I survived Lagoon’s newest ride. Here’s what I experienced

Here’s what you need to know from someone who was one of the first few hundred to ride Nutcracker

Published: March 27, 2026, 1:11 p.m. MDT

People ride “Nutcracker” during a preview event for the new ride at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington on Thursday, March 26, 2026. Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Minty is a general assignment intern with the Deseret News, working with the Utah, Politics and the West team.

Lagoon Amusement Park invited media members, including myself, to experience their newest ride, Nutcracker, Thursday on what felt like a hot summer day in July.

Here’s my evaluation, as an occasional thrill seeker:

The details

The park’s newest feature ride is essentially a glorified pendulum swing that’s 105 feet tall, which is as tall as Corona Arch in Moab.

Nutcracker is on the south end of the park right next to The Spider and Wild Mouse.

The coaster is the main attraction of a new German themed area of the park called Biergarten.

At its highest point, passengers will soar 150 feet above the ground, nearly the height of the Statue of Liberty from heel to crown, so if you’re afraid of heights, maybe sit this one out.

Nutcracker also reaches speeds of 68 mph, just a touch slower than one of the park’s fastest rides, Cannibal.

Riders must be at least 48 inches tall, and the ride can hold up to 40 people simultaneously, arranged in two rows of 10 on each side of the two beams

Lagoon Amusement Park opens Saturday, with operating hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., weather permitting.

My experience

Deseret News reporter Minty Buckwalter, center left, rides “Nutcracker” during a preview event for the new ride at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington on Thursday, March 26, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Apparently I wasn’t the only one hooting and hollering on this ride.

The “big burly maintenance guys with long beards” that helped build the ride were the very first to ride the Nutcracker, according to Julie Freed, director of special events at Lagoon.

“They loved it. I swear they’ve ridden (the ride) like five or six times since 3 o’clock,” Freed told me at 5 p.m.

As for myself, who loves roller coasters (as long as I’m running on an empty stomach), I was actually terrified.

Swinging backward at nearly 70 mph and climbing until my body was almost parallel to the ground at the peak of the swing — that’s what did it for me.

Comments

My colleague, photojournalist Rio Giancarlo, said he felt the same way and rode the ride multiple times, endeavoring to capture that exact moment with a chest-mounted GoPro.

Something about being one of the first several hundred people to ride the ride also didn’t sit right with me.

That thought of being one of the first to ever ride Nutcracker crept into the back of mind and didn’t go away until my feet were safely on the ground.

That being said, however, I’d definitely ride Nutcracker again and would encourage everyone else to do the same.