The interactive fountain called Cosmic Waves must have seemed like a good idea when the Disneyland designers first conceived it who wouldn't have fun jumping along thin jets of water shooting up intermittently from the ground, especially on a blazing summer day and who wouldn't want to try to rotate a big wet marble sitting in the middle of all the action. Unfortunately the reality proved to be less Cosmic than expected.Cosmic Waves open with the remodeled Tomorrowland in mid 1998 its location a 60 foot wide circular plaza near the Moonliner. The plan was for kids to run between the fountains 5 foot high water jets without getting wet additionally kids could team up to push a giant 6-ton granite ball that stayed in place as it slowly turned.
Designed after Elizabethan concept of hedge mazes. Cosmic Waves became a part of this retro-future vision, using a simple concept in physics, water to reduce surface friction to create a magnificent wonder found floating on a thin sheet of water. This enormous, perfectly round boulder appears immovable, but the constantly flowing water creates a low friction environment allowing even the youngest of guests to rotate it by simply pushing on the ball in any direction.At the Cosmic Waves fountain in front of Space Mountain guests can try their hand at turning a giant 1000 pound granite ball.Cosmic Waves is a high-tech interactive water fountain. Here many visitors "chill" as they engulf themselves in intermittent bursts of water while navigating through the fountain's many jets. The jets, located in the concrete pavement, alternate the spray so unpredictably that it is easy to become drenched. From Los Angeles Times May 23, 1998 Instead of figuring out how to avoid getting wet, guests treated Cosmic Waves as water-play area. Parents sent in their not-yet-potty-trained toddlers. Disney addressed the health issue by increasing the chlorine level of the recirculating water, which caused the soft flooring to deteriorate.
It turned out however that experiencing the water was more fun than avoiding the water leaving parents and cast members to deal with soaking wet kids who hadn't thought to bring bathing suits.By the end of 2001 as Cosmic Waves became more like a cosmic bath, the park turn off the fountain Though the water no longer spurts the stone ball can still be taken for a spin.The water area was a big hit, but many people would visit Honey I Shrunk the Audience after playing in the water and the seats in the theater were beginning to show some damage so the water area was removed and replaced with planters.
