Cannibal

Tower Height: 208 Feet
Track Length: 2,735 Feet
Ride Time: 2 ½ minutes
Maximum G Force: 4.2 G’s
Maximum Speed: 70 miles per hour
Maximum Inverted Loop: 140 Feet Tall
Riders Per Car: 12
Rider Capacity Per Hour: 1,200
Minimum Height to Ride: 46 to 48 inches, to be determined
Budget: $22 Million
Manufacturer: Lagoon Corp.
Aggressive Thrill

Cannibal is a 208-foot roller coaster, or megacoaster that is currently under construction. It is expected to begin operation when Lagoon opens for the 2015 season.

This article is about an upcoming ride at Lagoon. The information on this page may not be fully up to date, and details may change as the ride gets closer to opening. Up to the minute discussion can be found on the Forum.

Announcement

Lagoon held an event for the media on September 4th, 2014 to officially announce Cannibal. The park had not previously commented on the ride, although ride construction and track were already visible. Lagoon confirmed the name and height of the coaster and a few other details, some of which had already been speculated on the internet. Lagoon showed models of the temple theming and a piece of track to the press. The park released a series of ride renderings that did not show the majority of the coaster and an overhead plan of the waterfall.

Images provided by Lagoon when Cannibal was announced

Ride Details

Cannibal has been under construction for over two years and is set to open for the upcoming 2015 season. This steel roller coaster is one of a kind, and is primarily manufactured and constructed locally.

Cannibal will be the tallest roller coaster at Lagoon with a height of 208 feet. It is nearly double the height of Lagoon's second tallest roller coaster, Wicked. The ride features single car trains with three rows of four seats. The seats will have lap bars similar to those on Bombora, and will not include over the shoulder restraints. The ride's dual elevator lift raises the trains to the top of an enclosed tower with riders seated in an upright orientation. Cannibal's 116° first drop is steeper than Wicked's 90° vertical drop, and is known as a "beyond-vertical" drop. The ride will travel at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.

Records

When Cannibal opens it will feature the tallest beyond-vertical drop in the world and it will be the steepest roller coaster in the United States.

Ride Elements

When Cannibal was announced, Lagoon stated that the ride would feature the following elements:

• Vertical Lift
• Inverted Loop
• Diving Loop
• Underground Tunnel
• Exclusive thrill element to be announced at a later date.

Based on design images and construction photos, it is believed that the ride will feature (in order):

• Dual Elevator Lift
• Beyond Vertical Drop
• Underground Tunnel
• Inverted Loop
• Diving Loop
• Double Down
• Highly Overbanked Turn
• 270° Counter-Clockwise Barrel Roll immediately followed by 270° Clockwise Barrel Roll
• Helix through a tunnel behind a waterfall.

In Januray of 2014 Lagoon released a picture of track piece "S27" on their facebook page. It shows a series of linear synchronous motors (LSMs) on a curved piece of track. The piece has since been installed at the end of the double down between the diving loop and the overbanked turn. There has been debate as to whether this piece of track is a powered launch or a brake. Lagoon has not confirmed the purpose of this piece of track. Cannibal features similar LSMs on its mid course and end of course brake runs.

Theme elements

Temples

There are a series of themed "Temples" built above the underground tunnel. One temple features the head of a rhinoceros, one features the head of an elephant, and one features a snake and a unique archway. There are doorways and open windows in the temples, but their purpose is unclear.

Waterfall

The ride features a waterfall that is approximately forty feet tall. The final helix of the ride's track travels through a tunnel in the waterfall, and behind the falling water. The barrel roll element of the ride has the riders travel upside down over the waterfall. There is at least one large statue "carved" into the rear of the waterfall. The waterfall is made of concrete sprayed over a steel structure. The waterfall was designed by Cloward H20 and built by Cemrock.

Lion statues

Cannibal's theming includes cement lions that previously sat at the steps to the Utah State Capital Building. They were originally sculpted by Gavin Jack in 1915, and were repaired by Ralphael Plescia in 1977. In 2009 the Capitol restoration project concluded that the lions were too deteriorated to repair again. They were auctioned on eBay and replaced with new lion statues made of Italian marble. Lagoon won three of the statues at auction, spending nearly $16,000 but were outbid by a Salt Lake City resident on the fourth, which sold for $8,100. Lagoon has created additional concrete animals for the ride, and the ride's overall theme may have been partially inspired by the lion statues. The lions have been fully restored by Lagoon and sit near Cannibal's entrance. The lions will be 100 years old during Cannibal's first season. It is thought that one of the lions might contain a time capsule.

Name

According to Julie Freed, spokesperson for Lagoon, “We have named it Cannibal, because in our collective mind it will eat other roller coasters in their tracks!”

Lagoon insiders have stated that the name "Savage" was also considered for the coaster. The name "Cannibal" may be the result of Lagoon looking for a name that sounded more intense than "Wicked" and also went well with a theme that incorporated the lion statues.

Manufacturer

Cannibal is unusual in that it is not being designed and built by an existing roller coaster manufacturer. It was designed by Lagoon's head engineer Dal Freeman, and is being built by Lagoon and its contractors.

Local contractors

Over 75% of contractors and vendors involved in the construction of this coaster are from Utah. Below is a list of these companies as identified by Lagoon.

Automotive & Industrial Supply	Border States Electric	Brundage-Bone
Codale Electric Supply	Colonial Building Supply	Fastenal Company
FOR-SHOR Company	GEM Buildings	Geneva Rock Inc.
H&E Equipment Services	HOJ Engineering & Sales	Intermountain Concrete Specialties
Intermountain Lift	Lakeview Rock Products	Marmon/Keystone, LLC
Marz Precision Manufacturing	Masco, Inc.	Mountain Crane Services, LLC
Pacific Steel	Petersen Incorporated	Pilot Freight Services
Quality Fire Protection	Richards Sheet Metal	T.H.B. Inc.
Wadsworth Brothers Construction	Ward Engineering Group	Wells Fargo Bank
Wells Fargo Equipment Financing	Wilson Brothers Trucking

Other contractors

Additional contractors known to be involved with Cannibal's construction include:

• Cloward H20 (Waterfall design)
• Cemrock (Waterfall and temple construction)
• ART Engineering GmbH (Train manufacturer)

Construction Gallery

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February Construction Video

Lagoon created a video showing the coaster under construction in mid-February. This is the first video footage of the coaster released by Lagoon.

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Cannibal Progress February 2015