Sunday, January 5, 2014

From The Vault: Elitch Gardens 1998 Brochure

This week we're heading back to 1998 and taking a look at Elitch Gardens: The Great Escape's general park brochure.

You might be wondering about that "The Great Escape" tagline... back then Premier Parks would add these types of things to many parks... then promptly change or remove them the following year.  It was a bit of an odd marketing system back then, it seems.

Anyway, since Elitch Gardens was under Premier's expansion-minded management in 1998, there was plenty to see and do that was new.  And admission was only $24!

Elitch Gardens also offers a water park, Island Kingdom, which was built from the ground up during Premier Park's ownership.  New in 1998 was a total makeover of the park's children's area, known as StarToon Studios.  Previous years' additions that are seen here include Shipwreck Falls and Mind Eraser, one of everyone's favorite Vekoma SLCs.

Elitch Gardens is quite landlocked so it was a big deal that they were able to open a full water park in 1997.  It was a smart move, though, as the ability to advertise two parks for the price of one is something that gets customers' attention.

Another nice addition that Premier Parks was responsible for was creating a pretty Main Street area, which can be seen at the bottom of the brochure above.

When Elitch Gardens was moved to a new home it opened the Twister II, but it seems nothing would ever compare to the original.  The text here advertises three new thrill rides: the Wave Swinger, Chaos, and the Aviator... those joined the park's lineup of other attractions such as XLR8R (a SkyCoaster) and Disaster Canyon, a cool looking river rapids ride.

Elitch Gardens has most recently be managed by Herschend Family Entertainment, though there are now rumors that those ties have been severed.  Looks like yet another chapter in the park's history is about to begin!