Park Impressions: Elitch Gardens, A History.
Elitch Gardens Theme Park, Denver: See 792 reviews, articles, and 189 photos of Elitch Gardens Theme Park, ranked No.142 on Tripadvisor among 238 attractions in Denver.
Though the current location is just ten years old, the original Denver version opened in 1890.
A John Pierce designed wooden coaster based on the original Elitch Gardens Twister. The old coaster proved too costly to move with the park and was in bad condition. This coaster opened with the new park in 1995. Sidewinder: 1995: An Arrow Dynamics shuttle loop roller coaster. Moved from the original Elitch Gardens and originally built in 1980.
This is a custom built wooden coaster based upon the original coaster Mr. Twister that was at Elitch Gardens before the park was moved to its new location in 1995. The roller coaster was designed by John Pierce, who also designed the famous The Rattler wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
Elitch Gardens hired John Allen, the president of the Philadelphia Tobaggan Company to build a new roller coaster for the 1964 season. Since the park owners had seen and liked the configuration of a coaster at Woodside Park in Philadelphia they requested a similar design.
The Flying Coaster roller coaster, located at Elitch Gardens.
John and Mary Elitch opened Elitch Zoological Gardens in 1890—a bandstand, picnic ground and children’s play area, plus a zoo with animals from John’s friend P.T. Barnum. Music was a big part of the entertainment from the beginning, with Pietro Satriano’s band on hand that first day.