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Elitch Gardens company history timeline

1996

In October, 1996, the Gurtler family and its partners sold the park to growing theme park operator Premier Parks for $65 million.

1997

Premier noted the lackluster figures the new park had in its first two seasons, and so new additions were rushed in for the park's third season in 1997.

1998

In April 1998, Premier Parks purchased the Six Flags Theme Parks from Time Warner.

1999

Numerous additions came in 1999 when the park was officially rebranded Six Flags Elitch Gardens.

2002

In 2002, the park added Flying Coaster, a suspended steel flying roller coaster.

2004

In 2004, the park installed the Half Pipe coaster, one of three operating in the United States.

2005

In 2005, Six Flags removed Chance-Morgan Chaos flat rides for safety reasons.

2006

In October 2006, Six Flags announced that Elitch Gardens, along with six other parks, would be sold for a total of $312 million.

The park faced a grim future in 2006 when Shapiro announced that the company would sell off six of its properties.

2007

A new ProSlide Bowl water slide, named RipQurl, was added for the 2007 season.

2008

In 2008 a new interactive dark ride, Ghost Blasters, opened.

2010

The move came after, according to their 2010 SEC filings, PARC defaulted on their lease obligations on the properties.

2011

In early 2011, CNL appointed Herschend Family Entertainment as the new operators of the park, along with Darien Lake.

2013

In 2013, the park's operation was transferred from Herschend Family Entertainment to CNL Lifestyle.

2015

On June 5, 2015 the park was purchased by an investment team made up of Revesco Properties, Kroenke Sports Entertainment, and Second City Real Estate.

2018

In June 2018, it was announced that the current site of Elitch Gardens would be the site of a massive redevelopment project by Revesco Properties named "The River Mile" in the near future.

2020

On July 31, 2020, with the ongoing pandemic, the park announced that the park will not operate at all for the remainder of 2020.

Due to the growing concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic, Elitch Gardens announced a delay of the 2020 season operations.

2021

The cancellation is the first time in 130 years, that the park closed down for an entire season, with the park's entire 130th season instead being deferred to 2021.

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Founded
1890
Company founded
Headquarters
Denver, CO
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