FARMINGTON — If you suffer from arachnophobia, a fear of spiders, you may want to skip Lagoon's new ride this year — the "Spider" — a $3 million spinning roller coaster that's the first of its kind in North America. It premieres Saturday, April 14.
"It's reminiscent of the Wild Mouse but bigger," Dick Andrew, Lagoon's marketing manager, said. "This is a roller coaster, and it's going to be quite a ride."
Theme for the spinning ride will revolve around spiders, which spin webs. Hence the name.
"A big spider will hover over the entryway," Andrew said.
Although the ride will reach a maximum speed of only 38 mph, it will rotate up to 20 times per minute.
Constructed by Maurer Sohne Co. of Germany, which also built the Wild Mouse, this ride will reach a maximum height of 53 feet on a 1,414-foot-long track. It features eight cars that carry four passengers each, with two passengers facing forward and two facing backward. It can handle 900 passengers per hour, slightly more than the Wild Mouse.
After each car ascends the first hill, it unlocks and allows a free horizontal spin that varies depending on the weight and allocation of the passengers. A track configuration that includes an 82-degree embankment, a stretch of slalom track and a 360-carousel spin creates an unusual roller coaster experience.
Andrew said the new ride will be included with each season passport and daily admission. Riders must be 46-50 inches tall to ride with an adult or 50 inches or more to ride unsupervised.
The new ride will be located on vacant land just west of the Cliffhanger or north of the Fire Dragon, in the former location of the west side of the old Speedway track.
Because the ride will front the south side of the parking lot, Andrew said it will be highly visible and add to the park's skyline. Infrastructure work is now under way, but nothing much will be visible from I-15 until the ride actually arrives from Germany.
The new ride also keeps Lagoon's 10-year tradition going of having a new ride every year. Last year's offering was the Catapult. Rattlesnake Rapids, Thunder Raceway, Top Eliminator, Wild Mouse, Cliffhanger, Samurai, Sky Ride and Rocket are the eight other new rides in the past decade.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com