By Bryon Saxton
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau

FARMINGTON --Lagoon will open Saturday morning with a refurbished Tidal Wave ride, new shows and new elements in each of its dark rides -- Terroride and Dracula's Castle.

But the $10 million Wicked roller coaster, the park's largest, fastest, most expensive "marquee attraction" anticipated to considerably boost park attendance, will not be available to ride.

"We fully intended to have it open right now," Lagoon vice president of marketing Dick Andrew said of the ride.

"We ran into some manufacturing problems," he said.

Manufacturing corrections need to be made to ride parts originally manufactured in Europe and shipped to the Farmington amusement park. The parts are in the process of being retooled by companies along the Wasatch Front, Andrew said.

"Sometime back, we encountered this situation," he said. "So we're opening without it."

Lagoon officials are cautiously optimistic the new ride will be ready to open in June, Andrew said.

The high-thrill Wicked ride is anticipated to boost park visitation by possibly as much as 10 percent over last season's 1.2 million attendance, Andrew said.

Without the new roller coaster available for its annual first-weekend-in-April opening, Lagoon officials are turning their focus to the good weather and other ride improvements the park has made to draw crowds.

"The Tidal Wave ride has been redone," Andrew said. "That (ride) has basically been rebuilt and refurbished."

The park has also put "several new elements" in each of its dark rides -- Dracula's Castle and Terroride, Andrew said.

With the cost of the improvements, and purchase of the Wicked, Andrew said, the park has made a sizable investment in its rides.

"We typically try to put something new in every year," he said.

This year the weather is also helping, as the park's 200 year-round staff and 2,200 seasonal workers have been able to prepare the park for its spring opening.

"The weather has been very cooperative," Andrew said.

It's not enough to have good weather for opening weekend; to have good weather leading up to opening puts people in the right frame of mind to turn out, he said.

Despite warmer temperatures, the park's water park -- Lagoon-A-Beach -- will not open until Memorial Day weekend.

Lagoon will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Andrew said the park's operating hours will be extended as the season progresses.

Lagoon will be open weekends through Memorial Day, with the park beginning daily operations on May 28. The park is open exclusively to school groups through most of May.

The cost of an all-day passport is $36.95 plus tax, excluding discounts.

The cost of a season passport is $84.95 plus tax, or $74.95 plus tax, when four or more passes are purchased.

Beginning June 6 the cost of a season passport increases to $95.95 plus tax.

Standard-Examiner