Great Escape (amusement Park)

Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Six Flags. It is located approximately north of Albany, in Queensbury, New York.

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 Ghost Town 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 when a car bumper was separate from the body and one 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 1989 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 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 as 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 offered a variety of unique shows, most notable of which was a high dive show featuring a team of divers scaling an tower and plunging into a deep pool. This also featured a fire diver.

Other milestones include:
*1954 — Charles Wood opens Storytown USA.
*1957 — Ghost Town section of the park is opened.
*1960 — Jungleland section of the park is opened.
*1971 — First roller coaster introduced, The Italian Coaster
*1995 — Great Escape opens its water park, Splashwater Kingdom.
*1996 — Acquisition by Premier Parks, which later bought and changed its name to Six Flags.
*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.
*2008 — Wiggles World Children's Theme Area is introduced.
*2009 — The park hosted the first '' Holiday in the Park'' (Christmas event) during the weekends in November and December.

*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. In late 2010, Six Flags began the process of removing licensed theming from attractions. The Great Escape would terminate their license with The Wiggles, with Wiggles' World being rethemed to '' KIDZOPOLIS'' starting in the 2011 season. The Great Escape also terminated their licenses with both Looney Tunes and DC Comics despite Six Flags having the rights to use the characters in their parks. Looney Tunes National Park was rethemed to ''Timbertown'' and the Flash Pass system was renamed to ''Go Fast Pass'', all in time for the 2011 season.
*2016 — Greezed Lightnin' opens across from Thunder Alley & Flashback. The area gets renamed Hot Rod USA.
*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 were carried over to the 2021 season.
*2024 - The park announced the addition of Bobcat for the 2024 season, a Gravity Group family wooden roller coaster.

Rides and attractions

Themed areas

* Fest Area – Bavarian themed.
* Ghost Town – Old West themed.
* Storytown – Storybook themed.
* Hot Rod USA – Race car themed. Opened in 2016 with Greezed Lightnin'.
* Timbertown – A children's area, previously themed as Jungleland prior to 2005, and as Looney Tunes National Park from 2005 to 2010. As Jungleland, the area featured an animal show and a walking tour of jungle-like conditions adorned with animatronic animals along with a wood and rope bridge. In 2016, some elements of Jungleland were returned to the area.
* Hurricane Harbor – Formerly called Splashwater Kingdom, a water park section located at the back of the park. There is no additional charge to visit Hurricane Harbor.

Roller coasters

Family rides

Thrill rides

Upcharge rides

Children's rides

Hurricane Harbor

Special events

After Labor Day Six Flags Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor 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" to compensate the ecenomic slowdown of the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. 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.

Defunct rides and attractions

References

External links

Official Six Flags Great Escape Website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom, The
Amusement parks in New York (state)
Queensbury, New York
Six Flags amusement parks

Splashwater Kingdom
Water parks in New York (state)
Buildings and structures in Warren County, New York
Tourist attractions in Warren County, New York
1954 establishments in New York (state)
Amusement parks opened in 1954