Elitch Gardens (Amusement Park)

Infobox Amusement park


caption = The entrance to Elitch Gardens.
name = Elitch Gardens
location = Denver
location2 = Colorado
location3 = United States flagicon|USA
season = April to October
opening_date = 1890 (original location)
1995 (current location)
previous_names = "Six Flags Elitch Gardens" -November 1998 to April 6,2007
"Elitch Gardens" - 1890 to 1998, April 6, 2007 to present

area = 70 acres total
rides = 45
coasters = 7
water_rides = 2
owner = CNL Income Properties
homepage = http://www.elitchgardens.com

Elitch Gardens, previously known as "Six Flags Elitch Gardens", is an amusement park in Denver, Colorado. It is owned by CNL Income Properties and operated by PARC Management alongside six other former Six Flags parks including: Darien Lake, Frontier City, White Water Bay, Waterworld California, Splashtown Houston, and Wild Waves Theme Park. It is a seasonal park usually opening in late April and closing around Halloween.

History

Gurtler era

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 convert|67.7|acre|m2|sing=on 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 on 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

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 convert|250|ft|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 bill some of their parks with the Six Flags prefix. Elitch Gardens was one of those parks and big changes came the next year.

ix Flags era

Numerous additions came in 1999 when the park was officially renamed Six Flags Elitch Gardens. The first and most notable addition was the , 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.

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. [http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4144186]

On January 11 2007, it was announced that Elitch Gardens was to be sold, along with six other Six Flags parks, to PARC Management for $312 million. In April 2007 the Six Flags prefix was removed from the name, making the park Elitch Gardens once again. [http://www.sixflags.com/press/saleannouncement.asp]

PARC Era

The PARC era officially began on April 9 2007. CNL Income Properties bought Elitch's along with six other former Six Flags parks and now leases the properties to PARC Management. An immediate change under the new management was the removal of all Looney Tunes 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, will debut. The ride takes guests through a dark mansion haunted with ghosts. Using Boo-blasters on the ride, guests have the opportunity to extinguish the ghosts while competing against one another as digital counters keep track of the scores [http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=88414 9NEWS.com | Colorado's Online News Leader | Cyrus set to rock Elitch Gardens this summer ] ] . Alongside the new ride, the park will host a new summer concert series including Randy Travis, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Smash Mouth, and Billy Ray Cyrus .

Park Admission

"Elitch Gardens" lowered admission prices in 2008. An adult one day pass went from $44.99 to $34.99, while a child one day pass changed from $22.99 to $19.99. Parking switched from $15 a day to $10 [ [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/19/elitchs-slashing-prices/?printer=1/ Elitch's slashing prices : rockymountainnews.com ] ] .

Island Kingdom Water Park

The Island Kingdom water park is a 20 acre 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 opens around Memorial Day (depending on the weather), and closes at Labor Day.The Island Kingdom waterpark will be closed if temperatures drop below 70F.

Public Transportation to and from the park

There is a light rail train stop located next to the park's entrance, served by C and E line trains. Many park visitors take the train instead of paying 10 dollars for parking. There is a bus station just off park grounds as well, which is served by route 10 and the Front Range Express (FREX)(to Castle Rock / Colorado Springs). Driving in downtown Denver is discouraged, and it is generally easier and faster to take either the bus or the train to Elitch Gardens.

Rides

Roller Coasters

ee also

*Incidents at PARC Management parks

References

External links

* [http://www.elitchgardens.com Elitch Gardens Official Site]
* [http://www.rcdb.com/pd46.htm Elitch Gardens @ rcdb.com]