A Brief History of Epcot's Club Cool | From Greatness to Boring 

This perfectly illustrates the problem with "modern" as a theme. People go to theme parks to escape the blandness of modern life, not be reminded of it.

I miss the geeky, colorful, and quirky theming of Epcot. I feel the park is really not the same anymore, a lot of future world ( especially connections cafe and the new gift shop) have a very corporate feel about it. It has lost its character

The main reason I follow this channel is to get this kind of extremely specific and also importantly critical kind of content. Keep going, you're doing your part to make Disney a better place.

The first version seems so fun. Talking about lack of theming there is a backlash in the community recently about the refurbshiment of the themed hotels that seems to untheme them to make more generic. Maybe you could talk about that someday? A video essay on the topic could be pretty good ive seen only New focus channels talk about it.

Man, to be an inquisitive kid at Epcot in the late 80s/early 90s again. Those were the days 😎

Visiting in 99 with my high school marching band, ice station cool was just something unexpected. I had no idea what it was or what to expect and to have the opportunity to try free soft drinks from around the world in an air conditioned environment, it was extremely memorable.

I should also point out that it's insanely weird how hard it is it find Club Cool today; we had to search and it really feels hidden.

Hopefully Disney will lean so far into minimalist "theming" that they'll fall through to the other side of the spectrum and get back into the sometimes cheesy (but refreshing) overt theming

I remember doing shifts in the original Ice Station Cool. The most memorable parts were having to ‘shovel’ the snow in the front section while wearing the black and yellow costumes, and then having the freezing cold ice drop from the ceiling drop onto your back. Well, that and all the genuinely funny reactions to the sodas 🤭 Thank you for taking me down memory lane!

I was honestly quite shocked when they actually reopened Club Cool in 2021, I thought for sure it was gonna be quietly canned. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Club Cool isn’t around within the next five years since Disney keeps abandoning more and more experiences each year…

I loved club cool. Anything with theming is just awesome. It feels like theme parks are going for the “simplified” logos companies are doing these days and choosing profit and merchandising over theming. Having something like this is not only in my eyes an experience, it’s also a great way for companies to show their creativity, something I feel most parks lack today, except for something like galaxys edge or the WIZARDING world. Not saying it has to be overly themed though.

I never saw the original club cool, since I was too young, but that second version is still something i miss to this day

I think a lot of the homogenization is driven by Disney wanting to separate Epcot from its sponsorship model. The park being a "World's Fair" where corporations would promote themselves while simultaneously funding educational content that vaguely tied together with the products or services being sold. This philosophy tied well with Disney as a whole in the early-80s when the company was struggling. Now, Disney generally doesn’t need to sell anything except themselves and their own products, and most people come to the parks already sold on Disney. There is no accountability if they screw up, and they’re too big to fail. I feel this is also related to the way that every WDW park is gradually losing its specific theme in favor of all of them just being vaguely “Disney” themed. People generally underestimate how important sponsors were to Disney in the early years, from the moment Walt decided to build Disneyland. Without them, a lot of beloved attractions wouldn’t have existed, especially the ones that aren't attached to Disney movies. That’s definitely a double-edged sword (see: how Kodak’s involvement pushed Disney into closing the original Journey Into Imagination) but, in modern times, Disney being the sole beneficiary from their parks means that a lot of additions or revisions are going to feel like cheap Disney advertisements, and execs can justify that things like Club Cool that are sponsored by other companies don't have to be as good. I could even make a similar argument that Tokyo Disneyland not being owned by Disney has protected it from a lot of modern changes because it's in the Oriental Land Company’s best financial interest to avoid their parks coming off as cheap Disney ads that lack appeal to people who aren't Disney fans, but, unfortunately, I’ve never been and I don't know much about the corporate situation there, so it's coming from an uneducated point of view.

Fun(?) Fact: Bitter detection is much stronger in young people and the 1/4 of the population who are extra sensitive to bitterness (known as "supertasters") - especially people with certain haplotypes in gene TAS2R38. The reactions to Beverly were not necessarily for show - you may just be in the 75% of the population with little-to-no sensitivity to bitter compounds.

YES!! Holy heck I thought I was going crazy! I remember visiting Ice Station Cool as a kid in 2000. For years I thought it was one big fever dream, couldn’t find any evidence of a “Coca Cola ice room” in Florida and was disappointed in the small Coke store when visiting this December past. Thank you so much for this video!!

The thing that I think makes Beverly get a stronger reaction is the way that it's different than the ones next to it. Like you try vegebeta, watermelon fanta, mezzo mix, and then Beverly hits your taste buds and it is so different it catches you off guard. Americans are not used to that in a soda, we tend to think of them as sugary beverages with rare less-sweet niche exceptions. We're also far less likely to have apertifs, so the context of consumption is different, and if you're a kid you're imagining people drinking it like a coke on a hot day.

I used to love their parks for experiences which you could only get there, like Club Cool. Now they're just theming everything to their movies and, I can already watch their movies at home.

We were able to go to Epcot in 2021 and 2022. I honestly thought Club Cool was for some special type of pass holder and thought nothing more. It wasn't until after riding Guardians when another rider told me to try the Beverly if I got motion sick. My first impression was "mall food court." I felt foolish after walking in and realized it was for everybody. I didn't understand the drinks were free until I saw people with small cups. I'm happy to report that after being dumbfounded at my lack of comprehension of the attraction and that the drinks were free, the Beverly wasn't bad and really helped with my motion sickness.

The OG club cool is sooo vaguely familiar. I must have experienced it as a toddler when I was 2 or 3 years old

I’m sure some people did ham it up when trying Beverly, but if you had tried some of the really sweet fruity sodas and got caught off guard with the Beverly, it was really shocking. I know it happened to me when I first happened upon club cool! The description didn’t say bitter and I thought something was wrong with the soda!! I almost spit it out! Granted I’d never been exposed to bitter drinks before!

I remember on a Disney trip when I was 7 me and my family were at club cool, I remember being dazzled by all the options! Could it be true? Could all these be free for me to try? I quickly grabbed a cup and began trying each and every flavor of soda, upon trying Beverly I felt a wave of disgust wash over me. I hated it, it was one of the worst things I had ever tasted, I made a face that communicated my distress and my mom, noticing my anguish, rushed over to me and said “oh! Baby try this! It’s good!” My trust in my mother has never faced such a trial as this. I took as big a gulp out of her straw as I could… and to my shock, she had given me Beverly! out of options, my body took the final option to protect me from the poison… I threw up right there on the floor. And we quickly left.

Maybe it wasn't explicitly "educational" but it sure as hell got me interested in researching about Antarctica, anthropology and so much more. Epcot used to inspire curiosity without feeling like an educational experience. Club Cool serves as a great example of what Disney really used to be compared to the hollow, money focused husk it has now become.

As a very…easily frightened child, I had remembered seeing the neanderthal in ice station cool and being terrified. For the longest time, I thought I had imagined it, thinking there was NO WAY Disney would have a corpse on display, real or fake. It wasn’t until I found footage of it a few months back that i learned that yes, yes they did.

2 minutes in and I learned more about EPCOT/Innoventions/Club Cool, than anything else online...I never knew Ice Station Cool was built to be officially part of Innoventions.

I remember all of this. Of course, the original was the best. It was more than just getting a quick little drink. It was about going into someplace that was cold in the hot sun and escaping from that heat for even 10 minutes and it was kind of cool to see snow in Florida almost all year round.

It’s been so long (for an Orlando resident) that I’ve started to question my memory of the old “Club Cool”. Nice to have this to refresh my old memories and to show others! Beverly Soda/10

I was fortunate to visit Ice Station Cool before the re-theme. It wasn't educational, but the Beverly soda was!

I think theming should always be over the top, for the purpose of escaping reality. Just as when you go through the gate of a theme park, your phone should stop working.

Epcot Today: No Fun Allowed

The original Club Cool was amazing! They have downgraded so many experiences at Epcot.

Oh, man I had no idea they wrecked this! I remember visiting the first version in 2002 and loved it. Thanks for tempering my expectations for my eventual return to WDW.

I've never seen Vegtabeta out here but I'm sure it's here some where. The melon soda from south africa tastes pretty good too! We have cool melon soda here that is pretty close to it.

I went to Epcot in February of 2022. I tried one soda, and went back for another. As I was going back for another, a cast member told me I am not allowed to try any other sodas now since I tried one. I was thinking,”but hey, isn’t that the whole draw of club cool? To try different sodas made by Coca-Cola from different countries?” Before anyone asks, I am not making that up :(

My biggest issue with the new club cool is that you simply face the wall to get a drink. It’s like a cafeteria or Soviet bread line. Face the wall, taste your drink, leave. Old club cool you faced everyone else who was getting drinks. There were tables to stand at and talk around. It was like a party lounge.

A year or two later, during the millennium celebration, there was another ice cave area inside the millennium village, so it may have been easier and more cost effective to maintain both locations, rather than upkeep just one. Also, the ice cave entrance into Club Cool suffered the same issue the Rainbow Tunnel at ImageWorks suffered, in that people simply wouldn’t leave. This was before misters and the shaded areas, so the ice cave was a great way to seek relief from the summer heat.

I remember going to Epcot around 2005, I was probably around 10 years old at the time. Back when it was the original Ice Station Cool. Honestly the fake ice tunnel with the frozen caveman was pretty creepy. The soda sample room was awesome though, although I have a strong memory of trying some bright red Italian one that was super bitter. I almost spit it out, lol. Decades later when I tried a Negroni cocktail for the first time I was hit with that same bitter taste from my childhood. After all these years, I finally know what that red soda was.

Making dinning reservations through video chat in the 80s at EPCOT was awe inspiring.

It feels like modern Disney is all about building just the gift shop and not the attraction leading up to it.

I’m glad I got to visit at its peak in the 90s. I miss it. It felt truly magical as a child back then.

I remember visiting Ice Station Cool back in the early 2000s. During the summer it was the best place to be because it had the most powerful A/C in Disney, which was very nice to have when stepping outside felt more like getting wrapped with a wet heated blanket than anything else.

Banger as always

Great video and great research because I totally forgot about the original iteration of this place. Well done.

One of my earliest memories was walking through the Coca Cola station. I remember how cold the tunnel was and the bright orange curtains. I don’t recall drinking and Coca Cola but I still remember the space and I think that really speaks to its memorability. Sadly I don’t think many people will remember what the new club cool looks like, especially children.

I remember actually waiting in line for Club Cool back in the year it opened. That snow hallway was such a nice break in the middle of July. Went there several times over the years, and while missing the ice tunnel, I still enjoyed the 2005 retheme. I will never forget my first naïve mouthful of Beverly. It really isn't that bad, just like the video said, but if you're expecting another sweet drink it's really shocking. Disappointing to see the newer version. I was there in 2022 and didn't even notice it. I figured it was just gone.

Weirdly, Ice Station Cool was one of my favorite parts of the park when I was a kid. It was something that both of my parents would participate in (since my mom wouldn't ride many of the bigger rides, or would only do so begrudgingly). It also helped me understand that different countries had different products and tastes, which is a huge thing to try to understand as a kid! And silly as it may be, the different sodas always stoked my family's interest to travel and try new things. Odd how such a minor attraction can make such an impact! And the hallway with the snow was cool too 😅

This is sadly spot on. The problems with Disney today start with the letter B.

The amount of attractions I experienced as a kid that just disappeared is insane - I vividly remember going to ice station cool in Epcot but was so confused when it wasn’t there when I went back as an adult.

I visited Epcot for the first time (sadly) in 2021 and I didn’t even know this was a thing so that shows how much they care about promoting it.

Oh, the irony. How much we hated it when it opened ("why can’t they put this much effort in a ride?") and today folks wish this would return.

You my friend are one of the few people that know true core of creativity, your videos always promote what a true epcot should be. It's a shame so much of this was lost but I'm glad you continue to spread insight of what once was.

Ah Club Cool, once really neat and a piece of the puzzle. Now a soda fountain.

“Do you want to be an imaginear when you grow up?” “No! I want to be a coologist!”

Love the "sucked the fun out" comment. Bland and boring is certainly becoming Disney's MO.

Omg I was just thinking about the ice cave entrance with the orange snow vehicle! Thats the earliest memory I have and had no clue what it was lol

Wow what a fun surprise! Love these types of videos

Still mad to this day that mezzo mix and kinley were taken out and there’s no way to buy either of them in the US without imports

Wife and I visited the original version back in 1998, was a fun experience

I used to love the coke exhibit and made it a point to visit every time. We just got back from Epcot yesterday and it didn't even cross my mind to go in. 🤷🏻‍♀️ it's not an interesting space and you're right, everything is VERY generic looking in that area.

Great video!

I loved Ice Station Cool so much, thanks!

When I was really young, I was scared of walking through the ice caves. There wasn't any music and it was eerie. I get why my parents didn't mind cause it was a break from the heat and free drinks, but the caves will stay in my memory.

Disney Springs has this exact problem. It went from a Disney Outlet mall to any other Outlet Mall. Walking through it nowadays, you can't even tell you're even in Disney anymore.

I loved this version so much! I remember it well from when I was a kid!

Beverly is easily the best soda there 😂

I used to drag unsuspecting friends and family in to Club Cool to try a shot of The Beverly, a really awful tasting beverage that was free to sample.

I love how niche this channel is

My god, I'd completely forgotten the original club cool. I remembered enjoying going inside because it was air-conditioned, and I remembered the vague shape of all the different machines, but the whole ice cave theming had slipped my mind. I'm glad at least there's still the soda-tasting experience today but wow.

Oh god, they took out the Inca Kola? That was my favorite drink there! It’s a shame they made it INCREDIBLY corpo with its “return.” I didn’t mind the one before 2019. It was nice to learn about the old version of Club Cool (which wasn’t technically Club Cool, but it’s basically the same thing).

I've been to Epcot probably 6 times - I've never been to either experience. But after seeing this video, I sorely wish I could've gone to Ice Station Cool, simply for its themeing!

GLAD THAT CLUB COOL IS BACK, BUT THE OG WAS BETTER!

Great video! I appreciate your channel so much, and hope that this type of content will reach Disney leadership one day. It is a shame that Disney has gotten so lazy when it comes to sponsorship integration, the lack of trying to integrate or hide it is becoming unbearable at this point. Club Cool as well as original Test Track were shining examples of how you can integrate sponsor dollars while also providing a premier customer experience.

Wow, this video was such a great trip down memory lane! I remember visiting Club Cool as a child and trying all of the different sodas from around the world. It was always one of my favorite parts of visiting Epcot. In my opinion the first version didn't fit quite well with EPCOT maybe if they tried making it more about Antartica and Human cooperation, but it felt too 'Taky' I don't feel as if the new version is bad because EPCOT is a park focused on the Contemporary so the new theme fits in OK the only complaint is that it's too small for the demand. Thank you for sharing this video and bringing back some great memories!

I experienced the 2nd version, but after seeing the 1st then seeing go down hill is SUCH a let down. The unique thing about it was the fact that this was the only place outside the World of Coca Cola (Atlanta, GA) where you could sample the flavors. This is what made Epcot so SPECIAL!

Thank you for covering the history of this. My family and I visited it to taste the Beverly soda in 2018, but recently went in November of this last year and I assumed they just didn’t have it anymore. What’s with the bland, tiny store heading font? My guess is that most people won’t know that it’s there. I would have loved to see its original iteration. That’s how I feel about EPCOT in general, though I still love it best of all the Disney World theme parks because of its originality in comparison to MK and Disneyland (my home park).

This reminds me of posts about the opening of "Carousel Coffee" at WDW, and how it looks bland and sterile rather than going with a complete "carousel" theme.

Just like with TV shows and movies - execs have realised they need not pay people to build large, elaborately designed sets. People will put up with the bare minimum...or hey just throw something on a [green] screen. I miss the days when actual physical things were designed and made...remember that? Everything now looks as temporary and uninspired as a pre-fabricated McDonalds.

I remember going through the ice tunnel as a kid and had fun with the cold because, well, as a Floridian cold was (and still is) a foreign concept

I have the vaguest memories of visiting epcot in 2010... revisiting in 2016 and again in 2022, all i know for a fact is that all my favorite sights and rides from my 10 year old selves memories are gone, and will never return. I even remember back when the staff would let kids climb on the ship located in Norway, and take pictures with the cannons in the Pirates line. I remember the club cool landcrawler (although i never got to see the interior themeing), and this amazing soda I had from brazil that i never got to try again!

Yes!! I remember slipping and sliding through the ice cave!!

Gotta love the Beverly vine content!

Club Cool? More like Club NOT-Cool, give me back Ice Station Cool

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="395">6:35</a> "Beverly? more like Neverly" - JustinScarred

This is way cooler than what we have now!!!

granted i was like 5 when i first experienced it but the old Club Cool left such a strong impression, it created some great memories & had me excited to visit every time we went to Epcot. that's good marketing, right? that means it's working. i didn't just wanna visit the ice cave, i wanted to visit the Coca ColaTM ice cave. approximately 0 children will be enthralled by the corporate blandness of today's Club Cool. it's the furthest thing from memorable

was anyone else expecting the "discovery" of Ice Station Cool to be a polar bear, to tie in to the polar bears from Coke's commercials?

I loved the older versions, and filling empty water bottles with watermelon soda. It was so refreshing in Orlando in August.

My family went to Disney for the first time at the New Millennium celebration in 2000 and went about every other year or so throughout the 2000s. Last time any of my family went was when my mom chaperoned when I went on a Disney Magic Music Days (for high school band) in 2011. The final time in 2018 with my girlfriend that had never been. It's been depressing watching these parks loose all their magic and somehow continue to go downhill year after year. I wanted to show my gf all the cool stuff I experienced as a kid, but hardly any of it was there anymore and instead we got Magic Bands and a shitty app that barely worked and drained all my phone battery. It was such an unpleasant and depressing experience that I don't ever care to ever go back.

I'm convinced the Beverly I tried the first time was just carbonated water because it was a whole different kind of bad the next time. I'm dad to see that they dropped some really unique flavors. Everything now is just a a fruity drink with no real standouts. I honestly though it was in a temporary space until this video.

I very viscerally remember ice station cool from when I was 6. When I finally got to go back to Disney as a teenager my family was very confused when I insisted I wanted to see "the coke cave" 😅 too bad I never knew it had a successor, even if it was terribly boring in comparison

i will never forgive them for getting rid of the melon frosty fanta

Oh man, I have an INTIMATE relationship with Beverly. I'm the only one in my family who can bear to drink it and across years it's always been my favorite drink they have. Club Cool is one of my favorite things in Disney because of Beverly, and not just because of Beverly itself, but for the novelty of freaking strangers out by chugging down multiple cups of it right next to them Since everyone hated it, I've been confused for years on why they even have Beverly, but it's actually a genius design. You're not SUPPOSED to like it. With how distinctly bitter it is, your expectations are lowered for the other drinks, which makes them taste better and gets you more hooked on them simply because you remember them as tasting NOT LIKE BEVERLY In the newest version, it's even the first drink listed from the left side, so naturally if it's your first time there you'd be inclined to try it FIRST. That's evil and I love it

I actually forgot that Club Cool had that cool ice tunnel! I can understand the maintenance costs being way too expensive to maintain. I just wish they kept the entrance (minus the snow and with normal air conditioning) and the mural inside the store. The next iteration was fine and worked well enough for me. But the final minimalist version is pretty inexcusable. I'd rather head to Disney Springs to the Coca Cola store because it's almost the same thing! Shop, design, and all but with more options!

Hey, can you do a video about UAE parks? They are a little underrated in my opinion (specially WB world Abu Dhabi that is a world class park). I would like to know your opinion on their rides and park experience overall, tnks.

Whhhyyyyy do I have no memory of this? I was going to Epcot in the late nineties! I can say that I remember when the Coke from around the world was part of the uh, exit lobby of a ride. Possibly the Energy ride pre-Ellen refresh because it struck me as such an odd match to the theming.

Remember when Disney actually built themed things?

Disney needs to add a Pepsi version on the opposite side of Epcot so that both Pepsi and Coke can have a large presence throughout WDW.

You heard that Universal are opening to new parks in Texas, one in Vegas and Firsco, and it’s announced that the latter will be focusing on families.

I had no idea that the little store with the various sodas from around the world used to have a theme like this.

I never saw the original ice station cool, but I liked going into club cool after a shift working at Epcot back in 2018-2019 when I worked there. When I went to Disney world last March I legitimately thought club cool was a hallway it's so bland now, who thought club cool 2.0 was better than the OG club cool?

At least the club interior theming in 2005 still had something resembling style. 2021s has office-style "theming" and that just sucks.