Will Lagoon’s Mysterious New Coaster in Utah Be Ready for the 2022 Season?
Rumors about the ride coaster enthusiasts call "Steel Roller Coaster 1" have been circulating for nearly five years. Its strange appearance continues to raise questions!
It's been seven years since Lagoon in Farmington, Utah introduced their last roller coaster. When Cannibal opened in July 2015, it gave park goers an experience they couldn't find anywhere else in America. According to Coasterpedia, its 116º first hill set a new record for the steepest verticle drop in the country. It's a record that Lagoon held onto until a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-themed coaster stole it in 2019. Even though their record was shattered, it's a coaster the park still takes a lot of pride in because it was designed and built in-house.
Creating an experience unlike anything in the world seems to be the goal with their mysterious new coaster. Since coaster enthusiasts stumbled across a trademark filed by Lagoon for an "amusement park ride in the nature of roller coaster" in August 2017, there have been more than 2,000 posts about the future of "Steel Roller Coaster 1" on the Lagoon Fans online forum.
Enthusiasts speculate that it could be similar to a ride called "Wonder Mountain's Guardian" at a park in Ontario, Canada. The Canadian park's website describes their ride as "a steel roller coaster blended with interactive video-based gaming, where riders compete with other riders for the high score." Based on the mountain-themed appearance of the Canadian ride, it's a fair guess from people who've seen Lagoon's construction in person.
When we visited the park in October 2021, crews were working on the new ride and certain walls on it have been sculpted to look like the sides of a mountain. There's also a large piece of green track amongst the construction that appears to be some sort of lift hill.
What Does Lagoon Admit About Their New Ride?
The short answer? Not much. Both the Standard-Examiner, an Ogden newspaper, and Fox 13, Salt Lake City's Fox affiliate have been trying to chase down answers. Through those interviews they were able to find out:
- The footprint of the ride is 30% larger than Cannibal: Lagoon spokesperson, Julie Freed shared the information with Fox 13's Todd Tanner three years ago.
- Primordial was considered as a name: Freed did another interview with Tanner in September 2021 and said that Primordial was one of the five names the park copyrighted for the ride. It's the one that the forum users found back in 2017. She did go on to tell Tanner that because it was the name that circulated the most, it is unlikely to be chosen. If you watch the full interview, she does a great job of explaining why the rides at Lagoon don't start with a name.
- It will NOT Be Ready for the 2022 Season: Tim Vandenack at the Standard-Examiner talked to Lagoon spokesperson Adam Leishman the first week of February. In that article 2023 was given as the new target date. That's a significant leap forward from Tanner's September interview and Lagoon's reply on their official Facebook page telling a fan "3-4 years" last May.
So, it looks like you'll be waiting until at least NEXT year to ride whatever this cool new ride or coaster will end up being called. Patience is a virtue and there are still NINE fantastic coasters waiting for you when Lagoon opens for the season on March 26!
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