Elitch Gardens, Denver About This Page:

[AKLRULZ]

I think Six Flags would be a fun excursion - here is alink to their website: http://www.sixflags.com/parks/elitchgardens/home.asp

But Six Flags parks tend to be very much "cookie cutter" theme parks with similar attractions at each park - even identical coasters with the same name!

If I had some spare time in Denver I would personally find something new to do and hit the local Six Flags when I got home - but that's just my opinion...you are up against teenagers and that MAY just be the place you NEED to go! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Have fun!

[CRCrazy]

Hi There!

Anyone ever been to Elitch Gardens, the six flag park in Downtown Denver? What are your thoughts?
I am going as a chaperone with the NH contigent of TSA (Technology Students Association) to their national competition the last week of June. The conference finishes up on Friday at noon, and our plane doesn't fly home until Saturday - looking for a fun excursion for 15 12-18 year olds. Are there any other fun things for early teens to do in Denver?

Thanks for your help! [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]

[CRCrazy]

Thanks for the advice -

We don't have a local Six Flags - the closest one is over four hours away in Southern Massachusetts - our kids get easy access to Santa's Village and Storyland - both great themed parks, but a little overemphasis on the littler kids. I have a feeling they will be really excited to hit a Six Flags with their more extreme coasters, etc.

If anyone has any other fun ideas to do in Denver with a bunch of teenagers - I'm certainly open to ideas - their TSA advisor DOESN'T like coasters or theme parks, but is willing to watch to keep the kids happy!

[Fortissimo]

Okay, I'm a little biased here about Elitchs - I hate it! It is over priced, crowded, and have scary visitors. YOu are not allowed to bring in any food or drink with you and food is way overpriced and gross. Admission is $33 and parking is $8.

If I were going to take 15 teens somewhere in Denver, It would be Hyland Hills Water World. It is cheaper, safer, and has tons of rides for everyone. Water World encourages you to picnic in the park and they also have some of the best theme park food I've had. They base their philosophy around the Disney philosphy. Admission is $24 and parking is free!

While Elitchs is both a hard ride and a water park, it doesn't offer what Water World does.

Yes, I must admit that I worked at Water World for 17 years. I started working there at 13 and it paid my way thru college and my first 5 or 6 years of teaching. I worked there for 17 years for a reason - they do things right.

Here is a link to Water World

I hope this helped.

[ 06-01-2002, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: Fortissimo ]

[AKLRULZ]

I saw this park on the USA's Top 10 Water Parks on the Discover Channel last year! Don't they have an indoor water attraction - kind of like Dinosaur at AK, but on inner tubes?!? It did look like fun!

Forti - I'm curious what makes the visitors to Elitch's scary? They are probably bred from the same pool of visitors that go to Paramount's Kings Dominion near us here in Richmond, VA! While PKD has some REALLY fun coasters, the crowd is really rough, in fact you have to pass through metal detectors (just like at the airport) to get in - and they've done that for years, not just due to 9/11!

[Fortissimo]

Steve, Water Wolrd is the first water park to have animated rides at a water park. They have Journey to the Center of the Earth and River of the Lost Pharoes (or however you spell it), which is based on Indiana Jones. Both rides one best theme park rides the years they opened.

Elitchs is in lower downtown Denver. While it does attract families, it is mainly a babysitting service for 8 - 15 years olds with nothing else to do in the summer. They have had gang problems the past few years. YOu have had to pass thru metal detectors at Elitchs for several years, even before it moved to it's new location.

[ 06-01-2002, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: Fortissimo ]

[Fortissimo]

Oh, one more thing about Elitch Gardens - there are no gardens. There are several immature trees that provide little or no shade, and a lot of black-top.

The original Eltich Gardens in North Denver was a beautiful park. The new one is yucky.

[AKLRULZ]

Foti, do you know that I've actually went to the original location of Elitch Gardens back in 1994! My cousin who lives in Littleton got married and my mom and I went out (my wife was like 8 1/2 months pregnant and couldn't go!). We had a few hours to kill on Saturday morning and we saw some of the sights in Denver and kind of got lost - we ended up driving by this roller coaster in the middle of a neighborhood! I said mom, we have to ride it. So my mom (who was like in her late 40's/early 50's at the time) and I hit the park! LOL! I took her on the old Mr. Twister coaster (she hated it, I loved it!) and the other one they had plus some of the other rides! We MAYBE spent 2 hours there, but it did seem nice and kinda quaint - an old time feel, my mom said. Why did they ever move it?

Anyway, you should have seen the look on the rest of the family's face when they asked what we'd done that morning! They couldn't believe that Steve dragged his mom on the roller coaster! HA!

[CRCrazy]

Hey - Thanks for the great heads up! Water World looks like a lot(!) of fun. For groups of 15, they also will discount the price to 18.95 at the door, or 13.95 if we purchase in advance! Much better prices, and it looks like a lot more fun. Most of our kids are 13, and they are very sheltered living in the Great North Woods of NH. After reading all of your descriptions of Elitch Gardens, it doesn't sound very appealing to me! I'm definitely going to run Water World by the advisor on Monday!

Thanks again for taking the time to help us out!
Passporters are the best!

[BRWombat]

Ah, Dadtojbj, you and Forti are bringing back memories. Having grown up in a west Denver suburb, the original Elitch's on 38th Street and the smaller Lakeside Amusement Park were THE places to go.

I wouldn't go so far as to call the old location "beautiful," but I don't doubt it had more character than the new place. My first coaster experiences were on Mister Twister and the other one (the Wildcat? the name escapes me). I can still picture walking through the park. It had the cozy feel of a state fair or carnival as much as a world-class amusement park.

I haven't been in the new Elitch Gardens, though I've seen it from across the river. From that viewpoint, it did look a lot like every other Six Flags park I've been to. Kind of sad.

Not to say that one couldn't have fun there, but I miss the "real" Elitch's.

[fairygodmother]

I also recommend Water World over Elitch's. We try to get to Water World once a summer - it is a blast. (We live about an hour north of Denver in Fort Collins.) Because Water World is such a great water park, I've never tried the Disney water parks. (Although going in January has something to do with that too.)

We went to Elitch's last year for my kids birthday party. They each took two friends, so we had six 10-12 year olds. (Elitch's offers a special for Girl/Boy Scouts the first part of June where the price is about half off if ordered in advance. Boy Scout days and Girls Scout days are different, for about 1.5 week each and do over lap in the middle. Using this we could afford to do it.)
We had been to Disney the previous January. Elitch's is disappointing in comparison. Not as clean, not themed, slow lines, water park much more crowded than Water World, carnival booths, etc. The kids want to go back as they like coasters, but neither my husband nor I really want to.
Either the evening after we left or the next day (I can't remember now), a teenager was put in the hospital when he looked wrong at some other teenagers and they pounded his head into the cement. Scary!

[CRCrazy]

We're BACK! Thanks to everyone for your great advice. Denver is really an interesting city! Not quite what I expected - I didn't realize that it is on the plains - I expected hills leading up to the mountains like we have in NH -

We ended up splitting up - My daughter had her heart set on going to Water World after all of your descriptions and visiting their website. The high school kids had expressed some interest but decided they didn't want to venture that far on a hot day after a hard week of competing, so they decided to go to Ocean's Journey - the aquarium. I guess they got lost, they saw it from all directions, but couldn't find the entrance so they just rode the subway out to Littleton and back, then went shopping.

The junior high boys (5 of them) didn't want to discuss anything but 6 flags, so the advisor took them there - It was 97 degrees, and they cooked! The only comment of note was that water bottles were three dollars out of a vending machine - but it gave back Sacagawea dollars as change. They liked that, and did enjoy the coasters but they were only there about 2-3 hours and paid dearly for a few rides.

My daughter and I hopped on the bus to northern Denver and went to WATER WORLD! She was actually kind of glad that no one else would come with her - She knows I'll take her whereever she wants to go. We didn't get there until 2:30 in the afternoon when it's half price, and I had my entertainment book coupon, which is a two for one after 2:30, so the two of us played all afternoon for $12. Can't beat the price! We did the Lost River of the Pharoah's first and we really enjoyed it, very mellow and relaxed with Pirates of the Caribbean type speed and atmosphere. Then we did some regular body slides and the double raft rides, then on the Journey to the Center of the Earth - when we got there - the sign said 30 minute wait, but Amanda said she thought it would be worth it. They lied, it was over an hour before we got our tube, then hiked up into another line waiting to launch. I was thinking that no raft ride was worth waiting this long.
WRONG! The ride was outstanding! Really is like Dinosaur at Disney - fast and bumpy, with great scenery. You go slow during some of the scenes and then all of a sudden you spin around and you are off! Since I outweigh my daughter (a good thing since she is only 13) I went down all the fast parts backwards in the dark. Really cool ride, and the family in line in front of us was really nice and friendly. All in all, the people there were really great - I was very glad we gave six flags a miss. I did chicken out on the Space Bowl - the concrete pool it empties into looks only like 3 feet deep, but is actually 7-8 ft deep, but the people falling into it came out at such odd angles I thought some of them would crack their heads open. Of course, Amanda thought it was cool!

I would definitely give Water World two thumbs up!
Amanda is hoping the TSA conference will be held there again in 3 years so she can go back and bring her sisters and Dad this time.

Next year's conference will be held in ORLANDO! I wonder who will chaperone - No way I will miss a free trip to Florida - We won't have a whole lot of park time but even one day will suffice!
None of these kids have ever been to Disney before except Amanda (It pays to have a mom who's addicted!) She wants to take all the boys and her advisor for a day at MGM - Rockn Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Muppets 3D, Star Tours, and if we can fit it a few shows, dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe, her favorite Disney restaurant, then end with Fantasmic! I hope she will convince her sister to join TSA, she will be old enough next year and the national conference is always the last week of June - her birthday! Her dad always vacations in winter he hates heat so has never entertained the idea of going to the World in June, but he should be able to handle one day, and if not he can nap at the hotel!

Once again, thanks for the advice.

[Fortissimo]

Whew, I'm glad you liked Water World. I was afraid I may have given out bad information! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

The other high school kids didn't miss much by not finding Ocean Journey. It cost a lot and takes about 30 minutes to go through (maybe this is why it is going under).

What is TSA?

[Bert & Sully]

Hey Robin you changed your signature?!?!?!

[kbken]

WOW - talking about the old Elitch's really brings back memories. Used to live in Wheatridge and Broomfield in the early 70's and my DW(pre marriage) and friends and I spent a ton of time on the putt-putt courses at Elitch's. Have any of you Denver visitors eaten at the
Riviera Cafe (also called Glendale Country Club) on W. Wexico in the Glendale district???
Best Mexican food in the world, the place is a dump but the food is worth it. I vaguely
remember the margaritas as being primo but my last trip there a few years ago was after
the "I quit completely" part of my life started so I didn't have any.

Ken