Wild Mouse is a steel roller coaster at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah, known for its tight, jerky hairpin turns and the illusion that the cars are about to fly off the edge of the track. Manufactured by Maurer Söhne and designed by Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH, the current ride opened on April 10, 1998, occupying the same South Midway spot where earlier Wild Mouse coasters once stood.
The ride follows a classic wild mouse layout: small single-car trains climb a modest lift before weaving in and out of themselves through a series of sharp switchback turns and stiff brakes. A themed tunnel was added for the 2000 season, and the coaster was repainted green and yellow in 2013, with cars styled to resemble cats and mice chasing one another around the circuit.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Lagoon Amusement Park, Farmington, Utah
- Manufacturer: Maurer Söhne
- Opened: April 10, 1998
- Height: About 49 ft (15 m)
- Top speed: 28 mph (45 km/h)
- Length: 1,213 ft (370 m)
- Inversions: 0
The Ride Experience
True to the wild mouse style, the ride’s defining trait isn’t height or speed but the sensation of near-loss of control. Trains carrying just a handful of riders snap through narrow hairpin turns at the top of the structure, with each car seemingly skating right to the edge of the track before stiff brakes reel it back in. The whole circuit lasts about a minute, but the abrupt direction changes make it feel far more intense than its modest stats suggest.
Lagoon added a themed tunnel section in 2000, giving part of the layout an enclosed, surprise-filled moment amid the open-air switchbacks. The 2013 repaint gave the structure a green-and-yellow color scheme and cat-and-mouse styling on the cars, playing up the ride’s name and its chase-like pacing.
A Legacy of Wild Mice at Lagoon
The current steel coaster isn’t Lagoon’s first ride to carry the Wild Mouse name. A wooden version arrived at the park in 1965 after being relocated from the Seattle World’s Fair, running until 1971, then returning in 1973 as ‘The New Wilder Wild Mouse’ on the same South Midway footprint. That wooden ride operated until it was retired in 1989.
When the current steel Wild Mouse opened in 1998, it was built in the same location with a similar layout, but it is an entirely different ride built by Maurer Söhne, giving the attraction a continuous presence at Lagoon spanning more than half a century under one name or another.
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Wild Mouse FAQs
How fast does Wild Mouse at Lagoon Park go?
Wild Mouse reaches a top speed of about 28 mph (45 km/h), with most of that intensity coming from its sharp turns rather than raw speed.
Does Wild Mouse have any loops or inversions?
No. Wild Mouse has zero inversions; its thrill comes from tight hairpin turns and sudden braking rather than loops or twists.
When did the current Wild Mouse coaster open at Lagoon?
The current steel Wild Mouse, built by Maurer Söhne, opened on April 10, 1998, replacing an earlier wooden Wild Mouse that had operated at the park since 1965.
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Photo: Brandy Shaul / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.