Front Seat POV©
Jet Star 2 is a steel sit-down roller coaster at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah. It opened in 1976.

Jet Star 2 was designed by famous ride designer Anton Schwarzkopf and was first operated at the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane, WA. After the fair ended, Lagoon purchased Jet Star 2 and relocated it to the park in 1976. Since its relocation to Lagoon, the ride is and has always been a central part of the North Midway section of Lagoon. Jet Star 2 has had many mechanical problems over the years but the system has been overhauled to be more reliable in recent years.

Previously, Jet Star 2 had a blinking lighted sign at the top of the lift hill. This sign was removed when the ride was repainted with its current bright red and yellow color scheme in 2006. Before 2005, the colors on Jet Star 2 were reversed with red track and yellow supports. In 2012, Jet Star 2's loading platform was remodeled slightly so that the capacity could increase due to its constant popularity.

Jet Star 2 had a large enough impact with the local residents of Spokane, WA during the 1974 World's Fair that local brewery NoLi Brewhouse has named one of their brews "Jet Star" after the ride.

The ride starts with a spiral lift. Once at the top of the lift, the vehicle descends a hill, then takes a left turn, another right turn, and another smaller drop. The ride then goes into a series of drops, and turns before hitting the final brake run and stopping at an unloading station. After unloading, the vehicles return to the loading station.

Jet Star 2's trains are unique in that they do not have lap bar restraints like a traditional roller coaster. Instead, the restraints are much more like seat belts in a traditional automobile that allow for much more free movement. Riders may have to ride on laps of larger riders if they wish to ride together. Each train has three of these large seats available, allowing for up to six riders at a time. Lagoon's policy is that no single riders may ride on Jet Star 2.

A common misconception of the name Jet Star 2 is that it’s the second Jet Star at Lagoon. However, the name actually comes from being the second Jet Star model developed by Anton Schwarzkopf of Germany.

Schwarzkopf’s first Jet Star opened in Austria in 1968 with features that were fairly unique at the time including a tubular steel track and a 180-degree turn immediately after the first drop. The Jet Star 2, introduced two years later, had further innovations like a spiral lift and higher capacity cars with on-board motors powered by electricity to drive them to the top. The Jet Star 3 or Jumbo Jet was a larger model with two cars coupled together. Next was the City Jet or Jet 400 which was smaller than the Jet Star 2, but capable of handling the two-car trains of the Jet Star 3. Schwarzkopf’s Jumbo V could be considered to be an evolution of the Jet Star series. It opened in 1983, ten years after the most recent Jet Star model premiered. It didn’t have a spiral lift and looked more like other Schwarzkopf coasters that had been created during the previous decade, but like other Jet Star models it had several tight turns within a relatively small footprint.

Today, Lagoon’s Jet Star 2 is one of only a handful still operating in the world. Lagoon has had to take certain measures to keep the ride running for over three decades. In or around 1991, Fabriweld of Clearfield, Utah replaced some portions of the track. An updated computer safety system was installed by Setpoint of Ogden in 1998. After the 2004 season, Jet Star 2 was completely dismantled, repainted and repaired. It reopened on 23 July 2005 with its new red supports, yellow track and newly repainted cars.

The large electrical sign was also repainted and returned to the top of the ride in 2005. But it was taken down again around 2006 when a new catwalk was added to the spiral lift and the sign never returned.

Jet Star 2 had lighting features similar to what Colossus: The Fire Dragon has (also a Schwarzkopf coaster) that have been described as flames or crowns. They existed until at least 1988, but were replaced by the early ’90s with much simpler lighting fixtures. In an effort to increase the ride’s hourly capacity, a new dual loading platform was added in 2012, but is rarely used.

свернуть