Part 8: Lagoon Amusement Park - May 29, 2017

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​The next stop was the final part of the tour, and the biggest amusement park we would visit, Lagoon! Approaching the park would build anticipation thanks to their large rides being easily seen from interstate 15, especially the newest and most anticipated coaster of the park, Cannibal.

Lagoon is a classic style amusement park that sits North of Salt Lake City, and features tree lined midways that really give the place some great character, as well as some much needed shade on really hot days. Fortunately today was for the most part pretty comfortable, but if there were higher temperatures, there would have been plenty of places to get out of the sun for a while. Another feature of the park is the artwork throughout the park, such as sculptures and a wall of art by children from the local area of the park.

Unfortunately, upon arrival we were greeted with some bad news. Cannibal, the parks largest coaster, was experiencing trouble that day, and they had a sign at the front of the park notifying visitors that it may not be available. As the day went on, it would occasionally run, sometimes with passengers, but most of the time that we came by to try and ride it, they would have someone at the entrance to inform us that it was down for technical issues. So we would keep coming back later in hopes of getting to try it out.

In the meantime, there were plenty of other coasters for us to ride. Our first one for this visit would be Colossus The Fire Dragon, a double-looping Anton Schwarzkopf that provided a fun ride! Schwarzkopf's looping coasters are known for having some of the most intense vertical loops because of the positive g's you feel, which Colossus was not shy about the force in the loops.

​The second coaster we would ride was Spider, a Maurer spinning mouse. This is a fairly common model of theirs as it features steep-drops and turns to go along with the spinning. While I have been on some of this variety that have had some great spinning, we unfortunately had it too well balanced, making for lighter spinning, although some in our group were not too bummed about that. Personally, I love a good spin!

Of course, you can't go wrong with a shameless coaster credit! We did just that with a ride on Puff The Little Fire Dragon. A small Zierer Tivoli that is more geared for the younger crowd. That didn't stop us kids at heart from taking a spin!

We also rode Jet Star 2, which is another creation of Anton Schwarzkopf. I had an opportunity to ride one of these before in Mexico at Selva Magica in Guadalajara, and if I am not mistaken, this is the last of this specific model that can be found in the United States, although you can still find a similar ride to it at Six Flags Great America outside of Chicago.

We decided to take a break from the coasters and enjoy a ride on the sky ride from one end of the park to the other.

One of the things you will notice about those same trees that offer some excellent shade in the park, it does tend to make it a bit harder to see the rides from above for a large portion of the ride.

There are, however, some spots that give you an opportunity to get some excellent shots!

Upon arriving to the other side, we took a ride on one the park's most popular coasters, Wicked. A launched coaster from Zierer, this was a truly wild ride! There were several moments of great airtime, including an "OH S**T" moment through the barrel roll when sitting on the right-side of the car. This was a real highlight of the park, and my hope is that there will be more of this style of coaster built in the future.

We then rode the classic Roller Coaster. A wooden coaster designed by John Miller. While the coaster was not the most overwhelming, it still provided a fun ride, and is incredibly picturesque with it's location at the front of the park.

We also rode a few other coasters in the park including Wild Mouse, a typical mouse style coaster also from Maurer; the Bat, a Vekoma Junior Suspended Coaster that took advantage of the trees to give an extra boost to a ride that has been cloned many times over; and Bombura, a custom in-house designed junior coaster that had a layout with multiple zig-zagging turns. The trains have on-board audio, however there wasn't any sound playing, so we were not sure if they stopped the on-board audio or if was just not working the day of our visit.

Having ridden every other coaster in the park, along with a few other rides, we turned our attention to the main draw of Lagoon. Upon our return, we found that the ride was closed again, and since we had ridden everything else we wanted to, we decided to wait it out, and our dedication would grant us the opportunity to ride as they opened it back up within the last hour that the park was open that day! ​

​And it did not disappoint! This coaster was also designed in-house, and it known for the elevator lift to the top at 208 feet. Upon reaching the top, it crawls forward before beginning the decent that includes an angle of 116 degrees! I have been on smaller coasters with beyond vertical drops, but there is an intensity that comes from going beyond vertical at this height! Not only that, but the ride also features two incredibly large inversions that give the swooping sensation like that of a fighter pilot, one of which leads into a small camel back for a good pop of airtime. Towards the later part of the ride, you almost crawl through a barrel roll that then rolls again the opposite direction, again slowly, creating some awesome hang time! This coaster was easily the top coaster in the park, and I am really happy that we had the chance to end our day with this coaster.

And with our stop at Lagoon, that would be the end of Coasting with Culture's 2017 Utah, Idaho and Wyoming Tour. I would personally like to thank Andrew, Brittany, Nicole and JoAnna for joining this tour. It was a wonderful experience getting to explore the parks and sites of the tour with them. While future tours are not a given at this point, the idea will certainly be considered, and if it happens, hopefully we'll see some of you with on the road with us!

While the official tour came to an end with this visit, there was still time in Utah before going back home the next day, and it would be spent enjoying a ballgame!

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