Farmington • The glimmer off Julie Freed’s silver jacket did not compare to the flare in her voice as she announced Lagoon Amusement Park’s next big ride: The Nutcracker, a colossal swing arching 105 feet, and set to open next year.
Freed — the park’s director of special events and a member of the family that has operated Lagoon since 1946 and owned it since the ’80s — announced the new ride to a group of antsy and excited Lagoon enthusiasts Friday afternoon. While she did, a crane behind her raised a banner displaying a 50-foot nutcracker.
Then, to the crowd’s delight, the title icon’s meaning became clear, as a video rendering of the new attraction was featured on a screen in a nearby booth.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A mock up of the new attraction is shown during the unveiling of the new ride The Nutcracker at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025.
The new attraction, Freed said, would tower above almost everything in the park, taking riders up nearly 150 feet at the apex of the swing, pausing temporarily high above the ground.
Passengers will then be propelled with a g-force of 4.7, she said, boosting riders forward with more acceleration than astronauts experience when leaving Earth — reaching speeds up to 68 mph.
Freed said the most exciting part of the “jaw-dropping ride,” in her opinion, happens before guests are even fastened to their seat — when they are standing in line, and can hear the powerful swoosh of the swing speeding by.
“I mean, it sounds like a monster,” she said.
Lagoon managers decided to erect The Nutcracker after traveling to Florida for a convention last year, and they rode the same ride in Tampa.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lagoon director of special events Julie Freed speaks during the unveiling of a new ride, "The Nutcracker" at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025.
“As soon as we rode it, done,” Freed said. “We knew we had to have this here at Lagoon. It’s something that I think our guests are going to love.”
Next to the giant ride, a 50-foot-tall Nutcracker — like the one depicted in the announcement banner — will stand, decked out in lederhosen and holding a Lagoon stein. The Nutcracker will face south, Freed added, his immense face at the perfect height to make eye contact with people riding the Wild Mouse roller coaster.
The character fits its surroundings, Freed said. One of the two exits takes guests directly into Lagoon’s beer garden, while the other will take them right in front of the garden.
“We’ll see you on the swing,” she said. “Let’s get crackin’!”
After Freed’s presentation, excited park visitors pushed toward the video showing the rendering of the ride.
Twelve-year-old Kage Baldwin, who said he’s grown familiar with different theme park ride designs while doing research on YouTube, said he’s not disappointed.
Paul Anderson, who said he visits Lagoon frequently with his wife and two kids, said The Nutcracker blew his expectations away. “It looks very thrilling,” he said. “It’s going to stick out a lot.”
The Nutcracker is not the only new feature Lagoon plans to add next year, according to Adam Leishman, the park’s creative director. In September, Lagoon received a liquor license for a private club it plans to open, Leishman said.