Opening day – the long-awaited moment at the end of every winter when we no longer have to drive by Lagoon’s empty parking lot and dream about the click-clack sound of roller coasters. While it may be fairly easy to predict when opening day will land on a year-to-year basis, history has shown that it has varied quite a bit, and that there’s a reason behind that disclaimer about the schedule being subject to change.
With the exception of its first year, when it opened in mid-July, Lagoon and other parks and resorts traditionally opened on Memorial Day. Often called Decoration Day in early years, the holiday was always observed on May 30th, instead of the last Monday in May as it is now.
Then in 1948, Lagoon began scheduling pre-season openings when the park opened for weekends only. At first, it was only a few weekends before Memorial Day and, even then, gates didn’t open until 6pm on Saturdays.
After about a decade of early May openings, the pre-season began in late April in 1959. Little by little, the park tested earlier and earlier openings and by 1964 they were opening in late March. The first weekend of the year then fluctuated around late March and early April until Lagoon was consistently opening sometime in April for just over three decades.
The first day of the 2012 season was the first time Lagoon had opened in March since 1979. So far, the record for Lagoon’s earliest opening day was in 2021 when they opened on March 20th.
For a long time, the pre-season weekends were light in attendance and considerable discounts to admission were usually offered. But as Utah’s population and Lagoon’s attendance has grown (particularly since the opening of Cannibal), the pre-season has seemingly become about as busy as a summer day. Now, it’s rare to hear about the first weekends of the year to be referred to as a pre-season at all and many guests are unaware of the term.
Part of the risk that comes with planning an early opening is of course, the weather. It’s not uncommon for snow flurries or rainstorms to pop up on opening day. At times the park will open for the first day, but close the next day. Unless conditions are serious, Lagoon will usually open in stormy weather, even if it means an earlier closing time for the day. But there have been times when weather has prevented the park from beginning operations as soon as they hoped for.
The most recent instance was in 2023, when opening day was pushed back two weeks while the park was still covered in heavy spring snow. When it did open, there were still mounds of snow scattered around the park.
Then there was 1983, when the park opened on weekends as planned up until Memorial Day weekend when flooding and mudslides caused damage to Lagoon and many nearby homes and the park was closed for four days to clean up mud and debris.
But the longest delay had nothing to do with weather. After the onset of the global pandemic in 2020, local health department restrictions caused Lagoon to play a waiting game until it was considered safe to let guests gather at the park.
Originally planned to open March 28th, the first day was moved to April and then weekly updates were provided by Lagoon until the park was finally able to open on May 23rd, with lower guest capacities. The new ride that year, Engine 86, was ready to open in March, but had to wait to make its debut.
Some rides and attractions take considerably more time to prepare for the public, but many are able to open in early spring with the rest of the park. Sometimes that means the new ride is operating in a somewhat “bare bones” appearance, before any decorating or additional elements are added.
Following is a list of some of the attractions that are known to have opened on the park’s opening day:
| Opening Date | Attraction |
|---|---|
| 23 May 2020 | Engine 86 |
| 2 Apr 2011 | Bombora |
| 4 Apr 2009 | Jumping Dragon |
| 5 Apr 2008 | OdySea |
| 8 Apr 2006 | Dinosaur Drop / Ladybug Bop |
| 10 Apr 2004 | The Dragonfly / Kontiki |
| 12 Apr 2003 | The Spider* |
| 13 Apr 2002 | Catapult |
| 15 Apr 2000 | Double Thunder Raceway |
| 14 Apr 1999 | The Rocket |
| 19 Apr 1997 | Rattlesnake Rapids |
| 20 Apr 1991 | Sky Scraper |
| 19 Apr 1986 | Flying Carpet |
| 27 Apr 1985 | Puff, The Little Fire Dragon |
| 20 Apr 1984 | The Whirlwind |
| 1 Apr 1983 | Colossus: The Fire Dragon |
| 10 Apr 1982 | Musik Express / Flying Elephants |
| 3 Apr 1976 | Jet Star 2 |
| 29 Mar 1975 | Wild Kingdom Train / Log Flume |
| 31 Mar 1973 | Zugspitz |
| 1 Apr 1972 | The Rotor / The Tumbler / Krazy Kups |
| 13 Apr 1968 | Flying Saucer |
| 9 Apr 1966 | Paratrooper / Haunted Shack / Picnic Train |
| 11 Apr 1964 | European Carousel |
| 21 Apr 1962 | Golf-Fun |
| 25 Apr 1959 | Showboat |
| 4 May 1957 | Fun House |
| 1953 May 2 | Ferris Wheel |
| 30 Mar 1947 | Roll-O-Plane |
| 28 May 1921 | Roller Coaster |
| *Opened for 15 min on first day. |
Several rides are opened to employees and/or the media and other special guests in the days before they open to the public. In 1999, The Rocket opened for a special event three days before the park opened. In attendance for the early rides were former astronaut Jake Garn and members of local high school student leadership. Space Scrambler opened in 1961 with some of the first rides given to airline pilots and flight attendants.
Nutcracker, the new ride for 2026, also had pre-opening rides for employees and members of the media. The ride came together quickly over the off-season, becoming the largest ride at Lagoon to be ready in time for opening day since the Catapult opened in 2002.
MORE LAGOON HISTORY
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