Italian Ices, Water Ice, Sorbet are pretty much variants of the same thing(as are snow cones and slushies, when you get down to it)--though the operant word here is "variant'--I think that the water ice shop in Ventnor, at least the one I remember, served dead-on Philly Water Ices--and you could(and can) get the same thing any where on down to Cape May.

Generally, the push carts have five gallon tubs that they scoop from--the shops may scoop it from the tubs, or may have a machine that makes it on the premises--there are also little cups that you would find in the freezer at Wawa or 7-11--

The thing about real water ice is that it is that the syrup is made from real fruit, and uses real sugar, not gooey corn syrup--

Rita's Water Ice is now a big chain, and they make good water ices--they also have what is called in Philly "Gelato", but is really water ice between layers of frozen custard.