Lagoon!

The day after I came home from visiting my family, Kenny and I set off on our first adventure to Lagoon, an amusement park just north of Salt Lake City. We left early in the day with the sun rising above the mountains and not a cloud in the morning sky. We were one of the first cars in line to pay for parking and get into the parking lot of Lagoon, so we snagged a great spot. After about two hours of waiting (we arrived just after nine, but the park opens at 11:00 on weekdays), the park officials opened Lagoon and we were engulfed in a stampede toward the scariest rides. I was excited but just a touch nervous because I'm terrified of any ride that may, in any stretch of the imagination, make me want to throw up. The first ride we came to, which I deemed safe enough to venture on, wasn't yet opened, nor was the next (what the heck? aren't they open at 11:00?), so when Kenny steered me in the direction of Lagoon's newest attraction, Wicked, I balked. "I'm not ready to go on that one yet!" I protested, and looked, panicked, at the gigantic tower that jutted into the sky among the twists and turns of the rollercoaster track. "You'll never be ready - let's go!" Kenny tugged my arm, and we got in line. He made a compelling and unarguable point. We quickly found ourselves settling into the rollercoaster cars and the attendant pushed the safety harness firmly into place. The ride started slowly, politely, around a corner, then in a gigantic, breathtaking burst of speed, we blew out of the loading area and straight, straight up the soaring tower and back down again! We shrieked and gasped, spinning and careening through the tracks and suddenly it was over. I groped my way down the loading platform and on to the next ride, thrilling from the experience.

The daunting 110-foot tower of Wicked


Another view.


We next went on The Spider, a rollercoaster hinged in the middle on the track that it spins with centrifugal force, so we ended up going down some of the most dramatic drops backwards. We made our way to the Lagoon-A-Beach area to explore the water park rides and zoomed on our backs through twisting waterslides in refreshingly cold water, then rented tubes and hit even more waterslides. We picnicked in the sun, barely started to dry off, and made our way through the other side of the park, hitting The Bat (where your feet dangled in the air as you twisted through a maze of tracks) and the bathroom. I spotted The Rocket, two 200-foot towers that shoot riders into the air and thrust them down again, and remembered that my mom had really enjoyed that sort of ride at Disney World. And my mom is even more afraid of rollercoasters than I am, so this looked promising! However, I started to get the willies as we waited in line and couldn't even bring myself to crane my neck up at the people being shot into the sky. By the time we got up to the loading deck, I was looking around frantically for a way out. We sat down in the seats and I panicked - I was trembling, gasping for air, and almost crying for fear. "I want to get out, I want to get out, let me out!" I whimpered, but Kenny patted my hand and assured me this would be awesome. Suddenly our seats shot into the air and I almost fainted. "Open your eyes, open your eyes!" Kenny shouted, and I cracked open an eyelid and was blown away by the view as it spread out before me. Suddenly we lunged toward the earth, but our tower was the "blast-off" one, so the drop reached 2 Gs of thrust while the blast-off had hit 4.5. When we hit ground, I shakily made my way to a bench and did my best to recover. Then Kenny had the bright idea to go on the Ferris Wheel, which I declined. "I don't like those!" I protested. "They make me nauseous." "We don't have to go if you don't want to," Kenny assured me, "but you can't say no if it's because you're afraid. That doesn't count!" So we went on the Ferris Wheel, which of course stopped at the top. The Ferris Wheel is 150 tall, and when ride stopped and the gondola started rocking, I freaked. I had to climb into the middle of the gondola and close my eyes before I could calm down (luckily, we were the only two in the gondola!). The ride started again and I was able to woozily enjoy the view as we dipped into the trees and whooshed up into the air a few more times and then finally stopped at the bottom. I wobbled out and found another bench.

The Spider


Waterslides at Lagoon-A-Beach


The Bat


We ended the day with a surprisingly thrilling ride on the old wooden rollercoaster I had earlier deemed safe to ride, then another stop at The Spider and Wicked, and finally a trip on the double-looped Colossus Fire Dragon coaster. That one really sent my head spinning. We left Lagoon hand-in-hand, laughing over our adventure, slightly sunburned, and ready for a relaxing evening of X-Files shows on our couch. I can hardly wait to go back!

The Wooden Rollercoaster


The Colossus Fire Dragon