Water rides 10 Opened 1954 Owner Six Flags Roller coasters 6 | Website Great Escape Area 61 ha | |
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Location Queensbury, New York, U.S. Previous names Storytown USA, The Great Escape Fun Park, The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom Total 35 (excluding water park)
3 (upcharge) Rides Steamin' Demon, The Comet, Canyon Blaster, Frankie’s Mine Train, Boomerang: Coast to Coaster Similar Six Flags Great Escape L, Lake George, Six Flags Great America, The Comet, Six Flags Great Adventure | ||
Great Escape (sometimes referred to as Six Flags Great Escape) is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corp. It is located approximately 60 miles (97 km) north of Albany, in Queensbury, New York, but is advertised as being in Lake George, New York, a popular tourist and vacation spot nearby. It is one of two Six Flags parks not to be officially branded with the "Six Flags" name (La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada being the other).
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History
The Great Escape was opened in 1954 as Storytown USA, a Mother Goose themed amusement park by businessman Charles Wood who bought the land with his wife for $75,000. In 1957, realizing that the park was geared only toward small children, the park opened its Ghosttown area, the first of many themed areas opened in the park's history.
In 1983, the park officially changed its name from Storytown USA to The Great Escape. For publicity, the park placed bumper stickers on every car in the parking lot. This practice stopped a few years later due to complaints, and employees switched to offering bumper stickers free of charge to any willing customer.
In 1984, The Great Escape opened the Steamin' Demon, the first of its eventual seven roller coasters. The showpiece attraction at The Great Escape is the Comet. Re-opened at The Great Escape in 1994, this roller coaster already had a 41-year history as The Comet at Crystal Beach (an amusement park near Niagara Falls, Ontario). It was saved shortly after the park closed down forever after the 1988 season. Charley Wood, the owner of Great Escape Fun Park and Fantasy Island in Grand Island, New York successfully bid for The Comet and it sat in storage for a few years in Fantasy Island before making its way to the park in Queensbury, NY and reopening in 1994. Roller coaster enthusiasts recognize it as one of the best wooden roller coasters in North America.
In February 2006, The Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark opened up with positive reviews and sold out weekends throughout the first month. This major addition includes a 38,000 square feet (3,500 m2) waterpark exclusively for lodge guests. This is New York State's first indoor waterpark.
The park debuted several new features for the 2006 season. These included character greetings from the likes of the whole Justice League.
For the 2007 season, The Great Escape re-themed their dive show to a pirate themed show, branded their pizza restaurant a Papa John's, and brought back the Superstars and Legends: Elvis! Show (Which featured throughout the summer not only Elvis, but also Buddy Holly, and Billy Joel) to JollyTree Theatre.
In addition to typical amusement park rides, the Great Escape offers a variety of unique shows, most notable of which is a high dive show featuring a team of divers scaling an 80 feet (24 m) tower and plunging into a 10 feet (3.0 m) deep pool.
Other milestones include:
During the 2005 season, the park introduced a new line queuing system (used to be called the Flash Pass from 2005–2010), the "Go Fast Pass". For $45, guests can use Go Fast Passes on certain rides including the Comet, Alpine Bobsled, Desperado Plunge, Raging River, Canyon Blaster, Thunder Alley, Swan Boats, Bumper Cars, Steamin Demon, Flashback (Formerly Boomerang) and Sasquatch.
Fest Area
This area typically features a more German theme. German style music can be heard playing throughout this area along with other 'German' food stands such as funnel cake.
Timbertown
This section opened in 2005 as Looney Tunes National Park.
KIDZOPOLIS
This section opened in 2008 as Wiggles World; and now rethemed in 2011.
Upcharge attractions
These rides are not included in the admission price. Cost varies from ride to ride.
Special events
After Labor Day the Great Escape has two special events, Oktoberfest and Fright Fest, before closing for the winter. Oktoberfest is held during the weekends in September, while Fright Fest is held Fridays thru Sundays in October.
Oktoberfest is marginally a celebration of German heritage, but is expanded to include ethnic foods, various beer games, ethnic music and dancing, and other activities. (In the past, vendors were included, but none since 2006).
Fright Fest has the entire park decorated for Halloween, while many of the usual shows are changed over to Halloween events as well including trick or treating among the miniature houses in Ghost-town and 2 elaborate haunted houses, which are located near the North-woods Picnic Grove and in the Ghost Town Saloon.
In 2009, The Great Escape experimented with a late-season festival named "Holiday in the Park". It included live entertainment and holiday themed shows, lights adorning the park, and a sledding hill making it the winter equivalent of the Fright Fest autumn event. Though Six Flags called the 2009 event successful, it also claimed a "business decision" was the reason behind the cancellation of the "Holiday in the Park" for the 2010 season.