Yes, it's definitely "Wicked" — wicked fun, that is.
Lagoon's newest attraction and its most expensive ride ever ($10 million) — the Wicked roller coaster — finally opened Friday afternoon to the delight and good fortune of the thousands of patrons who were lucky enough to be in the park that day, many not expecting to be among Wicked's first passengers.
After riding this unique, world-class coaster, everyone smiles brightly as they leave and the word "awesome" was heard a lot.
"I was really scared," Deanne Wiggins of Sandy said after her ride. "It's truly wicked."
"It was the funnest thing I've ever done," said Cory Cooper, a teenager from Bozeman, Mont.
His friend, Dusty Battery, boasted about the huge adrenaline rush he got from the ride.
"I thought it was a great ride," said Jordan Myers, 12, Ogden. "Being one of the first to get to ride it was fun too,"
The first hill, camelback-shaped, is a thrilling but smooth-riding experience as you feel like you're being shot out of a cannon. Riding down the camelback is simply spectacular for any coaster lover.
At 110 feet high and 55 mph, this is one of Lagoon's tallest and fastest rides. Located just west of the Fire Dragon Coaster, on former parking lot space, the ride is included in Lagoon's regular daily admission price.
Riders 46-50 inches tall have to sit in special seats, but Lagoon has tried to make it as much a family-inclusive ride as possible. Anyone under 46 inches may not ride. Wicked can handle as many as 900 riders per hour.
"This ride is a one of the kind on the planet," said Lagoon spokesman Dick Andrew.
Andrew said Lagoon worked with a German ride manufacturer, Zierer, to build a special ride that no one else has. Wicked has some unique elements not found in any other coasters, though Andrew suspects the ride will be copied by other parks in the future.
One unusual feature is that the ride lacks the traditional shoulder yoke. Riders are locked in at their thighs, lower legs and the waist.
"You have the feeling of being out there," he said, because of the ample upper-body freedom this allows.
Watching Wicked operate, the ride doesn't appear nearly as thrilling as it is, except for the obvious camelback segment.
Wicked also features a unique "half-pipe" section. This is two compact vertical turns that simulate in roller-coaster fashion the half-pipe move that snowboarders or skateboarders do. The ride also has a heart line roll inversion and banked turns.
The ride includes two black tunnels. Riders are launched out of the first tunnel at 41 mph and shot straight up the camelback-shaped hill at a 90-degree angle. Cars descend the first hill at 55 mph.
The approximately 2 1/2-minute ride is not a traditional chain-driven coaster that goes click, click, click. It is powered magnetically by a "linear synchronous motor" that alone makes it unlike any other ride in the park.
Construction on the ride began in August 2006. It has 270 pylons and includes about 2,000 feet of track.
Wicked features five separate cars, each holding eight passengers in two rows of four riders. The back row is elevated to allow rear passengers to also clearly see what lies ahead.
Because of manufacturing delays, the new ride was not ready on the April 7 opening day this year. Lagoon officials were also reluctant to publicize a firm date on the new roller coaster's opening because of the unpredictability of getting new rides smoothly into their initial operations.
Lagoon is now open daily through the end of August.
For information on Wicked, or any aspect of Lagoon, go to: www.lagoonpark.com.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com