Royal Fountain

[Derek]

The Royal Fountain never ceases to amaze me. I’ve wondered how the fountain works for quite a while so I’d like to know deeper about how the fountain actually works. I know it has 4 giant tubular pumps with sensors and shoots a little over 10,000 gallons of water out of the reflecting pool that holds 600,000 gallons of water, but does it run electronically or naturally or both? Where are the 4 giant tubular pumps located? It’s impressive how big the fountain is and that it has somewhat a small pumping room underneath the bandstand. Is there a basement underneath the pool where the plumbers could analyze the pipes/pumps? So, I’d really appreciate it if you’d show me pictures of how it really works. It really is an amazing engineering complex.

 

 

[CoastersRZ]

Well, I think you answered some of your questions.  The pumps are located in the pump room underneath the bandstand.  There is a door that is visible on I believe the Planet Snoopy side of the bandstand that leads into the pump room.  The pipes that go out to the fountains are encased in the concrete that form the pool for the fountain.  

 

I am not quite sure what you mean by run electronically or naturally or both.

[pianoman]

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.

[King Ding Dong]

And all this time I thought a crew of Umpa Lumpas were in that room manually turning valves.

[pianoman]

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

[King Ding Dong]

^ Have any figures for the park as a whole? I imagine between SC and the other water rides that figure could easily double in the summer.

[CoastersRZ]

That 10,000 amount seems really high for just the fountain.  I don`t dispute the number, but it just seems really high.

 

And when they had ice skating "on the fountain" for Winterfest, they didn`t just freeze the water in the fountain.  They built a pedestal/stage over all the jets and lights to have a smooth, flat surface to have the ice rink built on.

[pianoman]

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.

[pianoman]

That 10,000 amount seems really high for just the fountain.  I don`t dispute the number, but it just seems really high.

 

And when they had ice skating "on the fountain" for Winterfest, they didn`t just freeze the water in the fountain.  They built a pedestal/stage over all the jets and lights to have a smooth, flat surface to have the ice rink built on.

 

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.

[shark6495]

Still though that's 1/50th of the pool lost each day? I'm sure you are right but that seems like a lot but who knows. Puddles can dry out in an hour so I believe it

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[King Ding Dong]

Total water usage must be just astounding between all the attractions, restrooms, food service, landscaping etc.

[pianoman]

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.

[CoastersRZ]

Yep, the reservoir for White Water Canyon is part of a natural stream.  I don`t know if they actually use chlorine in the water or not for White Water.  i know they treat the water for Flume.

[malem]

The water for WWC is treated with chlorine, but to a lesser extent than water in a swimming pool or water slide would be.

 

^^ The reservoir was originally a natural lake, but I doubt that the parking lot drains into it. If it did, as you said, they'd need to do it in a way that contaminants were removed. Runoff from streets & parking lots isn't pleasant.

[pianoman]

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.

[BoddaH1994]

It runs off of two sand filters (you can tell by the turbidity) and the filtration runs off the pedestals.  That's why they still run over the sides when the fountain is off.

[teenageninja]

The water for WWC is treated with chlorine, but to a lesser extent than water in a swimming pool or water slide would be.

 

^^ The reservoir was originally a natural lake, but I doubt that the parking lot drains into it. If it did, as you said, they'd need to do it in a way that contaminants were removed. Runoff from streets & parking lots isn't pleasant.

The water does run off from the parking lot.

 

 

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.

 

You are correct, the water in the reservoir is used for WWC, it will be used again next season, which is why they replaced the pumps in the last offseason.

[King Ding Dong]

Hmmmm. No sand filter is going to remove petro chemicals from the water. Let's hope KI adequately tests the water for contaminants other than biological.

[pianoman]

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.

[CoastersRZ]

The difference though, is that since people don`t go swimming in the fountain, it doesn`t have to meet the same chemical checks/ water quality that a swimming pool has to be maintained too.

[pianoman]

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.

[King Ding Dong]

^ What do think the wildlife does at SC when there aren't 5,000 screaming kids around?

[rcwizard13]

And what do you think some of those 5,000 screaming kids do even when you're there?

[TopThrill]

On a windy day, there's quite a spray come the fountains.

[coasterking88]

As someone has had the chance to be in the fountain I can tell you that the water is relatively clean but even in the summer can be frigid.