Lagoon is one of the best independently owned amusement parks in the United States.
Located in Farmington, Utah just a short drive from Salt Lake City, this park has a surprisingly
deep ride lineup headlined by 10 different roller coasters, including a few built entirely
in-house.
Then the park also has some unique flat rides and scenic attractions to compliment those.
Before starting the list, I want to note a few attractions will be excluded.
First, there will be no upcharge attractions since I haven’t experienced any at Lagoon.
I suspect the Sky Coaster would’ve been near the top 5 had I ridden it.
Second, there will be no Halloween haunts.
Both my visits to the park have been during Frightmares and while I have done all the
haunts, they change year-to-year so I don’t think it’s fair to rank them with the other
attractions.
Third, I have not visited the attached Lagoon A Beach water park since it’s not open during
Frightmares.
Fourth, there will be no Bat.
This coaster often has the park’s longest line, but it’s a surprisingly rough ride
for its size.
I honestly prefer Puff the Little Fire Dragon over Bat.
Fifth, there will be no Cliffhanger.
Typically, I like top spins.
But this Mondial installation gave me zero flips and sounded like death when I rode it
back in 2018.
20) Wild Kingdom Train- Lagoon’s train is an interesting one.
Not only does it make a scenic loop around the lake, but it also passes some animal exhibits
such as camels, zebras, and tigers.
Just be warned the enclosures are really small and the animals aren’t usually too active.
But if you want to see the animals, this is the only way to do so.
19) Sky Ride- This Hopkins sky ride runs from one end of the park to the other.
Not only is it a viable means of transit, but it also offers some nice aerial views
of the rides and midways. 18) Wild Mouse- This Maurer creation has a
good first half.
You go through the hairpin turns without any trims and get some strong laterals.
The second half is braked pretty harshly, so you not only need to brace yourself, but
it takes away the airtime.
There is at least a fun tunnel on one of the bunny hills at least.
17) Log Flume- This Arrow creation is placed way back in Pioneer Village.
This leads to a peaceful and serene layout that goes through the woods and over the water.
This ride is short and the final drop at the end is just ok, but the ride’s placement
makes it enjoyable. 16) Bombora- This in-house creation is a really
neat family coaster.
It looks like a larger Vekoma roller skater, but it does a lot of things better.
The trains are tricked out with fancy lights and on-board audio.
The first two helixes have a bit of force to them.
And the entire ride is glass-smooth start to finish.
15) Air Race- This Zamperla flat ride has some sweet hangtime since you rotate upside-down
relatively slowly.
This ride does have a shorter cycle, but it’s still a solid flat.
14) Boomerang- This set of bumper cars from Ihle have some decent power to them.
You can actually cause some impactful collisions.
Then you also have a huge arena.
The downside is that the cycle is really short.
13) Jet Star 2- This Schwarzkopf jet star is a fun little ride.
The taller drops are quite zippy and a few of the turns and helixes have some decent
positives.
I’m not a fan of the seating position on this ride though.
Single riders are not allowed and since you’re seated inline, people will be riding in each
other’s laps. 12) Spider- This Maurer spinning coaster features
the familiar SC2000 layout, but this one runs a bit better than the others.
For one, it starts spinning right off the lift so you’ll usually take the largest
drop sideways.
Two, this one seems to spin more than the others, especially if you have an off-balanced
car.
And the ride’s spin only seems to pick up as the ride progresses.
Most of the individual elements aren’t too notable, but the spinning more than compensates.
11) Rocket- This set of S&S drop towers features a space shot that blasts you up and a turbo
drop that shoots you down.
I’ve only done the turbo drop side and that’s traditionally the one I prefer on other installations.
This ride offers some stunning views of both the park and mountains.
Then the drop is decent, offering a pop of airtime at the start.
10) Dracula’s Castle- The longer of Lagoon’s two dark rides is in a larger show-building
so there are some big and tall sets.
The animatronics and figures aren’t of the highest quality, but they do at least move
and are timed properly.
I’d love to see this ride get a refresh like the park’s other dark ride to unlock
its full potential.
9) Rock-O-Plane- This old-fashioned Eyerly flat can be as tame or intense as you like,
and of course I go all-out.
You can get some crazy hangtime on this ride if you time the use of the locking lever.
In fact, my lap usually comes off sore from the seatbelt digging into me because I spend
more time inverted. 8) Rattlesnake Rapids- Also shoved in the
back of the park like the Log Flume, this Intamin rapids ride is another scenic one.
You travel through caves and then go past trees and rock formations.
The layout also has some turbulent sections that will send some nice splashes into the
boat.
And if you ride during summer, there also will be an unavoidable waterfall guaranteeing
you come off soaked.
7) Terroride- This dark ride is extremely short.
It’s just over a minute in duration.
But it most certainly delivers in the quality department since Lagoon did an extensive refurbishment
to it a few years ago.
The scenes are well-done for a regional park and well-lit to showcase all the details.
The ride includes some surprising jump scares as well that will come at you from all directions.
6) Roller Coaster- This classic John Miller wood coaster recently celebrated its 100th
anniversary and it’s still riding strong.
The ride has been changed throughout the years with two the most notable modifications being
the ride’s color changing from white to brown when retracked and the ride getting
Millennium Flyer trains in 2018.
This coaster doesn’t have the strongest pacing when compared to modern coasters, but
it does have some solid moments.
A few of the drops and turnarounds give really strong airtime on the ends of the train.
The smaller hills can’t quite match that, but the ride is pretty darn smooth given its
age and I have a whole review going into more detail.
5) Colossus the Fire Dragon- This Schwarzkopf double looper excels in both the lateral and
positive G department.
The first drop has some good whip and laterals.
The back-to-back vertical loops are very forceful and I typically start to greyout.
Then the transition after those loops offers one of the most violent lateral moments of
any ride.
The coaster then finishes with some decently forceful helixes at the end.
Along with solid elements, the ride is very smooth and that’s aided by the fact that
it still operates with just lap bars.
4) Wicked- This Zierer creation is the original vertical launch coaster.
Wicked has one of my favorite launches in the world.
You are forcefully pinned to your seat as the LSMs overcome gravity and send you towards
the sky.
The rest of the first half is equally as great.
The top hat offers two distinct and strong spots of ejector airtime.
The speed hill has some floater, even with the trims, and the zero-G roll is incredible
as you gracefully float out of your seat for several seconds.
The second half is comically bad though.
It’s a slow and plodding mess that doesn’t do anything.
See my review for more, but if Wicked’s second half were as good as its first half,
it could have claimed the second spot on this list.
3) Samurai- I love Mondial top scans.
They’re capable of being my favorite flat ride in the world when run well.
While this one isn’t as crazy as the ones overseas, Samurai is the best one in North
America.
You get four rotations in each direction.
The ride has ok sustained laterals throughout and there’s no shortage of inversions.
It was a mix of slow revolutions loaded with hangtime.
And then there were other parts where you were rapidly flung towards the sky, getting
some airtime and sometimes a faster flip.
These rides are so intense and disorienting. 2) Flying Aces- I had an amazing experience
on this Bisch Rocco flying scooters in 2018 and my ranking reflects those rides.
I got some of the best snapping of my life.
If you’re unfamiliar with snapping, it’s a phenomenon on flying scooters when you get
some slack in the cable and when it suddenly releases, your tub will shimmy and violently
lurch forwards.
It’s one of the most thrilling sensations on any amusement ride.
These were as easy to snap as the famous Flyer at Knoebels and the employees at Lagoon were
openly allowing it.
My ride in 2022 was not as good.
The ride didn’t feel as fast, and interestingly, it went down for the rest of the day after
I rode it, so I think there may have been an issue.
I’d love to hear from a local if I just got a bad ride or if the ride has been toned
down.
1) Cannibal- I still can’t believe Lagoon designed and built this ride in-house.
It’s a fantastic coaster and a unique one too.
It starts with one of the world’s best drops.
That 20 story tall, 116 degree beyond-vertical plunge is pure insanity.
The drop seemingly lasts forever, starting with ejector airtime before morphing into
floater for the rest of the descent.
Then the ride packs in four great inversions.
The Immelmann has good positives.
The dive loop has a shocking pop of ejector airtime going into it.
And the Lagoon roll has some truly crazy hangtime since you’re secured by just a lap bar.
Along with a bevy of exciting elements, the coaster has some nice theming around it and
it’s immaculately smooth.
This ride alone is worth a trip to Lagoon for reasons I state in my review.
So those are the top 20 rides and attractions at Lagoon.
What are your favorite roller coasters and rides at this park?
Let me know down in the comments.
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