FARMINGTON — This weekend, the Rock-O-Plane will start rocking and the Roller Coaster will start rolling. The Space Scrambler will be scrambling and the Terroride will be terrorizing. The Flying Aces will begin flying, the Catapult will begin catapulting, and the Tilt-A-Whirl will begin both tilting and whirling.
And the Cannibal? We suppose it will commence to, well, cannibalizing.
That’s right, thrillseekers. Lagoon’s 2019 season opens at 10 a.m. this Saturday.
At first, Utah’s oldest and best amusement park will only be open on weekends. Initial hours will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. Later this spring, the park’s hours will begin extending, and by May 31 Lagoon will be open seven days a week for the remainder of the summer.
Lagoon A Beach, the six-acre water park, opens May 25.
Although Lagoon isn’t adding or removing any rides for the 2019 season, park spokesman Adam Leishman said there is something new and exciting coming this spring — a beer garden.
“This year we’re opening the Lagoon Biergarten — two beautifully themed restaurants in a Barvarian-style village — offering family-friendly dining that also serves beer,” he said. “It’s really something. It’s a kind of new dining choice for guests, with food items we haven’t had around the park.”
Lagoon used to offer a sit-down eatery, the Gaslight Restaurant, but that closed in the mid- to late-1990s, according to Leishman. He said beer has been sold at Lagoon since the mid 1940s; it even had a tavern until the late-1970s.
Leishman also said beer has been sold at the campground “forever,” and groups that use the park’s pavilions can request beer sales. But beer hasn’t been a stand-alone offering at the park’s concessions.
The new Biergarten will be located just south of the original wooden roller coaster — “off the midway, but close to everything,” Leishman says — where Music USA used to be located.
“That spot’s been vacant, just waiting for the right project,” Leishman said.
The restaurants will offer casual dining, with places to sit in air-conditioned comfort during the hot summer months, according to Leishman.
“One side is more grab-and-go items, while the other side has this cool service where you get a text when your food is ready,” he said.
Leishman said the new restaurants will offer some traditional German foods, but there will be “lots of continental cuisine and stuff you see in North America.”
In other Lagoon news, patrons will notice construction this summer on the north side of the park, but Leishman said they’re not ready to announce what it will be just yet.
“We’ve got something cooking,” he teased. “It’s not for this year, and probably not for next year, but the year after that. Hopefully we’ll announce it in the next year-plus, but you’ll see the skyline change here and that’ll be a fun addition.”
Two new live entertainment shows will be offered in the Carousel Theater this year — a family-friendly magic show during the day, and a circus-themed music show in the evenings called “Big Top.”
And although no new rides have been added at Lagoon this year, neither have any been removed.
“We’re really good at keeping rides; we’re proud of our eclectic collection,” Leishman said. “Our carousel, wooden roller coaster and Flying Aces are on the national historic registry.”
