Interactive Fountain

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The new fountain is nice, especially at night. I liked the ball fountain too. The large area of new pavers around the fountain help spruce up that part of the midway. I think the new "oversized" trash cans at the fountain detract from it's appearance though. To me they are so big that they are a focal point. It would be nice if they can get some special trash cans that blend in better, maybe the same material as the benches, but not bright yellow.

I saw the sample of Starlight and it looked very good waiting to see the entire effect. The new sign at the far end of Frontier Trail is a nice addition too. The front gate looked good, but there were issues with the screens above the entrance before the park opened.

Finally, I really liked the setup for early entry. They chained off the midway down the middle and let the pass/resort people in on the bay side to Raptor and beyond. The ticket people were allowed on the lake side of the midway and had access to Donut Time, etc up to Johnny Rocket's as in the past. The two groups did not mix once inside and there was no jam up for pass/resort people to get through to the rides. Great job CP don't change this. It worked.

I never cared for the water ball. To me, it was definitely an area that needed spruced up. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it plays out in the real world with older kids goofing off and so on. But just on appearance, I think it looks pretty sharp.

I agree 100% with Walt; albeit from a "distance" since getting to the point may not be an option for us this season. Maybe it is simply because I have stared at the ball fountain since the 1980's, but I certainly will not miss it, and think the fountain is a very, as Walt said, "sharp" upgrade.

Looking forward to seeing some Youtubism of the Starlight when it's up and running.

Clevelandkid, I imagine that at least part of the reasoning behind the size of the trashcans is that they're more effective if they're easy to see. I've not seen them in person, but from the pics they don't look significantly larger, just different. Perhaps that's why they stand out to a CP regular - you're used to seeing the "normal" cans everywhere, so they blend in.

And as for making them out of the same material as the benches, that's also not a good idea. Not only would they be much heavier and more difficult to move, etc., if they were steel, but there's also potential corrosion to deal with.

The fountain looks great, especially liking the color scheme. Can't wait to take some pictures, and maybe dart through it tomorrow, just to say I did.

I really like the new trash cans that they're putting in CP and KI. When I first saw them at Kalahari last year I immediately noticed the different shape and how much nicer the gray "stone" look appeared. I was very happy to see them at KI and now slowly making an appearance at CP. They really aren't much taller than the older brown cans, although I think they may be a little more narrow and hold slightly less trash (which may be a very good thing, as it may force Park Services to stay on their toes with replacing bags). Overall they look a lot better than the old brown Rubbermaid trash cans, and hope to see them totally replace the old cans over the next two or three seasons.

I can see that fountain situatuon getting ugly this summer, maybe the fountain was not such a good idea after all, sorry Tony. :)

Not only does the fountain look sharp, but the new lights, banners and benches around the fountain really make the entire area look nice.

I liked the fountain. I was there saturday and sunday; I saw everyone from families to older kids enjoying the fountain.

I can see that fountain situatuon getting ugly this summer

What "fountain situation"?

^maybe a mob of people trying to get a spot? idk

I was in Louisville for their Thunder Over Louisville fireworks back in April. There were approximately a half million people in the area and it was rather warm out. I saw many children playing in their similar fountain and I didn't see any "situations" occur.

It'll be just fine and the kids will love it. Most will be supervised anyways.

Video of it at night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJKZzxE4M0w

I think they need to take about half of the benches and pull them out another 8' or so from the fountain. As it is now, the benches form almost a full enclosure around the fountain, and it doesn't invite people to come inside. In fact, all the people I saw gathered around the fountain were sitting facing *away from* the fountain.

What it looked like to me was that if the spaces between the benches were larger, or if half the benches were pulled out to a second ring outboard of the ones surrounding the fountain, that would open the fountain up a bit...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I was thinking that too, that the benches kind of crowd the space. Although it's better than what they did at City Walk in Orlando, where they surrounded the fountains with stainless rails.

Did they surround the fountains with rails after an accident or were the rails up from the start? I don't understand why Universal would install a fountain like that and then block it off.

It's not a solid barrier, you can get to it, it just looks strange and non-inviting.

Sure enough, my daughter scrapped her arm up when she fell in the fountain this past weekend. They really need to add that foam flooring around the fountain.

I love that thing! it looks pretty cool at night. It would be cool if they had music to go along with the fountains. I have noticed new trashcans in the front of the park.

I think an interactive fountain is a good thing to add to the park. Its something that everyone can have fun with for a few minutes on a hot day. (Or if your a young kid, a few hours) I think something that targets that demographic is a very good addition.
However, I do miss the old retro fountain a bit. It would be nice to see it make an appearance somewhere else in the park.