Elitch Gardens 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. It is open May through October, and unique in that it is located in a downtown area.
Video Elitch Gardens Theme Park
History
Gurtler era (1994-1995)
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 end of the 1994 season--the original park closed permanently and a majority of the rides were moved to the new property, which opened on May 27, 1995. Attendance was about one million the first year there, lower than the expected 1.2 million. 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 Trocadero Theater, named after the famous ballroom and dance hall at the original park. The price tag for these additions came to a total of $28 million.
Throughout this short era, the park had "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 them 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 the Flying Coaster, a suspended steel flying roller coaster. It was a prototype model, and suffered from numerous operational glitches. It was removed from service in 2008, and was eventually sold to Luna Park in Coney Island in 2010, where it was installed in 2011 after being refurbished and updated by ride manufacturer Zamperla.
In 2004, the park installed the Half Pipe coaster, one of two operating in the United States.
In 2005, Six Flags removed Chance-Morgan Chaos flat rides for safety reasons. The same year, the park added a vertical water slide called Edge to its 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.
CNL Lifestyle Properties era (since 2007)
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 them sell the properties to PARC Management, who in turn sold them to CNL Lifestyle Properties. CNL would then lease them back to PARC Management under a 52-year triple-net lease.
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. It takes guests through a dark mansion haunted with ghosts. Using light guns, guests have the opportunity to extinguish the ghosts while competing against one another as digital counters keep track of the scores. Alongside the new rides, the park hosts a summer concert series which has included Raven-Symoné, Metro Station, Sara Evans, and Lee Ann Womack. It also has live entertainment shows, such as "Survivor Live!", and "Sea Lion Splash!" The ones 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 it 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. The move came after, according to their 2010 SEC filings, PARC defaulted on their lease obligations on the properties. In early 2011, CNL appointed Herschend Family Entertainment as the new operators of the park, along with Darien Lake.
On March 8, the park 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.
In 2013, the park's operation was transferred from Herschend Family Entertainment to Premier Parks, LLC.
In 2014, the park announced the arrival of a new thrill ride, Brain Drain.
On June 5, 2015 Stan Kroenke purchased the park from CNL Lifestyle Properties, with operation to remain under control by Premier Parks, LLC.
Maps Elitch Gardens Theme Park
Entertainment & special events
Six Flags Fright Fest events were held at the end of the operating season (Weekends in October, typically) from 1998 to 2006. When the park was sold to PARC Management in 2007, the event was rebranded as "Fall Family Fun Fest", adding family oriented areas such as hay mazes and pumpkin painting to the haunted houses and trick or treat trails. The events were then rebranded again as "FrightFest" from 2008 onward, including the years 2011-2014 with Herschend Family Entertainment managing the property. The park is currently managed by Premier Parks, LLC, who continues to host the event as "Fright Fest" as of 2017.
Island Kingdom
Island Kingdom is a 20-acre (81,000 m2) water park located next to the entrance of Elitch Gardens. It is open seasonally, and admission is included with a one-day ticket to Elitch Gardens. It 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.
Public transportation to and from the park
There is an RTD light rail 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
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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