The entrance to the park had this big sign that confused me somewhat. Are they telling us that there's nothing to see here, in which case why bother visiting?
The park used to belong to the Six Flags chain (hence the observation tower) but was dropped a year or two back when the new CEO decided to remove a few of the poorer performing parks from the chain and put them up for sale.
At least being early meant that the park was quiet. It also has a water park called Island Kingdom but I wasn't here for that.
Their animal show is called Hot Diggity Dogs. In Wisconsin that's the name of the hot dog stand. Nice!
Their breakdance ride looked like someone had gone berzerk with a pack of Crayola crayons. I wonder if you spun the ride fast enough it would go white?
That's Sidewinder, a shuttle loop coaster that used to reside in Magic Springs before they got rid of it. I'd be riding that one later.
The park is building an interactive shooting dark ride attraction. It was clearly way off schedule as there was nothing going on behind the fence and the park maps were already advertising the ride. That's not good!
I popped the camera over the fence and took this, they'd barely started!
That's Mind Eraser, and that heart shaped element is a clear indicator that this is an SLC. Having explained my process for riding before imagine my shock when it failed to work here. This was the worst SLC I'd ever ridden. I only wish it lived up to its name as I don't want to have this in my memory anymore.
The Skycoaster station had no-one riding but it was playing some great trance, so I hung about and had a little dance, which was perhaps not the best thing to do being on my own. But I didn't care.
I'd be riding the boomerang next. I wasn't looking forward to it at all based on what I'd just been on.
Interesting batwing theming. Clearly they'd not removed all trace of the Six Flags theming just yet.
Boomerang was bad
But it did have some bizarre australian theming on the way in. The first time I'd seen that!
Up next was Half Pipe, the third one of these I'd done and second on this trip, after the Mall of America one.
But this wasn't great either, it jolted about and wasn't smooth at all. I didn't feel safe at all. I was starting to quickly understand why this park was getting such a bad reputation.
That's the INVECO field at mile high, a new sporting arena not far from the park and soon to be the location of Barack Obama's acceptance speech as he runs as the democratic candidate for President.
Guess what ride this is?
The Top Spin, good pun huh? I however would be a little bit nervous about the "rattle" component to the name so I chose not to ride it.
Twister 11 is the 11th version of this wooden coaster. Not really, it's the second. They can do roman numerals in Denver.
Was this supposed to scare me?
There is also a selection of historic photos in the queue line, which would be good for the enthusiasts.
The ride wasn't too bad but was nowhere near as good as Lakeside's. Its one redeeming feature was that the queue line took you through the centre of the ride, which made photographing it fairly easy.
Another group return to the station wondering why they'd bothered coming here.
That's the trains to the park's flying coaster so it doesn't look like I'd be riding that today.
Overall the park looked clean and tidy. They just lack a signature ride and supporting rides of a decent quality. Clearly the new owners would be able to tackle the former immediately but not the latter, so perhaps I should give them a chance before reserving judgment.
Onto Sidewinder and having made my way through a cloud of midge flies eventually found the entrance to the ride.
The sign had seen better days. Perhaps the flies ate it.
Up a ridiculously steep flight of stairs. I'm surprised the disabled visitors haven't tried suing the park.
Ascending to the top does reward you with nice views of the park and Denver though! Every cloud has a silver lining and I'd climbed so many storeys I'm surprised I wasn't in one. The ride itself was rough, not a surprise considering the previous coasters done.
The flying coaster was indeed fenced off.
A small nondescript sign stating that it was being moved, no idea as to where or what the replacement would be however.
The observation tower wasn't open today so I chose the wheel to get some photos instead.
Some photos instead...
Startoon Studios is the kiddy part of the park.
Cactus Coaster is the kiddy coaster. I wasn't going to be let on until I came across a kid who wanted to ride but whose parents did not. I stepped in and got the credit.
Liking this!
The park has enforced a stricter re-entry policy. As well as needing your hand-stamp you also need the pass or ticket that got you in initially. I can only suppose that people were not washing the hand-stamps off for this rule to be tightened.
So that's Elitch Gardens.....disappointing but the new owners haven't really made their mark yet. Give them time and I hope something good will come out of it.
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