Photo TR: Lagoon & Salt Lake City

[Electerik]

Hello! Erik and Smisty here. You may not remember us from such trip reports as Lake Winnepesaukah & Rock City or Holiday World & Santa Claus, Indiana, because they were a long time ago.

 

Here's the deal. We love theme parks. But not just theme parks. So there will be some photos of roller coasters--but there will also be lots and lots of photos of not roller coasters. Sorry about that.

We live in Las Vegas, so Utah isn't all that far away. Of course, Salt Lake City isn't exactly located in the part that's close to us.

Zion National Park is much closer. And awesome. I highly recommend it, if you like nature stuff. However, on this trip, we just drove by it.

Our first stop, just south of Salt Lake City, was Draper--home of the only aquarium in Utah.

 

Well, actually, I'm lying. We stopped for gas and to pee and stuff a couple times prior to that. But this was the first stop that I'm going to share photos of with you.

It's a relatively small aquarium, but quite nice.

It has fish.

The South American area was the highlight--and was also itself an aviary.

What do you think, Smisty? Good, right?

We like mini golf. This was the one we researched ahead of time. It also has a proper golf course, driving range, and putting greens. But who cares?

There are two 18-hole courses that both culminate in your balls being mummified.

 

What?

I like courses that have "rough" and "sand" areas.

A nice course. We had fun. None of the water features were on yet, though. It's possible we should have waited a couple more weeks to make this trip. Spring hadn't really sprung in SLC yet.

Leatherby's Ice Cream is a SLC institution, apparently. And it was good. We ended up going twice during our four day visit to the area.

Saturday morning, we got up and walked across the street from our hotel.

I will prepare myself mentally for not being entertained, thank you.

Many parts of Lagoon are very pretty--I imagine even more so once things start to bloom.

Lagoon has two old-school dark rides, and they're both extremely well-maintained.

I don't think I'd ever been on a ride called "Roller Coaster" before.

Lagoon has some issues, however. I was not prepared for the weird mix of "laid back family park" and "corporate park rule enforcement" that exists here. For example: Glasses, no problem. But bags and hats must be placed in lockers prior to entering the queue. Okay, fine. However, lockers either cost 75-cents (and there were no change machines) or they were free for a limited time but didn't work. One helpful employee suggested that we could just wait until it started working.

This ride was closed in the morning. As you can easily tell if you walk all the way through the queue and up to the platform.

We did ride it later, and I quite liked it.

Misty thought Wicked was dull.

Lagoon has a very casual approach to opening their rides in the morning. Of the four coasters in this area of the park, two were running by 10:30am and two still weren't. Again, we did ride it eventually, and quite liked it. I didn't much like the lines I had to wait in later, but hey.

I'd always wanted to visit a park with this sort of old school chairlift-over-gardens midway arrangement. Obviously, Lagoon has expanded quite a lot, but it still has that.

 

It also has a freakin' Rock-O-Plane!

The Lagoon, I imagine.

The back half of the park is largely made up of Pioneer Village, which was virtually abandoned for most of the day. But we thought it was great.

The train goes around the lake and passed quite a few animal exhibits--most of which can't be viewed any other way. So the park doesn't really have a zoo section, so much as a zoo ride.

Lots of walk-through buildings detailing frontier life. Quite well done, but of course the kids weren't interested in this area. And, believe me, there were a lot of kids in the park. In fact, there are a lot of kids in SLC, period. Like, 3 or 4 for every 2 adults. Is it time to talk about the Mormon thing, yet? No? Okay.

This is my "no, I don't like trains particularly" stance. Which I have chosen to adopt in the train museum.

Pioneer Village also contains the park's two water rides, which were running. However, it was still a bit cold.

Also note in the previous photo (I know, I'm bad at this) that while the park seems to be strictly pay-one-price, and is entirely fenced in, the ride signs (even Cannibal) all list a cost in tickets. Also, you get your hand stamped when entering the park, and are asked to show that stamp at every single ride. I still can't figure it out. We asked several employees why they checked hand stamps, when you clearly had to buy full admission for park entry, but no one seemed to understand the question. Eventually, we gave up. Certainly, there are no individual tickets listed for sale anywhere. It's just weird.

This is a photo of every single person on the ride at the time this photo was taken.

Many parts of Lagoon are pretty, but some parts are just sort of "ghetto theme park." This area is both.

They have Dole Whip. Also (and not pictured) a full-blown rip off of IOA's "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" ride, complete with imitation song. Not that I disapprove, mind you.

I like the mushroom.

 

That's not a drug reference.

The tea cup ride had a very cool chandelier feature.

Except for Pioneer Village, Lagoon doesn't really have individually themed areas. So sometime they just theme a ride to whatever they want and put it wherever, which is cool.

At the ticketing windows up front, they listed one ride down for the day. It was not this ride, or any of the other rides that bore this sign. I didn't count, and I obviously would have gone into the park anyway. Still, it seems like bad form.

 

And, yes, this is a generic sign that blames Europe for their problems.

Me trying to be artsy.

Cannibal opened last year, and has sort of a vaguely African theme. They could have called it anything, but they chose Cannibal. Which is, like Lagoon itself, both bafflingly stupid and incredibly awesome at the same time.

This weird and elaborate set-up was, I think, designed to make people exit through the gift shop (though you could still go around that, so who knows?) Also, there were lockers, but they had all been disabled. Instead, four employees manned an elaborate station where guests placed their loose articles in plastic containers and were given a claim ticket for it. Even Cedar Point (literally, the most paranoid park I can think of) can sort out bins in (most of) their coaster stations.

Like Lagoon itself...what?

I'm not a huge fan of being held upside-down by a single restraint, which, were it to fail, would most certainly result in my unavoidable death. However, this ride is pretty great. The deliberate hang-time section just after the block brake is my least favorite part of it, but still. Also worth mentioning that this ride was designed and built largely in-house. What small parks do that anymore?!

 

Ultimately, we enjoyed our visit to Lagoon. It's a good park, and well worth a visit if you're nearby. However, I didn't love the park, and I really wanted to. It has so much going for it, but it's just kind of...not quite amazing.

For dinner, we went in search of a place in Farmington called Cherry Hill Pie Pantry, because that sounds amazing. However, despite its hours indicating that it should be open, it was closed. However, however, surprise mini golf!

 

This, however, is a photo of a (dry) water slide. The whole place is an RV campground complex, or something...?

This mini gold course didn't even come up in searches when I was standing on it. One 18-hole course, but pretty good.

Inside the castle.

An enclosed loop-de-loop.

Great signage. Fun course. No pie.

The original plan was to spend both Saturday and Sunday at Lagoon, but we'd pretty much done everything we wanted to by the end of Saturday, and we weren't as in love with the park as we'd hoped to be, so we opted to do other stuff on Sunday, instead.

 

Misty is kind of a zoo enthusiast. I think this is our ninth proper zoo now? Like the aquarium, it wasn't particularly large, but it was quite good.

Hogle Zoo doesn't mess around. When you walk in, you're not greeted by flamingos or alligators or something. No, this place is like, blam, giraffes! Zebras! Now Lions! Elephants! Go, go, go!

Pretty much every zoo we've been to has had some really nice new sections, and some old crappy concrete sections. Not this one. Pretty much everything felt new and up-to-date. So much so that I actually looked it up to see when this zoo first opened.

 

1931.

 

Best. Zoo. Ever.

Don't eat too much, Smisty! You don't want to gain weight!

See? I told you!

The name of that restaurant was The Beastro, by the way. Man, I am so bad at this.

Huffalumps.

No indication that it would, but this did open later. And what a weird collection of animals on it. A praying mantis? Two snakes on a log?

Sea lion.

 

I'm just trying to generate responses, man.

Grizzly bear.

Not a photo from the aquarium that I accidentally put in the wrong place.

 

Actually, the "small animal house" was the one thing at the Hogle Zoo that felt a bit dated.

Still, a great zoo.

The train had two sections. First it goes around the Savannah area, then it goes off on a weird "Rivers of America" type thing. Well worth the $2 upcharge to ride it, though.

Zoo was good. How about a garden?

They were having a special orchid show. All I know about orchids is that Hugo Drax must be stopped. But it won't be easy.

Again, this place was really nice. But it'll probably be freaking amazing once SLC decides to join the rest of us here in Springtime.

The map makes it look more intimidating than it really is.

Sometimes I take okay photos.

This one is for all you camouflage enthusiasts out there.

 

If that comment confused you, look closer. There's actually a woman in this photo!

Red Butte Gardens

And right next door, Utah's Natural History Museum, why not?

I was a little disappointed. I was hoping for some creationist stuff. The joke's on me, though, as a bit of post-visit research reveals that the Church of Latter-day Saints has no official position on evolution.

Utah is actually quite famous for dinosaur fossils.

 

That's not a joke.

I'm all for Native American stuff. But is it really, "Natural History"?

 

It is? Okay.

Nice view of the city from here. This is as good a place to mention that Salt Lakers are a bit stand-offish. Not rude, exactly. But not friendly, either. Or, at least, they tend not to engage first.

Eh, it's a museum.

I'd wanted to check out a place called Chedda Burger for dinner. But, like so much of Salt Lake City, it's closed on Sundays. Luckilly, Lucky 13 was not. probably because it's pretty much a bar. But whatever, the burgers were amazing.

Our home away from the hotel in Farmington quickly became Harmons Grocery Store. It has two stories and a gourmet salt section...?

Monday was our last full day in Utah, and we wanted to see the Great Salt Lake. I guess I'd just assumed it would be a presence in Salt Lake City, but not really.

Anyway, this is Antelope Island, accessible from the mainland via causeway.

At one point, many of the LDS church leaders kept their animals on this island.

Bison are doing quite well here. Some have even started to learn the art of camouflage.

Demonstration ranch. Proceeds from which once went to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, which helped pay the way for new Mormon coverts to move to Utah.

 

I learned a lot about Mormons on my trip to Salt Lake City.

F-off, all you unimportant birds!

Unimportant bugs who tried to get into our car the hard way.

Downtown Salt Lake City is amazing. Of all the downtown areas I've been to, this one seems the most vital and of-a-piece with its city.

 

What's not amazing, though, are the street names here. See, they don't really have them. And when they do, they're not actually real. (No, seriously, most actual street names here are honorary, and cannot by law appear on maps.) Instead streets are numbered in the style of longitude and latitude. Which might be pretty cool if you lived here and had mastered it, but ain't no damn good if you're a tourist.

 

"Misty, where do I turn?"

 

"Um...East 11600 South."

 

"Excuse me?"

 

"It should be here."

 

"The signs says, 'Stevens.'"

Right across from the true center of town--we'll get to that in a minute--is a giants indoor/outdoor shopping mall with underground parking called City Creek Center.

Farr's is the other big deal local ice cream brand here. It was good, but Leatherby's was better.

We weren't originally going to visit Temple Square or any of the "Mormon stuff." But, it quickly became apparent that so much of the character of Salt Lake City comes from that, that to skip over it would almost be not to see the city.

So, I'm just going to lay it out here. We're atheists. So I think all religion is misguided foolishness, at best. Having said that, the Mormons aren't MORE crazy than anyone else. If anything, in my view, a lot of their beliefs make perfect sense--if you already believe the basics of Christianity.

 

So, there you go, Mormons. Some faint praise from an atheist. Enjoy.

Temple Square is the most visited tourist attraction in Utah, with more annual visitors than all of their many national parks combined.

There are two separate visitor centers, the tabernacle, some administration buildings, a couple of restaurants, lots of gardens, statues, and fountains, and of course the Temple itself.

There are also plenty of missionaries stalking the grounds, eager to proselytize unwary visitors. But, hey, you came to them--so you can't really complain, now can you?

So, under fundamentalist Mormonism (and not currently endorsed by the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Adam and God are actually the same person...?

In a nutshell, Mormons believe in the regular Christian bible, plus some extra stuff that came from their founder, Joseph Smith (or I guess, from God to Joseph Smith, if you're of a mind). For the most part, this "extra stuff" isn't particularly incompatible or even really all the different from the normal Christian stuff in terms of what it asks of its followers. Where it's a bit out there is in that it states that a tribe of Jews came to the Americas before Christ's birth, and that Christ appeared before them shortly after his resurrection.

 

See? Trip reports can be educational.

 

Unless you're a Mormon, in which case it's likely that all you've learned is that I'm going to Hell.

 

Psych! Mormons don't believe in Hell!

 

Okay, I'll stop.

This is the Assembly Hall. Looks like a church to me. A pretty one, too. Misty says this one is better looking than the Temple.

A model of the inside, since tourists are (not unreasonably) not allowed in the Temple. It's hard to see in this photo, but my favorite bit is the oxen.

This is the angel Moroni, which no one had heard of before Joseph Smith started talking about him.

 

(What? That's pretty neutral!)

This is where God is buried.

 

Okay, that was wrong of me. I actually don't have any idea what it is, but I like the photo.

The Lion House is a restaurant. But it was once the home of Brigham Young, the second president of the church, the guy who led the Mormons to Utah, and the one who started the whole polygamy thing. Essentially, "Fundamentalist Mormons" still follow the policies and teachings of Brigham Young, while the modern church has moved away from (or, in some cases, rejected) them.

One last shot of Salt Lake Temple. I'm glad we ended up visiting Temple Square--not so much because I wanted to make fun, but because it's legitimately interesting (to me) and quite pretty.

Thank for reading about our trip to Salt Lake City, and I apologize to anyone that Misty may have offended!

[robbalvey]

What a triumphant return!!!

[djcoastermark]

Great to see you guys back here again ! And I love your critique on all the mormon stuff. Too fun.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Awesome trip report, and great photos! Glad you all had a good time!

 

I too do not understand Lagoon. . . Everything about the park is so... strange.

[Nrthwnd]

Amazing episodic travelogue!

 

Some really nice out-of-park photos, there.

 

Thanks for sharing your visit to Lagoon.

[urzishra]

I've gone to Lagoon many many times since I live here. I pretty much agree with everything you said about it. It has some really inconsistent policies.

[thrillseeker4552]

Excellent trip report!

 

Did Spider get repainted this season? When I visited last June (2015), I am 99.9% sure it was still the faded red and purple but I could have just not paid attention.

[JimmyBo]

Awesome Report! You nailed the craziness of Lagoon and Salt Lake City to a T. I went there awhile back but I definitely remember the "nice park... ghetto park... nice theming... slap a ride where there used to be a parking lot" atmosphere for Lagoon. I'm really bummed I missed out on Leatherby's. That might be a reason to head back to SLC.....might.

 

Jimmy "I still remember blasting my Godsmack CD in my rental car around downtown" Bo

[SharkTums]

Wonderful TR on so many levels!

 

- Totally agree with you on all of your Lagoon opinions. I had heard such wonderful things, calling it the Knoebels of the West Coast, but it was very odd. Not bad, just odd.

 

- Yay Atheism. Also you forgot the nice thing about Mormonism is that they're really freakin nice!

 

- The 'grid' system of downtown is hilarious. So many numbers, directions, and names.

[PKI Jizzman]

Damn, I've missed these reports. Excellent photos and the captions made my day. I've never been to SLC or much of the west coast, but I now have endless things to do if I do go! Thanks for taking the time to tell your story, Erik and Smisty

[RCF]

Loved this trip report, and honestly brought up my issues with Lagoon I wish they would look at. It would help this place get rid of it's reputation with locals. I'm here to help explain some of issues you found with Lagoon for some insight.

 

Lagoon's locker policies. The 75 cent lockers are the ones by Wicked, correct? I don't recall any other lockers costing anything besides the all-day rent lockers and the free lockers put everywhere. Basically, the lockers at Wicked were installed for the ride when they started dabbling into installing lockers everywhere for a place to secure loose items for the policy they have. A lot of stuff was being left at ride entrances at this point then stolen by others. Anyway, Lagoon noticed Wicked's lockers were not a good idea, and never required people to put them in there even though that was the initial plan. Now, you get the current issue of Wicked being stopped constantly for a loose article run. After that, they went with a company that made all of the free lockers you find everywhere, but the company went out of business. That explains why they don't work as well anymore. Why not change Wicked's lockers? I'll get to that later. EDIT: Have to love the filter!

 

The hand stamps being checked are for the issue of people getting into Lagoon without paying. Near the many picnic terraces Lagoon has, there's a section that doesn't exactly have a fence as to where Lagoon's boundaries are because there's a parking lot there that I think is used for the karts staff drive around. Some people found this spot and started entering the park for free, so they check for hand stamps to make sure the people riding are people who paid to get into the park. They used to be to checked to see if someone bought individual tickets or not, but they stopped selling the tickets, or so I thought.

 

I remember one time last year this group of people using individual tickets in the park. I never asked how they got them, but they were a group of special needs people who were being chaperoned by a few caretakers, so I assume they still put up the signs at every ride just for them. That is only a hypothesis as nothing is said anywhere at least publicly that individual tickets can be purchased/used. But they are still around.

DISCLAIMER: I did not use 'special needs' to be in a derogatory manner. I used it in the kindest respect to acknowledge who they are.

 

For rides not being specified being closed all day but were, I think Lagoon was having a bad maitenence day. I have never heard of so many issues with rides like how it was that day. Sometimes it just happens, and I assume it has something to do with having been open for only two weekends into the season. Cannibal was still being worked on heavily this off-season as well.

 

Speaking of, Cannibal is one of those projects that I feel was not executed to plan. Is it still a home run for Lagoon? Absolutely, but the delayed opening, continued work on it and surrounding area has been problematic to say the least. Cannibal's name and theme itself was an extensive swing and a miss. In one interview, they said the theme is 'where someone might find a cannibal,' and creates the name. When it was announced, it was named so because 'it would eat other coasters in their tracks,' and thus got it's theme around that peculiar reason. I find naming a ride for a one time use of a tongue-in-cheek line should not have been done, as it's now a confusing name and theme in the long run. I remember hearing at first the ride was going to be named Savage back in 2012, which I think would have been better than Cannibal.

 

I don't get why the lockers for Cannibal are there. They were never needed in the first place with the cubbies, which actually moved from being at the top of the queue ramp to wherever they are now, (I haven't been back to Lagoon yet this season.) Where they were, they required four people to work the system of taking cubbies up and down stairs and to the right people. I guess they now still use the same system where it is.

 

Cannibal's walkway I find to be a mess. Here's how it was supposed to work. The one way rolling gate was for the people waiting for the rest of their group to ride Cannibal. The reason it was one way is so that noone could bypass the gift shop, which is rebranded from the old gift shop that was also used for the old dragsters that took up part of where Cannibal is now. The fence on the other side near the Go Karts was also for the gift shop idea as well as closing off the Go Kart area only for people riding the go karts because it's an upcharge attraction. However, the gift shop didn't open last year, so they opened up part of that fence near the Go Karts so people could get out. For some reason I guess they didn't put back the fence when they opened the gift shop. Maybe it will be by the time this season is done? Either way, I feel the KISS method should have been implemented here instead of a plethora of fences and gates.

 

Most if not all of this coincides with the main issue Lagoon has. With the exception of Rocket and Wicked, they themed and landscaped new rides that have been added since the nineties. All others before that were mostly planted down when Lagoon was much smaller and bought more trailer-mounted rides to place in their park because of the fire in the fifties where they had to build the park back up one ride at a time. Once they did that, they didn't have the funds to build the big rides other parks were putting in at the time, so the cheaper rides were still being bought and plopped down. Since then, they haven't remodeled these areas or rides. They have all stayed virtually untouched since they were put in.

 

Lagoon keeps the idea of classic to an extreme this way. Even the classic food options and stands are dated, only recently allowing cards to be used, however on those handheld card readers that prints your receipts on them. Those are even extremely dated in the first place. Their are many things they still need to replace, but don't. Like the lockers that are now a pain to use, an old gift shop for Cannibal that creates a fenced up walkway, a way for people to easily enter the park without paying, and a water park that hasn't had a new addition since it first opened. Lagoon is a great park that should keep classic rides, games, and food options, as well as adding these new rides and food options, but the problem is they don't know how to refresh what's aged or obsolete. Money is definitely a big factor in all of this, especially now after a $22 million dollar ride.

 

This is where I absolutely love what Hogle Zoo did, however with help. Since the place is so old, they did actually have many of the horribly dated pens that had people back in the nineties in an uproar as bad as how people treat SeaWorld once Blackfish came out. So during that time, they created a huge plan to redo the entire zoo. It started in 1998 with the current entrance and gift shop, and went into phases of themed sections for animals starting with the elephants in either 2003 or 2001, with the latest being the Africa section with the lions and giraffes in 2014. The only things still around from those dark times are all of the primate exhibits, the reptile building, and the closed food restaurant that stands right next to the new one.

 

The thing is Hogle Zoo didn't do this with their own funds. The program called Renew the Zoo was started and helped get grants from the state for all of these projects. I get that zoos are educational so it makes sense they were able to get grants, but the zoo is a profiting business now with over a million guests a year coming through the gates. They don't need the state to pay for their expansions anymore. They are renewed and amazing now.

 

With the roads, just think of Temple Square as the center, and all the numbers grow going away from it. As for the named streets, disregard them unless it's named in your GPS. Do know that outside of the initial valley, the numbers and center points change to their distinct areas. And with the East "number" South, just look at the last direction in the name, (in this case, south.) The first one is more for the people who live here, the second is how far in direction it's from Temple Square or the center point.

 

And yes, Spider was repainted this off-season. It also now freely spins at the first drop instead of at the sharp turn after the first drop. EDIT: This was a lot longer than wanted.

Edited April 11, 2016 by RCF

[Philrad71]

Man...it's been a long while, but this was well worth the wait.

 

Best trip report that I have viewed...well, since the last one you did.

 

Welcome back Erik and Smisty!!!

[tdaun]

Great trip report glad you enjoyed it. As for the weird building that you don't understand, its actually a chapel for the temple. I don't know when they use it, but in addition to the chapel, the building also has some offices and locker rooms, which connect via an underground tunnel to the temple.

[DisWiz]

Just an FYI that the ticket system is still used for kids under 3. You can buy tickets for them to ride a couple of rides or buy an all-day pass. But that still doesn't explain why big rides (and new ones) continue to have a ticket system since a toddler won't be able to ride Cannibal. There must still be another situation where they use the ticket system.

[viking86]

That was a great trip report, I really enjoyed it! Both pictures and captions were great.

 

It was cool to see the "park side" of Lagoon. While I'm very familiar with the rollercoasters, I didn't really know much about the park itself so that was nice to see. Definitely some strange park policies going on there...

 

 

So, I'm just going to lay it out here. We're atheists. So I think all religion is misguided foolishness, at best. Having said that, the Mormons aren't MORE crazy than anyone else. If anything, in my view, a lot of their beliefs make perfect sense--if you already believe the basics of Christianity.

 

I had a good laugh at your "This is where God is buried" comment. It was interesting though to get a little insight into the Mormon culture, I would probably visit it myself if I was in SLC just to see what it's all about. By the way, you didn't happen to get hold of any of that magic underwear on your trip, did you?

 

 

Oh, and at the end I do have to address this picture. This place has their whales suspended from the ceiling? And people say SeaWorld mistreat their animals? Damn, where are the Blackfish crazies when you actually need them???

 

[Wingwright]

Great report! Some thoughts:

 

1. The surrounding area is gorgeous... what a backdrop!

2. Mormon architecture is stunning.

3. The Natural History Museum looks great. I love NH museums and I love seeing non-coaster pictures in TRs.

4. That monkey selfie T-shirt is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. You should have bought one! It's marvelous in it's stupidity. Wow.

[Utah Coaster Rider]

Great Report.

 

Thanks for visiting our state.

 

Lagoon is a great park. I think your thoughts on it are great and were justified. It has it's flaws but so does every park. I don't know how the Monkey shirt got past the planning phase but oh well I agree its rather weird.

 

A few clarifications on Mormons (I don't like to argue religious points of view, this is just clarification from a Mormon).

 

God and Adam are not the same person.

 

The building you said this is where God is buried is actually the entrance into the temple.

 

Mormon's do believe in hell. Not in the traditional sense but we do believe in hell.

[robbalvey]

Mormon's do believe in hell. Not in the traditional sense but we do believe in hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNEh4bm6rNQ

[Nrthwnd]

^

 

(We're seeing BoM again, end of August. Can't wait! I want the Souvenir Frog!)

[edgeboy]

I'm an atheist as well, but I do appreciate the architecture of all the buildings in Temple Square. The fact that the tours are free helps as well. Also, it's nice to know that the light rail through the downtown area is actually free!

 

And I can't believe you went through an entire report of Utah without mentioning Fry Sauce.

[Nrthwnd]

...And I can't believe you went through an entire report of Utah without mentioning Fry Sauce.

 

Fry Sauce.

 

Explain?

 

Great TR by the way.

[Rill'o'beily]

...And I can't believe you went through an entire report of Utah without mentioning Fry Sauce.

 

Fry Sauce.

 

Explain?

 

Great TR by the way.

 

 

Fry sauce is a weird condiment popular in certain parts of the US, however it's basically the same as burger sauce

[Nrthwnd]

^ Got it, thanks.

(I thought it might be a sauce that was ...um...fried up, somehow?)

[linearinduction]

Nice Trip Report, and you discovered why I never recommend visiting Lagoon for the first time on opening day. I usually recommend June, because the park doesn't look so naked.

 

To answer some questions you and others have brought up....

 

Arguably, this was Lagoon's roughest opening day in about 16 years. Air Race wasn't ready, and I hear that was all on Zamperla, Samurai wasn't ready, and one of the Kiddie Rides. There were several late ride openings, mostly due to the cold temps, as the trains have to be warmed up, on Fire Dragon especially. It's better to have a ride open late and operate most of the day than have a train roll back. Even with Cannibal opening late a lot last year, after it opened, the park still had a 95%+ on time opening average for the 2015 season.

 

Lagoon instituted a policy of No Bags, No Hats, etc. after a bag fell off a Wicked Train and took out an LSM Stator, which resulted in the ride being down for a week during the summer. Lagoon installed the free 30 minute ride lockers at most coasters in 2011-2013, and they've always been a headache. To top that off, the company went out of business. I've heard Lagoon is getting new locker systems, but the manufacturer doesn't have them ready. Lagoon doesn't have bins on platforms for a couple reasons. One is that most platforms, with the exception of Roller Coaster, are not large enough, the Train doesn't return to the same place you got on, and it hurts capacity.

 

Group Sales are Lagoon's bread and butter. There are church groups, other groups, and companies that have Lagoon Days, and some of those groups do "Entrance Only" Passports, that don't include Rides or Lagoon-A-Beach. This is why Ride Tickets may be required, along with the kids 2 and under that are free, and the Park maps explain that they can be purchased at several places 2 for $1.

 

I wish Lagoon would not have scheduled "hat runs," and just force people to wait until after closing. Each Coaster has a specific time in the afternoon, when loose articles are retrieved, and operation suspended for no more than 15 minutes.

 

Cannibal's one way gate and fence has struck me as completely odd, but that may be for crowd control and to keep people from line jumping as easily. The cubby system at Cannibal works far better this year than last, as there's no more running up and down stairs to grab bins.

 

Cannibal's restraints are probably the safest on any coaster, as there are something like 4 mechanical locks on each lap bar, as well as an on board hydraulic pump powered by a buss bar in the station only. So that's like 4 mechanical locks and 2 hydraulic cylinders on each and every restraint. I don't believe there are any other coasters that have on board hydraulic pumps to release the hydraulic cylinders.

[Philrad71]

It looks like fry sauce might be ridiculously easy to make (basically mayo and ketchup) so I am going to make up a batch to try sometime. Although I will be probably be adding some type of hot sauce & seasonings to it just to give it a little kick.

 

Now...back to your regularly scheduled program.