Denver Colorado Trip Report: Part I

Hello there :}

Welcome to the first installment of my Denver, Colorado Trip Report featuring American Coaster Enthusiast's Preservation Conference 2013!!! 

If this is your first time visiting Thrillography, welcome! I'm so pleased you made it.

If you've been here before, welcome back! I'm so glad my crappy photos of "The Great Six Flags Over Georgia Monsoon of '13" didn't leave you awkwardly inching away from the scene like a person who gambled on a fart and lost. 

While Six Flags Over Georgia's Spring Fling was dampened by ridiculous amounts of unwelcome moisture, we were blessed with fabulous weather throughout my Denver trip.

Joining me for complete the duration of the trip is Steven, a new ACE friend from Texas, and Michael, reprising his role from the Spring Fling trip report. 

Michael and I flew to Denver together at the ass-crack of dawn & met Steve at the Denver airport at around 7:30am. After procuring our rental car, we set off for Glenwood Springs; a mountain town about 3 hours from Denver. There we would visit Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, an exciting family park at an elevation of over 6,000 ft above sea level.

Let's begin, shall we?

Only 3 hours until roller coasters!

 This trip marks the begging of what I've decided to call "The Year of 100 Coasters". By a stroke of luck, all of the national ACE events planned this year are in places I've never been. In an even greater stroke of luck, I'm attending 3 of the 4! That means I'm on track for over 100 NEW coasters this year! We'll be counting them off together as my Year of 100 Coasters unfolds.

We have arrived! See those cables? Those shall be our chariot to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park!

Our Colorado ACE friends were waiting for us at the cable car station for registration.

More ACE friends Tom, Beth, and Deb are ready for our 1,000 ft Cable Car Ride of Death!

Like ships passing in the night.

Being hoisted up to the highest amusement park in the world made me think of my dad. Though an avid coaster lover, my dad prefers not to refuses to ride cable cars, ferris wheels, or any other sort of tall, slow-moving ride. Typically, a ride on a cable car ride involves my dad following us down below and meeting up with us at the other end. However, in this scenario my dad would be SOL. The only way the public can get to Glenwood Caverns is by this dangling death-trap.

Hooray! We made it!

Glenwood Caverns recently acquired the SDC Windstorm coaster from the shuttered Celebration City in Branson, MO. They decided to perch the ride at the park's summit, making it the highest-elevated roller coaster in the world.

The route to the coaster is a rustic dirt path with 360º scenic views! And of course, I wore flip flops. 

After a few years of dormancy and a bleak future, the freshly re-monikered Cliffhanger coaster is now a proud world-record holder!

Credit #1 of 2013! Cha-ching!!

The view from the lift hill is a breathtaking expanse of Colorado mountains, with a 1,000+ ft valley directly below. Of all of the amusement park rides by the name of "Cliffhanger" that I've ridden, this is by far the most aptly-named. To the right of the ride is an immediate (vertical, in some places) drop-off towards the winding river below. 

Just the view from the coaster's station. Nothing special. Moving on...

We were about 86.9% sure that the park's interior labrynth walls were composed of recycled portable toilets. I can't remember what the maze was called, but we gave it a new name:  

                                                 _.~*'The Port-A-Potty Maze'*~._

I wish RollerCoaster Tycoon's hedge maze attraction came with a Port-A-Potty option. My life would be so much more complete.

After marveling at the portable toilet labyrinth for a bit, we decided to go for a ride on the park's eagle-tied-to-an-elevator-cable-type-thing.

We got in line and watched as the alpine coaster and the eagle thing whizzed by us. So much activity!

 

This picture is weird. It covers a lot more ground that it appears to at first. The cable cars area actually reeeeally far away.

Ride ops were kind enough to let us take pictures from the grip of their eagle, as Michael demonstrates.

The ride shook a little bit while we were in the station. At first I thought it was one of the ride's motors, but it was actually Tom trembling in fear. 

There's some dispute over whether alpine coasters are "true" coasters or not.  To look at the ride, I couldn't think of any reason not to count it as a credit, therefor determining that it is a "true" coaster. If you don't agree with me, then your opinion is wrong and you are a Silly-Willy*. :}


*the views and opinions expressed in this photo caption are those of a screwball coaster enthusiast and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Thrillography, Glenwood Caverns Adventures Park, the American Coaster Enthusiasts, or the State of Colorado.

I see the eagle's nest!

We were about to go to the alpine coaster when something suddenly caught the attention of my friends! What could it be?!!?

It's the Wild West Express, of course! And the first train of the day is lead by none other than our good friend Betty!! Cheryl is there too! And also some other people I don't know. 

Hooray! Credit #2! Unfortunately, after giving its third ride of the day, we grown-ass adults succeeded in breaking the ride. The station breaks failed (a la RollerCoaster Tycoon) and the ride just kept going. Eventually they got it to stop & it proceeded to sit dormant for the rest of the day.  

The alpine coaster, called Canyon Flyer, certainly lived up to its name. If you leave off the breaks for the entire ride, you definitely fly down that mountain. if you leave off the breaks for an entire ride & ride with a friend, you FLY down that mountain! There were a few moments where I thought the seat might pop off the coaster and send us tumbling down. 

After an extremely-lenthly trip down the mountainside, we begin our extremely-tedous ride back to the top.

Yeehaw! Credit #3! With Canyon Flyer under my belt, it brings my coaster count up to 325!!

Here is a SUPER zoomed-in shot of other riders up the lift.

Next up is one of Glenwood Cavern's biggest claims to fame; their S&S Screamin' Swing. Why is it so famous? Because it's on the the edge of a cliff. That's sort of the theme of Glenwood Caverns.

Step 1. Buy basic amusement rides

Step 2. Perch them on the edge of a cliff

Step 3. Scare the wits out of people

Step 4. Profit 

Oh dear God.

On the right we have our friend Donna, calmly enjoying the Screamin' Swing. On the left, we have our friend Jayson, screaming like a 7 year old girl being ripped apart by a bear. 

Smile, Michael! We're just inches away from certain death!

The ride ended up not being too terrifying. The views, if anything, were awe-inspiring. 

Jayson's scream gives my scream a run for its money. If only everyone in ACE could have heard it.

Oh wait.

They probably could. :}

Leo, Geoff, and Donna (on the other side) are ready to ride again! Jayson is not.

My only complaint about Screamin' Swings is that they aren't floorless. The little platform under the seats just seems unnecessary. 

There were several schools having a so-called "Science Day" or something at the park.  This middle-schooler's friends all chickened out, but she rode multiple times. A future ACEr in our midst?

We had about 40 minutes until out cavern tour once we finished up with the Screamin' Swing, so we hit up the Canyon Flyer again! Say hi, Steve!

We figured that we we may as well visit the cavern part of Glenwood Caverns while we were up there.

I just know you came to this blog to look at pictures of rocks. 

...or better yet, pictures of people looking at rocks. 

Here's some "Cave Bacon" (technical term). It's the result of some sort of rock-sediment-type-thing mixing with a different sort of rock-sediment-type-thing & forming in the shape of America's favorite pork product. They also had "Turkey Bacon" (technical term for Cave Bacon with minimal amount of the darker sediment). 

Here we have a series of stalactites. See the reeeeally skinny ones? Those are actually hollow stalactites that, for some reason, manage to maintain a consistently-narrow width as they grow. These special stalactites are called "Soda Straws" (another technical term).

Here is "The Giant Glowing Cheetoh" (More technical stuff. You can't make this sh*t up).

The largest portion of the cavern is roughly the size of a large barn. That has earned this area the moniker "The Barn" (I'm sorry if I'm losing you here with all of these technical terms. Bear with me).

At this point, they took us down to a dark portion of the cave that is locked with a garage door. Do you have any idea how it feels to get herded into a cave & then have a garage door close behind you? For only $25, you can find out for yourself. 

The tour guide gives us a warning and turns off all of the lights. It's really freaking dark. It is literally darker than the inside of your eyelids. Darker than Chris Brown's soul.

Then suddenly, BAM! The lights go on and we're treated to a series of different cave-type things. 

Okay, I've had enough rocks. Get me out of here. 

Hooray!! Daylight! Friends! Mexican food! (Yes, that is my plate of tortilla chips. Don't judge).

Here's the view from our table. Pretty ballin', right?

After our meal, we were all given the opportunity to have a photo-walkback tour of Cliffhanger during our Exclusive Ride Time. Salivating, I went. 

Stop everything for a sec. What is the name of the woman sitting next to David Finkelstien? I talked to her but I didn't catch her name. She is awesome. Help me out here, ACErs.

Having grown up around a SDC Windstorm (Hurricane, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk), I'm quite fond of these rides. This one rode a little rough, but it's still a solid ride. 

I hope you like this picture. I almost killed myself standing on a weird-shaped rock to get it. 

Our time eventually came to depart from Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. This place is superb. Canyon Flyer, regardless of whether or not qualifies as a true roller coaster, is excellent. Go ride it & stuff.

Story time: Growing up in the Bay Area, my family and I often visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Down the street from the aquarium is family-favorite restaurant Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. For much of my life, I've been enamored with the restaurant because of my nostalgic childhood memories, my love of the film, my and obsession with shri-ump. I noticed that there were not one, but TWO Bubba Gumps in central Colorado when I was doing research for this trip. Steven and Michael were kind enough to humor me, so on our way back to Denver from Glenwood Springs we stopped in Breckenridge for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The city was a ghost town (it's the off-season, after all) and almost everything was closed for the day, but Bubba Gump's was open!

Despite being hundreds of feet closer to sea level than we were at Glenwood Caverns, Breckenridge was rather chilly. 

*squeeeeee*

The food was awesome. We had shrimp 6 different ways between the 3 of us. When I went to the gift shop to get a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. keychain, however, the place was deserted. After about 15 minutes, we flagged down a chef who sent a waitress to ring up my purchase. They were all quite friendly.

The remainder of this absurdly-long day involved navigating Steve through Denver construction at 10pm to find our hotel, which Apple Maps just couldn't find. Siri is such a rotten whore. On top of all of that, I got an e-mail saying that my summer class (which started in 4 days) had been cancelled. In the midst of all of the hotel-hunting chaos, I somehow managed to find & register for a replacement class (which has been really awesome so far [it's a documentary class!!]) from my cell phone. Everything was all taken care of by the time we scuttled into the Double Tree parking lot, which was flanked with construction rubbish. Basking in the triumphs of the evening was quite satisfying. :}

That's it for Part I of my Denver Trip! In Part II, we'll actually do something in Denver (Elitch Gardens), and there will be a 100% decrease in pictures of rocks. I promise.