The Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor

The Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor

Location	89 Six Flags Dr, Queensbury, New York, U.S.
Coordinates	43°21′04″N 73°41′24″W / 43.350991°N 73.690112°W / 43.350991; -73.690112Coordinates: 43°21′04″N 73°41′24″W / 43.350991°N 73.690112°W / 43.350991; -73.690112
Owner	Six Flags
Opened	1954
Previous names	Storytown USA (1954–1982) The Great Escape Fun Park (1983–1994) The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom (1995)
Operating season	May through October
Area	351 acres (142 ha)
Attractions
Total	35 (excluding water park) 45 (including water park) 3 (upcharge)
Roller coasters	6
Water rides	10
Website	Great Escape

The Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Six Flags It is located approximately 60 miles (97 km) north of Albany, in Queensbury, New York.^[1] It is one of three Six Flags parks not to be officially branded with the "Six Flags" name, with La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma being the two others.

History[]

Great Escape logo used up until 2012

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.^[2]:47 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.

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 attaching cardboard versions with wire. This was back in the day when a car bumper was separate from the body and you could get all the way around it with wire. In 1983, the park officially changed its name from Storytown USA to The Great Escape.

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 1996, Charles Wood sold the park to Premier Parks who would later go on to purchase the Six Flags company, Unlike many parks during that time, Great Escape was not rebranded or Flagged as a Six Flags park.

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. This also features a fire diver.

Entrance sign to the Alice in Wonderland walkthrough

Other milestones include:

• 1954 — Charles Wood opens Storytown USA.
• 1957 — Ghosttown section of the park is opened.^[2]:61
• 1960 — Jungleland section of the park is opened.^[2]:69
• 1967 — Alice in Wonderland walk through adventure is opened.^[2]:72
• 1971 — Great escape introduced their first roller coaster, The Italian Coaster
• 1972 — Tilt-a-Whirl, Tip-Top. New restaurant, Johnnie Appleseed, by main entrance. The Kula Hut, restaurant near Jungle Land, added.
• 1973 — Dolphin show (Returned in 1974, 1975)
• 1975 — "Cowboy School House" where a cowboy teaches tricks of the trade. Arcade in Ghost Town with arcade games and $100,000 shooting gallery.
• 1982 — Addition of about eight adult spinning rides.
• 1983 — Name change from Storytown USA to Great Escape Fun Park along with the addition of a few other adult rides.
• 1984 — Addition of Steamin' Demon, an Arrow Development 3-inversion roller coaster, which was previously installed at Pontchartrain Beach as Ragin' Cajun.
• 1986 — Opening of Raging River, an Intamin river rafting ride.
• 1994 — A used wooden track and steel frame roller coaster called the Comet was brought from Crystal Beach Park and reassembled at Great Escape and opened, giving the park three roller coasters.
• 1995 — Great Escape opens its water park, Splashwater Kingdom.
• 1996 — Acquisition by Premier Parks, which later bought and changed its name to Six Flags.
• 1997 — Addition of Boomerang: Coast to Coaster, a Vekoma Boomerang. Was and currently is still the tallest roller coaster at the park.
• 1998 — Addition of Alpine Bobsled, an Intamin alpine themed bobsled roller coaster (Previously located at Six Flags Great America from 1990 to 1995 as Rolling Thunder and Six Flags Great Adventure as Sarajevo Bobsleds from 1984 to 1988).
• 1999 — Addition of Nightmare at Crack Axle Canyon, an indoor Schwarzkopf Jet Star featuring four-person cars, but only operated with two people. The building is still standing. The coaster was previously located at Beech Bend Park, Kentucky Kingdom and Darien Lake, respectively as Starchaser, Starchaser and Nightmare at Phantom cave.
• 2003 — Addition of Canyon Blaster, a Mine Train roller coaster built by Arrow Development and transported from defunct Opryland USA This replaces the Ghost Town Train and Tornado Dark Ride
• 2004 — The Great Escape's 50th Anniversary.
• 2005 — Debut of Looney Tunes National Park: a Looney Tunes themed children's area which included eight new children's rides, including Road Runner Express, the park's seventh roller coaster and a re-themed restaurant as well as a cartoon walk-through. Replaces the old Jungleland area. Accompanying Looney Tunes National Park are the Looney Tunes characters. The Flash Pass system is introduced.
• 2007 — The Tornado opens in Splashwater Kingdom.
• 2008 — Wiggles World Children's Theme Area and The Mega Wedgie, a Proslide Bowl. At the Great Escape Lodge, The Trapper's restaurant is converted to a Johnny Rockets, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• 2009 — Addition of Sasquatch, an S&S Power Combo Tower. Relocated from Six Flags New Orleans. This ride is located at the previous site of the Rainbow. Martha's Dandee Creme sold back to its original owners. The park hosted the first Holiday in the Park (Christmas event) during the weekends in November and December.

Alpine Freefalls

• 2010 — Old theme elements from the park's Storytown USA era, including PoPo the Purple Cow and a rebuilt Cinderella's castle, were restored and placed back into the park.^[3] The Holiday In The Park (Christmas event) was cancelled for the 2010 season.^[4] In late 2010, Six Flags began the process of removing licensed theming from attractions. The Great Escape terminated several licenses including their license with The Wiggles, Looney Tunes and DC Comics. Wiggles' World was rethemed to KIDZOPOLIS, Looney Tunes National Park was to Timbertown and the Flash Pass system was renamed to Go Fast Pass, all in time for the 2011 season.^[5][6][7][8]
• 2012 — Alpine Freefalls opened in Splashwater Kingdom. It features Twisted Racer (a ProSlide KrakenRacer) and Cliffhanger (a trapdoor released ProSlide speed slide).^[9] Name change from The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom to its former name, Great Escape.
• 2013 — Addition of Screamin' Eagles, a new Flying Scooters family ride, located in Fest Area next to Alice in Wonderland attraction.^[10] It Replaces the former Cinema 180/Arcade attraction^[11] The Bumper Cars are relocated to Ghost Town. 'Blizzard' is relocated into the old dome to once again become an indoor scrambler ride. In July 2013, The Pink Whale (removed in 2005) returns with a new location, only to take photos in. The Canyon Blaster's train is turned around in July, forcing riders to face the back of the ride. Animals from a shelter come and perform a show called Pet's Overboard for June 22 to July 7.
• 2014 — Addition of Extreme Supernova^[12] Six Flags buys full ownership of the lodge. New suites introduced.
• 2015 — Addition of Buccaneer Beach, a children's pirate themed water area.
• 2016 — Greezed Lightnin' opens across from Thunder Alley & Flashback. The area gets renamed Hot Rod USA. Boomerang gets renamed to Flashback.
• 2017 — Addition of Bonzai Pipelines to the existing Alpine Freefalls complex In Splashwater Kingdom.
• 2018 — Addition of Pandemonium, a Chance Rides Freestyle.
• 2019 — Splashwater Kingdom is transformed and renamed Hurricane Harbor debuting 2 new attractions; Bucket Blasters and Shipwreck Cove.
• 2020 — On September 11, 2020, the park announced on its social media channels that it would remain closed for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All season passes and tickets will carry over to the 2021 season.^[13]

Rides and attractions[]

Themed areas[]

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.

Name	Picture	Manufacturer	Type	Year Opened	Notes
Alpine Bobsled		Intamin	Bobsled roller coaster	1998	Introduced in 1998 in honor of the Winter Olympics, each bobsled car is decorated with the flag of a different country that participated in the games.
Blizzard		Eli Bridge	Indoor Scrambler Ride.	1971	This ride opened in 1971 and was originally Chipper's Magical Mystery Tour indoor scrambler, but was moved outside in 2005. In 2013, the ride was relocated back inside the dome to become Blizzard Indoors with lighting, sound effects and air conditioning.
Convoy		Zamperla	Convoy	1987	Miniature trucks where kids can control the truck around a guided path.
Comet		Herbert Paul Schmeck and Philadelphia Toboggan Company	Wooden Coaster	1994	Previously the Crystal Beach Cyclone and the Crystal Beach Comet, the Comet was re-opened by the Great Escape in 1994. Often rated one of the top roller coasters in the world, it features a 2-minute ride with large drops.
Raging River		Intamin	White Water Rapids	1986	A water ride in a round boat holding six passengers simulating riding through white water rapids.
Cannonball Express		Mack Rides	Musik Express	1985	A spinning ride that moves fast around a track in a forward direction featuring music.
Screamin' Eagles		Larson International	Flying Scooters	2013	The ride is a new model built by Larson in 2013. The ride is located where the former 180 Dome once stood.
Pandemonium		Chance Rides	Freestyle	2018	This ride is located where the former Trabant ride stood.
Balloon Race		Zamperla	Balloon Race	1989	Relocated from Storytown for 2013. Where Blizzard once stood.
Extreme Supernova		Zamperla	Midi Discovery	2014	Opened 2014. Located next to The Comet.
Flying Trapeze		Chance Rides	Yo-Yo	1993	A Yo-Yo wave swinger ride.
Sky Ride		Universal Design Ltd.	Chairlift	1960s	A chairlift ride that is located within the Fest Area of the park.

Ghosttown[]

Marshal McKay before his daily show.

Name	Picture	Manufacturer	Type	Year Opened	Notes
		Funtime	High speed, multi-rotational - singular beam	2021	Brand new attraction for this year. High speed, multi-rotational ride, 164 ft & 50 mph.[1]
Canyon Blaster		Arrow Development	Mine Train roller coaster	2003	The coaster was relocated from the defunct Opryland USA.
The Condor		Huss	Condor	1990	High speed, rotating aerial ride reaching heights of 100 feet.
Desperado Plunge		Arrow Development	Water flume ride	1979	Water flume ride where passengers ride in boats modeled on logs. Relocated from Busch Gardens Los Angeles after it closed in 1979 [2][3].
Steamin' Demon		Arrow Development	Corkscrew coaster	1984	The longest-tenured roller coaster at the park. The ride was relocated from Pontchartrain Beach where it opened in 1983 as Ragin' Cajun. VR Opened on this ride during the 2017 Season
Marshal's Stampede		Mac Duce	Bumper Car ride	1985	Relocated to Ghost Town in 2013 from Fest Area. Located where Ghost Town arcade once stood. The ride features lights and music.

International Village and Storytown and Hot Rod USA[]

Name	Picture	Manufacturer	Type	Year Opened	Notes
Flashback		Vekoma	Boomerang	1997	A steel roller coaster with various spikes, loops and a cobra roll, before repeating the sequence backward. First Boomerang at a Six Flags Park. Formerly known as Boomerang: Coast to Coaster
Cinderella Coach				1954	Horse-drawn carriage rides were discontinued in 2011, however, the pumpkin coach is available for pictures with Cinderella.
Grand Carousel		Chance	Carousel	1989	Classic merry-go-round ride with both horses and fantastic creatures.
Greezed Lightnin'		Larson International	22m Giant Loop	2016	A larger, park version of a Larson Ring of Fire, measuring 22 meters (72 ft) in diameter.
Storytown Train		Chance C.P. Huntington		1956	Scenic train ride through Storytown and Timbertown on a Chance C.P. Huntington.
Swan Boats				1954–1956	Motorized, swan-themed boats take passengers on a water-borne tour of Storytown.
Thunder Alley		Arrow Development		1970s	Guests drive 1950s-styled electric cars.
Sasquatch		S&S Power	Combo Turbo Drop Tower	2009	Added in 2009. Includes a drop tower and a launch tower. Each tower has its own queue line. The ride was previously named Bayou Blaster and Sonic Slam when the ride was located at Six Flags New Orleans, which closed due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2017, Drop of Doom VR was temporarily added to the attraction.

A girl and Cinderella getting out of her pumpkin coach.

Timbertown[]

This section opened in 2005 as Looney Tunes National Park.^[7]

Name	Picture	Manufacturer	Type	Year Opened	Notes
Frankie's Mine Train		Zamperla	Steel Kiddie Coaster	2005	Known as Road Runner Express from 2005 to 2010, rethemed in 2011.
Oakley's Honey Swings		Zamperla		2005	Flying swings type ride. It was known as Taz Twister from 2005 to 2010.
Hootie's Treehouse		Zamperla		2005	Drop tower type ride. It was known as Tweety Treehouse from 2005 to 2010.
Ranger Randy's Railway		Zamperla		2005	Small train-type ride. Must be over 36 inches (91 cm) and be accompanied by a guest under 54 inches (140 cm) if over 54 inches (140 cm). It was known as Elmer Fudd Scenic Railway from 2005 to 2010.
Rocky's Ranger Planes		Zamperla		2005	Revolving Planes for Guests under 54". It was known as Bugs Bunny Ranger Pilots from 2005 to 2010. Relocated from Six Flags Great Adventure.
Sheldon's Speedway		Zamperla		2005	Horizontally-revolving car-type ride. It was known as Speedy Gonzales Camptown Racers from 2005 to 2010. Relocated from Six Flags Great Adventure.
Spruce's Wilderness Bus Tours		Zamperla		2005	Vertically-revolving bus for guests under 54 inches (140 cm), or accompanied by a Guest under 54 inches (140 cm). It was known as Daffy Duck Wilderness Bus Tour from 2005 to 2010.

Hurricane Harbor[]

Lumberjack Splash wave pool in use.

Upcharge attractions[]

These rides are not included in the admission price. Cost varies from ride to ride.

Other attractions[]

• Alice in Wonderland - A walk-through attraction based on the Lewis Carroll classic of the same name, located in Fest Area, which opened in 1967.

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 4 elaborate haunted houses, which are located near the North-woods Picnic Grove and in the Ghost Town.

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.^[4]

Defunct rides and attractions[]

Defunct Rainbow's pieces stored

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Escape (amusement park).

• Official Six Flags Great Escape Website
• Great Escape at the Roller Coaster DataBase