My First and Maybe Last Elitch Gardens Visit

Today I’m diving deep into the archives to revisit a trip I took to Elitch Gardens last year.

I found myself in Denver for work and of course had to make a stop at the medium-sized amusement and water park located on the fringe of Downtown Denver, the skyline of which creates a unique backdrop for the park.

I arrived at the park bright and early to beat the crowds — thankfully crowd levels remained low throughout the day but started to pick up as the sun began to set.

Being an October weekend, the park was in the midst of its annual “Fright Fest” event (not to be confused with the Six Flags’ event of the same name). Like many other park Halloween events, the festivities were more family-oriented during the day and scarier as the sun set.

Visiting Elitch Gardens had been a top priority for me since 2018 when a zoning change to the land the park is built on paved the way (possibly literally) for a new “River Mile” development of condos, restaurants, retail and other uses.

There hasn’t been much news about the development since then, and a park official was quoted earlier this year as saying the park will “be in its current location for the foreseeable future.”

Regardless, I didn’t want to risk missing out on the opportunity to visit the park.

At roughly 65 acres (that’s the dry park and the water park), Elitch Gardens seemed like the “smallest big park” I’ve ever visited. I could briskly walk from one end of the dry park to the other in about 5 minutes. Yet the park packs has a respectable lineup of attractions — no space is wasted.

Before we dive into the park itself, let’s review the park’s wild, coaster-like history:

The original Elitch Gardens opened in 1890. Due to space constraints, the park was relocated to its current location near Downtown Denver (on a space-constrained plot of land).

The new Elitch Gardens — as we know it today — opened in 1995. Premier Parks, Inc. purchased Elitch Gardens in 1996, ending the eight-decade-long span of family ownership.

Premier pumped millions of dollars into the park beginning in 1997 with the addition of Mind Eraser and other thrill rides. The park was rebranded as “Six Flags Elitch Gardens” in 1999 following Premier’s purchase of Six Flags. It would maintain the Six Flags badge until 2006 when CNL Properties purchased the park from a then-bankrupt Six Flags. CNL Properties then sold the park to Kroenke Sports and Entertainment in 2015 with Premier Parks (yes, the same one) once again operating the park.

Some of the decorations were surprisingly gory (those are not pictured), while others had some not-so-subtle nods to former iterations of the park.

The tombstone above in the above photo reads:

“Here Lies Mr. Six
2004-2005
He came to Denver to get his kicks and found himself in an awful fix.”

Though the park a respectable collection of roller coasters (we’ll get to those soon), by far one of the most memorable attractions at the park was Meow Wolf’s Kaleidoscape.

The park’s website describes the dark ride as a “mind-bending journey unlike any other” and an “odyssey of creative discovery through immersive art landscapes.”

Meow Wolf, which has a large location in Denver, is an arts and entertainment company that creates large-scale interactive and immersive art installations.

The slow-moving dark ride is a trippy experience and was definitely worth the wait (one of the longest of the day).

Videos don’t do the ride justice, but the one below at least gives you an idea of the experience:

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Now let’s talk about the coasters of Elitch Gardens.

I’ll get the bad news out of the way first. Sadly, two of the park’s larger coasters were closed — Half Pipe and Sidewinder.

Half Pipe is an Intamin Half Pipe model that stands just under 100 feet tall and uses a multi-pass linear synchronous motor (LSM) launch system to propel the car (with two spinning rings of seats) to a top speed of roughly 44 mph.

It’s one of only two of its kind operating in the world (the other is at Chimelong Paradise in China), so I was particularly bummed that I wasn’t able to ride it.

Sidewinder is an Arrow Launched Loop shuttle coaster, one of only three still operating in the world. Riders must climb over five flights of stairs to reach the station. The six-car trains are propelled using an electric winch launch system, down a 47-foot drop, through a vertical loop and back to a flat section where the train is launched in reverse.

The coaster has an interesting history. It first opened as Roaring Tornado in 1980 at Magic Springs in Arkansas where it operated until 1989.

It was then relocated to the original Elitch Gardens where it operated from 1990-1994. It was moved once again to the new Elitch Gardens where it has operated since 1995.

Blazin’ Buckaroo is a standard E&F Miler Industries kid/family coaster.

The park’s Boomerang was surprisingly smooth, especially given that it features the original Vekoma trains.

I wouldn’t jump back in line to ride it again, but it was noticeably smoother than other Vekoma Boomerang models I’ve ridden.

Mind Eraser — another common Vekoma model — unfortunately wasn’t as smooth. But I needed the credit.

The only truly unique coaster at Elitch Gardens (not one that is a duplicate/clone of another coaster), Twister II stands 100 feet tall and reaches a top speed of 55 mph along its 4,640-foot-long course. The coaster is a taller and longer version of the original — Mr. Twister — which operated at the former Elitch Gardens park from 1965-1994. The coaster was well-paced and relatively smooth. It was the only coaster in the park I’d rush back to ride.

As the sun set and the crowds grew ahead of the haunted house openings, I was surprised that some of the more popular rides began to close, including Twister II.

I made it to the Twister II entrance only to be told that the ride was closed and may or may not reopen. The coaster was still cycling full trains, so I’m not sure if this was a staffing issue or something else. But for a park that was becoming increasingly crowded with each passing minute, it seemed odd that the park would close one of its headliner attractions.

But the park also offered a decent selection of flat rides, so I could have extended my visit to ride those had my schedule allowed. But there was much more of Denver that I needed to explore before leaving.

Overall, I enjoyed my 6 hours at Elitch Gardens. Even if I lived in Denver, I probably wouldn’t visit more than once a year. Aside from Twister II, there isn’t much at the park that I can’t get at any of its peer parks.

That said, I would return to ride Half Pipe and Sidewinder, as both are rare models.

If the park does close for the River Mile development, I hope it is able to find a new home as has been suggested.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

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Have you visited Elitch Gardens? Share your thoughts about the park in the comments section below.

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