Elitch Gardens - Move To New Location

Move To New Location

In 1985, management and ownership of the park was assumed by Budd Gurtler's son, Sandy Gurtler. At its historic location the park had no expansion space, and the family had long planned to relocate to a larger location. The city of Denver provided a location in the Central Platte River Valley, an area that was once a Superfund cleanup site.

On May 27, 1995, Elitch's opened at its new downtown location with fifteen of its twenty major rides from the old location. The new location sits adjacent to Interstate 25 between Sports Authority Field at Mile High and the Pepsi Center. It is currently one of the few downtown amusement parks in the United States.

At the old location, separate arson events a day apart in November 1995 destroyed the arcade building and heavily damaged the Splinter water ride and Wildcat roller coaster.

Following two seasons at its new location with attendance of about one million (versus 750,000 for the last season at its old location) and a second season goal of 1.2 million, the park was sold to Premier Parks who subsequently purchased all Six Flags parks. The park operated as 'Six Flags Elitch Gardens' until 2006. CNL Lifestyle Properties purchased Elitch Gardens from Six Flags in 2007 and leased it back to PARC Management. The park was rebranded simply as 'Elitch Gardens'. In 2011 CNL terminated its lease with PARC Management. Herschend Family Entertainment now operates the park for CNL.