Question about the Lagoons

Are they a set body of water that CP just adds to as needed, or is there a pipe somewhere feeding a live connection to Lake Erie of the bay? In the old ariel photos I've seen the lagoons were basically canals with an actual connection to the fresh lake water, but currently the water looks too "green" to be lake water.

I'm pretty sure they're connected to lake Erie. They are also treated to prevent algae growth I think.

The water from the lagoon comes from the midways all the rain water that drains from midways when it rains drains to the lagoon. There are times that it rains too much that they have to pump water out of the lagoon to allow paddle wheel to still operate.

Magnummatt02 said:
The water from the lagoo comes from the midways all the rain water that drains from midways when it rains drains to the lagoo.

What??? I think what he means is the lagoon (lagoo??) serves as storm water drainage from the midways though Im not sure that is the case.

Matt is not lying to you, that is a true statement. Snake River Falls also dumps into the Lagoon when it rains a lot. In 2007 we had a lot of down time due to all the rain. Our crew went to the see the Simpsons movie, Taco Bell, and other fun things around town!

There was one Friday last fall where Terror Island almost had to open late because we'd gotten so much rain the floating bridges were up too high. They spent all day pumping water out of the lagoon and got the level down enough just before we opened.

If I remember right, when Mantis was built CP had to fill in part of the lagoon for construction. As a result, I think they promised or had to create some green space somewhere else as a result.

I would assume that the lagoon is still 'protected' in this way today.

EDIT:

There is some decent lagoon info in this thread:

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/18780.aspx

The lagoons were dredged in the early 1900s, so they are entirely man-made, although somehow they have become protected wetlands, so yes, when Cedar Point filled in part of the lagoon, they had to create new wetlands up along US-6.

There is a connection to Lake Erie, but it is not a direct connection; it is a controlled connection. I think it's back by Mean Streak...or is that the intake for Thunder Canyon, which is unique among rapids rides in that it does not have a reservoir as part of the ride design.

The lagoons are also used for cooling water for Top Thrill Dragster.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

No way would I let that slimy, mucky lagoon water on my top dollar mechanical equipment (TTD cable tray and feeder hoses). Are you sure they use lagoon water? Only if its highly processed.

Yes, they use the lagoon water. But its not like they're using it as lubricant or anything. Do you know how a car's radiator works?

arms_down said:
Matt is not lying to you, that is a true statement. Snake River Falls also dumps into the Lagoon when it rains a lot. In 2007 we had a lot of down time due to all the rain.

While yes the midways do drain into the lagoons (when the water level is low you can see the drainage pipes that dump into the lagoon, which are coincidentally near storm drains on the midway). I do however doubt Snake Rivers drainage system. That is a chlorinated water system(that part is for sure as you can see the chlorine drums from the train, and I do not believe they would be allowed to dump that into the lagoons. Secondly having seen Snake River both empty and up close and personal I don't remember seeing any piping heading in that direction.

I'm no Snake River Expert and not a Wildlife Law expert either so I may still be wrong...

Rapids 77-78 said:
No way would I let that slimy, mucky lagoon water on my top dollar mechanical equipment (TTD cable tray and feeder hoses). Are you sure they use lagoon water? Only if its highly processed.

djDaemon, said it true. Radiator fluid. Not oil. I would assume that there are intake filters so as to not to allow and slime to get stuck in the hoses. Though I am curious as to what temperature the water is when it departs back into the lagoon.

Yes, the temperature and filtering topics have been discussed before. And RideMan has a couple of excellent posts (here and here) that describe the situation quite well.

Note that, despite my claim above that TTD does use the lagoon for cooling, RideMan cannot confirm that.

The radiator analogy is not an accurate one. You would not put anything but clean water and antifreeze into your cooling system or any other that involves pumping fluids thru an enclosed, small diameter piping system (which is what feeds the cable trays). Likewise, would you really put lagoon water on the primary drive cable for one of your most expensive rides? Would you want organic contaminates and dirt on your take-up reel and go thru your small diameter feeder hoses? Unless the water is heavily treated, I still doubt your contention that TTD uses lagoon water for cooling.

*sigh*

The medium used to cool a radiator is air (at least in the case of automobiles). In the case of TTD, the medium used to cool it's "radiator" is the lagoon, which has a much higher thermal density than air. They're not pumping lagoon water through TTD's motor, and no ever claimed anything even remotely like that.

The hydraulic fluid gets quite heated during its pressurization and release. It gets passed over a series of coils filled with lagoon water. 2nd Law of Thermodynamics says that the energy will transfer from hot to cold to approach equilibrium. The pond water is constantly flowing through the system (and substantially cooler than the air in July), absorbing heat from the hydraulic system and then transferring it to the giant reservoir known as the lagoon. It is the most cost effective method of cooling the hydraulic system as there is no need to keep a closed reservoir closed or for an expensive cooling tower.

The lagoon water never comes in direct contact with any functional part of the ride.

I heard a rumor years ago that they got cought dumping used frier grease into the lagoon.

Dave - I got thinking (scary) what was the land like prior to the dredging? Was it solid, or just swampy to where the dredging removed a lot of the muck and silt to provide some depth to what was already wetlands?

Or was it just solid land that someone decided to dig out and flood?

I know the question isn't directed at me, but I think I can give you somewhat of a solid answer. Based upon the wording in the constantly referred to book "Queen of American Watering Places," I would say that they were dug out of decently solid ground, creating artificial wetlands and waterways for the purpose of scenery and transportation of certain items to key parts of the park. Now that conclusion is based upon the wording, as I don't believe it ever says that they were dug out of solid land, but it says they were "excavated" which leads me to believe that they had to create the wetlands.

Thanks for the replies everyone...

The reason I asked the orriginal question is it seems that orriginally the lagoons were fed from the bay and lake areas, if this postcard is correct...

http://pro.corbis.com/images/LW003417.jpg?size=67&uid=%7B8137144B-DE13-40F3-9066-8C07E04FE71F%7D