Families travel cross country to Colorado in anticipation of Casa Bonita reopening

Casa Bonita has all its permits and has hired its staff, but the Lakewood restaurant still has yet to announce an official reopening date.

Even so, people excited for the Colorado landmark's grand reopening couldn't help but wait outside the building in pink on Wednesday, hoping the doors would open. Some even traveled across the country.

That includes a family of "South Park" fans that came all the way to Colorado from Battletown, Kentucky.

"Anniversary, wife's birthday, son's birthday -- the whole nine yards. We just decided 'Hey, we're going to give it a shot,'" John Ashmore told CBS News Colorado.

He and his family kept a close eye on the business online, watching as Google shifted Casa Bonita between "permanently closed" and "temporarily closed." Despite the disappointment, Ashmore and his family still plan to stop by Fairplay, the town "South Park" is based on.

Others planned entire trips around Casa Bonita, expecting it to be back open by the time they arrived.

"We saw some really cheap tickets to Denver and we wanted to make sure we were here for the opening. We knew it was opening in May. So we were hoping this would be the weekend and we booked our tickets. Unfortunately, it seems like we just missed it," said Shani Jonas who came all the way from New York City.

So while no patrons got to experience Casa Bonita this week, fans are still anxious. The business has said it would reopen sometime in May, but has not given an official date.

UPDATE: Casa Bonita to start welcoming the public on June 23 through timed-entry tickets

Casa Bonita now has a link on their website where they're asking people to upload photos or videos (even if they're on VHS) of memories they had at the restaurant before it closed. You can share them by clicking here.