Elitch Gardens has had a distinguished history over its 117 years of operation. This article will describe four of his eras, the Gurtler era, the Premier era, the Six Flag era, and the PARC era, from 1994 to the present day.
The Gurtler Times is the age in which the Gulter family owned the park in 1994 and the park was barely able to get space in its first place, Elitch Gardens to 38th Ave. & Tennyson St. The Gurtler family, together with financial partners, solved this problem by purchasing 67.7 acres of machine land for $6.1 million in June 1994 More than $90 million will be spent on relocating several from the original park To the new park.
On October 1, 1994, the original park closed its doors forever and on May 27, 1995 the new Elitch They opened the gardens to the public. The park had fewer than 1.2 million visitors on opening day. The Gutler family sold the park to Premier Parks for $65 million in October 1996.
Some of the rides that have been moved from the original park are the Carousel, the Sidewinder roller coaster, and a new shape. of Master Twister, called Twister II.
The Prime Minister was in a bad place. The County Premier realized that the park had suffered terrible figures for the first two seasons and began making additions to the park. The first big addition was a third roller coaster to the park, entitled Mind Eraser. Mind Eraser was a Vekoma Interrupted Looping Coaster.
The closest approach to the gardens was the tower of Doom, which is the Intamin freefall ride that stands at 250 feet. The last approach to the gardens was the 700 seat Tracadero theater. The final price for the additions was $28 million.
In 1998 the Premier Parks company bought the Six Flags chain of theme parks from Time-Warner and added the Six Flags prefix to Elitch Parks next door a year in public gardens.
The Six Flag era saw several additions to the park. In 1999 the park was officially renamed Six Flags Elitch Park and the first addition was Boomerang: The Coast Coaster. This rollercoaster was the Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster.
Some of the other additions included Looney Tunes and DC Comics characters/themes in the park. Also, between 1999-2001, new Looney Tunes in the Movietown area, water rides, and flat rides were added. the park
In 2002 the area’s first flying roller coaster and one of the most popular rides was added to the park, the Flying Coaster. In 2004 the park made history again by adding the Half Pipe, America’s only Half Pipe roller coaster.
In 2005 the park closed to eliminate the chaos of the Chance-Morgan flat rides for security reasons and also added the Edge, a vertical water slide.
In late 2005, Daniel Snyder took control of Six Flags and announced the signing of Shapiro as CEO. During 2006 the park began to undergo some sad changes. Shapiro announced the sale of six Six Flags-owned properties, including Elitch Gardens. On August 7, 2006, it was announced that the park would be sold for $170 million.
On January 11, 2007, Elitch Park and six other parks were sold to Flags Park Management for $312 million and the Six Flags flag was removed from the name, making the park Elitch Park once again.
The PARC era became official on April 9, 2007. CNL Income Properties purchased the parks and is now assigning them to PARC Management. Not much is known at this time about the changes that will take place in the park. The only sure thing is that Looney Toons characters and names will be removed from the park. Also, the “Nightmare” promotion will still be held at the park and all Elitch Park season passes will still be accepted at Six Flags parks.
The latest changes in the park are the addition of Ripcurl, a ProSlide ball water slide.
For $44.99 you can get a single ticket to Elitch Gardens and Island Kingdom Water Park, an attached theme park. You may also purchase a time pass for $54.99 if four passes are purchased.
