Colorado Parks

Next month, I will be travelling to Lincoln, Nebraska for a school event (the FSAE Electric competition, June 18th-21st, in which we've entered a racecar). In order to do some sightseeing, I'll be driving myself and plan to take a scenic route back over the next week through Colorado and Utah with my dad (he'll be flying to Lincoln and ride back with me). While this is not an amusement park trip, I would like to stop at a couple since Colorado's parks are very out of the way. As of right now, I'm planning to stop at the two Denver parks (Elitch Gardens and Lakeside Amusement Park), and possibly Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park depending on time. To help with trip planning, I've got a couple questions about these parks.

Lakeside Amusement Park:

1. As of right now, I've got 3 hours on Sunday budgeted for this park (assuming 10 P.M. closing time...website only gives opening times). Will this be enough time on a Sunday? If necessary, I could probably get here an hour or two sooner but it would require skipping the Wild Animal Sanctuary en route.

2. The park's website states that the gates sometimes close several hours before closing. If I weren't to arrive until around 7 P.M., would the gates likely still be open?

Elitch Gardens:

1. Given typical summer weekday crowds (I'll be visiting on a Monday), is 6 hours enough to do everything here? Assume I'd like to ride every coaster, dark ride, water ride, and any uncommon flats, then get re-rides on the above-average coasters (if any). I will not be buying a Rapid Ride pass and will not be visiting the waterpark.

2. Is Half Pipe still closed on weekdays? If so, which coaster should I go to first instead...Boomerang or Mind Eraser?

3. Any general tips for touring this park efficiently?

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park:

1. Realistically, how much time does it take to see everything at this park (not just rides)? Since we will be driving from Denver to Moab, UT on this day and doing other stuff en route, we will have at best 4 hours here, so if that isn't sufficient I'd rather not go as the park is quite expensive (about $50 for a day pass). We'll probably decide on the day whether to go or not based on how much time we'd have.

Finally, if there's anything specific we should try to do in the area I welcome all suggestions. As of now, I'm thinking of doing the Wild Animal Sanctuary, attending a Colorado Rockies game, driving to the top of Mt. Evans, checking out Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, and stopping by Four Corners, then finishing the trip with a weekend in Las Vegas (this will happen as it is a family event).

Bonus Question: When driving to Nebraska, one of the possible routes would allow me to make short (2 hours or so) stops at Castles n' Coasters in Arizona and Cliff's Amusement Park in New Mexico, but it requires 3-4 extra hours of driving total. Are either of these parks worth the detour given the limited time I'd have at them?

Lakeside is...weird. But, I was able to get on the two big coasters (Cyclone and Wild Chipmunk) within an hour on a busy Friday night.

Based on my visit to Elitch in 2010, six hours is more than enough time to get to the major coasters and rides.