New Fountain at Canada's Wonderland

Ouimet hinted that the fountains would be overhauled at the former Paramount Parks. Well, Canada's Wonderland went first. The bottom of the fountain was painted black, LED lights were added, and 3 sets of 8 water cannons were added to the existing fountain infrastructure.

So, what do you guys think? I hope they hold off doing this to the fountains at Kings Island and Kings Dominion until they can gather more guest opinions. My thoughts are mixed. Naturally, it's hard to take in the drastic change to black after so many years of the cheery light blue. I worry that the fountain cleaning will become more lax / difficult, and it'll start to look a dull grey or brown. If they wanted to kill the 80's vibe or conceal water lines, why not go with a darker blue?

From CWMania:

Kings islands fountains were totally rebuilt and repainted twice n the last ten years, Maybe a change in lighting but I don't see much else.

I heard a few years back that a trend was toward black swimming pools. While it sounds dark and ugly I guess the result is clearer or more sparkling looking water, and a deeper looking pool.

Kings Island's fountain is the oldest, of course, and the odd man out. It's the only one that has those giant blue and white round platforms down the center of the water. I love em, they remind me of classic pool architecture, fixtures they'd put in public pools when I was a kid. I remember too, when the park hosted Winterfest those platforms each held huge, beautifully decorated identical Christmas trees. The skaters could go around them. I hope they don't go away.

Charles is right, International Street had a renovation and the fountain got new sprays a while back. But with the emphasis on nighttime visuals toward the front of the park, Eiffel tower and Starlight, a new water and light show might add value as well. I also LOVE the new paint and touch-ups on CW's International Street, and that would benefit KI as well.

I've always thought the International Street concept of the three original Taft parks was fabulous. Nice, full scale amusement park architecture that really makes great, attractive entranceways to the parks, and the perfect setting for meeting, shopping, and dining. It's fun to compare the three and pick out similarities and differences. And aside from Disney, everyone else's main street or town square entrances pale in comparison.

^I would say the Great Americas are also spectacular, with the pool leading the majestic double carousel. But the Keco parks were on a much bigger level.

My first trip to Chicago's park was during the fall season and the pool looked like bubbling blood. Ick.

Halloween effect as in supposed to look like bubbling blood? Or more like leaf and debris blood?

So, I thought Billy was originally talking about California's Great America (the Cedar Fair park), not knowing Chicago's Great America had the same fountain / double carousel entrance. What's the story here? Was the California park once owned by Six Flags?

The Great America parks in California and Illinois were originally built and operated by the Marriott Corporation (the hotel people). In the early 1980s Marriott decided to exit the theme park business. The Illinois park was sold to Six Flags, who picked up the license for the Warner Bros cartoon characters that Marriott had secured for its parks.

The California park was the subject of a legal battle between the city and a developer, which the city won. They hired Kings Entertainment, which owned Kings Island and Kings Dominion, among other parks, to manage their Great America park, and later sold it to the chain. Kings Entertainment was purchased by Paramount, and later by Cedar Fair.

No, it was hallowe'en. Skeletons were in it too.

Hallowe'en? Is that some sort of Polynesian autumnal holiday?

It's an old, traditional spelling.

The Grammar Girl says:

"You can certainly use "Hallowe’en" if you want an 18th-century feel for your party invitations or decorations."

Or post. :-)