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International street makeover


Klabergian Empire

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35 minutes ago, Pagoda Gift Shop said:

I always thought the lack of more KIC-specific events was due to cost.  You don't see many coaster groups doing individual events anymore.  I think that is related to cost, as well as the park pushing their own events like Coasterstock.

Does the park do free events for any group at this point?

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Just now, IndyGuy4KI said:

No, if we do an event it had to be a picnic which means paying for a meal.

So that opens the question of did the park single out KIC to stop getting events, or did they just stop doing events for everyone?

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1 hour ago, fryoj said:

So that opens the question of did the park single out KIC to stop getting events, or did they just stop doing events for everyone?

We went from having several individual coaster club and enthusiast organization events a year to one major event a year with the creation of Coasterstock in 2015. 

We still do a number of things for individual coaster clubs and enthusiast organizations outside of Coasterstock, just in a different way than having an event. 

Last year, we introduced K.I. Blog Meetups, offering a series of behind-the-scenes opportunities that included behind-the-scenes video and photo opportunities of The Beast, Racer, Firehawk and Gravity, which included a Q&A with the cast. With the blog meetups, you didn't have to be a member of an approved coaster club or enthusiast organization to participate. Park admission was the only requirement. 

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20 minutes ago, DonHelbig said:

We went from having several individual coaster club and enthusiast organization events a year to one major event a year with the creation of Coasterstock in 2015. 

We still do a number of things for individual coaster clubs and enthusiast organizations outside of Coasterstock, just in a different way than having an event. 

Last year, we introduced K.I. Blog Meetups, offering a series of behind-the-scenes opportunities that included behind-the-scenes video and photo opportunities of The Beast, Racer, Firehawk and Gravity, which included a Q&A with the cast. With the blog meetups, you didn't have to be a member of an approved coaster club or enthusiast organization to participate. Park admission was the only requirement. 

Thanks Don. It's good to have clarification on the issue as theres been some odd rumors swirling around here for years on this subject. 

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1 hour ago, silver2005 said:

Just caught my first fountain show. My review- two thumbs way up!

Was in the back of the park for the finale; but if not mistaken, not all the I-Street lights were working.

Saw the full light show on Friday or Saturday (at least I think it was...) and it is really good.  They seem to be having some consistency issues on the effects though.

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^I know, but I definitely can see the upside as if they'd all be working.  I'm happy with the results.  Yes, I do miss the pedistals, but the new set up definitely has a more subtle, quaint feeling within International Street that I'm learning to appreciate.   

I'll be definitely enjoying some meal time fountain ERT a lot this summer, hopefully with some added Graeter's, Off the Charts, and saxophone ERT.  B) 

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  • 2 months later...

I was a little worried when about 5 of the nozzles - three of which being in the very middle of the S curve were broken off over the past few weeks.  Likely this was the result of whoever cleans the fountains being a little careless with the vacuum hoses.  I'm very happy to report that as of this weekend, all of the nozzles have been repaired and that fountain is once again firing at 100%.  This is very cool because it shows a commitment to quality, instead of a "eh, we'll fix it over the offseason" attitude.  I feel like this has been kind of renewed over the past few years.  

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Now 4 on the LaRosa side are out. Wish they would vary the patterns more and do some lower, some with only a few nozzles etc. it seems like a lot going on all the time. I wish they would maybe not even use the full s curve except in the show. Keep it more like it used to be through the day then pull out “the stops” for the finale. 

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On 6/10/2019 at 11:42 PM, silver2005 said:

^I know, but I definitely can see the upside as if they'd all be working.  I'm happy with the results.  Yes, I do miss the pedistals, but the new set up definitely has a more subtle, quaint feeling within International Street that I'm learning to appreciate.   

I'll be definitely enjoying some meal time fountain ERT a lot this summer, hopefully with some added Graeter's, Off the Charts, and saxophone ERT.  B) 

Sorry, I don’t see subtle and quiet. I do agree it’s less “grand” but it seem chaotic with water shifting up and down non stop. I think they need to “dial down” the non stop patterns and just run a few arrangements that look good and hold for 15 min or so, then shift to another arrangement (like before) then maybe do 2-3 choreographed shows during the day (not even announced, they just happen) and one big show at night with crazy patterns and lights etc. by the time 10 rolls around, they’ve shown off all of their “tricks” 

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I've come to appreciate the new Royal Fountain.  But I don't really see any shows.  I see patterns, but it is not synched to anything.  That was what my expectation was.  The old fountain had patterns.

This is not to say that I don't appreciate what they did, but it didn't match my expectation.  But 99.9999999999% of the park guests probably don't have the same expectation that I do.  ;)

 

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45 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I've come to appreciate the new Royal Fountain.  But I don't really see any shows.  I see patterns, but it is not synched to anything.  That was what my expectation was.  The old fountain had patterns.

This is not to say that I don't appreciate what they did, but it didn't match my expectation.  But 99.9999999999% of the park guests probably don't have the same expectation that I do.  ;)

 

Totally agree. It’s not BAD. it just seems to me it was overall a lateral move. I just wish if they are only doing patterns, they would slow it down during the day and let it just be s fountain, not a “spectacle” open to close. By doing that, it’s not special. Heck, just running the center jets with the arching jets (if they could reposition them to all arch the same like originally) would be nice through the day. 

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I previously was lambasted on this board fior criticizing the programming of the fountains.  It was probably by whoever programmed them lol. 

But the fountains have nearly no synchronization to the music during the finale, and none during gvthe day.  Sure they change colors and patterns during the finale, but it’s not the high level of synchronization that is possible   They have SO much potential, but it will take someone that knows music phrasing and counts to program them to do that. 

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The music on International Street is set to “shuffle,” so the fountain can’t really be choreographed during the day unless they play the playlist straight through. I also do agree that the fountain could be more synched to the music during the Royal Finale. The fountain work was done by Georgia Fountain Company, which does work for Disney and many other companies, so it’s not like it was done by someone inexperienced in choreographing fountains.

That being said, I love how animated they are during the day and the lights at night. It makes it much more of a true centerpiece for International Street.

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25 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

The music on International Street is set to “shuffle,” so the fountain can’t really be choreographed during the day unless they play the playlist straight through. I also do agree that the fountain could be more synched to the music during the Royal Finale. The fountain work was done by Georgia Fountain Company, which does work for Disney and many other companies, so it’s not like it was done by someone inexperienced in choreographing fountains.

That being said, I love how animated they are during the day and the lights at night. It makes it much more of a true centerpiece for International Street.

There’s no reason there couldn’t be 6-8 pre-timed shows (like on the hour) that “take over” the general play list. Look at what they do with the island in pigeon forge. It’s set up just that way. And I agree. Companies can only do the work they are given the budget for. And really? They can develop a full playlist for a day of operation? You make it sound like it’s Gary’s iPad plugged into the stereo just shuffling through a few songs. 

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44 minutes ago, super7 said:

I previously was lambasted on this board fior criticizing the programming of the fountains.  It was probably by whoever programmed them lol. 

But the fountains have nearly no synchronization to the music during the finale, and none during gvthe day.  Sure they change colors and patterns during the finale, but it’s not the high level of synchronization that is possible   They have SO much potential, but it will take someone that knows music phrasing and counts to program them to do that. 

Oh no. You can’t go around making intelligent suggestions like that. It’s tine to those pitchforks back out! I still don’t understand why a shopping center with free fountains can make this work better than a major regional theme park. 

 

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My guess is the programmer(s) of the finale maybe  has(have) technical lighting  knowledge but not musical knowledge

The two songs of the finale are strong dance beat songs that would allow for a lot of choreographed synchronization.  

The Pigeon Forge show is a good example of syncing to the music 

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On 9/1/2019 at 10:48 PM, brent said:

Now 4 on the LaRosa side are out. Wish they would vary the patterns more and do some lower, some with only a few nozzles etc. it seems like a lot going on all the time. I wish they would maybe not even use the full s curve except in the show. Keep it more like it used to be through the day then pull out “the stops” for the finale. 

Sometimes when a few in a row are off it’s because of a programming glitch. I’ve seen large sections off and then return within the hour. Hopefully that’s the case with this. The ones I mentioned were literally broken off and laying on the fountain floor.

23 hours ago, brent said:

There’s no reason there couldn’t be 6-8 pre-timed shows (like on the hour) that “take over” the general play list. Look at what they do with the island in pigeon forge. It’s set up just that way. And I agree. Companies can only do the work they are given the budget for. And really? They can develop a full playlist for a day of operation? You make it sound like it’s Gary’s iPad plugged into the stereo just shuffling through a few songs. 

It’s entirely possible and not out of the realm of possibility for the future. No need to do a playlist for the entire day. They can  supersede the music and have a fountain program. They just chose not to go that route. Maybe they were trying to make the nightly thing special. Who knows?

23 hours ago, super7 said:

My guess is the programmer(s) of the finale maybe  has(have) technical lighting  knowledge but not musical knowledge

The two songs of the finale are strong dance beat songs that would allow for a lot of choreographed synchronization.  

The Pigeon Forge show is a good example of syncing to the music 

Remember how the show kept messing up in the early season? My understanding is that they lost all of the programming for the lights and fountains several times due to computer failure and power surge from the storms. Nothing to do with the fountain or lights - this is all infrastructure issues. Some stuff they were able to pull from a backup, some wasn’t. So imagine programming the fountain over the course of several weeks, loosing everything, and then having to do it all again in one night... from memory. I truly do think the fountain was better when the show opened. Still cool now, but I do see the argument that more could be done. 

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1 hour ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Sometimes when a few in a row are off it’s because of a programming glitch. I’ve seen large sections off and then return within the hour. Hopefully that’s the case with this. The ones I mentioned were literally broken off and laying on the fountain floor.

It’s entirely possible and not out of the realm of possibility for the future. No need to do a playlist for the entire day. They can  supersede the music and have a fountain program. They just chose not to go that route. Maybe they were trying to make the nightly thing special. Who knows?

Remember how the show kept messing up in the early season? My understanding is that they lost all of the programming for the lights and fountains several times due to computer failure and power surge from the storms. Nothing to do with the fountain or lights - this is all infrastructure issues. Some stuff they were able to pull from a backup, some wasn’t. So imagine programming the fountain over the course of several weeks, loosing everything, and then having to do it all again in one night... from memory. I truly do think the fountain was better when the show opened. Still cool now, but I do see the argument that more could be done. 

That seems like a major fail in the planning department. I can’t believe a major entertainment venue wouldn’t have a real time backup of all of the data for a signature entertainment offering so that there would simply be a “reinstall” of the show instead of “programming from memory”. 

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50 minutes ago, brent said:

That seems like a major fail in the planning department. I can’t believe a major entertainment venue wouldn’t have a real time backup of all of the data for a signature entertainment offering so that there would simply be a “reinstall” of the show instead of “programming from memory”. 

I doubt they simply forgot to back it up. Whatever happened was pretty catastrophic. I don’t know a whole lot about this stuff, but a lot of the people that do this sort of thing are contractors so they do this for a living... and the park likely paid dearly for them to come out and do it all again.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 3 years later...
On 1/16/2024 at 1:10 PM, Orion-XL200 said:

5 years ago today, this change was announced:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Qcwud9zkXvZpdasi/?mibextid=WC7FNe

It's amazing how the video attached with the announcement showed the scope of work being done.

5 years later I'm still disappointed with the end results and all the missed opportunities to "fix" so many little things and make long-term infrastructure improvements as well as bringing back a logical "street" scape feel. It was... nice what they did, but Im still not sure its really better for all the work and the loss of the grandeur of the original fountain.

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41 minutes ago, brenthodge said:

5 years later I'm still disappointed with the end results and all the missed opportunities to "fix" so many little things and make long-term infrastructure improvements as well as bringing back a logical "street" scape feel. It was... nice what they did, but Im still not sure its really better for all the work and the loss of the grandeur of the original fountain.

I agree with you. I mean, there are some things that I like....I like the new pavers and the uplights on the trees. The buildings having been painted and decoration accents on them are great. I had hoped that the fountains would be more like the fountain at The Island in Pigeon Forge....more of a show element throughout the day or heck even like Canada's Wonderland when their fountain was redone....they had a choreographed show to the music conducted by Snoopy which was cool. 

But yeah, the grandeur of the fountains is missing. I don't necessarily miss the pedestals, but I miss more water movement. I miss the bigger trees (but understand why they left), the newer ones are starting to get a good growth on them. I still am not sure about the stage at the tower end of the fountains. 

I do like the newer tables and umbrellas that aren't branded but give a great flow of color from above. 

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