Draining the Lagoons

With Adventure Island Watch and rumors of a new GCI there and possible replacements for Dinosaurs and SRF is anyone familiar with how they drain the lagoon? Does it retain within the penisula or go back into Lake Erie?

Why would they drain the lagoons?

I’ve spent time there in off seasons and I never noticed any lagoon draining.

XS NightClub said:
Why would they drain the lagoons?

To collect all the phones and sell them in Nigeria and such. Most are waterproof to a few meters these days, :)

The lagoons do drain into the lake and one of the locations is by Millennium Force. As you come around Perimeter Road by the Marina parking overflow, you can see the pipe sticking out from under the road and when its draining, see the water shooting out into the Marina. The lagoons typically keep water all winter but parts of the them are drained for access around the coasters and at times for construction proposes.

Pipes, tunnels, sewers and all the underground stuff always fascinates me. What about the one further up Perimeter Rd. by Thunder Canyon with the rock breakwall? I always assumed that was for Thunder Canyon and maybe SRF but not sure. Do they use lake water for those? Would be all over a WCO that focused on that kind of stuff.

I read a fascinating post a few years ago how at SFSTL they can reverse the pumps on the Intamin river ride and then have about 60 seconds to move any heavy equipment over to the the island for Mr. Freeze without having to drain the river.

The rock semicircle off Perimeter Road is the intake for Thunder Canyon. SRF uses chlorinated water.

Isn't Thunder Canyon chlorinated? I remember calling it Skank Water Canyon years ago because it smelled awful but could have sworn they started chlorinating it a while ago. Unless they are only chlorinating the waterfall we walk by in the queue.

As I recall, Thunder Canyon and the former White Water Landing are/were straight out of the lake. SRF has always been chlorinated despite only being separated from the (non chlorinated) swan/Maverick pond by a walkway of bricks.

Here is an old Thunder Canyon quote from a ride op that I saved. I'm pretty sure it was posted on these forums, but despite searching I can't seem to find the (very) old thread. Here is the quote:

"...Yes, and we find cold, raw, dead fish in the pit for Thunder Canyon every morning. Yes, it is VERY possible to be riding TC and have a fish (Or the remains of one) fall on your head from the waterfalls. A couple times during the season, a part of a fish will be found in a raft. TC uses 100% unfiltered, unchlorinated Lake Erie water. If its in the lake, its in the water of Thunder Canyon."

Yes, and I have suffered two separate infections (one to an eye; the other resulted in a day and a half in a hospital on IV antibiotics to treat a golf-ball size knot on my face) which coincidentally happened within a couple of days of riding Thunder Canyon. I'm basically DQing that ride.

Snake River Falls' pond serves as the reservoir for the ride, although the ride actually has two (mostly) separate circulation systems: most of the water in the upper channel stays in the upper channel (that not used for 'show water' on the drop). White Water Landing likewise had its own reservoir under the Hydro-Jump, separate from the lagoon system. Thunder Canyon has a culvert leading directly to Sandusky Bay.

That Thunder Canyon doesn't stink anymore is mostly because Lake Erie is a whole lot cleaner than it used to be.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yuck! Stay safe out there Dave!

I would assume they would need to do at least partial water changes frequently, like a home aquarium, becuase the ride is not a complete ecosystem.

Thunder Canyon actually drains completely every evening back to the lake. So it gets a "fresh" water source when the ride starts up. I assume (though don't know for sure) that it is constantly pulling water from the lake.

There is a water basin underneath the lift hill that has some large pipes coming from the lake. I'm pretty sure water is pumped into the basin constantly and at the end of the ride the water drops into a separate basin that drains to the lake.

I know when they shut off the water it runs through the course and hits the basin at the end (under the conveyor that moves the rafts back up to station) and drains back to the lake from there.

Correct...for the most part. Rides like Thunder Canyon all have some sort of large reservoir of water that they need to both pull from and fill when the ride is drained. When a raft ride is E-Stopped, the water drains via gravity back to the reservoir until the pumps are turned back on. I wouldn't say it is constantly pulling water from the bay to the ride but if a certain low level is reached, the ride will replenish water as needed. You can usually see the large reservoirs near rides if you look but in the case of Cedar Point's, its Sandusky Bay. Pretty creative when you think about how much land they saved by not having to build one.

Certainly adds to the “real” factor.

Augustmer: and people say CP doesn’t theme

If I remember correctly there was a very detailed blog back in the Tony a d Tyler days about TC if anyone knows where to find it it had some good pictures.

Chlorination: yes, the ride does get very mildly chlorinated every day.

Dead fish: last year, we really didn't find many fish in the pit or have complaints about fish in the ride after the first week or two of operations last season.

99er hit the nail on the head describing the flow and intake/output of water