(Day 1) 2,000 miles to Cannibal! (oh, wait)

Das Intro -
Well, as I travel around the states more and more... there become less new-for-me parks to visit. Lagoon in Salt Lake City had been a park I'd wanted to visit for years but being coaster-isolated its one of the few places you gotta pretty much plan a trip to just for that (the next nearest park being an over 500 mile drive, to Denver). Because of that, Lagoon always ended up on the back burner... Cliff's in Albuquerque was in the same category only on a far less grand scale as Lagoon, seeing is how it was a tiny park with just two coaster, although one was the last ever CCI, New Mexico Rattler and something I had day dreamed of for a long time. The gap between the two parks was over 600 miles, again, Cliff's being one of those parks you pretty much gotta go to just for it..... Last year I ended up going to Iceland, England, and Denmark as my big trip and didn't do a US road-trip... So I was kinda itching for one and DusaRob had expressed interest in knowing what my plans for 2015 were and if he'd wanna tag along. I had been joking about finally getting around to doing Lagoon with some Lakeside and Elitch. Most of my coaster-friends I know who have done those parks have flown between Denver and Salt Lake... but whats the fun in that? And thinking about all the counties I'd be getting along the way, driving through the Rockies....
In mid 2014 Lagoon started prep for their yet to be announced 'mega coaster' that ended up being Cannibal... a massive 200 foot coaster with a 116° beyond vertical drop. The time had come to plan a trip to Lagoon. Woo! Now for the fun stuff... deciding if I really did wanna make the trek to Denver and hit Lakeside and Elitch or if I'd rather make the 150 mile-longer drive to Albuquerque and hit Cliff's. Being the smart guy I am, I had the amazing idea to just do both! I start getting maps and drive times and also park hours (because Cliff's isn't open on Monday and some of the Denver area Kiddie Coasters are weekends only) all set and I start to tell Rob my ideas and he seems pretty... meh.. about it, although he agrees that Cannibal looks awesome and decide to fly out to Salt Lake City and meet me there. From SLC the plan was to drive to Cliff's in Albuquerque with a stop in Moab and a visit to Arches National Park. Rob was originally gonna bail after that since he had no desire to do the Denver parks, well, until he remembered S&S had built a Canyon Swing just west of Colorado Springs.
So here we go... the plan was to fly into Salt Lake City, hit Lagoon...and drive half way to Moab that night. The next day would be spent at Arches National Park and Four Corners Monument as well as driving the rest of the to Albuquerque. Day 3 would be spent at the Zoo and Cliff's followed by a drive to southern Colorado. Day 4 would be spent picking up a few kiddie coasters, a zoo visit, and plunging into a canyon attached to a steel cable. Day 5 would be the two major Denver parks and this is where Rob would be leaving. I dropped him off at the airport and spent the night in Denver. Day 6 would be my first solo-day, spent picking up the Denver area kiddie coasters and driving to Cheyenne, Wyoming continuing onward to Rock Spring. Day 7 ended up being this sort of 'bonus day' because I miss-booked my flight and ended up with a free day. Originally I would have spent the day in Salt Lake City doing whatever but that became day 8. For day 7 I really had 4 or 5 options and didn't really decide until the night before what to do, ending up in Idaho! Day 8 was also kinda this pick and choose what to do day in SLC before heading to the airport for my overnight red-eye back to Orlando. Ok, lets go!

(So.... its now like, March or April and our trip is still 2 months away, Cannibal is completed and testing pretty frequently but has no opening date. Rob is still pretty nervous it wont be open but I'm more optimistic saying 'well, its testing and such.. I'd be more concerned if it wasn't testing....'  and I kept noting we were still X-Weeks/Days away from going. Checking the parks Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates as well as the local fansite and seemingly endless posts about "MAYBE TODAY" yet that today never came.... our hope slowly faded but I was still realistic and stating 'while it would suck to miss it... we'll still get to ride Wicked and a whole bunch of other fun things.....' and 'it could still open for us')

Because I have to get the earliest flight possible I was at MCO at a lovely 4:30 in the morning for my 6AM flight (boarding at 5:30), getting to Utah around 8:30. The flight was uneventful but I did get enjoy the view flying over the Rockies, all my other flights this way have been overnight. Rob had flown in the night before so as soon as I landed I picked up the rental and drove to his hotel so we could make our way to Lagoon. Woooooo!

Woo, Salt Lake City!
(that flight took too long!)

 Look at me! I'm in Utah! 

((State #41 for me!))

LMAO, my rental for the week... Man, the workout this poor Chevy Spark was about to get...
(good thing I had unlimited miles!)

And.... here we go! I picked up Rob and we got some snacks at McDonald's before making our way over to Lagoon, parking maybe 30 minutes before park opening.

Giving us some time to marvel at Cannibal in all its glory.

Scheiße!
But... we kinda knew before hand, we had just hoped....
It just kinda sucked traveling 2,000 miles for a ride and having it be closed.

Once the park opened we quickly made our way over to Wicked, a one of a kind Zierer built Vertical-Launch coaster. Four of the parks ten coasters are pretty much next to each other at the south end of the park and with three of them running single car trains, we wanted to get as much done as quick as we could for fear of long lines.

The ride starts with a horizontal launch out of the tunnel into a vertical launch up the tower and it was super fun.

The pop of air at the top was fantastic, as was the vertical drop.

The Zero-G-Roll was pretty perfect feeling, one nice long continuous roll

Also, lapbar only <3<3<3

We ended up riding Wicked a bunch over the day, it was my favorite ride in the park and I'm kinda sad Zierer never sold another.
Woo, my first coaster in Utah!

Up next was Spider, a Maurer SC2000 spinner.

It was the first Maurer spinner in the US and tracks slightly better than some of the others I've been on
(although noting can top Maurer's more custom rides)

While not a bad ride, we never ended up riding it a second time. Unlike Wicked, Spider did end up gaining a sizable queue.
Pretty much running out of the exit for it, we got in the non-existing line for Wild Mouse

Also the first Maurer Mouse in the US

This was another One-and-Done.
I'm not against Wild Mice...but when placed next to a Schwarzkopf looper.... I've got better places to be!

Woo, next! Colossus the Fire Dragon

Yaayyyy, lapbar only trains! I think Lagoon might hold the record for number of inversions in a US park without OTSR's, with 8 loopz.

Its also got an extra helix, making it longer than Dorney Park's old Laser or Doppel Looping

Yaaayyyyyyyy!
Fun rides are fun!
So at this point the park hadn't even been open an half an hour and we'd banged out 4 of its coasters!

So to change things up, we took the parks Huss Enterprise for a ride.

The Centennial Screamer.

Also at the South End of the park is an extremely rare Mondial built Splash Over.
I believe only two were built. This one and the one I've ridden at Canada's Wonderland.
Sadly, Cliffhanger was out of service all day.

So I got myself a frozen treat...
a BlueRaz-Watermelon shaved ice.

And we took the parks Sky Ride to the other end of the park.

Where the Sky Coaster is! :D

Eh, it might be half the height of my local 300 foot model... But I still took it for a ride.
(Uh, Utah Sky Coaster credit?)

Bah, the parks Paratrooper was also closed all day.

So we hoped on the parks Ferris Wheel, Sky Scraper.
Compete with spinable cars!
(The wheel was relocated from Circus World/Boardwalk and Baseball in Central Florida)

Ugh, and next to Sky Scraper is Cannibal....

Sitting there, closed, for no real good reason :(
But I guess in all my travels I've been extremely lucky and have only missed a handful of major coasters.

Woo, Samurai! The parks Mondial Top Scan.
Currently the only one in a US park
(But I did get to ride Adventureland NY's before its removal)

Next we took a ride on the parks S&S Tower, Rocket.
That features two independent lines. One for 'Rocket Blast Off' the Space Shot and one for 'Rocket Re-entry' the Turbo Drop. We rode both :D

And... now off to get the rest of our credits.

Jet Star 2, the only of its kind in the US.

Originally built for the World's Fair Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington

It was pretty awesome, although because of the parks No-Singles policy loading was a bit of a mess.

Afterwards we headed over to Bat... Oddly, the kiddie SLC was one of the longest waits in the park and we saw lots of adults riding what is typical placed in a kid area of a park.

Woo, now that I've ridden Bat... I've been on 6 of the 7 Vekoma 342m's
(the only one I'm missing is in Australia)

BomBora... the parks 'Hyper Family' coaster

It's got some pretty beefy trains and supports for whats basically a smaller family coaster

(with Onboard Sound and light-up trains!)
It was actually pretty fun. Smooth too

Yeesss, and our last steel coaster and the parks smallest coaster was next.

Puff the Little Fire Dragon!
(credit!!)
Saving the woodie for last.

Oh man, Roller Coaster!
The oldest coaster in Utah and currently the 6th oldest coaster in the world!

I'd heard some not so nice things about the ride and got on it with pretty low expectations.

It ended up being a lot of fun and we rode it a bunch! I also loved the fact it doesn't have unnecessary seat belts and the dispatch times were crazy fast... train 1 already climbing the lift before train 2 hit the final block.

Some of the hills even had some 'stand up' airtime from the front car! :D

Rock-O-Plane! It hadn't been open the first time we walked by but later in the day it was running so I haaddd to take it for a spin <3
(I think Rob got himself sick from it...)

Terroride, the parks Dark Ride built in the 60's. We had to wait in front of it for a while before the park opened... So we knew it was in the park. After getting all our coaster rides in we went for a ride. While the inside wasn't so dark (it was pretty brightly lit!) the overall ride was nice.

Booooo...... Cannibal started testing midday, and kept testing even as we were leaving. Just watching the cars drop over the edge had me drooling.... SOMEDAY.
Rob needed to get a snack and a drink so while he did that I got a few flat rides in that he wasn't interested in.

Like... Turn of the Century, the parks Wave Swinger built for Lagoon's 100th season.

And Tidal Wave, the parks Huss Pirate

Lagoon is also home to 'Lagoon A Beach' water park. Its got a few slide towers and a lazy river. We had talked about spending some time in it but opted not to once at the park

Although if I returned I would give it a try.
(Definitely if its 100 again!)

The parks tiny flume, named Log Flume is tucked away in the back of the park and barely even noticeable on the parks map

It didn't really manage to get us wet.. but it was nice
(just super short...a trend of the trip I guess)

Also in the back of the park is Pioneer Village, built in 1938 and moved to Lagoon in 1976

'David E. Sperry’s Model Train Museum'

Old timey Kitchen.. stuffs.
(more info on the whole Pioneer Village can be found here on Wiki)

OH MAN! DUCKS!!!
Uh, my first Utah Ducks?!

Lagoon's nice looking Scrambler

And because it was like 100's out... We took a ride on the Wet/Dry slides, Hydro Luge
I picked the black side... What a terrible mistake. Due to the bright bright sun and extremely high heat the slide was like being in a rather unpleasant sauna.

Fancy fountain near the North End of the park

Flying Aces, the parks Flyer's I was able to get a few snaps out of it but the cycle was rather short.

Uggghhhh, Rattlesnake Rapids! The parks Intamin built raft ride. Rob really wanted to ride it and I wasn't against it.. but the line was pretty massive mid-day so we came back later and waited much less for an enjoyable ride....

That is, until we got to the waterfall with FREEZING cold water pouring onto me.

Splash Pad / Fountain. I was already wet... So I quickly ran across.
(labeled on the map as "Interactive Water Attraction and Show" ha)
On the way to the exit I saw a random line coming out of the side of the Arcade building and realized there was a second dark ride in the park and we almost missed it! Hidden just inside the front entrance to the park was Dracula’s Castle. It was also well kept and nice but much like Terroride it was way too brightly lit inside.
So that's it for Lagoon. Even missing Cannibal, we had a blast and I honestly enjoyed the park. I'm pretty surprised how nice it really was, not that I was thinking it would be bad but I also wish I hadn't taken so long to get out to Utah to visit it. I'd gladly come back.

Oh hey, downtown Salt Lake City... Don't worry, I'll be back here in a week to hang out but for now I gotta get something to eat and find a bed too.

Before making the first of what would be countless long drives, we stopped at the Great Salt Lake and also the famous SaltAir.

Now used as a concert venue the place has a pretty neat, long history.

(Including its own amusement park at one time!)
More info over here on Wiki
Google Image search also returns some cool photos when the whole area was flooded.
We walked out behind SaltAir and went up to the waters edge as well, the area has been in a drought and because the lake is shallow, the waters edge was a pretty far walk out on the flats.

Uh... Salt Flats?

Oh hey! It's that guy.. at the Great Salt Lake

More like.. the Great Stink Lake.
Its like... always low-tide.. but stronger.
(But really pretty)
Yaayyy
And now for the drive down to Price, UT.

We ended up driving right past Cowabunga Bay Water Park in Draper, UT on our way to our hotel via a stop at Denny's for some numnums. In passing we also drove by Seven Peaks Fun Center in Lehi home to a powered Zamp coaster. RCDB had it listed as SBNO for a few years now so we didn't really plan on checking it out... but seeing it from the highway with the train parked midride, it was clear it wasn't gonna be open.... So we kept diving to Price.
I had wanted to try and get a hotel as close to Arches as we could so we wouldn't have to get up ultra early in the morning. The National Park's site recommend being at the park at opening (8am) to avoid the auto road being closed due to limited capacity but with a small number of hotels past the SLC Metro area, Price was about as close as we could get. a little more than half way from Salt Lake. Or, about 120 miles north of the park.

Bonus stuff via Twitter?!
Snow-capped mountains of the Rockies - Photo
DL1459 mid-flight over Oklahoma (via Vine) - Video
More than just Coaster Credits! - Tweet
Photo of Roller Coaster - Photo
Photo of Colossus the Fire Dragon - Photo
Video of Wicked (via Vine) - Video

Woo

Sub - In the end Cannibal opened to the public 10 days after I left Utah (or 16 days after our visit) and the on-ride video of it made me kinda sad, knowing we missed it out on it... but for fun I've added the POV below.

Just skip to about 1:20 for the ride itself.
Next Time..........