Epcot: Is Coca-Cola’s Club Cool going flat?
Things to do — By Matthew Simantov on November 12, 2009 at 2:38 pm
A sad sight during a recent trip to Club Cool in Epcot.
Whenever I visit Epcot I always stop by Club Cool for a few shots of international flavors soda made by Coca-Cola.
Club Cool (across from Mouse Gear) is essentially a Coca-Cola store that offers free samples of various foreign flavors of soda. It features several soda fountain machines that dispense small amounts of each flavor into small paper cups for park guests to sample.
One great thing about Club Cool is that no one seems to care if you drink sample after sample of your favorite flavor. I would think if you started to fill up an outside container a Cast Member might intervene, but in my many visits I have never witnessed any overly greedy guests.
China's watermelon flavor of Coke
There’s a nice range of flavors from China (Watermelon, my favorite), Mexico, Israel, Japan, Germany, Italy, Costa Rica and Mozambique.
The last few times I’ve stopped by Club Cool, I’ve noticed that the soda fountains are not being maintained very well. Last month, most of the machines were missing at least one flavor, and several entire machines were offline. Yesterday was the first time that I noticed one flavor (Israel’s Lemon flavor) unavailable at any machine.
Also, the entire grouping of machines in the center pillar were offline. This lead to confusion as there were still cups on the side of the machine and no signs other than the small ‘please try another flavor’ tags. Confused guests were continuously placing cups in the machines and pressing the button – with nary a drop of international cola flavor falling to their cups.
I’m guessing Coke is responsible for maintaining the store and equipment, so I hope they get their act together and restore the soda fountains at Club Cool to full working order.
Hopefully the non-functioning machines and lack of a flavor aren’t signs that Club Cool is going away. Everyone I know loves stopping by there for a (free) refreshment and would be sorely disappointed if it disappeared. Who doesn’t love tricking their friends into drinking Italy’s flavor and watching their reaction to the bitter taste.
So Disney, Coke: Please don’t take away the soda samples at Club Cool or stop ignore flavor and machine outages.
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28 Comments
As cheesy and trivial as it sounds, the Coke shop and the free fountains might be my favourite part of Epcot. I’m not one of the Yahoos who promises to stop going if they ever eliminated the shop or the free fountain – of course I’d keep going to Epcot, are you kidding?? – but it certainly is a highlight of the park for me.
I agree completely… It’s definitely my favorite non-ride related part of Epcot. In fact given a choice to go to Club Cool or some rides, I’d chose Club Cool!
Free coke products at Disney? Wasn’t that alone a miracle? I.m startles it last this many years. Maybe our luck has run out and we’ll be soon seeing a “sip pass” for a modest $2.99 unlimited.
My thoughts exactly. It’s my only way to get Manzanita Sol without actually going to Mexico.
A lot of the Coke-specific merch is gone, replaced with generic Disney merch. Take that for what you will.
I wonder if Disney is alienating their sponsors. Club Cool is definitely COOL! I hope they don’t pull a fast one like they did with the EPCOT holiday lights.
I not a big coke fan but this was interesting place to get a taste of things from other countries. I alway thought that this was missed placed and really belonged in the world showcase. I think pepsi should give this a try.
Pepsi? Yuck. I would rather drink air then Pepsi.
WE were just there yesterday…you are right, there were indeed banks of empty soda machines. It was disappointing, especially since we’ve been visiting Club Cool for over 10 years – back when it was in the igloo!
I really hope they fix this – children love this area!
We were there this weekend and my son was so upset that the Kinley Lemon was missing. It’s bad enough they took the snow tunnel away a while back. It wouldn’t surprise me if they axed this. Too good to be true.
McDonald’s has pulled out of all in park locations and do not sponsor Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom any longer, it is only a short time before COKE goes the same way. It has been proven that a company is foolish if they believe the millions of dollars it cost to sponsor an attraction at Disney ever returns a fraction of the investment.
Proven? Where? How?
Proven by all the sponsors who have jumped-ship over the years, and by the increasing number that continue to bail on this pricy, ineffective marketing ploy.
There have been behavioral studies (google search will find them) of just how little people remember about who paid lots of money to have their name on a ride. Ask people who had their name on Space Mountain or who sponsored Body Wars people just do not associate Disney sub-sponsors, it is a Disney ride after all. Research has also shown that product placement does not work, have you ever bought a car from seeing it on TV? Disney sponsorship is just major product placement.
I agree . . . we love Club Cool and have been noticing the same problems. I hope they fix it back up again. Sure wish I could buy some of these flavors locally for consumption at home, too.
I LOVE Club Cool!!! I really hope they don’t take it away. EPCOT is my favorite park & it just wouldn’t be the same without it!
i would go just for that, never been there and i live in florida. i hate these attractions, but when i read this i thought, now that is something worth going for… oh well.
back to kelly park and drink some spring water. be blessed folks..
Funny but that’s one of the few things I remember from the park. But it certainly isn’t worth the silly costs they expect you to pay for a day in the park.
Isn’t anyone else concerned about the same thing I am? This is so un-Disney-like to have something not operating at their park. When I went through “Traditions” at Disney (many moons ago), there was such an emphasis on the “show” that is given to the guests. This is extremely disappointing that the corporates at Disney don’t care about the show anymore.
Same here. I guess the dollar is more valued now? A short-term approach.
I noticed a major lack of “show” quality at the minigolf place beside Blizzard Beach when we were there a few weeks back. Things sure have changed in the past 15 years since I left Disney!!
I was at Club Cool recently and one pillar had warm soda.This is a maintainance issue because the water in most commercial soda fountains is chilled with ice.The fountain heads seemed to be worn out as well and inadequate maintainance can be a health hazard.These problems and flavor shortages drop the hint that Club Cool is about to close.Topping bars have closed at Disney World,one at the Pinocchio Village Haus and another at the Electric Umbrella.Club Cool is a casualty of the new Disney customer that expects double for half.I confess I got Figaro Fries and added mushrooms from the topping bar.No more Figaro Fries and no topping bar.I chuckle at the DVC members that are locked in for thirty years.
I hope this isn’t the end of my obsession with the Chinese watermelon soda! Maybe they’ll consider a Coke drink stand like Vegas, where you can still get flavors around the world, but at a cost.
Hmm, doesn’t coca-cola own the building World of Disney is in over in New York City? Part of the reason that store is closing the end of the year is because they upset Disney by raising their rent. Why Disney is upset with that is beyond me considering how much they increase ticket prices. Maybe Coke and Disney is just a slowly burning bridge.
dont take it away! i love stopping by!
Haha that was always one of my favorite things to do, tricking friends into drinking the Italy soda. Btw they do still have the topping bar at Pecos Bill as of Wednesday and have actually added a new item since the last time I was there (shredded cheese)… so the topping bars do still exist
I enjoyed it more when it was Ice Station Cool and the decor made it look like the arctic. Disney used to be so colorful and fun with concepts, everything now is becoming generic. The magic time for WDW truly was 1988-1998.
They really missed this opportunity: A kid (or an adult) trys the soda from italy. A camera catches their face as the bitterness hits their taste budds. Then the picture, on a plastic soda mug is available for purchase.
I LOVE tricking people into trying that Italian soda. Fun!