So these Freestyle cups give you free refills but only at locations with freestyle machines (not just where Coke products are sold)?
I was checking out menus at IOA and didn’t seem to be too many of those around.
And none at our resort (Portofino).
Are they really scarce?
Will we be detouring across the park to get a drink?
And has anyone found that the cups require paid locker rental at rides, seriously reducing the savings?
Great info, thanks!
So you can obtain refills at the stand alone machines but not buy the mugs there, right?
I see that you can pre-purchase the mugs online. I’m assuming that gives you a ticket that you show at a participating restaurant to obtain your mug, right?
I’m working with a lot of second had information as I’ve never bought the mugs and I’ve largely cut pop/soda out of my diet.
Lots of places offer the mug for sale. I’m not sure how purchasing online works but I assume you get a print out to scan.
I checked with someone who works in F&B at UOR and they say they refill the Freestyle cups at places without Freestyle machines.
On the one trip we had a freestyle mug, we could refill it with regular soda and ICEE at the food carts that had soda machines.
Every land except the HP areas and Simpsons has Freestyle refills. For both because it clashes with the theme and because JK hates coke.
Before our trip the Orlando Informer had a map with the freestyle machine locations. Because I am a liner, I printed that, but I never needed it, the machines were obvious.
If you plan on getting a QS Plan, the freestyle version is worthwhile when you need to get the cup. If you just want the refill, it is better to just buy the refill on its own because the freestyle QS plan comes with one less snack credit.
Try the icees they are awesome while walking around in the sun.
ETA:
Because we are cheap, we brought a similar cup from Six Flags and used that to help us share the freestyle cup. It also helped with the timing of refills since we almost always had the freestyle cup empty.
Most important thing is to buy a drink lanyard ahead of time. Look on Amazon for Yeti lanyards. I can post the link for what I bought if you want. You don’t want to be carrying the cup around,
Yes please post the Yeti lanyard link!
Not sure about the QS plan. (I’ve already got tickets but I think I can still add it on.) Is there a requirement for everyone in the party to be on the same dining plan?
Those are the lanyards. So, far we’ve used them for one Universal trip and few days at Six Flags. So, not used them for long, but they are holding up and we like them.
Assuming you want one freestyle cup, I’d buy a QS plan with the cup as you walk in. If the concierge booth, that is just before the Red Oven on the left in City Walk doesn’t have a line, go there. If you are like us, you want a drink long before you want food. The small carts don’t usually have the cups to sell, but everywhere you see empty cups you can buy a QS dining plan and get the cup.
You can buy a one-person, one-day QS plan at a restaurant cash register and then immediately use it. So you can wait to see what you order and then decide if it is worthwhile. Don’t buy the FS plan. Impossible to make it worthwhile.
One critical thing to realize is that the snack and beverage credits are grouped. So, when they say you get one snack and one beverage credit, think of it as two snack credits and know that butterbeers are considered snacks. So, don’t use a snack credit for anything less than $6. If you doing like most first-time visitors and plan on trying every version of butterbeer, then the QS plan is worthwhile.
Almost everything that isn’t an entree is a snack or bev. The chocolate version of the big pink isn’t, and something else I wanted that slipped my mind. They try to steer you to the cheap stuff by talking about water and popcorn. I forget what the price of the plans are. But, if you assume $6-$8 per snack credit, pretty much any entree will make the QS plan worthwhile. Particularly since you can get the combo versions that come with a bonus item, which is usually a shake, sometimes a salad and occasionally something interesting like ‘edible cookie dough’. The bonus item makes the entree easier to share.
When you buy the dining plan, you get a card like a business card. That card has the credits for one-person, one-day. So, if you buy three QS plans, you will get three cards. Also, note that they never expire. When you buy them, or use them, the bottom of the receipt tells you what you have left. So, I just wrapped the receipt around the card. Occasionally we needed it when the refill day wasn’t truly activated. We showed the receipt and they did it.
Thanks for the link and the insight!
And yes, we’re definitely likely to want drink long before food. And have heard that the QS is an option but the FS is a non-starter. Out of the four of us, it’s very likely half of us will nibble rather than eat a full meal plus other stuff.
Of course that butterbeer = snack thing is a game changer cuz we’re all first timers and likely to try every variation of butterbeer.
Annnndddd, for more good news you may or may not know. Hot Butterbeer is now year-round.
For us, our family of three bought one of each type the first time and shared. Even my child thought that the regular was too sweet to drink all of it. I think we all got our own butterbeer ice creams though because - ice cream.
One important thing, you can’t do Mobile Ordering and use the dining plan. You wait in line for a table and then tell them you want to use your dining plan. Then they let you go to the cash register.
Oooh, I just remembered something else. If you have a kids QS plan, and the location doesn’t have a kids entree, you can order an adult one. There aren’t many and you can’t tell from online. But the seafood place in the Simpsons fast food area and in Volcano Bay the place with shrimp mac and cheese, neither of them had kids items.
Great info, thanks!
I honestly have never found the butterbeer particularly sweet, it bewilders me that so many people think it’s too sweet. I think it says more about me than everyone else though 
I feel the exact same way! 
We used these on our last trip:
I love that they came in different colors, and had the long strap option. They worked perfectly.
Thank you for asking these questions! I had similar ones 
loving all of the helpful answers and tips
As far as souvenir value, does anyone know if these are generic Coke cups or do they have a distinctive UOR appearance?
They are like a frosty white with drawings of the rides them. I think they looked cuter than others I’ve seen in the past.
Very UOR themed.
I have a universal logo one and a volcano Bay one. Very souveniry IMO 
OK cool thanks.
We don’t really drink a lot of pop nowadays (except for DD27) but we were thinking what will we use to stay hydrated… might end up with the Coke Freestyle cups anyways!
I still have my Freestyle cup from 2018! Will it still work? What do I need to do activate it? Thanks!