Cost of a cup of ice at Universal Studio

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

We were at US last Monday and were at Richters for lunch. I ordered the chicken sandwich and a large cup of ice. The chicken sandwich was listed around $8.00. So imagine my surprise when she said my order came to over $11.00!! I questioned this and she said, as if it made all the sense in the world, that I had ordered a large cup of ice! I was being charged about $3.00 for a cup of ice. Seriously? So she said she could give me a small cup for free. Needless to say, I took the small cup of ice for FREE. So make sure you pay attention when you are ordering to make sure what you are paying for there. Never once did Disney charge me for any size cup of ice.

[John]

I've noticed a lot of places doing this now - it's not just universal. Cups are inventoried and many people use the standard cups to scam the system to say they are getting water/ice and then go help themselves to soft drinks.

So, I'd suggest just asking for a courtesy cup for ice anywhere you go if that's what you want. Courtesy would imply free

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

That's a good way to phrase it John. Thanks for the suggestion.

[John]

That's a good way to phrase it John. Thanks for the suggestion.

No prob - I definately thing someone should have told you that you were going to be charged for the cup btw.

[DisneyDog]

That's interesting, because more and more, I'm seeing restaurants with self-serve soda fountains put out small cups for customers who want water. Now, really, there's nothing stopping you from taking a small cup and filling it up with soda. It's the honor system. So, I find it amazing that someplace that overcharges for everything would spend time worrying about (and alienating customers) a cup of ice. I think that's really cheesy.

[disneymom15]

Wow, $3.00 for a cup of ice water. Glad Disney doesn't charge for there ice water cups. We order ice water at every counter service place we eat.

[BrerGnat]

Way back when, I used to work at a fast food store in a mall food court. Way back when, we used to be REQUIRED to charge customers if they asked for a cup of ice water in a size other than the one we used for samples of lemonade. It was an invetory thing. We actually had to count EVERYTHING every night (even cups) and it had to match the day's sales or otherwise be accounted for (like, if it fell on the floor, we had to write it off before throwing it out, so we would know why the cup/sales count was "off" later that night).

Cups are expensive. And, cups are the only way that you know how much "drink" you sold that day.

I understand why they do it, but they should make that known ahead of time. And, for what it's worth, we used to have people who would actually pay for a cup of ice water, rather than buy a cold bottled water. Don't ask me why...

[magicalmom]

7/11 also has to charge you for anything you put in one of their cups - it's the way their inventory system works. Similar thing to Universal.

[BigRedDad]

Easier to just buy one of the refillable mugs. You can get water in it for free or just ice. Soda refills were only $0.85