Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Lagoon Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

^ Rumored Manufacturers have been Zierer and MACK. I've seen the Track & Columns up close and they are a Dead Ringer for the Premier Track, Fabricated by Intermountain Lift, Inc., that was used for Sky Rocket and other Premier Projects.

 

The track and columns were fabricated down at Intermountain Lift, Inc., in Springville, Utah. If this coaster does end up being from Zierer or MACK, it will be the first time Zierer hasn't used their Fabricator in Hungary (Same steel fabricator used by Intamin) and I believe the first time MACK has not fabricated their own Track and Columns.

 

- Sid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Heres an offride video of the new coaster. If you watch closely when the train is exiting the brake run you can see the light effects on the front of the train.

 

 

There is also on on ride video posted on the same channel, but I don't know if it was taken with permission or not so I won't post it here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

It was confirmed earlier this week that Lagoon will be getting a Zamperla Air Race. This for be the second permanent installation in the US after Luna Park. A fabulous addition in my opinion.

 

http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/03/27/air-race-simulate-airplane-acrobatics-lagoon-summer

 

'Air Race' to simulate airplane acrobatics at Lagoon this summer

By Bryon Saxton

Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau

Wed, 03/28/2012

 

FARMINGTON — With its banking, looping and rolling motion, Lagoon’s newest $2.5 million attraction, called Air Race, will give its passengers the experience of an acrobatic airplane flight.

 

“There is a lot of action associated with it,” Lagoon Vice President of Marketing Dick Andrew said of the ride. Park officials hope to debut Air Race this weekend in conjunction with the season opening of the Farmington amusement park.

 

The ride accommodates up to 24 riders at one time in six four-seat gondolas. It combines a 6 rpm central ride rotation motion around a tower, with an arm rotation that provides riders with various “multi-vectored sensations,” park officials said.

 

Because of the dynamics of the ride, participants must be in good health, free from heart conditions, neck and back injury, and must be at least 48 inches tall.

 

“Prior to riding, we suggest that guests observe Air Race in operation to determine its suitability relative to their own physical condition,” Lagoon officials said in a prepared statement.

 

“We’ve never had anything that looked this,” Andrew said of the ride, which is manufactured by Zamperla of Italy.

 

Andrew said the ride rotates, while the passengers are spinning around in another separate motion.

 

“The action takes place up to 26 feet above the ground, and riders feel the acceleration of almost 4G, right-side-up and upside down,” Lagoon officials said.

 

The ground measurement of the ride when at rest is 52 feet in diameter, with an 82-foot operational diameter.

 

“It will be a nice addition,” Andrew said of the attraction currently being assembled on the north end of the park, on a cement pad east of the Jet Star II roller coaster ride.

 

Andrew said the ride, to serve about 480 riders per hour, is included in the cost of the all-day passport.

 

The park opens at 10 a.m. on weekends, weather permitting, beginning Saturday. The park opens daily beginning June 2.

 

The cost for a single-day passport is $44.95 for those 51 inches tall to 64 years of age; $39.95 for kinders, age 4 to 50 inches tall, and seniors, 65 and older; and $28.95 for toddlers, age 3 or younger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I thought I'd post this interesting article I found regarding the history of Lagoon

 

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/neighborhooddaviscounty/53861396-123/park-lagoon-freed-peter.html.csp

 

How the Freed family saved Utah's Lagoon amusement park

By Tom Wharton

The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Apr 23 2012 07:52 am

 

Farmington • Lagoon board chairman Peter Freed seems like just the kind of man you would want operating an amusement park.

 

Sitting behind a desk surrounded by antiques and photos representing more than 60 years of helping own and operate one of Utah’s treasures, the man with flowing gray hair and a twinkle in his eye talks about the venerable park as if he were a kid on Christmas morning.

 

I know the feeling. A summer trip to Lagoon has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My Uncle Harv supervised "Kennecott Day" at the park for years. In those days, there was no "pay one price" policy to ride all the attractions. Instead, patrons purchased scrip tickets. But, because he was in charge, Harv had what we called "a magic ribbon" that he would show to ride operators, getting us on the rides "free."

 

That started my lifelong love affair with amusement parks, roller coasters and thrill rides. But in those days I hardly realized that Lagoon, which originated as Lake Park on the shores of the Great Salt Lake in 1886 and moved to its present location in 1896, ranked among the oldest in the country. I didn’t know that the resort’s famous wooden roller coaster was built in 1921 and is one of the oldest of its kind, or that the Merry Go Round has been on site since 1906. All I cared about was that they were fun to ride.

 

The park was originally built by Simon Bamberger, Utah’s fourth governor, who operated a railroad from Salt Lake City to the Davis County park. It was primarily a place to dance and swim, though it offered a few rides, including a mule-drawn carousel. It was closed during World War II.

 

"My brothers and I got home from being in the war," recalled Peter Freed, "and my oldest brother Dave asked what we would all do. We came up with the idea of going to the Bambergers and getting them to lease us the park. We took over in 1945 and, in all honesty, with the exception of the roller coaster, there was hardly anything there."

 

The Freed brothers did not have much spare cash. But, led by Bob, who Peter said had a passionate love of amusement parks and live entertainment, they did have dreams.

 

"We would open around 3 p.m.," recalled Peter. "We would be here all day and stay up late at night when we would count money by hand. Gradually, things got a little better and we started adding to it."

 

Then came a disastrous night in 1953. Peter said he got a call from Hays Gorey, then the editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, telling him that Lagoon was on fire.

 

"I jumped out of bed and went out the door," he recalled. "The sky out this way was absolutely red. My heart started beating so hard and I got here as fast as I could. But I had to stop the car. I was so out of breath I thought I was going to pass out."

 

Part of the roller coaster and the carousel survived. The brothers seriously thought about giving up. But they pushed ahead, finding the money to build an even better park. A Lagoon timeline says 1954 was the year most attractions were added.

 

Lagoon classics such as the Colossus, Wicked, Lagoon-A-Beach, Pioneer Village, Rattlesnake Rapids and, this year, the Air Race would follow. A park that once operated with three full-time employees now employs 300 year-round and 4,000 in the summer.

 

Some things have not changed. For example, Lagoon is one of the few theme parks to allow outside food because bringing in picnics is a long-standing tradition. There is still live entertainment, though the days of Patio Gardens, when such acts as Johnny Cash, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys and even the Three Stooges performed, are gone.

 

Despite offers from big corporations to buy Lagoon, the Freed family is still in charge. Four of Peter’s six children run the park.

 

Freed maintains the demeanor of a young man thrilled that he has created so many good memories for so many great years. It is easy to picture him laughing at the park’s attractions, new or old.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if any of the 'corporations' that showed an interest in the park are some of the big ones from today? To me that seems like a perfect family run 2nd tier park, I don't really see it working well as a corporate park.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Rumored coaster is already under construction at Lagoon!

I had heard rumors that Lagoon was going to hit the 200 ft mark in 2013, some type of steel coaster with inversions. This past week a crane has been on site pounding pylons into the ground. Last night I took a few pictures and talked to some of the ride ops nearby. There are far more pylons than I expected to see (not that I would know how many to expect anyway) so I knew the coaster rumors were at least partially true. The ride ops didn't know much, but they both had heard rumors of a coaster, and the "team lead" working the ride had heard it was going to be a launched Intamin.

 

Anybody else heard anything? Am I late to the party??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I meant to add that the 'team lead' mentioned 2014. Makes no difference to me, I'm satisfied with knowing that something is on its way!

After reading around a bit (should have done that before I posted here) it looks like the Intamin rumor may not be true. I asked the kid who was making the coaster and he said the same company that did Excelerator at Knott's. I replied "Intamin"? and he said yeah.

 

I can only hope..

 

I hadn't heard the giant discovery rumor, I also doubt that's true. Seems too big for Lagoon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A $25 million mega coaster seems too big for a small park like Lagoon. At most I could see the park getting a Mack launcher like Blue Fire or Manta. Maybe a smaller Intamin installation like a Zacspin or a Prefab could work, but not a mega coaster.

 

A Giant Discovery sounds more reasonable considering the park worked with Zamperla for their Air Race ride. Plus I hear those rides are actually pretty good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A $25 million mega coaster seems too big for a small park like Lagoon.

 

Why are you labeling Lagoon as small? It's big enough to afford a large capital investment, and the park doesn't seems to make huge installations every year. I think a big investment is a possibility, but I'll wait for an announcement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This 2014 coaster has been in talk since I believe 2006. Here is the most of my knowledge on what it could be.

 

The talk is this coaster is designed by Dal Freeman personally for Lagoon, as he has worked on many different rides for Lagoon since the late '90s. He helped design Wicked, and designed the family coaster BomBora, which I add pulls some good G's for a family ride.

 

It will also be manufactured by Lagoon itself, with help from a plant that manufactures parts for Premier. That is what they did with BomBora. Other facts and statistics keep changing with it. Whether it will go over or ride below the 200 ft. mark, or if it will in fact go all the way out to the employee parking lot or not.

 

Now with the Giant Discovery, I'm holding on to this rumour even though facts point the other direction. No idea if it will be biult or not, just waiting for an official announcement from Lagoon. I hope that won't be a week before it opens, like with Air Race this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A $25 million mega coaster seems too big for a small park like Lagoon.

 

Why are you labeling Lagoon as small? It's big enough to afford a large capital investment, and the park doesn't seems to make huge installations every year. I think a big investment is a possibility, but I'll wait for an announcement.

 

Lagoon IS a small park. The largest coaster there is Wicked which isn't that large. I would put Lagoon in the same category as Silverwood for size. I would really doubt there will be any investment larger than $15 million for a new addition at Lagoon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, I thought Lagoon sat on more than 40 acres. However, it is bigger than Holiday Park was when they built an expensive Intamin.

 

Just because a park isn't corporately run I don't automatically label it as small. I try to look at the footprint of the park and the surrounding population. At least the park has a nice population base nearby.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lagoon IS a small park. The largest coaster there is Wicked which isn't that large. I would put Lagoon in the same category as Silverwood for size. I would really doubt there will be any investment larger than $15 million for a new addition at Lagoon.

I don't know any "Small" Park that is 140 Acres, has 9 Roller Coasters, and has spent over 65 Million Dollars on new rides since 1991. Kennywood would be a better comparison than Silverwood to Lagoon.

 

Lagoonisfun.com has been receiving information on this 2014 roller coaster since around 2010. Here is the info we have been able to put together....

 

2014 Lagoon Roller Coaster:

Will be designed by Lagoon's Vice President of Engineering, Dal Freeman.

Lagoon will contract out the Track and Upright Manufacturing to Intermountain Lift, Inc.

The ride will be just over 200ft Tall.

The ride will have at least 1 inversion.

 

We have also heard Lagoon will be installing one or two small family rides for 2013 before opening the new roller coaster in 2014. Since a "Frisbee" type ride has been on Lagoon's radar since 2004, I would imagine that's still an option after 2014.

 

- Sid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assume something terrible will happen to Lagoon before they can build this 2014 coaster as it seems I will now be visiting Magic Springs and Six Flags Mexico in 2013...which leaves Lagoon as the only major North American park for me to visit!

 

If it's still there in 2014, I see a great reason to finally make it there with this new coaster!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lagoon IS a small park. The largest coaster there is Wicked which isn't that large. I would put Lagoon in the same category as Silverwood for size. I would really doubt there will be any investment larger than $15 million for a new addition at Lagoon.

 

You don't measure the size of a park in the actual size of it, or their rides, you measure it in their attendance numbers.

They attract around 1 million visitors every year, so they defiantly don't count as a small park.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lagoon doesn't have the room or money for a huge hypercoaster. There are houses on all sides of the park, and the park is only a couple miles away from the SLC airport. Also, Lagoon is more of a family park, not a thrill park.

 

 

Have you ever been to Lagoon? It's a great little park with MANY thrill rides. Sure, it has a lot for the family, but it also has several thrill rides that make it a much more well rounded park than many parks in the nation. Quite frankly, I think that Lagoon is what Shapiro wanted for Six Flags, minus the licensed characters of course, during his presidency. A place where there is something for everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/