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Multi-coloured (dyed) rainbow fountain - Please ID Park?

chainedbanana

Hyper Poster
This is a really random question - but 15-20 years ago when I was starting to get into parks - I remember seeing an image of a park which had a water feature/fountain where it had multiple spouts/cascades of different colours - each a separate dyed water to form a rainbow effect (prob each with its own based and pump to prevent mixing)- it was very striking (and definitely dyed water as it was daytime photos - so not lighting effects).

now it might have been a short lived feature - but I remember it really clearly, but can't for the life of me find any images of it - even with a deep google search of 'dyed water fountain theme park' etc etc

It might even be a defunct theme park that was around at the time - I have a feeling it was an American park although I did think it might have been Gardaland (I feel it was a park with a similar vibe - maybe), And before anyone asks it was NOT the red fountains that used to be at Blackpool pleasure beach. I'm also aware Nickelodeon parks have had green dyed fountains as features- and I feel it was that sort of the theme, but this was definitely multiple colours.

Anyway - if anyone knows what I'm taking about - it would be good to have my memory jogged!
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
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This is a really random question - but 15-20 years ago when I was starting to get into parks - I remember seeing an image of a park which had a water feature/fountain where it had multiple spouts/cascades of different colours - each a separate dyed water to form a rainbow effect (prob each with its own based and pump to prevent mixing)- it was very striking (and definitely dyed water as it was daytime photos - so not lighting effects).

now it might have been a short lived feature - but I remember it really clearly, but can't for the life of me find any images of it - even with a deep google search of 'dyed water fountain theme park' etc etc

It might even be a defunct theme park that was around at the time - I have a feeling it was an American park although I did think it might have been Gardaland (I feel it was a park with a similar vibe - maybe), And before anyone asks it was NOT the red fountains that used to be at Blackpool pleasure beach. I'm also aware Nickelodeon parks have had green dyed fountains as features- and I feel it was that sort of the theme, but this was definitely multiple colours.

Anyway - if anyone knows what I'm taking about - it would be good to have my memory jogged!
Do you picture it as a daytime or nighttime shot? Definitely plenty examples of fountains with uplighting. :)

But indeed, can't recall multi-colored fountains - did some google searches of inaugural year of Kings parks, etc. in the off-chance they "had a shot".
 

rob666

Hyper Poster
This has taken me back to the dancing fountain show at the Towers...in a shed, on wooden benches.
Possibility?
 

chainedbanana

Hyper Poster
It was defiantly daytime shots - and the water was definitely dyed - And wasn't that old - I seem to remember it being a new-ish feature (late 90s to mid 00's).
It could have been from a temporary event or launch.
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
Where’s @roomraider; this feels like something an Asian park would do. 😅
Afraid I'm not sure. If it was Asian I would be vaguely surprised the 90s and early 2000s was still a time when the existence of rides like Pyrenees and Diavlo was more like a rumour than accepted fact. If its from that long ago I suspect it was a western park but I can't say I've seen anything like the image mentioned.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
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I'm no expert on dyes or pumping systems, wouldn't you need a fountain customized for this very purpose? Dyes of multiple colours would just mix into an unpleasant brownish grey if all the water was routed through the same drain, so in practice you'd have to have a separate water collection system, pump, and nozzle for each colour. As far as I know, fountains tend to have just a single pump and drain for practical reasons, so a multi-coloured fountain would necessarily have to be a somewhat expensive and custom thing.

That doesn't sound like something you install to be temporary. It'd be a sizable investment, so it'd make more sense for it to be a permanent fixture. If they got it working as intended, it should have been around for a few years at least. It sounds too complicated and expensive to install as a temporary feature.

Then again, it sounds like exactly the sort of thing to malfunction a lot or be too expensive to maintain, so it could have been removed quickly after installation. Some quick Googling around for "rainbow fountain" and related terms only shows fountains with coloured lights, so the dye route apparently never took off.
 

chainedbanana

Hyper Poster
I'm no expert on dyes or pumping systems, wouldn't you need a fountain customized for this very purpose? Dyes of multiple colours would just mix into an unpleasant brownish grey if all the water was routed through the same drain, so in practice you'd have to have a separate water collection system, pump, and nozzle for each colour. As far as I know, fountains tend to have just a single pump and drain for practical reasons, so a multi-coloured fountain would necessarily have to be a somewhat expensive and custom thing.

That doesn't sound like something you install to be temporary. It'd be a sizable investment, so it'd make more sense for it to be a permanent fixture. If they got it working as intended, it should have been around for a few years at least. It sounds too complicated and expensive to install as a temporary feature.

Then again, it sounds like exactly the sort of thing to malfunction a lot or be too expensive to maintain, so it could have been removed quickly after installation. Some quick Googling around for "rainbow fountain" and related terms only shows fountains with coloured lights, so the dye route apparently never took off.

I feel like this might have been the case - and maybe they thought it was an innovative/ good idea at the time - only to find the colours splashed into each other and the colours muddled - loosing the effect. I know from reading about Disneyland's Defunct 'rainbow caverns' which used this effect (albeit in UV colours) and there was ongoing issues keeping the different coloured waters separate despite having individual channels and systems!
 
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