Our family just finished our big summer vacation. And by big I mean went to our somewhat local amusement park, visited a new lake, and spent the rest of our week at home. Although we wanted to do more this year, it just wasn’t quite in the cards for us. Funds are a bit tighter, and traveling too far was not plausible as our tires on our SUV are pretty dang bald!
On that note, we purchased what is called the Idaho Get Out Pass which allows you a free visit to various activities and businesses in Idaho and a few in Utah (such as trampoline parks, zoos, lego store, etc). The best part of this pass is you can opt in Lagoon (Utah’s famous amusement park), and that alone pays for the pass. We live just a few hours north of Salt Lake, so we decided to do a full day at Lagoon. I always love Lagoon, and I’ll admit, at first I was griping at their rise in ticket prices. It fell upon me throughout the day though that you really get what you pay for. We walked through nearly the entire park and I noted how clean and well kept it was. Even in the far back corners where you would think they wouldn’t spend much time up keeping, it was astonishingly pristine. It is also beautifully landscaped with a large variety of plants and flowers that line walkways, fill middle parts, and pretty much exist anywhere there isn’t foot traffic. There were only a few rides that were not running which is pretty great considering how many there are. To boot, this is a very family friendly park, they offer quite a bit of children’s rides for your littles to enjoy. They also have some intermediate roller coasters that my 5 year old was able to ride and absolutely loved! And! They have a child swap program, so if you go on a ride that a baby or toddler cannot ride they will let the other parent wait at the front of the ride while the first parent goes on the ride. Once the first parent gets back then the one that was waiting can get right on the ride.
We went on a Tuesday so it was fortunately not overwhelmingly busy. Honestly I don’t think we stood in any line for more than 10 minutes. It was also July so we knew it would be toasty warm, but the park is actually quite well shaded so you’re not out sweltering in direct sunlight. I also must add, if you’re not familiar with the park they have ‘Lagoon-a-Beach’ which is a small water park in the center of the park and is included as part of your day pass. Our typical routine when we first get in is let the littles ride some rides, then when we get around noon we go and enjoy Lagoon-a-beach and cool off for awhile. Once we refreshed and recharged we get back to the other rides and attractions.
I guess the moral of this rant is that I fell victim the whinery of ticket prices to Lagoon, but being immersed in the park and taking it all in I respect all the hard work that goes into running the park. You can see that they put a lot of that money back into it, and a bonus is they continue to add new attractions. What I’m saying is, if you’re near or far go visit Lagoon!
