If you’re going to spend a day at a theme park, especially one in Central Florida in summer, hydration is going to be very important. Thankfully LEGOLAND Florida has you covered with their souvenir cup refill program. Each cup will cost between $17.99 and $20.29 (depending on the number you purchase) and get you free refills throughout your visit that day. When you come back for another visit you can reactivate the cup for $10.99/day and enjoy another day of free refills. A standard soda at LEGOLAND Florida is just over $5, so it won’t take long to break even on a cup. The park also makes getting those refills super easy and convenient utilizing the Coca-Cola Freestyle system, providing dozens of beverage options.

When you arrive at LEGOLAND Florida you’ll find the “Beginning Freestyle” stand just past the park entrance. Here you’ll be able to purchase your cup and get your first fill. We did this right at the park opening at 10am and it literally took just seconds to do. This year’s souvenir cup features the new Galacticoaster, with the ride Logo on a purple background and it looks sharp. It’s called a “cup”, but it’s really more of a sports bottle as it has an incorporated straw, lid and handle. When you purchase the cup it will be placed on a black pad to activate the built-in chip technology in its base. On the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines there will be a corresponding black pad that will then recognize your cup based on its chip (this is all seamless, but may take a couple of seconds). Simply fill your cup with ice, place your cup on top of it and choose from the many options available on the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. The cup provides unlimited, self-serve soft drink refills all day, with a 10-minute wait required between each pour. If you try to get refill too quickly the machine will give a countdown of the time remaining. However, water is always available if you need a refill faster.

There are many places to get refills throughout LEGOLAND Florida and as you walk around the park the Coca-Cola Freestyle locations are very easy to find with Coca-Cola branding everywhere. The Coca-Cola Freestyle stands are named by their location in the park and include: Beginning Freestyle, Adventure Freestyle, Ninjago Freestyle, DUPLO Freestyle and Water Park. There are also more traditional soda fountains found in the restaurants. The refill stations are all nicely shaded and with the relative size and design of LEGOLAND Florida it always seemed like there was one nearby. The cups will also allow you to get ICEE refills, but these are typically not available at the Coca-Cola Freestyle locations. Instead you’ll have to visit ice cream and dessert places like Fun Town Treats just outside the DUPLO area. ICEE refill locations are a bit more scarce than Coca-Cola Freestyle refill locations, so you may have to plan a bit more with these. Many parks do not include ICEE refills with the standard drink program, so this is a great LEGOLAND Florida perk too.

The LEGOLAND Florida program compares quite favorably to other theme park companies, especially in the Central Florida market. There is no refillable cup option for the Disney theme parks, only one for Walt Disney World resort hotel self-serve stations. Universal has a similar setup to LEGOLAND Florida, but reactivation is slightly more expensive at $12.99/day. SeaWorld is also similar, but sells their cups for $16.99-$20.99 and future all-day refills are $8.99. However, SeaWorld offers an additional option for individual refills for $1.99 which is great for short visits for pass holders. Some regional parks or amusement parks like Fun Spot will offer unlimited drinks for the whole season, but this is not the norm for destination theme parks like LEGOLAND, SeaWorld, Disney or Universal. As you can see, the LEGOLAND Florida program stacks up quite nicely compared to the rest of their Central Florida market with competitive pricing, great drink selections and many convenient refill locations.

In addition to souvenir cup, LEGOLAND Florida also offers several other souvenir food containers. These include two refillable popcorn buckets and an ice cream cup. The popcorn buckets include a LEGO dragon and a Minifigure dressed in a popcorn costume. Refillable popcorn buckets are common at theme parks as they are a great looking souvenir for display at home and also offer a low cost snack inside the parks. Refillable cups and popcorn buckets are also a great environmental choice instead of creating more waste using a bunch of single serve containers. The ice cream cup is a Minifigure head and to my knowledge is just a souvenir and not refillable at the park, but could certainly be reused at home.

LEGOLAND Florida has one of the best souvenir cup refill programs of the major Florida theme parks. If you’re visiting iLEGOLAND Florida for a day in the summer it’s probably going to be HOT and you’re going to want to hydrate, so the refillable cup is an easy choice. If you’re a frequent visitor the cup is an absolute no-brainer as you can use it again and again, even season to season. The LEGOLAND Florida souvenir cups offer free self-serve refills all day, allowing you to enjoy all-you-can-drink soft drinks. The program utilizes the Coca-Cola Freestyle system with cups containing RFID chip technology. The cups look great and the Coca-Cola Freestyle provides a vast number of flavors choices as well as non-carbonated and low-calorie options. The self-service aspect really seems to keep the lines moving fast too, meaning you spend more time experiencing the park rather than in food lines. LEGOLAND Florida has created a great beverage program that’s easy to use, convenient, affordable and that has a plethora of beverage options. Be sure to grab a refillable souvenir cup as you enter the park so dehydration or single-serve options don’t distract from your day.