink caffeine, so it's nice to be able to drink something other than Sprite/7up/Sierra Mist if we want soda. We both usually get Caffeine Free Diet Vanilla Coke. Mmmmmm...

 

[DisneyHardin]

I love the choices in the machine, but hate how much it slows down getting drinks. The places around here that have them just have one machine and there is always a line to get your drink.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

The best cherry coke comes out of those machines! I have stopped drinking pop so I opt out of using them but they do slow things down a bit in my opinion.

 

[Sparkly]

I've never seen one of these in the flesh, (well, apart from universal) but I've seen a lot of places like Subway that serve Pepsi products have a new basic drink dispenser- a tiny screen where you touch it to choose your drink and dispense. No flavours or anything, but liptons peach ice tea mixed with 7up is quite nice.

 

[DaisyJ]

The only places that have them in our area are Five Guys and one Wendy's. Our movie theaters are all still the old fountain style. They do slow down the line for drinks, especially when there is only one machine.