Royal Fountains

[super7]

Since the renovation, I don't believe that i have ever seen 100% the jets functioning properly at the same time.  It was normally 2 or 3.   But currently there appears to be a significant amount of them not working.   

I personally didn't mind the renovation and the changeover to the in-water jets, but it seems the system they used as replacement is problematic.

[brenthodge]

It looks terrible this year. Few things are aligned, few are at anywhere close to the same level, some don’t work at all. There doesn’t seem to be any slow change from pattern to pattern, just everything blasting water all the time at different angles. I’ve not seen the night show yet, but it can’t get much better. They used wireless enabled valves that control each jet, but the water pressure seems to be full all the time, so if they loose the signal (as this stuff like LED lighting and wireless tech often does, they go rogue. The old fountains were I believe more controlled at the pump room with mechanical valves controlling the flow to each “zone” like side jets, morning glory jets, fan jets on the bowls etc. It wasn’t as “gimmicky”, but it sure seemed to work. Can you tell I still hate this “new” fountain?!

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Since the person who thought it would be a good idea to mess with the fountain in the first place is no longer employed by KI or Six Flags, I think the park should consider changing the fountains back to how they were with new pedestials since the old ones are used in Orion's queue. 

[BeeastFarmer]

6 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Since the person who thought it would be a good idea to mess with the fountain in the first place is no longer employed by KI or Six Flags, I think the park should consider changing the fountains back to how they were with new pedestials since the old ones are used in Orion's queue. 

I predict it will be at least 2039 before The Royal Fountain will be renovated again. This version will be 20 years old then.  

Who knows...by that time, Kings Island might just be a virtual reality that you subscribe to on different tiers from your home.   The land will have been turned into a giant data center with Buckee's for the brave souls who venture out of their homes. 

[Timchat2]

Hopefully we don't have to wait as long to get the proper Royal Fountains back as it took to get Phantom Theater to return. 

[super7]

8 hours ago, brenthodge said:

It looks terrible this year. Few things are aligned, few are at anywhere close to the same level, some don’t work at all. There doesn’t seem to be any slow change from pattern to pattern, just everything blasting water all the time at different angles. I’ve not seen the night show yet, but it can’t get much better. They used wireless enabled valves that control each jet, but the water pressure seems to be full all the time, so if they loose the signal (as this stuff like LED lighting and wireless tech often does, they go rogue. The old fountains were I believe more controlled at the pump room with mechanical valves controlling the flow to each “zone” like side jets, morning glory jets, fan jets on the bowls etc. It wasn’t as “gimmicky”, but it sure seemed to work. Can you tell I still hate this “new” fountain?!

Are they controlled by wiress?    Is that the issue?
 

The first year they had these fountains they used them reasonably well for the night show, and they were choreographed well timed with the music.    In that show, they also used music with a strong beat that allowed choreography with the fountains.
 

The current night show is just an absolute disaster in my opinion    The music is awful and it’s just a bunch of drones flying around and fireworks shooting with no coordination to the music.    There are some changes in the fountain when the music switches, but nothing I would call choreographed. They totally have wasted any potential this fountain had for a show. 

[Tr0y]

I want to say the fountain issues became very noticeable during the 2023 season. The pre-merge "lets pad the books" type of cuts. And they haven't recovered since. I don't agree with returning to the old pedestal fountains, those were dated and honestly with the budget cuts the pedestal fountains would likely have issues too. 

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

Three nice sets of consistent-spray nozzles might go a long way for prolonging the life of any other "showtime" (variable spray) nozzles in the fountain by giving the computers a break. At least, I think the issue is with programming rather than the sprayers themselves. Either that or just copying the nozzle pattern from either KD or CW would work as well. We might lose the ability for fountain shows in the latter scenario, but it's probably worth having fountains that work in general.

No matter whatever we want to happen, Six Flags needs to get their financials together if they hope to do all of this work to get their parks back to running well. Otherwise maybe we'll see them fixed when the Herschend Family Mega Corp buys Kings Island, removes the dining plans, puts in a tame little family coaster, and finally charges $200/pass. (Not that they'd do any/all of that, but I'm still not convinced that they can handle their rapid expansion or that they'll treat all of their newly-acquired parks as well as Dollywood and SDC.)

[brenthodge]

I remember the first "closing show" after the first returned Winterfest when they used the new lighting rigs, the old fountains and the building LED color bars. They picked a solid song from "The Greatest Showman" and it WORKED so well. It didn't need "choreographed squirts" that aren't even really choreographed. They used what they had, supplemented it with fireworks, building lighting and some additional lighting from the rigs. Sometimes less is more if you cant really BE MORE. The finale for the 50th was amazing, but if they aren't going to do that (and they can't and shouldn't) then they just need to do less really well.

Based on the corwds I saw leaving Sunday night about 9-9:30, I'd even question if we need 10pm closes with fireworks every night of the week. Id rather have solid finale shows on Friday and Saturday evenings, put some of the savings toward a better, fuller live show schedule with more evening shows at Showplace and bandstand, and a WELL LIT and ACTUALLY CHOREOGRAPHED (looking at you HAUNT shows) fountain and lighting only show at 9-9:30 pm when the park closes Sun - Th. What happened to "At the end of the Day" song from Adventure awaits? - perfect song for a simple ending show. Get a solid programming and don't screw with it for the next 6 years.

If you can't do what The Island does for free at a shopping center, then quit trying - This is what we've NEVER gotten.

 

[brenthodge]

9 hours ago, super7 said:

Are they controlled by wiress?    Is that the issue?
 

The first year they had these fountains they used them reasonably well for the night show, and they were choreographed well timed with the music.    In that show, they also used music with a strong beat that allowed choreography with the fountains.
 

The current night show is just an absolute disaster in my opinion    The music is awful and it’s just a bunch of drones flying around and fireworks shooting with no coordination to the music.    There are some changes in the fountain when the music switches, but nothing I would call choreographed. They totally have wasted any potential this fountain had for a show. 

they are - each fountain has a feed pipe that runs at 100%. There is then a control valve with an antenna that the nozzel attaches to. If it looses the signal, it seems to just default to whatever it likes and stays there regardless of what is happening around it. The alignment gets off when they are adding/removing the ice rink and they get knocked off their "mark" and no one ever takes the time to walk the fountain and re-align them to their positions. The "Finger jets" are pointless anyway in that they need to be way more arched to the center. ASs it is now they are "slightly angled" and just look crooked.

[brenthodge]

I just re-watched UNDER THE STARS and ADVENTURE AWAITS. Either of those shows, with a little better fountain programming, and better laser programming to use the lasers for the logos instead of the drones could run nightly without fireworks or drones as a "cheaper" alternative on weeknights with 9 or 9:30 closes. They've even gotten rid of the moving lights used on the tower a little bit more each year. Don't know if these were rented or owned and have just been retired as they quit working or they no longer see the need to rent them. I think the problem was they kept trying to do the "50th light" shows (and were fairly successful) for a few years after and now they have just started a weak "copy and paste" form year to year