Across the county, one barometer of how the competition is heating up is the annual battle of the roller coasters. Every spring, we get news bulletins about which park has the highest, longest, scariest coaster.
Now, "water coasters" are coming on strong in the water park industry.Along the Wasatch Front there's only one bona fide amusement park (Lagoon) - but we have three major water parks: Raging Waters, Lagoon A Beach and Seven Peaks Resort in Provo.
When you add some of the smaller parks, such as Saratoga on Utah Lake and Wild Waters in Ogden, the competition for customers is almost as exciting as a plunge down one of the long, daredevil water slides.
While most of the parks have already opened for the season within the past couple of weeks (weather permitting), Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the official kickoff for what all of them hope will be a hot summer of fun, fun, fun.
Lagoon A Beach will have a three-day beach party at its year-old complex of slides and pools.
Raging Waters is touting 10 new features this year - including "the world's first water roller coaster," expected to be up and running about mid-June, but Seven Peaks has already opened its own 10-story high water roller coaster, the Jagged Edge, along with a companion attraction, the Sky Breaker, featuring a dark tunnel and a 95-foot waterfall. Both of these are now in operation.
All three parks also offer a variety of package deals, especially Seven Peaks, which has a "weekend special" that includes lodging for four at the Excelsior Hotel in downtown Provo and passes to the water park.
Here's a rundown on what the area's "big three" water parks are offering this season:
-LAGOON: The Lagoon A Beach Party is scheduled for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 26-28, featuring calypso music by Steel Appeal and "Aqua Magic," a show created especially for Lagoon A Beach by Ken Alan Magic Productions of New York (1:30, 3 and 6 p.m. daily).
Lagoon's waterpark, located where the park's famous "swim in water fit to drink" pool used to be, is a complex of speed, tube and serpentine slides, a relaxing Lazy River tubing experience, a special area for children, and - new this year - volleyball courts.
Beginning Saturday, Lagoon A Beach will be open daily at 11 a.m. through Labor Day. (See related story on this page about Lagoon's other 1990 season attractions, including its musical shows and other events.)
All-day passes this season at Lagoon are $15.95 for unlimited rides, $10.50 for just Lagoon A Beach, or $20.95 for a combinination "ride-and-slide" pass. Admission for children, toddlers and senior citizens is less. A gate pass for senior citizens is $3, which allows them admission to the musical shows and Pioneer Village, but no rides.
For other Lagoon information, including picnic pavilion reservations, etc., call 451-0101.
-RAGING WATERS: Expansion is the name of the game at this popular water park, located at 1200 W. 1700 South.
The park's brochure announces 10 new additions and changes for this season - some of them more readily apparent than others.
The biggest items is the 7-story high Waimea Wave Surf Coaster, which allows patrons (riding a mat face down) to coast down a steep slope, then glide up and over a coaster-type hill - then skim across the splash-down pool.
This new attraction was designed especially for the Raging Waters by Fred Langford of Water Slide Systems, Cape May, N.J. The schematic drawing for the slide also shows that a second slide - the "Cliff Dive" - can be added at a later time using the same stairways and starting tower. (Raging Waters also has parks in San Dimas and San Jose, Calif., and Wildwood, N.J.)
Another new attraction this season at Raging Waters is a hands-on center for children called WaterWorks - an innovative "fantasy factory" of levers, pipes and pulses that brings parents and kids together for an educational, participatory experience.
Other Raging Water additions for 1990 include a giant 15-foot hot tub, more chaise longue chairs and shady "FunBrellas"; a speed-timing device that allows guests to clock their speed down one of the park's fastest slides, three new professional volleyball courts, a comical "ball walk," new floatable zoo animals for the children's pool, and two new group pavilions.
Court Rich, Raging Waters' public relations manager, added that for 1990, the park is implementing a new "Yes We Can!" customer service program, in which the park's employees are dedicated to going out of their way to assure visitors the most pleasant recreation experience possible.
Rich noted that the park's new speed-timing device will also allow Raging Waters season pass holders to compete in the Raging Waters chain's own "national waterslide speed championships." Local winners will be flown to Wildwood, N.J., to compete in the finals at the end of the season.
"Safe Sam," a costumed lifeguard gator, will also be visiting both the park and local schools to promote water safety.
Another Raging Waters project this year, while it's not related directly to the park itself, is "Operation Graffiti." The park, in cooperation with other local Glendale area business leaders, is committed to help paint over any graffiti spotted in the community within 48 hours.
Season passes range from $49.95 for an unlimited pass to $19.95 for an after-4 p.m. ticket and $14.95 for a season "spectator" pass.
Daily rates are $10.05 for 10 and up; $7.95 for those 3-9 years of age; free admission for those two and under or 60 and over. For all ages after 5 p.m., admission is $5.95. The park is open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, closing at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays.
-SEVEN PEAKS RESORT in Provo is just going into its second season, but already it's fiercely competitive.
The park's newest attractions _ The Jagged Edge and The Sky-Breaker _ have been verified as the tallest water slides in the world.
The Jagged Edge is a coaster-type slide that starts from 95 feet up in the air, then takes the rider over two bumps and into a splashdown ramp at the bottom of the slide.
The Sky-Breaker, according to general manager Paul Mix, "is the only one of its kind in the world."
For this attraction, riders begin by going through a fairly flat, 45-foot long, pitch-black tube, at the end of which they're jettisoned out into a 90-foot freefall.
Mix said, "We've been having high school days this past week. One big, brawny football player went into the tube, and we waited and waited . . . and he didn't come out. Finally, he climbed back out the entrance at the top of the tube!"
He'd gotten to the end of the tube and seen the drop-off and, somehow, got himself turned around inside the tube and made it back up to the top.
"That's too scary for me!" the athlete exclaimed.
Mix said Seven Peaks' goal this year is no lines at the attractions.
"We've widened all of the tower ramps this year and the two new rides should handle 700 people per hour, and we think we can keep the lines down to zero even on crowded days," he said.
Mix said that Seven Peaks is the largest water park in Utah, both acreagewise (26 acres) and attractionwise (more than 45 heated attractions).
The resort recently embarked on the third phase of its expansion _ construction of the funicular railway to the top of the mountain and work on the 18-hole golf course.
Seven Peaks has a broad range ticket pricing, including a new "Family Sleep and Swim Special" ($69.95 for lodging at the Excelsior Hotel and four passes to the water park), a coupon with discounts for those driving long distances ($3 off for those who've come further than 150 miles), and some early-bird and season ticket deals.
The park is open seven days a week.