VHS recording of the last day at the Original Elitch Gardens in Northwest Denver 1994 

Bye bye childhood memories. 😢. It was great to go down memory lane and then the ending just made me so sad. One of the best amusement parks. Wish they were all still like this.

Some of my earliest memories as a little kid in the 80's are from this park. I remember the log ride especially well and the "gum" tree.

Mister Twister lives again at Knoebels Amusement Park in Ely, PA. They tried to move the original, but it was too far gone. They bought the blueprints and rebuilt it at Knoebels. One of the bolts from the original coaster is now embedded in the new Twister at Knoebels. Knoebels is the last of its kind. No fee to get it, and you can bring your own food. Great place.

We were spoiled rotten as kids living just a few streets down off 29th, we rode our bikes to original Elitch Gardens, lotta great times, beautiful park.

I worked there summer of 1989. The real crime was that they moved without the log ride or the wild cat, and when they rebuilt the twister at the new location, it wasn't nearly as good a coaster as the original. :-( At the new location, they haven't really added any big thrill rides in many years. Some of these same rides are still operating at the new park which is all asphalt and no charm!

Elitch Gardens and Lakeside were awesome when i was growing up. So glad Lakeside remains

The Rainbow! As a kid that ride scared the hell out of me and I never went on it. It was so much bigger in my memories...

The Log Ride was the best! The old timey music. The characters. Even that nasty gum tree! Inimitable!

Thank you for this video. Growing up in Denver, Elitch Gardens has so many great memories for me and my family. I had to stop watching near the end when they were dismantling the rides. You have made my day, thank you.

Hadn’t thought of the old eliches in years. I remember that last day. Had a heck of a hail storm that day!

I can remember going here in the 1970s, and 1980s a lot. Great times there!

I grew up 3 blocks from Old Elitches and I never could like the new one

And now, the 2nd one is moving. I feel you guys, who are sad about your childhood amusement park moving. This park meant everything to you. And the current one means everything to me. I’m gonna miss it.

I moved to Denver in 1981 and lived there for almost 40 years. I remember visiting this park in the 80’s and how much fun it was, the great rides and nostalgic atmosphere. I visited the new location in the mid 90’s and it just wasn’t the same. Watching this video brought back many memories and caused a few tears to fall 😢. Thanks for posting.

My dad helped put together one of the rides because instructions came in German.My mother worked in the greenhouse one year.I spent a good part of my time there watching them dance. I loved at 39th and Yates,road # 13 bus.I loved growing up in and around the area.

The silence towards the end is ominous. So somber.

Honestly it's really sad to see what it was... compared to what is now... it seemed so amazing in those days. It was the place my parents met each other. It's the place where a woman put so much heart in running till she died.. now the the new place has no gardens really it's very industrial it's expensive it's not organized at all. Also they if weather moves in they close all the rides and only open half them up again.

Some of the best times of my life❣ We lived down the block and could here all the fun.

Even though I was raised in Wisconsin, I went out to Denver for a year and got an apartment on Meade St. which was about a mile from Elitches. I took a walk one day and saw it and remembered the name. I went there a few times just to see the people and watch the roller coaster. I looked it up one day on Google and learned it was sold and that a new one was built and run by Six Flags, but was having money problems. I just watched another video and saw how it was now made into apartments. It is sort of like watching one of those Twilight Zone TV shows. Once you go there and it is an amusement park, the next time it is a apartment complex. Just needs some guy to come out and say this always was an apartment complex and there never was an amusement park here.

Thank you for the video....spent a lot of my childhood in that park....remembered most if it...but it was the little details that have faded over the years.

Ha! As northsider youngsters in the early 80's, me and a friend would sneak into Elitch's from 38th side at that gate where the sun-face paintings started, just up and across the street from the ice cream place (now Javier's). We'd find someone willing to "lick-transfer" their hand stamp to our hand and then we'd be in like Flynn! Although, I'm sure Flynn paid to get in! Good times..💭

This is sad. And happy. Bittersweet.

Omg, 4:44 with the galloping horse cars...Deffo had a flashback to 3 years old lol!!!

Oh wow I saw the Rainbow! It was still at the new location when I went in 1999. Rode it several times and loved it lol.

I like the old Elitch gardens better, more fun BIGGER..And more fun....

Wow, it seemed like such a charming old park in it’s original spot. Love how they crammed the rides in and even out one up on a roof!

Sad. I went to Elitch's with my family often in the 1960s.

The nostalgia is real. Such a magical place. Still remember how it felt to be there.

My mom got stuck on that twister during a hail storm

My home away from home for several summers during my childhood, back in the faraway time called the 1980s. I lived only a few blocks away. So sad then, still sad now. Oh but the memories..

Bleh, Elitch's sucks now. I haven't been in about ten years, and I don't miss it. It just turned into another corporate amusement park, with generic rides. I was so sad when it moved locations, there was something surreal about the original location that could never be duplicated. I feel like it lost its character when it moved. Lakeside is still there though, in the original spot.

Had a lot of memory's in this park growing up.

9:18 NOooooOOoOOo my heart. lol

I miss old Denver

Since we are all on memory lane here. How many of us ate a good lunch, just to go on the Round Up and see if we could keep it down...✋😂

This is so great. Thank you for this.

Okay here are the rides that are still at Elitches now that I see in this video...... It's kinda been tradition for me to go yearly at this point but I honestly don't wanna go back till I have kids of my own... Enjoy 0:48 The Hollywood (Paradise) 6:50 1:03 The Sidewinder 4:54 1:33 The Tilt a Whirl killed a few people and was left at the park waaay longer than it shoulda been 3:10 looks like the same dang Ferris wheel we have now!! The other one isn't still being used tho 6:15 The Twister II... I've felt that thing jump 6:54 6:45 that basketball thing def still being used, exact same thing 7:18 landscape / turbine for Disaster Canyon :S 7:44 The Spider D: 8:20 some indoor teacup ride thing... It's still there 2018 8:31 The Carousel 9:45 that clock!? 10:54 Troika (oddly enough) Wow, there's a lot of re-painted assets including most of the seat fixtures you saw... Anybody who's been to Elitches now knows that this looks almost identical aside from some minor details. Might have missed some stuff but I spent a good amount of time to get you that list so :P

Brings back childhood memories. Thanks for sharing

Brings back the good old days

nostalgia. i used to go all the time when i was a kid with my family. good memories so sad its gone. cool video.

A true treasure - gone forever, I wept with nostalgia.

My favorite ride was the one with the Hawaiian lady statue, but now I can't remember the name of it. I used to ride it over and over, I don't know if I ever knew the name, but I sure loved it. Just hearing the sound of its mechanisms in the background brings back memories and feelings.

The end of this video is too sad. Our family went there quite a bit in the 70’s and 80’s. I also remember when it was free to go in and you would buy tickets to go in the rides and you could bring coolers and have a picnic. Things were so much better back then.

As a kid I always thought we had three roller coasters. Twister, Wild cat, and ??? . I can see that I was wrong. BUT...... The 80's as a teen was amazing.

My fave as a kid since I was 4 or 5 when it shut down was that ski lift ride that let you get a nice view of the park

I remember going to Elitch's in the 90s. The log ride piled up, and the logs began to override flume. They had to stop the ride and we all had to exit via the maintenance path. I recall it being in the news when the same thing happened again a few months later and injured people.

This video really kind of bummed me out. I didnt catch it, but did they show the gum tree?

So many awesome summers spent here. Seeing tore down at original location was like saying " good bye" to an old friend..😞

You published this in May of 2017. Elitches hasn't been with Six Flags for years now. They were, for a time, but they ceased that partnership a few years ago.

What a absolute waste of an iconic amusement park.

it was all a dream....best park in the country no apts and houses takes its place

The new park has lots of bells and whistles but scores a zero for character and charm. It's just a huge money grab now. I miss the old one.

The splinter!! The best ride!! Man I miss the old park 😞

I remember Denver 2 news.

2020. Elitch Gardens II will have it’s last day as well.

The fact that there moving for a 3rd time :/

2:05 “We’re getting closer, we’re getting better, cleaner, trimmer, all those things.” Yeah no. It’s almost too close, it’s definitely not better for some reasons, it’s almost dirtier, and it’s too industrial. Hopefully that will change with the redevelopment of the new park coming in a few years.

I remember even getting a chance to work there only a short time back in the 80's a long time ago the supervisors were buttholes back then; got hired by the other park Lakeside; was there for almost 12 years; miss Denver now!!

Poor old park

Sooo...Sad!!!

Feels. ❤😭😭😭😭

Does anyone know what the song was that played over the PA in the waiting line for the Splinter?????

Does anyone know where the old park was situated?

And now they're moving again😑

Why was the old Elitch's closed in the first place?

The new park sucks prices are ridiculous rides suck it's a shame what it's become it was perfect back then

New elitches could not compare

the old eliches,,,was the best. The new one is downtown and sucks ass. Way too expensive,,,generic rides and with todays generation,,it sucks even more...look in this video,,,everyone is having a blast and with smiles on there face...u dont see people walking around using cell phones,,,,theyre concentrating on having fun. Also take notice to some of the females rocking the poof hairstyles,,,,lol man thats the 80s and 90s look. I use to hang out here on friday and saturdays with homies picking up chics and just having fun....i miss it dearly. The new eliches isnt fun at all....not even close

That was a long time ago I would rather go to the Elitch gardens today in 2020