Worst Park in America? My Experience at Elitch Gardens - Denver, Colorado

This is my home park my dad took me too ceader point were he grew up riding coasters it changed me I'm know in love with coasters

You didn’t try the tower of doom

The lifeguards in the water park area are so rude and no I’m not talking about them actually doing their job. One example for my experience was witnessing a lifeguard around the Island Bobs wave pool when there was a safety check, we were all waiting outside of the pool, and were NOT allowed to go past the white line (not that far from the start) - a little girl (probably about 5/6) was sitting on the ground near the lifeguard with her feet barely past the white line. The lifeguard proceeded to yell at really loud, blowing the whistle right near her ear to not go past the white line. She then obviously started to remain there keeping her legs there crying, being later picked up by her parents. I saw this looking from 5 people away from where I was standing. I would give more examples but that would be too long - but other than that topic, elitch is an okay theme park and most rides there I find pretty boring.

i was attacked by a bunch of black kids and robbed. stay away

Just so everyone is on the same page, we call it "eliches". Not eliche gardens.

Dude sounds like a cry baby not the parks fault you had to leave that day lol

He’s way to picky

I went to eliches just yesteday and I only rode 3 rides I rode mind earasser teacups witch messed me the heck up and the small swings and on them the employee was pretty funny,I was going to do boomerang but I was waiting for an hour and same with a bunch of other people and it never opened😢the day I went was June 20 2024 on a Thursday so it wasn’t as packed and I’m going back next Thursday (btw the sidewinder is barley open)

The Twister: serious swaying and buckling in the wooden supports
The Cyclone (Lakeside, down the street from Elitches): laughs in being open since 1908 and at least 2 deaths.

The amount of times rides here are closed is beyond frustrating. It’s obscene. They might as well give free admission and charge for tickets per ride.

It went dow
Hill when they moved it downtown back in the 90s. The original location at 38th and Tennyson was much nicer, and had a lot of historic charm.

Denver is much better known for its water park . Not the one at elitches, go to Water World next time. It's one of the best rated water parks in America. Elitches has always sucked lol

STOP

If Elitch Gardens were to add an RMC similar to Aeriforce 1 or a crazy dueling Raptor, that would be more than enough to make me want to drop by. Fun Spot Atlanta was nothing special, but once Aeriforce debuted, I made it a point to visit.

I am not sure why I am getting these videos recommended to me but got a Lakeside and Elitches video recommended to me. My experiences with theme parks in in Denver was my local library had a reading program the reworded you theme park admissions to Lakeside and while Lakeside was more worn down the lines were so much smaller and it was so much more affordable than Elitches. Elitches sells season passes but then when you buy the season pass you find out you have to pay a massive amount for a parking pass and Denver sucks to drive in and out of so we never used it. I know Elitches is known for their Halloween haunted house and freight fest but I have never been there during that time. In fact I have not been to Elitches since I was in middle school. My first job was at Heritage Square Amusement Park but due to staffing issues they sold the park. At least here in Denver the amusement parks are seasonal jobs and pay minimum wage so it is only the first job for many kids and by mid July to August many of them will have jumped ship due to school starting soon or trying to get a job that is not seasonal.

Just know, sidewinder is never open.

I feel you're pain Dude, this Park is very underrated.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Too, given that Elitch Gardens is in the central city of a metro area of 4 million people the day after July 4th, there is simply no excuse for having staffing shortages. Sometimes I think it gets used as a convenient excuse for poor planning.

Denver tries so hard to be like Los Angeles, and fails every time.

I find this extremley disrespectful, because this park is really important to my family 'cause its where my parents met

Worlds of fun is 10x better

This guy is complaining about a wooden roller coaster built in 1896 that it has to much sway. That roller coaster is older than the titanic that roller coaster has seen at 10 presidents and is older than both world wars and also that is the second oldest wooden in the world. I am a Denver native and I have been to elitch gardens many times and also if you weren’t dyslexic than you should see that there is at least 4 signs saying half pipe under construction since 2016 and also it is not called side winder because if you took the time to look it is called green dragon

Haha that swaying on the twister.

They’ve used some wire lines to hold it down and the whole thing bounces back and forth.

I hope they don’t give and hurt someone…

Ur so gay this is why ur dad left you

I love how u appropriately roast the worst park in the U.S.

Last i knew i still hold the park record for the most rides on the sidewinder in one season

Go to water world in Denver! Top 10 water park in America

I got paid 1.75 an hour when i worked there in the late 70s. Seasonal pay so was less than minimal pay. I've never been to the new location, looks like I'm not missing much.

Hey man, sorry you didn't enjoy the park. I'm from Denver and grew up with Elitch's and I have good memories but it's been known around that it's been going downhill which is a shame because there was talk of it getting bought out and turned into apartments which sucks for us in Denver that don't really have any other options, other than maybe lakeside which is more like a permanent county fair.

Couple things:
Yeah the parking is totally about it being in Denver. Denver parking is HORRIFIC. I went to college literally next door to Elitch's and the parking is horrible all around.

Also yeah avoid the mind eraser. I threw up every time I went on it. Super shakey, not really fun, has that hard break at the end.

Even though i haven't been to elich garden in years i still prefer lakeside amusement park. Who agrees with me?

I’m going to the Denver area instead of Vegas for work like I thought. So looks like Elitch Gardens will be my first rides of 2024. 🤦‍♀️ hopefully I’ll have a better day there than you did

man elitch's was the best growing up. i loved that place. it seems that after covid they never really made a full recovery in terms of staffing and quality but overall i look back at the park fondly. the mind eraser was a really fun ride to me every time ive been on it, and yes it is very shaky, but in my opinion, thats the point. its also literally named the "mind eraser" because of how shaky it is, and im pretty sure thats just how it was designed. not for everyone i suppose.

and im not exactly sure what you expected from the twister II. its wooden and old so of course it isnt going to be that crazy. in fact im really surprised its even still open at all. its literally been there for SO long, and its made of wood, in colorado which has some of the most harsh and bipolar weather in the united states.

as for the boomerang, yeah that one is really fun. very smooth ride and super enjoyable.

ive done the sidewinder a few times, and yeah its really fun. shame that you didnt get to ride it tho.

i think my personal favorite from elitch's is the green ride called the brain drain. that one is a blast.

I grew up in San Diego and used to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain all the time. I moved to Colorado in 2003 and was not impressed at all. The rides all suck big time except for maybe 2 rides. The rides constantly break down, the park is always dirty and is waaaay overpriced for its lack of everything and dirt and grime everywhere. Then, a friends band played part of their concert series for summer. It was a Saturday night show and about 2 hours before the gates opened for the concert and all staging and production had been set up by the bands hired touring road crew Elitches approached the band to sign an addendum to the contract with Elitches that Elitches would get 30% of the bands gross merch sales, including any of their albums sold at the concert. This also included the same thing for both opening acts of the band. If the band refused the concert would be cancelled and according to the Elitches rep, “Disappoint all of the bands paying fans because no refunds to the park would be given.” Fortunately, I had my phone with me and got everything on video. The bands were all pissed and phone calls were quickly being made to their attorneys and booking agents and management as well as to their label heads. But because it was a Saturday it took time to get responses. I got ahold of my attorney and sent him the video. The Elitches rep was livid when she found out because our next step was to send the video in full to all local media and any national media that would pick up the story. As the gates were opening to the show Elitches caved and the show went on. But during all of that Elitches had also threatened to not pay the bands either if the concert got cancelled and was literally trying to blackmail all of the bands involved. Needless to say, none of those bands have ever gone back or played Elitches since then and word has spread to other bands they know and work with about what happened. And yes, my attorney still has copies of the video and so do I if they ever need to be used as evidence against Elitches.

Needless to say, they will never see a dime of my money again!

No hate, but it doesn't sound like you gave EG much of a chance.
Twister is a huge, fantastic wooden coaster with a great duration.
Mind Eraser isn't really rough, and the model is underrated. Only problem with the ride is it's not long enough.
You didn't include other rides like Brain Drain, the drop tower, Star Flyer, the two up-charge ones, Sea Dragon, Spider, Shipwreck Falls, and Disaster Canyon.
You didn't mention the water park which is really fun, you don't have to pay extra for it, and it's really cool it even exists considering Denver has Water World.

I lived in the Denver area for 5 years. I always wanted to go but I never did. Glad I didn't waste my time or my money. After I researched it's history and ownership and it's operations I knew it was trash. Driving past you never see anything moving. It's just a dead area. Besides the rides line up isn't all that thrilling. It's more of a permanent carnival then an amusement park. It's just a matter of time before this park kills someone and is closed for good. The owner clearly doesn't give a shit.

I read eldritch gardens

Worst amusement park ever! Not to mention it was built on a superfund site. The OG Elitch Gardens at 38th and Tennyson was so much better.

I agree, Elitch Gardens is trash! I visited the park last summer for the second time and there were a ton of closed rides. The water park was so full the day we visited we were only able to ride a few rides....after spending most of the day there. The day we visited, it was a cloudy day and lighting was said to be detected miles away so we had to sit through 3 different shutdowns, each of which was well over an hour. There was absolutely nothing to ride or even do during the ridiculously long waits. The only reason we got to ride more than a couple rides is because most of the crowd had dispersed after the 2nd and 3rd rain delays. I've been to many amusement parks over the years and this dump has to rank at the top of one of the worst parks I've ever been to.

Honestly I’m fine with it. I’ve learned to appreciate the only major amusement park in Colorado and have enjoyed it

But you didn’t go to Cedar Point. How epic.

Marine land: and took that personally.

Exactly what happened to me when I went there

didn’t know everyone had beef with this place. it’s not that bad tbh

Staffing issues usually means they don't pay enough for anyone to want the job. Denver has become so outrageously expensive. You're probably better off on welfare than working.

I feel so selfish getting mad at sfne going downhill knowing this is someone's home park 😅

half pipe I got told that it’s really bumpy but I don’t believe that. And sidewinder is closed almost every day cause of staff issues

He was wondering why a lot of of people called in sick the day after 4th of July lol...

The observation tower has been closed for like 5 years straight, it really sucks