History of Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado

Elitch Gardens has had a bright history over its 117 years of operating. This article will tell of four of its eras, the Gurtler era, Premier era, Six Flags era, and PARC era, from 1994 to today.

The Gurtler era is the era in which the Gulter family owned the park in 1994 and was realizing that the park was getting scarce on space in its original location, Elitch Gardens at 38th Ave. & Tennyson St. The Gurtler family, along with financial partners, solved this problem by buying a 67.7 acre plot of land for $6.1 million in June 1994. They would then further spend $90 million on relocating several rides from the original park to the new park.

On October 1st, 1994, the original park closed its gates forever and on May 27, 1995 the new Elitch Gardens was opened to the public. The park had fewer than 1.2 million on its opening day. The Gutler family would sell the park to Premier Parks for $65 million in October 1996.

Some of the rides that were moved from the original park are the Carousel, the Sidewinder roller coaster, and a new form of the Mister Twister, called the Twister II.

The Premier era began in a bad place. The Premier company realized that the park had suffered horrible figures the first two seasons and began to make additions to the park. The first big addition was the third roller coaster to the park, entitled Mind Eraser. The Mind Eraser was a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster.

The next addition to the park was the Tower of Doom, which is an Intamin freefall ride that stands at 250 feet. The final addition to the park was the 700 seat Tracadero Theater. Final price for the additions, $28 million.

In 1998 the Premier Parks company bought the Six Flags chain of theme parks from Time-Warner and added the Six Flags prefix to the Elitch Gardens park the next year.

The Six Flags era saw many more additions to the park. In 1999 the park was officially renamed Six Flags Elitch Gardens and the first addition was added, the Boomerang: Coast to Coaster. This rollercoaster was a Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster.

Some of the other additions included the Looney Tunes and DC Comics characters/themes to the park. Also, between 1999-2001, the new Looney Tunes Movietown area, water rides, and flat rides were added to the park.

In 2002 the area’s first flying roller coaster and one of the most popular rides at the park was added, the Flying Coaster. In 2004 the park made history again by adding the Half Pipe, America’s only Half Pipe roller coaster.

In 2005 the park closed down in order to remove Chance-Morgan Chaos flat rides for safety reasons and also added the Edge, a vertical water slide.

In late 2005 Daniel Snyder obtained the control of Six Flags and announced mark Shapiro as CEO. During the 2006 season the park began to undergo some grim changes. Shapiro announced the selling of six Six Flags owned properties, including Elitch Gardens. On August 7, 2006 the park announced that it was going to be sold for $170 million.

On January 11, 2007 Elitch Gardens and six other Six Flags parks were sold to PARC Management for $312 million and the Six Flags prefix was removed from the name, making the park Elitch Gardens once again.

The PARC era became official on April 9, 2007. CNL Income Properties bought the parks and now leases them to PARC Management. Not much is known at this time about the changes that will be done to the park. The only thing for sure is that the Looney Toons characters and names will be removed from the park. Also, the “Dream Nite” promotion will still be held at the park and all Elitch Gardens season passes will still be accepted at Six Flags parks.

The final changes to the park is the addition of the Ripcurl, a ProSlide Bowl water slide.

For $44.99 you can get a one day ticket to Elitch Gardens and Island Kingdom Water Park, connected to the theme park. You may also buy a season pass for $54.99 if four passes are bought.