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I thought this was a great little park, for its laid back, traditional atmosphere reminded me a lot of the original Elitch Gardens park I loved so much. This park had a great combination of those great traditional rides ( Flying Aces, Rock-O-Plane, Paratrooper, and The White Rollercoaster), and newer, high thrill rides (Samurai, Spider, and Rocket). I don't remember in what order or how many times I rode rides, so I will just talk about what I liked.
Rocket-I know that S&S towers come a dime-a-dozen these days, but this was only my second one, and my first turbo drop. I liked the turbo drop, but the launch tower beats the pants off of it. I really like these rides, and IMO are much better than their Intamin counterparts.
Samurai-Easily the most disorienting ride I have ever been on. This Mondial Top Scan is both amazing to watch and ride. Even better, the rumors I had heard about its bad reliability were not validated, as I never saw it break down in the two days I was there. Definitely a new spin on the Chaos idea, and I hope to see more of these popping up around other parks.
Flying Aces-I introduced my friend to the beauty of snapping cables, and by the fourth time riding he was able to do it. Always a great ride, but unfortunately we did not get any kids to start crying. :)
And now the coasters-
Jet Star II-While the seating arrangements could be better on this ride, I still thought it was great fun. The greatest thing about the Schwartzkopf coasters are their high--banked curves, and this ride was no exception. It was my first coaster of this kind, and all in all a fun ride.
Wild Mouse-I haven't been on a whole lot of mice, but I thought that this one was great. A good set of hairpins at the top, and some good drops and bunny hops throughout the rest of the course.
Colossus the Fire Dragon-Another Schwartzkopf, a double looping model. Very similar to the Viper at SFAW and Scorpion at BGT, which means it was a very fun ride. Thank goodness for those lapbars, as I you do get a good jolt on some of the transitions. Fortunately, there is nothing to hit your head on. High G's through the loops, and that triple helix ending is great.
White Rollercoaster-A 1921 John Miller classic that is currently half natural wood and half white wood, as a sign in the queue explained that as they replace wood, they are not painting it for easier maintinence. I thought this was very interesting. Anyway, this double out and back woodie was great, with generous airtime all around. However, the best ride is in the back seat, as you experience ejector air down every drop. A very fun ride.
The Spider-Good things come in small packages. This ride does not look very impressive, about 55 feet tall, no loops, and only one large drop. HAH!!! This is one of the best rides I have been on. In case you haven't seen anything about it, the Spider is basically a wild mouse coaster that abandons all of the conventions of the wild mouse. It has banked turns, back to back seating, and a large first drop. After this first drop, the car unlocks and spins freely as you travel through an element that resembles the B&M hammerhead, a series of S-turns called a 'Slalom track' and a dizzying carousel helix. At one point you can be facing straight up, looking at the sky, and at the next you are straight down, stopped from falling face first to the ground only by the lap bar. No ride is ever the same as the one before it, and it is just great fun all around. Lagoon definitely has a winner on their hand with this ride, and I hope that some other small parks can install these.
Overall, I had a great time at this park, and would highly recomend stopping at it if you are in the Salt Lake area. Its great atmosphere, great rides, and while not necessarily overwhlemingly friendly, but curteous and happy employees all made my experience great. Also, it is a clean park, as I didn't notice anything that took away from my enjoyment. You only need on day tops to do everything at this park, and admission is fairly reasonable, about $30. Hope you enjoyed this Trip Report as much as I enjoyed the trip!
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"Every day is a bad day on Hollywood and Vine!"
Sounds like a neat park!
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Ripple Rock Amusement Park
Flying Scooter coming soon!
I also rode the Samurai, and loved it, but was a little disappointed with the seating arrangements. The first time I rode it, everything was fine. But the second time, I was forced to ride in a "smaller rider seat", and was very, very uncomfortable. I would not consider myself a huge guy, but I am pretty tall and large, and the restraints really left an impression on the groing area. Whenever I was experiencing lateral G's, it hurt, bad! Maybe the operators should pay a little more attention to who rides in those seats, and just explain they will have a lot more comfortable ride in another seat. It was a great ride, even though.
Another ride I was a little disappointed by was Rattlesnake Rapids. I expected rapids on the ride, but it only really had on set that got you wet. There was plenty of water falling on you from the sky, but no rapids. And the wave part was weird. There is a section of the ride where a wave generator creates lateral waves that rock you side to side, jolting you into posts that keep you from straying off course, but the posts give a really harsh jolt, and you do a lot of bouncing side to side. I think they might have been able to do without this part of the raft ride.
Like Mustang, I enjoyed the water park and thought it was the perfect size for an amusment park. It didn't have a wave pool, but multiple speed slides, tube slides, body slides, and a lazy river ride and what I call a lazy pool in the middle. There was also plenty of room for family and lots of shade in the back. They even had a volleyball pit.
It was a truly great family park, and fairly cheap compared to conglomerate, coaster filled parks. I would recommend it as a great family camping or road trip, as their campground was very nice. All in all, a very good park, and a very awesome trip.
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--Joe
"Keep all arms and legs, and anything else you would like to come back with, inside the ride at all times."
*** This post was edited by Snocat17 8/2/2003 3:02:11 AM ***
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