Magic Springs will offer free soft drinks and sunscreen

^Caffine is a diurietic, however the amount in the soda does not negate the positive affect of drinking the water and electrolytes that come with the caffine. At least thats what my professor in medical school nuitrition course said last year. Nuitrtion is a funny subject open to so much debate and people bicker back and forth, so just based on my experience when its really hot and Im really thirsty Ill go with water occasionally and soda occasionally in a park, but with meals and when its not nearly as bad (70s/low 80s) soda does the trick all by itself.

You try arguing with my wife. I've given up, so I'll be drinking water.

*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 3/31/2007 3:08:06 PM ***

A kid takes a couple of classes and is suddenly more of an expert than practicing doctors and other degreed types.

I'm a coach. Sports nutrition practice very explicitly dictates you don't drink caffeinated or "energy" drinks.

I am the same way. When it's hot and humid like it was at HWN last year (I am a wuss with humidity....lol) I have to have water and leave the soda for meals. ;) The occasional Gatorade helped as well, although my body doesn't react to sugar very well. ;)

As far as other *energy* drinks they make me too nervous and they taste like crap. ;)

-Tina

*** This post was edited by coasterqueenTRN 3/31/2007 3:52:24 PM ***

Ok I’m going to come off as a dick (I’m not but I feel the need to rant) but here we go

I’m just relating what my professor told me, I also have yet to ever see anyone die of dehydration when the only thing they had available to drink was soda. Also the same professor told us about how much nutrition research has been a screw job for awhile, since nutrition as a whole if difficult to research (very little concrete stuff) and for the most part has been funded by food producers. Remember a couple of years ago when the FDA was promoting the food pyramid that had carbohydrates as the "base?" Well as it stands now we all know that there are good carbs (whole grain) and bad carbs (processed grain,) turns out they knew that way back when but the combination of thinking the public was too stupid and lobbying landed us with the old pyramid. That’s just one of a million examples out there of the blunders in nutritional research.

Bottom line on diet soda (what I drink) it contains (ordered by amount: )

Water
Sodium: Causes the human body to retain water
Caffeine: A diuretic

The conflict in the research is which of the two components of soda (Sodium which is more numerous but not as potent, and Caffeine which is less numerous but more potent) "wins out." Before that class I believed what you two believed so I asked him about it and he gave me some new studies that supported his view. While most older research which was done with lab animals, supports that soda is a diuretic newer research that has been done with human subjects has come out that soda is isotonic and the same as water. So the only reason to drink water instead of soda is taste and/or price.

Also, FYI my dad who is a practicing physician too and he has the same view on it as I do based on his real world experience he has had at parks.

Also I’m not a "kid" who took some classes, I already have a Masters (in Physiology) and am working on the MD right now. While I’m certainly not as experienced or knowledgeable then a practicing doc, my guess is that these studies haven’t filtered down to JAMA and other main stream medical journals which means that practicing docs (who cant spend all their time researching stuff) haven’t heard about them yet. And it shouldn’t be a surprise that they havent because lets face it wither or not soda is a diuretic is way down on the importance scale of health problems physicians should keep track of.

While Gatorade may not be good as a casual drink (way too much sugar) it is extremely good at what it is intended for, mainly keeping athletes hydrated during games. I was a student manager for both the football and women’s soccer team while I was in undergrad at a D1 school and I always had to stack Gatorade and Water for both practices and games and our Trainers always encouraged the athletes to take the Gatorade over water.

Also water has its own evils as well (drink too much with out replenishing electrolytes and you’re going to send yourself into a coma.) Until they come out with a saline solution that wont cause people to gag because it tastes like sea water we are going to be stuck with flawed drinks to dehydrate ourselves and you should really just drink what you like and if it works then great!

*** This post was edited by Touchdown 3/31/2007 4:43:19 PM ***

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Oh, and I needed to comment on these, from Our Lord:

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You forgot the 'and savior' part. I'm more savior than lord. :)

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That is why it's a genius move for them *business-wise*....then they get to MARKET the "free" drinks to boot....you should be behind this 1,000%.

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Yes, it seems hypocritical, doesn't it? Especially given the nature of the upcharge discussions and my side of things.

The difference to me is that in those discussions upcharges are optional. (although some will argue that q-bot is necessary)

This is an upcharge I'm being forced to buy into. If given the choice (as you are in the case of the gazillion other discussions we've gone through) I'd pay the lower gate and per drink.

Plus, it personally annoys me that so many people fall for the spin. :)

Seriously, the park is forcing you to pay X number of dollars more than before (presumably to cover 'freebie' costs) then turning around and saying, "Look free drinks. We're doing this for you. Our value helps people afford a day at the park." - Don't tell me it's raining when you're pissing down my back.

I'm calling shenanigans! :)

Again, it may sound hypocritical but I find this an inherently more 'sleazy' business approach than a park just charging you out the ass for stuff. I'd even be much cooler with it if it were worded as such. "Drinks included with admission" or something like that. It gives the same impression.

None of us are dumb enough to think the parks are taking a loss on the 'free' drinks - even if it's possible to show it on paper that way. So why are we so willing to play along?

"Telling me you want my money is bad. Tricking me to get my money is good." I so don't get it.

With that said, is there a possible better value? Of course there is. As long as the single visitor spent more than $9 on drinks before - then they're coming out ahead thanks to the additional funding of those that don't normally spend that much on drinks. And if you're the type to drink as many as 20(!?) drinks in a day (thrillerman's post) then you're making out like gangbusters. I tend to drink at a more human level and it costs me more this way, but it's dusguised as a favor.

No sir, I don't like it. :)

I call smart buisness keeping your guest happy vs all the potential negative PR you could and some parks do going the other way.

Chuck

Guess I am making out like gangbusters...gotta stay liquified. :)

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I’m going to come off as a dick

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Well, you were right about one thing, at least.

While it's comforting to quote your professor, perhaps you've never heard me give my description of a typical faculty member:

Sometimes wrong, but never in doubt.

It's an occupational hazard when you spend three hours a week in a room of 200 people who write down every word you say as the gospel truth.

^He showed me the research papers to back it up too, and my whole point is that there is no gospel truth in nurition either so if you want to have soda on a hot day by all means do, odds are it probably wont hurt you.

HW has either Powerade or Gaterade. I know they had one or the other but forgot which kind.

^Im sure it isnt Powerade (thats a Coke product,) and Im pretty sure Gatorade is a Pepsi product.

Yes, we have orange Gatorade. Lemonade and fruit punch also. Children in particular love the self-serve aspect, as they concoct all sorts of curious mixtures.

Paula

I was just young enough to do that when fast food places started putting the soda out in the dining room and I was thrilled. "Suicide" drinks were the norm for 12-year-old boys then!

Hey I still love doing that and have at HW many times. Another neat aspect of self serve.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=591586

Decent forum thread with hours of links concerning the benifits/perils of soda. Nothing excites me more than somebody talking about peer reviewed literature! ;)

On the subject of park service...I hit Orlando or Anaheim all the time. I admit that I go during busy seasons. But my experience is that Disney and Universal SUCK at dispersing liquids. Ten minutes is the norm and it can be a lot worse. Furthermore...if a man wants a Coke before 11:00 am at these parks...even when they open at 8:00 am or earlier...consider yourself officially screwed.

On a mildly related service note...has anybody ever seen the teeth pulling amount of time it takes a person to get through the gate at Universal Orlando? That place has 973 different ticket options...many of hich require signature and ALL of which never trigger the bar code on the computer. The computer system to get you in the park breaks down daily. It is a joke of all jokes that is only slightly more frustrating than quenching your thirst.

I agree with 98% of your takes Gonch...but not this one. I see your point about how this is financially bad for a person like you. Given the state of piss poor service...at even the good service parks...I'll take self-service any day. I'll not only pay more...I'll let them punch me in the stomach if I can just get my stupid drink when I want it!

Well, then there we have it. I'm alone on this one.

So for all of you industry types out there - just tack on $10 or $12 bucks next year and call it drinks free. People eat it up...even if they know better. :)

Jeff Smith, thanks for the link. I didnt realize that Google had a forum like that (allthough I should have expected it, they have everything) and I was too lazy to try and find the articles on Medline.

Two replies:

BoddaH1994: You hit the nail on the head for me too, Ryan. Not only the convenience of not having to wait in another line for drinks, nor having to get your wallet out another time, but also less reliance on staff to dispense and sell drinks.

Jeff: About your memory of self-serve soft drink machines in fast food places: My local Taco Bell was practically heaven to me 15 years ago, I would get 2 or 3 tacos, but at minimum of 5 refills it seemed.

One of the things I find most amusing is that people are providing free sunscreen, oh, about several hours after you should have applied it in the first place. When does the average person go to the waterpark? Probably around 12-3 p.m., I would think based on when it gets hottest during the day.

In that time-period, you have already been walking around the park getting burned (unless you were smart and put on sunscreen 1/2-hour before stepping outside as is recommended). I'll admit that it's hard to get into the 1/2-hour before thing since that's a relatively new rule, but sunscreen is always applied at least in the parking lot.

Sunscreen is not that expensive of an option to pick-up at your local grocery or drugstore. Buy a big tube of it (many now come with detachable smaller bottles perfect for cargo shorts etc.), and you're good to go for at least the whole summer.