Lagoon Trip Report Part 1: The Coasters

I visited my first amusement park of the year on Saturday, April 23rd. Instead of going to a nearby, local park, I ended up being able to visit one 1700 miles from my home. Lagoon Park is located in Farmington, Utah just north of Salt Lake City. I took well over a hundred pictures so I am going to split this trip report into three parts: coasters, rides, and theming + scenery (charm).

Lagoon is home to nine coasters and I rode seven of them. You can see my BomBora video and pictures from media day. The Bat is a Vekoma family suspended coaster (which could really use some spring loaded side friction wheels instead of the fixed ones). Colossus the Fire Dragon is a classic Schwarzkopf double looping coaster which used to be a German fair coaster.

Jet Star 2 is another Schwarzkopf featuring a single inline row of riders with no lapbars. In 1998 Setpoint built and installed a new control system for the spiral lift coaster.

Roller Coaster is a John Miller designed ride built in 1921. One of the turns has had a new foundation added with adjustable mounts able to compensate for the sifting soil which much of the park is built on. The ride could use some Timberliners in my opinion.

Spider is a Maurer Sohne spinning coaster and has a capacity of 930 riders per hour. The Wild Mouse is also designed by Maurer and replaced an older wild mouse ride.

The star attraction of the park is Wicked, the LSM tower launch coaster. Wicked was manufactured by Zierer. The ride cost ten million to build and nearly 1.5 million of that was just for the sixty foot deep pilings and foundations. The LSM’s in the launch tunnel use a refrigeration system to help keep the heat down. Wicked features a unique observation window into the control system room from the queue line. The trains are 7,000 pounds unloaded and the side and bottom wheels are spring loaded to help keep wear down. There are six cars and five of them can operate at a time.

Wicked has a great track layout but the experience is nearly ruined by a horrible restraint design. Yes, it does what it is supposed to do by keeping riders secure in the car but it is one of the most uncomfortable designs I’ve ever experienced. The front row wasn’t as bad as the back but each time, mid-ride, the restraint would clamp down even tighter than before and I thought I was going to be cut in two pieces. Maybe if the end were a little more rounded it would be better. Nevertheless, Wicked was my favorite ride in the park, closely followed by BomBora.

Overall, Lagoon features a nice selection of coasters that appeal to all ages.

Lagoon video featuring the roller coasters in action coming soon…

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