pianoman

When I was there last night, they flew over the wires into the fountain. That's fine as long as they don't sit on the edge and block the laser beam. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For those of you that have already met me, you probably know that I am a big fan of the Royal Fountains. Ever since I was a kid, I have always adored them. I am such a geek that I even have the patterns memorized and at night when the lights are on, I can tell which light colors will come on next. Every spring, Kings Island faces the problem with Canada geese sitting around the fountain. To me, geese are just a pain in the rear. They crap on everything, and can be very vicious. The problem is that there is an intrusion detection system around the fountain. At night, when the lights are on, there are two infrared beams that surround the fountain. If there is a break in the beam, such as someone jumping in, it turns all of the lights off to prevent electrocution. When the geese sit around the fountain, it tricks the system into thinking someone is jumping in, so it turns all of the lights off. I have talked to maintenance before and they told me all of this so I am not making this up. When I was at Kings Island on April 21st, I noticed that there have been three wires installed around the entire fountain to prevent geese from sitting on the edge. I am so glad that they did this. Kudos to maintenance or whoever came up with this idea. Now, we can all enjoy sitting on International Street at night watching the fountains with the lights on not worrying about the geese causing them to go out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't normally post a whole lot, let alone a PTR, but yesterday was a pretty unique experience for me at the park for me. It was sort of a last minute trip and since the park was only open from 5-10, I figured what the heck, I'll make the hour and forty five minute drive down. So it started like any other day. I pulled into the parking lot around 4:20, just in time for ERT. At 4:30, I headed straight to Mystic Timbers. I was probably about the 15th train of the day, so not too bad. At 5:00, the rope dropped and I was on my way through Rivertown. Since I passed Backlot, I figured I would ride it since the line tends to get long. After I rode Backlot, I was going to head over to Flight of Fear but it was closed along with Firehawk. Oh well. I then proceeded to board the front seat of the Red Racer. But then I got the "ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing a technical delay, please step off and get back in line". I then went to Adventure Express and it was down too. I then glanced at International Street and noticed the fountains were off. This is very unusual to see when the park is open. And then it dawned of me that the park was suffering from a power outage. I had never experienced a power outage at the park before. Most of the rides were down as well as most of the food places were closed. So for the next hour, I just walked the midways playing on my phone. I ran into Magenta Lizard in Coney Mall and chatted with her for a little bit when all of a sudden, we all heard a very loud pop. For a split second, I thought someone might have a gun. Turns out, a light bulb from a nearby game blew out, throwing pieces of glass everywhere. Thankfully, no one got hurt. So after that, I ended up eating at Panda Express since it was open. Around 9:00, it started raining which emptied the park out. I managed to get some night rides on Adventure Express, Racer, and Diamondback. I then ended my night sitting by the fountains on International Street watching the fireworks. What a day to remember! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fountains just came back on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This was my first ever KIC meet up at an amusement park and I must say I had a blast! It's great going to parks with other people who love them just as much as you do. I upgraded to a platinum pass for this year and I look forward to spending a great season with everyone. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have visited Kings Island every season since 2001. 2016 was the first time I had a gold pass. This year, I plan on upgrading to a platinum pass. I remember the dates too. 2001: August 25th ( first visit and first time on racer). 2002: July 31st 2003: June 25th, August 13th 2004: June 15th, July 13th,14th. (First time on Adventure Express). 2005: June 27th, 28th, July 30th, December 3rd (WinterFest). 2006: July 31st (First time on The Beast, Drop Tower, and Backlot). 2007: August 1st ( first time on Vortex, Son of Beast, and Invertigo). October 12th (First time at Halloween Haunt). 2008: June 12th (First time on The Bat). 2009: July 8th ( First time on Diamondback). 2010: August 11th (First time on Flight of Fear and Firehawk). 2011: August 4th 2012: July 26th 2013: June 12th, October 4th 2014: June 19th ( First time on Banshee), July 17th,30th 2015: June 3rd,21st, July 13th,22nd, August 14th, 23rd, September 25th, October 16th, November 1st. 2016: April 22nd, May 13th,14th,27th, June 8th, 25th, July 17th,18th, August 1st,12th,15th,21st, September 4th (Sunday before Labor Day. This was the busiest day I have ever seen at the park), 23rd, October 7th,15th,21st,30th. So after counting those up, in 15 seasons, I have visited the park a total of 51 times. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I regret not ever riding The Crypt or when it was still Tomb Raider. I also wish I could have rode Phantom Theater but I was only 5 years old when it closed.

I had a great time meeting everyone! Thank you everyone for a warm welcome into the group. Thanks again malem for telling me about this. I hadn't been to GWL in over 8 years so I was definitely overdue for a visit. I felt like I was a little kid again. I think it's safe to say that my white elephant gift got the biggest laugh. When I walked into Five and Below, toilet tunes was calling my name. Hopefully, I can do the party again next year.

Thanks for the info everyone. I've seen old pictures of Enchanted Voyage. It looked like a neat ride but that was way before my time. I unfortunately ever got a chance to ride Phantom Theater. The first year I visited Kings Island was the last year it was open. I was only 4 so I don't even remember it. I've always heard it was a really cool ride.

Does anyone know if the building that holds CarnEvil during haunt was ever used for anything. It almost seems like it is connected to Boo Blasters.

My first time on SOB was on August 1st, 2007. Then I rode it during Haunt of 2007. I loved the first drop out of the station to get everyone anticipated of what was to come. I rode it again in 2008. It was early June and the park was pretty empty so I rode it like 10 times in a row. I think Mean Streak was worse than SOB as far as being rough. Mean Streak would hurt my back but I never had pain on SOB.

Who had a chance to ride SOB before it closed? Did you like it? Did you ride it with or without the loop? Would you have ridden it again if it had reopened? Thoughts? As far as me, I didn't ride it until August 2007. I never rode it with the loop. I also rode it a few times in 2008. I personally kind of enjoyed it. I know a lot of people thought it was too rough. But that is the nature of wooden coasters.

Even if I was allowed to swim in the fountain, I probably wouldn't. The geese crap all along the edge of it and I'm sure they do in the fountain too.

I had talked to one of the maintenance guys back in May about the fountains. I'm almost sure he said that in the spring when they fill the fountain, they get the water from some kind of reservoir. He said the water in the fountain is just like pool water. Obviously, if that's the case, it would have to go through some pretty heavy filtering. 500,000 gallons is a lot of water to get from wherever.

There used to be a reservoir of water right in the middle of the Mystic Timbers construction. You could see it while riding the train. It's drained now but I'll bet some of that water was used for WWC.

Some of the water used in the park is recirculated throughout the day. One thing I was told by an employee is that White Water Canyon uses rain water from the parking lot. Of course they have to filter out all of the crap from people's cars. And I'm pretty sure they add chlorine to it to keep algae from growing.

It might not be 10,000 gallons every single day. On windy days there is more water lost. Sometimes on really windy days, the outer jets will be off to prevent a lot of water loss. 10,000 gallons might sound like a lot but remember that the fountain holds 500,000 gallons.

Next year, the fountain will probably be drained after Labor Day to start preparing for winterfest. Yes all of the nozzles and lights will be removed temporarily to make way for the ice rink. There will be plywood installed and then machines will be brought in to keep the ice frozen.

Another interesting fact about the fountains. Approximately 10,000 gallons of water are lost each day due to evaporation.

I don't have any pictures but I do know more about the fountain than most people so I can tell you all about them. Everything is controlled by a computer. The fountains changing patterns and the lights are controlled by a rotating drum. There are pegs on the drum and as the drum moves, it activates different lights and sprays to come on and off. The control room is underneath the bandstand and that is where all of the breaker panels are as well as where the chlorine is mixed in with the water. The fountain is approximately 2 feet deep and has over 300 lights. There are 6 pedestals (I call them the bowls) in the fountain. The white part of the pedestals are made of fiberglass and the blue part is concrete. The fountains that shoot out of the sides of the bowls are called the horse tails. Then you have the flowers along the sides and the high jets are the tall ones along the sides and inside the bowls.The entire base of the fountain is concrete. All of the nozzles are made out of brass. The fountain was completely restored and rebuilt before the 2003 season. The fountain is protected by an intrusion detection system. Its basically an invisible fence that is along the perimeter of the fountain. There are 2 laser beams that shoot out and if someone jumps in at night when the lights are on, it cuts power to the lights. The reason is if someone jumped in and touched one of the lights, they might get shocked. You may notice sometimes in the spring, the lights are not on. The problem is that the geese like to sit around the fountain and when they walk through the laser beam, they cause the lights to turn off. The problem during Halloween Haunt is that the fog will get so thick that it will actually trip the system too.

I think one big problem with accurate wait times is the fact that they have the Fast Lane system. You might have to wait an extra 15 minutes because of the people with fast lanes ditching everyone. I understand that it's a great way for Cedar Fair to make money. I probably shouldn't complain about Fast Lane because I did get one on a busy Saturday in October. And I was with 4 other people so it was definitely worth it that day. And it's not only the ride lines. Sometimes I think they should get a Fast Lane for the food lines. LOL!!

If they did that for The Beast, they could have a dark forest setting with monsters lurking in the woods. When Cedar Fair took over, a lot of theming was lost. Backlot was no longer affiliated with the Italian Job movie. Adventure Express has lost a lot of Indiana Jones theming. So there's probably only so much theming they could add to certain rides for legal purposes.

Maybe they might have sold more photos if they didn't charge a fortune for them.

I don't ever remember cameras on Invertigo. Even when it was still Face Off. I probably just never noticed.

I guess I never really thought about this before but does anybody know why the ride photo cameras were removed on FOF and Firehawk.