Elitch Gardens — Attraction in Denver

I am a roller coaster enthusiast who has ridden about 280 coasters over the world in forty four different parks. I enjoy places that have a mix of thrill rides, theming, service/logistics, and scenery. I was in the area and decided to visit Elitch Gardens a park in Denver just outside Mile High Stadium. My expectations weren't high as I would never put this in the same category as a Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Disney or Universal park, many of which I enjoy. I've been to several small parks Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Luna Park, Knoebels, etc. I expected the park to be of comparable enjoyment to these; however, I have to say that Elitch Gardens is the worst park I have been to so far, and it's a park I unfortunately can't recommend at all.

The one caveat in this review is that I am tailoring it towards more of an adult audience and one that has means of travel because Elitch Gardens is really the only park in Colorado, so if you are in the area it is probably the most thrill you can get and have known. Additionally, kids will tend to enjoy the park more as there are plenty of kid rides.

I'll break this review into several categories: rides, food, atmosphere, and logistics as I believe these are the major contributors to someone enjoying an amusement/theme park.

Rides: 2/10. The rides here for a coaster enthusiast are about as bad as it gets. I would re-ride a good amount of coasters over and over again, but in this park there was nothing I wanted to re-ride. The boomerang and Vecoma SLC are what they are, rough and bad rides that are common in parks across the world. It wouldn't be so bad, if this wasn't so critical to a park with 6 coasters (although only 5 are rideable for adults). The halfpipe, is ok, I rode a version of it in the Mall of America that was smoother and a better overall ride, but it's a small ride that will be more of a novelty than a ride you would want to re-ride over and over. The Twister 2 while my favorite coaster at the park, was really rough, and at times seemed as though it was coming off the track. You get some decent speed and there is a tunnel, but it is an average wooden coaster that would compare unfavorably in most other parks. The Sidewinder, the last coaster at the park, was down all day, so I didn't get a chance to rate that one. It is a back and forth arrow coaster that is quite short, so I can't anticipate it being really good, but nonetheless stays out of my review. These rides would be ok for a carnival, but for amusement park level that normally costs $60 for entering, this is a horrible deal.

Food: 1/10 In addition to the fact that most of the food options were closed the weekend before halloween, the sandwich I did get was stale and disgusting. I would have much gathered McDonalds quality food, and the value is what you would expect for most parks-bad! $16+ for a sandwich and a soft drink that is small and tough is not something I would get again.

Atmosphere: 3/10 The haunted decorations were a nice touch and the music that plays in the background (although basically the same as every Six Flags Fright Fest). The normal theming; however, fell flat. A sign or two for the rides looked cool, but most of the rides were themeless (no themed cue lines, no backstory to the rides, etc).

Logistics: 4/10 This part is the hardest to judge, considering I am coming for one day and only got to ride a few rides, so I'm going to be generous here and give them a 4. The fact is that 4 of the 5 coasters can only one run one train (by design), and the old wooden barely runs two trains. When I went, almost no-one was at the park, so it helped with the lines, and the staff was overall friendly and a highlight of the park. However, one ride broke down for the entire day (and no one was working to fix it), and the Boomerang broke down for part of the day with some people stranded at the top.

Overall, Elitch Gardens is a park, but not a good one. It has many flaws, but will get attendance because of the limited competition in the area. Under no circumstances do I intend...

While there are still some thrills to be had, the park as a whole (or at least the amusement park side) is beginning to feel quite neglected. It's as if a late '90s Six Flags park was stripped of almost all of its theming and frozen in time - because, in effect, that's what happened. However, time never sits still. All of the true roller coasters - Boomerang, Mind Eraser, Sidewinder, and Twister II - have seen much better days. It's time to either renovate them or replace them, both to generate renewed interest in the park and to improve guest comfort and safety. I know it may sound strange to talk about comfort on roller coasters, but when you visit any other major amusement park, even the older roller coasters will be much smoother than any of the roller coasters at Elitch Gardens. Additionally, Twister II's supports seem to move more under the car's momentum every time I visit the park.

The park's marketing will have you believe they are constantly installing new rides. This is somewhat true. This year's ride is a reskin of one that opened 11 years ago, and the general consensus from murmurs around the park is that while the new ride is a unique one-time experience, the old one was much better overall due to its consistency and the scoring system which encouraged competition and re-riding. Last year's "new" ride is many years old and falsely marketed as a thrill ride due to its height when in reality it's just a taller version of the circular swing ride near the park's entrance. 2017's new ride is just an admittedly much-needed resurfacing and a fresh coat of paint for a group of water slides. 2014's new ride, while one of the better rides added since Six Flags sold the park, is a carnival staple. With the exception of Ghost Blasters (now defunct) and Brain Drain, nothing significant has been added to the amusement park section of Elitch's in over 20 years. In fact, many fan favorites - such as the Flying Coaster; Shake, Rattle, and Roll; and Ghost Blasters - have been removed.

The staff at the park do not seem well trained. Today, I spent 50 minutes in the almost-empty single-rider line for the Tower of Doom - 30 of them at the very front of the line - watching people behind me leave as they realized the ride operators were only letting groups in. After half an hour standing against the chain at the front end of the line, watching the ride operators completely ignore the single rider line, my patience wore off and I decided to leave. I went immediately to the Mind Eraser - arguably the best roller coaster in the park, and definitely one of the most popular - and was able to get through the line, ride the roller coaster, collect my things from the storage cubbies, and leave through the ride's exit in just 20 minutes. This isn't an isolated incident - the park's security doesn't respond to reports, and the staff working front gate security don't know what to do when a metal detector is set off.

I'm also not a fan of the recent changes to the dining hall. Way to kill any semblance of theming the park had left! The food itself is also MUCH worse now than it was a few years ago.

I've been a season pass holder for 11 years. If things don't improve soon, I don't see myself buying another pass.

I've heard rumors that Elitch's is moving to a new plot of land near the airport in the coming years. I am cautiously optimistic that they will use this as a chance to rethink the park.

Parking could be a lot cheaper and food could be a bit cheaper as well, but these are both normal for amusement parks.

The new food trucks are actually great, especially the Belgian wafel truck! This is the one recent change that I support.

If you want to visit the park more than once per season, buy the season pass. It is cheaper than buying two...

A fair experience in every sense of the word. I'd consider myself a theme park enthusiast and love to visit new parks. I'd lived in Colorado for a year and finally got to visit.

First of all, kudos to Denver for buying the park back from Six Flags when they were downsizing in 2006. As a native Houstonian, I would have LOVED for Houston to have done the same for Astroworld instead of allowing it to permanently close. The fact that Denver has a park to visit is great.

The park experience... It felt like 25% of the rides were closed or constantly breaking down. There were like 5 or 6 flat rides, the two water rides and a coaster that was closed for the whole day. According to several park goers, this is common. The coaster, they tell me, is almost never functional. The flat rides, I'm not sure if they were broken, or just didn't have the staff to operate them. Fortunately, the three big coasters were operational, though they did have a few breakdowns during the day, which caused longer queues. Other rides were not filling to capacity, causing longer queues as well.

There were no single rider lines. I'm not suggesting single riders should get to skip the line, but if there's an open seat in a two-seat cart and I'm not far back in line, that seat can be filled easily, allowing the line to move quicker. When asked, I was told they can't let me skip the line (there were only two groups of two in front of me). This was disappointing. I feel if they let single riders fill the gaps, they can move the line faster.

Food - wife and I had burger and fries and buffalo chicken and fries. The fries were lukewarm at best and felt like they had been sitting out for a while. They forgot the buffalo sauce on the chicken. The clerk working the counter could barely communicate and after having to repeat our order 3-4 times, still got it wrong. I don't expect a lot from amusement park food, but this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had.

Overall experience - I went late in the season, in late September. There was a light crowd and the lines weren't too bad. I got to ride all the rides I wanted, minus the flat rides and the one coaster. The mind eraser coaster and storm chaser coasters were great, and very similar to Astroworld's Serial Triller and Texas Cyclone, respectively, and were a lot of fun. The boomerang coaster was a lot of fun too, but had poor throughput due to only having one train, and breakdowns. Because of this, I only rode it once. I know if more of the rides were operational, the queues for all rides would have been less. Being later in the season, the locals told me that this is common and most rides are online at the start of a new season. Despite the broken rides, they still charged full price, which is the same as a six flags park that is better maintained, and parking was THIRTY DOLLARS. Given so many rides were inoperative, there should have been a discount.

Despite the negatives, wife and I still had a great time. I would still visit again because I had fun on the rides I did get to ride. Hopefully next time, more rides...