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Six Flags Great Escape

Statistics

Location

Queensbury, New York, USA

Opened

1954

Owner

Six Flags

Size

150 acres (60.7 hectares)

Official Website

sixflags.com/greatescape

Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor, formerly The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom, is an amusement park located in Queensbury, New York. It opened in 1957 as Storytown USA and has since been renamed to The Great Escape and acquired by Six Flags.

History[]

The Great Escape was opened in 1954 as Storytown USA, a Mother Goose themed amusement park. 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.

In 1984, the Great Escape opened Steamin' Demon, the first of its eventual seven roller coasters. The main attraction, a wooden roller coaster called the Comet, re-opened at The Great Escape in 1994. This roller coaster had moved from Crystal Beach after 41-year history as The Comet. Roller coaster enthusiasts recognize it as one of the best wooden roller coasters in North America.

GreatEscape

The former logo. Used until 2012

In 1995, The Great Escape opened its waterpark, Splashwater Kingdom. The next year, the park was acquired by Six Flags, though it retained its park name. In 1997, it opened another coaster, the Boomerang Coast-to-Coaster, and the Alpine Bobsled opened the next year. The rapid addition of roller coasters included the next year with the addition of the indoor ride Nightmare at Crack Axle Canyon. These additions slowed and did not continue until the opening of Canyon Blaster in 2003. This was the most recent roller coaster to be introduced, excluding the family coaster Road Runner Express (later renamed Frankie's Mine Train in 2010).

The Great Escape has its own indoor hotel, The Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark. The hotel is located across from the park and includes a 38,000 square foot indoor waterpark. This is New York's first indoor waterpark. The hotel opened in 2006 and has received many positive reviews and quickly sold out its opening week. In 2009, The Great Escape opened Sasquatch, an S&S Combo Tower relocated from Six Flags New Orleans. The ride is located near the entrance of the park and is very popular. The same year, The Great Escape hosted its first Holiday in the Park, only for it to be cancelled the following season.

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-foot tower and plunging into a 10-foot-deep pool.

Location[]

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Present roller coasters (6)[]

Name Manufacturer Type Opened Status
Bobcat The Gravity Group Wooden 2024 Open
Flashback Vekoma Shuttle 1997 Open
Canyon Blaster Arrow Dynamics Mine Train 2003 Open
Comet Philadelphia Toboggan Company Wooden 1994 Open
Frankie's Mine Train Zamperla Family 2005 Open
Steamin' Demon Arrow Dynamics Sit-Down 1984 Open

Past roller coasters (2)[]

Name Manufacturer Type Opened Closed Status
Alpine Bobsled Intamin Bobsled 1998 2023 Demolished
Nightmare at Crack Axle Canyon Schwarzkopf Enclosed 1999 2006 Removed
The Italian Coaster Pinfari Steel 1971 1988 Removed
unknown Vekoma Inverted - - In storage betwen 2005 and 2009, Relocated to La Ronde

References[]

External links[]

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