Photo TR: nln00b goes to Elitch Gardens/Glennwood Springs!

[nln00b]

As none of you know, I live in Arizona. It sucks here. I cannot bear the 110+ degree days in the summer. In fact, right now (as I am typing this) it is 105 degrees! Anyway, about 2 weeks ago, I left for Colorado for a little side trip with my Grandma. We took off from Phoenix Sky Harbor to Las Vegas International. Las Vegas was our layover. The plane would leave in an hour and a half. During that hour and a half, I explored the airport. To my surprise, there was a casino there! I soon then pondered why I was surprised about that. After the layover, we took off for Denver International Airport. The flight over there was the worst flight ever in my life. First, there was the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. Second, the water was carbonated, which I hate. I proceeded to die of thirst after eating 2 bags of peanuts. Tertiary, it was freezing cold! It was like someone just opened the air vault. We landed in Denver after circling the runway twice due to approaching the runway too steeply. The drive to Denver was a long one, as the stupid airport was in the middle of a farm twenty miles out of downtown. Our hotel was 2 miles of Elitch. In fact, it was on Speer Bld. which was the same street that eventually broke off into Elitch. The next day, we arrived at Elitch, with great parking!

They had all of these signs around. I never knew what they meant. Maybe.....oh, I don't know.

This is pretty much the first thing you see when you walk into the park. A shop displaying all generic Elitch's shirts, hoodies, dresses, dice, etc. Actually, not many of the items there applied to me.

I got my VIP pass handy, which would be the best deal of the whole park, and as my Grandma would say "That ain't saying much."

They had an observation tower there. I had no idea if it was open, or if it was ever open. It just kind of...stood there.

Island Kingdom Water Park. Didn't hit that. Doesn't it seem that there are 50 other water parks with the same name? Or is that just me?

The Main Street was ok. It was small. Yes, very small. Moving on.

Seriously! WTF does that mean?

There is pretty much the whole park. Twister II is off to the far left. This is pretty surprising considering this was once a Six Flags park.

The first ride was a Break-dance called "Hollywood and Vine". I've seen these before and never expected for it to be too intense. Of course, there was only ONE ride operator on the whole ride. So loading and unloading took about 7 minutes each.

It started off pretty tame. Just a few swirls and such.

Now, I'm not sure if my car was super-lubed, but this was probably 10x worse than the Dragon Ride at the Ghetto Fair! Yes, that is me in the yellow.

What is that I see of in the distance?

"Do I really need this credit?"

I swear there was this HUGE rain cloud over this thing!

"OMG WTF is this!?"

Now, I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided to ride ANOTHER Vekoma after the concussion on the SLC.

"Oh Please Vekoma Gods. Please don't send me into a coma! PLEASE!"

 

(Me in the Second Row)

"Gah!"

For some reason, it ran SUPER slow backwards. In fact, it almost stalled in the Cobra Roll! I'm not even kidding!

Stupid Half-Pipe was closed. I was looking forward so much to riding it!

 

(I eventually did later that week.)

Off to the Twister II. I actually ran really well. I was very impressed, although the back seat didn't provide much airtime.

The entrance/exit. Don't ask me what happened to the picture. I don't know. I actually think it looks pretty cool!

The horrible Tilt-A-Hurl, running amazingly slow. Waste of time, moving on.

Twister II, I SEE you!

Somewhere in the world, Dan rejoices.

This, surprisingly, turned out to be the best ride in the park.

Going up with some of my new friends. {/sarcasm}

You get a beautiful view of downtown from the top, with a 5 second free-fall at the end! I do prefer, however, S&S Spaceshots.

PART 2 COMING SOON

Edited June 17, 2010 by nln00b

[nln00b]

4 rides in one shot! How awesome am I? Wait, the SLC doesn't count as a ride.

Best way to waste your time at the park. I waited 30-45 minutes to go through a loop. Perfect ride for Vertical-Loop fanboys.

Half-Pipe continued to test, but it still refused to open.

Waste of time, I see you!

SkyCoaster with death in the background.

I'll leave you with this picture of a giant pink bear.

 

Thanks for reading this part of the TR. Stay tuned for the Glennwood Springs Adventure Park TR!

[nln00b]

Sorry to sound kind of pushy, but I would appreciate some feedback!

[RollingRunner]

I guess you really don't like Arrows or Vekomas then, eh?

 

All jesting aside, very nice PTR! It's nice to see a a few pics from a park less documented. I didn't know there even was a half-pipe coaster in the US! Too bad the weather wasn't too good for taking pictures, but it turned out great either way. Plus, I envy that you rode one of those Arrow shuttles...

Good job, hope you had fun!

[nln00b]

^Actually, If i'm not mistaken, The shuttle coaster is a Vekoma Boomerang. I've actually ridden a few of them before. This one was actually a littly better than the one at Hersheypark, which I got a concussion on. Never EVER ride in the front row on that one!

 

Edit: Oh, you mean the Sidewinder (green one)? Yes, that one really sucked and I will never ride one again..

[WFChris]

You seem like a very negative person. I like to have fun at theme parks and appreciate them.....seems somebody from Arizona would do the same!

[nln00b]

I'm not a negative person. I liked the park. I just hate getting concussions on Vekomas. I'm pretty sure you would have been in the same mood as me on that day.

 

Boomerang was better than the one at Hershey. I'm also pretty sure you wouldn't have been impressed by the Arrow Shuttle either.

 

The only park we have here is Castles N' Coasters. What do I think of it? Well, just read Robb's report on it.

[christianscoasters]

The flight over there was the worst flight ever in my life. First, there was the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. Second, the water was carbonated, which I hate. I proceeded to die of thirst after eating 2 bags of peanuts. Tertiary, it was freezing cold! It was like someone just opened the air vault. We landed in Denver after circling the runway twice due to approaching the runway too steeply. The drive to Denver was a long one, as the stupid airport was in the middle of a farm twenty miles out of downtown.

 

Turbulence over the mountains is to be expected It's fun.

IDK why the airport is in the middle of nowhere. It just "pops up".

 

Regarding this report:

Am I the ONLY person who has had GOOD experiences on almost all of the coasters? The SLC was smooth, the Boomerang was smooth even in car 4, the Sidewinder was smooth (although I MUCH prefer the Diamondback at Frontier City, and it is AMAZING), Twister II can be smooth at times, but pretty boring. Why does everyone always say "It's a Vekoma! SO IT IS ROUGH!"??? Mind Eraser has always been a fun ride, same with Boomerang.

 

Regarding the Sidewinder: I find it to be slower than the Diamondback at Frontier City. Not only that, but the transition from forward to backward takes a while. On DB, it's almost instant. It's FUN.

[nln00b]

^ How dare you say the SLC was smooth! That was the 2nd roughest ride I have ever been on! Boomerang was Ok, except for the fact it almost stalled upside-down while I was on it! As for Twister II, I expected more airtime in the back. On Sidewinder maybe an instant forward-to-back transition would of made the line shorter... I never said anything about Sidewinder being rough though. It was actually pretty smooth. Now for Manhattan Express!!!

[Jerrykoala2112]

If you waited that long for Sidewinder, you must of went on a really bad day. I went in 2006 and it was a walk on *and I thought it was awesome!*

 

Sucks that the flyer is not open anymore, that actually gave me more thrills than the Superman of Vekoma flyers. Is it still standing there, or is something else in it's place?

 

And I agree, you seem to be a negative person towards the coasters you rode that day... Were you expecting a smooth ride on Mind Eraser? Haha, I actually liked it when I went, but nothing amazing. And quick question... did Half-Pipe stay closed all day? That's a must ride when going to this park...

 

-Jeremie

[nln00b]

Yes, the Flying Coaster is still there. It is all boarded up though. I did ride in a few years back and it was really fun. I knew the SLC would hurt, but it was a lot worse than I thought it would be. Half-Pipe was closed all day. I went later that week and it was open for an hour. I rode it. It is my favorite ride in the whole park. Actually (being the negative me), I actually got a little headbanging on it too! It was just one big hit at the bottom though.

[davisal771]

Oh, the Vekoma bashing saddens me The Vekoma's here aren't that terrible. I didn't experience any head banging on the boomerang and just a little on the mind eraser (After the roll-over and during the helix). Why will you never ride another Arrow shuttle again??? This baffles me. I don't see anything to dislike about it. Glad to see the half-pipe running again.Hopefully gonna hit Elitch's on tuesday. I haven't ridden the Half-pipe in like, 3 years.

[nln00b]

Oh, the Vekoma bashing saddens me The Vekoma's here aren't that terrible. I didn't experience any head banging on the boomerang and just a little on the mind eraser (After the roll-over and during the helix). Why will you never ride another Arrow shuttle again??? This baffles me. I don't see anything to dislike about it. Glad to see the half-pipe running again.Hopefully gonna hit Elitch's on tuesday. I haven't ridden the Half-pipe in like, 3 years.

 

Does Vekoma's hate Arizonans? There was some head-banging on the Boomerang. A little on the MInd Eraser? Dude, I was about to go into a full blow concussion on that thing!

The Arrow Shuttle statement was probably a little exaggerated, but it was a bad experience. It did have some good airtime!

[davisal771]

^Maybe... It could be cause you were on the blue train. The red train is so much better in terms of smoothlyness. I always let people cut me so I can get the red train.

[nln00b]

^ Come to think of it. I did ride the blue train, like, 5 times

I remember the red train wasn't that much better though. BTW, if you are going again, get the VIP pass. It is worth it!

[davisal771]

^I'm gonna try to go on an uncrowded weekday. days where bad weather is forecasted are great days.

[nln00b]

I went again later that week in a lightning storm

 

There was still a huge crowd there, so be careful.

[Goliath513]

What date were you at the park? I might have been one of your ride operators.

[nln00b]

I went on the....the 3rd? Yes, the 3rd.

 

And since everybody thinks I'm being super-negative (which I kind of am), here is my verdict.

Twister II: Great woody, I liked it. I thought the first drop was great, and I would definitely ride it again.

Sidewinder: Line was too long. If it was a walk on, or less than 5 minute wait, I would of rode it again.

Mind-Eraser: Fun Layout and good theming. It just would of been better if it was smoother. I KNEW THIS WAS TO BE EXPECTED.

Boomerang: Better than most Boomerangs out there. I actually rode it maybe 4 times. IT WASN'T THAT BAD!

Half-Pipe: Nothing wrong. I loved it!

[Goliath513]

The 3rd. That was a while ago. I can't recall which ride I was at, but I was definitely there...probably Ghost Blasters. There's quite a few more rides opened up now than were when you were there. Glad to see you're not entirely negative about the park now.

[davisal771]

^^ glad to see your not completely negative. I've never been on any other boomerangs or SLC's but from what I hear about Kong, T2, etc. I just assume that the Mind Eraser is one of the better ones. Were there really crowds even during a lightning storm? I guess all Coloradians know about "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes" rule

Eh. I'll just enjoy the light crowds in the morning, and when it starts to pick up, I'll go to subway or something (outside the park) and come back when everyone else is eating. Endue the crowds until it starts to lighten, then enjoy nighttime rides on Twister, SRaR, and Chaos. (PLEASE LET SRaR and Chaos be open)

[nln00b]

The worst Boomerang was the one at Hershey. I got a concussion on the cobra roll. I rode Chaos in the rain. I flipped over 6 times in a row! My harness got stuck on dispatch...

[davisal771]

^ Chaos in the rain sounds AWESOME. Was the top spin running?

[nln00b]

No. It's been closed for a month it seems.