Coke wins Cedar Fair

eightdotthree said:

Can anyone actually taste the difference between what name is printed on the bag of syrup?

Honestly? I can tell when Coke is from Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) or from anywhere else in the US.

The Coke factory in Twinsburg (Cleveland) and Lehigh Valley PA (Allentown) went back to making Coke with the Sucrose (sugar) instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup. While many people over pay for Mexican Coke, or have to wait for Easter to get the Kosher Coke, we have it year round here. I live near the county line, and get sucrose in Cuyahoga, and HFCS as soon as you cross the border to Lorain County. And you CAN taste the difference. Only exception to the rule is that 1 Liter bottles in Cleveland are HFCS. All others, 20 oz, cans, 2 Liters are Sucrose.

On a side note, I do not know why Coke Cleveland does not advertise this. They are basically doing what Pepsi does with the Throwback Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

http://sweetzombiegsus.blogspot.com/2011/02/allentown-coke-made-wit...crose.html

You're talking about bottles and cans where quality control is higher. I am talking about fountain drinks in an amusement park made from a bag of concentrate and mixed at the park.

Which can be a real problem. The level of skill needed to make a perfect Coke (or Pepsi) come out of the machine seems to be fairly high, as I notice around were I live the demand for experienced fountain technicians seems to be pretty high. Attaining that ratio of syrup to water to carbonation that results in the perfect drink seems to be sometimes elusive, judging from what I have imbibed over the years.

If the staff starts messing with the machine because the manager doesn't want to wait for the tech (or doesn't want to pay the service call) the result usually winds up being anything from a minor to major taste disaster.

No Pepsi-sponsored coaster restorations for Cedar Fair then?

Glad to see see this news. There have been times that a cold pop would have hit the spot that I held off, but probably wouldn't have had Coke been offered. Nothing against Pepsi, just don't like it as much. 

Mike Gallagher said:

Freestyle Coke Machines

Those seem to be quite popular with people anytime I've encountered one. I've only ever used it for plain old Coca-Cola, but I keep hearing that the raspberry flavoring it offers could make used motor oil taste good. I could definitely see a Freestyle Coke machine attract at least as much customers as Slurpee stands found in some parks.

Are there places that allow customers to access them directly? I've only seen them as rentals inside of restaurants, where the servers operate them.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Coke is a thousand times better then Pepsi!!!!!!

Now I won't mind paying too much for a drink!

There are several places here in Orlando (Burger Kings, especially) where you can have all the fun you want with the Freestyle machines (and now that I realized they have like 5 different lemonade flavors, I've been using them). However, the only park installation here that I know of (Richter's at Universal Studios) gives you one shot to fill your stickered cup with what you want, absolutely no refills, which sucks.

I'm in the west suburbs of Chicago, a recently opened Wendys has one out there for all to use. There was another one I ran into somewhere, but I can't recall exactly where it was. As you would imagine, people sample different combinations of drink, and sometimes you'll have your order ready by the time you make it to the machine.

I guess in fast food environment that makes sense. I just never get fast food, so I never see them.

eightdotthree said:

You're talking about bottles and cans where quality control is higher. I am talking about fountain drinks in an amusement park made from a bag of concentrate and mixed at the park.

Another interesting comment.

I've always been of the mindset that nothing beats a fountain Coke. They're consistently awesome and much better than canned, bottled or otherwise contained versions of the drink.

Fountain Pepsi, on the other hand, just gives me heartburn most of the time.

The only places I have seen the Freestyle Coke machines here in Huntington, WV is at Fazoli's (Italian fast food), and Five Guys (burgers and fries). And yes Jeff, those are self serve machines with easy-to-understand touch screen selections.

I love it.

And Moe's Southwestern Grill has the Freestyle machines available for public use. Mmm...peach Fanta.

We have a Giant Eagle Market District store (very fancy-schmancy) that has a Freestyle machine. Once you pay for your cup you have unlimited access and I had fun trying various product/ flavor combinations. Some were yummy and some I poured out immediately.

The food from Moe's was pretty good - but I absolutely *hate* the greeting at the door. I'll go to Chipotle, or better yet, find some local Cuban food.

What's the greeting at the door? The only one I've ever eaten at was inside Penn Station.

Oh, we went once here in Gainesville (I've since been afraid to try another). As soon as the door opened, about a hundred employees shouted "Welcome to Moe's!" My co-workers insisted that I not make an immediate U-turn...

I'm not Norm or Cliff, and this ain't Cheers. Can I just get some lunch, and maybe we can become friends later?

It has been almost 5 years since I drank a soda so this topic is not of great interest. But, it did bring back a memory of a Coke station at Epcot that was up near Innoventions. If I remember right it was snow themed and when you walked in it was pretty cold. But, once inside they had a ton of Coke products from all over the world; flavors you could only imagine.

It was pretty cool...pun on slightly intended.

Hi, I'm Dave, and I am a Coke™ addict.

Needless to say, I think this is wonderful news. I just hope it turns out to be true; it has been rumored for several years now. It is worth noting that Cedar Fair has announced that they have signed with Icee. a move which I considered promising.

I usually don't buy pop at the parks because the price point is just too high. But this season, Kings Island has been doing some interesting experiments. First, they handed out drink wristbands with registration in their FUNPerks program, and second, they didn't advertise it, but you could actually buy that same wristband in the park. I did note that the price of said wristband varied from "free with FUNPerks registration" to $7 throughout the season. I'm wondering if the wristband price was based on their existing drink per-cap as an effort to get season pass holders to actually buy drinks, because their normal price for a 32 ounce drink is $5. That makes the wristband a no-brainer: $5 for a drink, or $6 for all the drinking you want, albeit in smaller (22 oz.) cups.

Kings Island does seem to have a quality control problem with their fountains, though. One fountain gave me Diet Coke, which I absolutely cannot drink, and several others had serious deficiencies in carbonation or mixture.

As for the Freestyle machines, I believe that the machine is designed to encourage experimentation, and as such, it is incompatible with a "no refills" policy. The other problem with it is that it can take a very long time for a person to pull just one drink, because of all the choices available. Stuck in line at USH last winter, I actually turned to the person behind the counter and asked for a Coke™ from the normal fountain head just so that I could get on with my meal. The other problem with the Freestyle machines is that they are designed to be serviced from the front, which, in a busy counter service/grab joint operation, is nearly impossible.

Outside of amusement parks, I'm seeing the Freestyle machines in a fair number of establishments. They seem to be standard equipment at Firehouse Subs, and perhaps the most surprising development is that Wendy's, the company that has steadfastly refused to make customers pull their own drinks, has started putting them in.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

re: Epcot Coke tasting center.

It's still there...and home of the famous Beverly. I happen to like Beverly, but for most it is an acquired taste.

Fountain Cola for the most part is disgusting, can't stand it, love it cold out of the can or bottle though.

On another note Mello Yellow is not a substitute for Mountain Dew, I drink copious quantities of Dew.

On yet another note, while not really fast food but it is a burger joint, any Five Guys I have been to has a Coke Freestyle Machine. It looks cool but the same options have been available at the local Circle K for years just not in the neat package.