Elitch Gardens Theme Park

Elitch Gardens

Location	Denver, Colorado, United States
Coordinates	39°45′2″N 105°0′40″W / 39.75056°N 105.01111°W / 39.75056; -105.01111Coordinates: 39°45′2″N 105°0′40″W / 39.75056°N 105.01111°W / 39.75056; -105.01111
Owner	Stanley Kroenke
Operated by	Premier Parks, LLC
Opened	1890 (original location) 1995 (current location)
Previous names	Elitch Zoological Gardens 1890 to 1900 Elitch Gardens 1900 to 1998, 2007 to present Six Flags Elitch Gardens November 1998 to April 6, 2007
Operating season	May - October
Area	65 acres (260,000 m2) total
Rides
Total	53
Roller coasters	5
Water rides	12
Website	http://www.elitchgardens.com

Elitch Gardens Family Theme and Water Park, locally known as "Elitch's", is an amusement park in Denver, Colorado. It is owned by Stanley Kroenke and operated by Premier Parks, LLC. Elitch Gardens is unique in that it is located in a downtown area and is open May through October.

History

Gurtler era (1994-1995)

Satellite view from April 2004 (top of image faces north).

As space was getting scarce at the original location of Elitch Gardens at 38th Avenue and Tennyson Street, the Gurtler family and their financial partners purchased a 67.7-acre (274,000 m²) plot of land in the Platte River valley near downtown Denver for the price of $6.1 million in June 1994. $90 million was spent relocating some rides from the original park and construction of the new park. The money was from a mix of public and private dollars and various loans.

On October 1, 1994, the original park closed its gates forever and a majority of the rides were moved to the new property. On May 27, 1995, the new Elitch Gardens opened up to lower than expected crowds. Attendance was weaker than the expected 1.2 million guests the park aimed for. Some notable rides at the park's opening were the original Carousel and Sidewinder roller coaster, relocated from the old park; and a new version of the Mister Twister, the Twister II.

In October, 1996, the Gurtler family and its partners sold the park to growing theme park operator Premier Parks for $65 million.

Premier era (1996-1998)

Premier noted the lackluster figures the new park had in its first two seasons and new additions were soon rushed in for the park's third season. The first and most notable addition was the park's third roller coaster, Mind Eraser, a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster. The next big addition was Tower of Doom, an Intamin freefall ride that stands at 220 feet (67 m). Also added was the park's 700-seat Tracadero Theater. The price tag for these additions came to a total of $28 million.

Throughout this short era, the park had the "The Great Escape" surname under its official name like most of its sister parks at the time (Darien Lake, Riverside Park, and The Great Escape)

In 1998, Premier Parks purchased the Six Flags chain of theme parks from Time-Warner. With the purchase, Premier decided to brand-name some of their parks with the Six Flags prefix. Elitch Gardens was one of those parks and big changes came the next year.

Six Flags era (1999-2006)

Numerous additions came in 1999 when the park was officially renamed Six Flags Elitch Gardens. The first and most notable addition was the Boomerang: Coast to Coaster, a Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster. Other additions included the Looney Tunes and DC Comics characters/themes. Throughout 1999-2001, additions were rushed in such as a new Looney Tunes Movietown area, water rides, and flat rides.

In 2002, the park added one of its most popular rides and the area's only flying roller coaster, Flying Coaster.

In 2004, the park added its latest thrill ride, Half Pipe, the only one of its kind in America.

In 2005, Six Flags parks closed down and removed Chance-Morgan Chaos flat rides for safety reasons. Also, the park added Edge, a vertical water slide inside the park's Island Kingdom water park.

Also in 2005, control of Six Flags, Inc. was obtained by Daniel Snyder in a proxy fight and Mark Shapiro was installed as CEO. The park faced a grim future in 2006 when Shapiro announced selling six of the Six Flags owned properties. Costumed workers and entertainment workers were laid off as a part of cost-cutting.^[1]

CNL Lifestyle Properties era (since 2007)

The main entrance.

In January 2007, Six Flags announced that Elitch Gardens, along with six other parks, would be sold for a total of $312 million. The agreement saw Six Flags sell the properties to PARC Management, who in turn sold the properties to CNL Lifestyle Properties. CNL would then lease the properties back to PARC Management under a 52-year triple-net lease.^[2]

An immediate change under the new management was the removal of all Looney Tunes and DC Comics branding uses from the park. A new ProSlide Bowl water slide, named RipQurl, was added for the 2007 season. In 2008 a new interactive dark ride, Ghost Blasters, opened. The ride takes guests through a dark mansion haunted with ghosts. Using light guns on the ride, guests have the opportunity to extinguish the ghosts while competing against one another as digital counters keep track of the scores.^[3] Alongside the new rides, the park hosts a summer concert series which has included Raven-Symoné, Metro Station, Sara Evans, and Lee Ann Womack.^[3] Elitch Gardens also has live entertainment shows, such as Survivor Live!, and Sea Lion Splash! The shows for 2010 were Rocknation: Don't Stop Believin', Bob the Builder Live: Let's Recycle!, 120 Rockin' Years at Elitch's and Laser Rocks. During October the park has haunted houses and a Trick-or-Treat Trail.

However, after less than three years into the 52-year contracts, CNL terminated their agreements with PARC Management in November 2010.^[4][5] The move came after, according to their 2010 SEC filings, PARC defaulted on their lease obligations on the properties.^[6] In early 2011, CNL appointed Herschend Family Entertainment as the new operators of the park, along with Darien Lake.^[7]

On March 8, 2012, Elitch Gardens announced three new rides, Tube Top (a Proslide Tantrum waterslide) in Island Kingdom, Rockin’ Tug, and Tike Bikes both in the newly transformed kid's area KiddieLand.^[8][9]

In 2013, the operation of Elitch Gardens was transferred from Herschend Family Entertainment over to Premier Parks, LLC.^[10]

In 2014, Elitch Gardens announced the arrival of a new thrill ride, "Brain Drain".^[11]

On June 5, 2015 Enos Stanley Kroenke purchased Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park from CNL Lifestyle Properties. The park's operation will remain under control by Premier Parks, LLC.

Island Kingdom Family Water Park

The Island Kingdom family water park is a 20-acre (81,000 m²) water park located next to the entrance of Elitch Gardens. Admission is included with a one-day ticket to Elitch Gardens. The park has several main attractions: a large tube slide tower, a body slide tower, a family water playground, a large family raft ride, a half pipe water attraction, and a lazy river. Palm trees are planted yearly to add to the atmosphere. The water park usually summers opens around Memorial Day (depending on the weather at sun), and summers closes at Labor Day. The Island Kingdom family waterpark will be summers closed if summertime temperatures drop below 70 °F (21 °C).

Public transportation to and from the park

There is a light rail train stop located next to the park's entrance, served by C, E, and W line trains. The light rail station also serves neighboring Pepsi Center. Many park visitors take the train instead of paying for parking. There is a bus station just off park grounds as well, which is served by route 10.

Rides

Roller coasters

Other rides

Past rides

See also

• Incidents at CNL Income Properties parks

References

External links

• Elitch Gardens Official Site
• Elitch Gardens Theme Park at the Roller Coaster DataBase

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