Aerial Antics: Elitch Gardens

Time for an elevation change... up a mile in elevation to the lovely city of Denver, Colorado and its famous Elitch Gardens amusement park.

The entrance to the park can be seen here, along with the park's huge observation tower.  Elitch Gardens opened in its new location in 1995.

Elitch Gardens is a combo theme and water park, guests get two for the price of one.  Here is Island Kingdom, the water park that is offered for guests.

Premier Parks purchased Elitch Gardens in 1996, and the above coaster, Mind Eraser, was added the following summer.  The ride is a standard Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster.

Other additions to the park were a large stunt show arena, and the Flying Coaster.  The coaster opened in 2002 and operated until about 2008.  From then the ride sat idle, and it is currently being constructed at the Scream Zone in Coney Island.

Here is a trio of Elitch Garden's thrill rides.  On the left is the Intamin designed Halfpipe coaster, with the Tower of Doom freefall attraction in the center.  On the right is Boomerang, which was added in 1999 when the park was renamed Six Flags Elitch Gardens.

One of the rides left behind when the park moved was the original Mr. Twister, a much loved wooden coaster.  When the new park opened, it built Twister II, seen here.  While the ride lives up to its twisted name, most seem to think it's a lesser version of the original.

I've always enjoyed how the park designed the shoot-the-chutes and the river rapids ride to overlap.  I'm sure it was because space at the park is tight, but it makes for a neat visual nonetheless.

To check out the aerials for Elitch Gardens, click here.