8/23 TR The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom

[bgr861509]

This past Saturday, I visited the Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom in Lake George for a couple of hours. Since I have a Six Flags season pass membership, I decided to take advantage of it by visiting my third Six Flags park this year, prior to yesterday, I had never visited 3 Six Flags parks in one year. I have been to Great Escape twice in my life.

 

I arrived at the park around 9:20ish, when we pulled into the entrance, I discovered that the parking lot is to the left of the main entrance/drop off point and there was another lot about a mile away, first impressions, it looked abandoned. After parking the car, there was a line of people waiting to get in the park. The park opened at 10:00 am for the day. Unlike SFGA and SFNE, there wasn't that much fanfare when the park opens for the day. I purchased a Platinum Go Fast Pass for the day. The Fast Pass system differs in many ways, they give you a wristband to get on the rides, unlike the Q-Bot at Great Adventure. You enter through the exits of the attraction for access to the ride.

 

My first stop of the day was the Canyon Blaster, it reminds me a lot of the Runaway Mine Train and Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train. The ride was okay, but it felt more like a family coaster. I only rode that once. Next to it was the Condor, a spinning ride. That was my next attraction that I went on, it takes you high up in the air, but the ride made me a little bit dizzy. I went to the Steaming Demon, which takes you by the main entrance. It was a little bit rough and reminded me a lot of the Great American Scream Machine.

 

After conquering two coasters and the Ghost Town area, I made my way to the Boomerang coaster, similar to Goliath at Six Flags New England and Zoomerang at Lake Compounce. I really liked Goliath a little bit better and I know Great Adventure could use one of these boomerang-style coasters. I walked around the park to check out what it had to offer. I went on the Cannonball Express for my next ride, it is similar to the Musik Express in the Old Country area. I went on one at Quassy in Connecticut, this one didn't go backwards, the one at Quassy did. I walked over to the area of the water park and where Comet, the longest tenured coaster at The Great Escape.

 

The Comet was my next ride. I rode the Comet 5 times during my visit, and it was the only roller coaster to have a camera at the most intense part. It is a miniature version of El Toro basically. After riding the Comet, I wanted to check out their newest attraction, the Extreme Supernova which opened this year. I thought that was a neat ride and Great Adventure could use some flat rides as well as a new coaster.

 

One of the last attractions I did was the Alpine Bobsled, a bobsled style coaster and it was the only attraction that did not have the Go Fast Pass. I really liked this ride and thought it was a unique and neat coaster as well. I would say my favorites at the Great Escape were the Comet, Extreme Supernova, and Alpine Bobsled. The Bobsled used to be at Great Adventure back in the day.

 

All in all, I had a pretty good day at The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom. It is a park that is geared more towards families with children, it is a good place to bring kids to get their taste of an amusement park. This park used to be called Storytown USA, before Six Flags purchased the park in the 1990s. It is unclear when I will visit again, I had planned to be there for a few hours, but I stayed for 6 1/2 hours and left the park at 4:30. I crossed off 5 more coasters for my bucket list. I visited four parks this month, and two for the first time ever, Lake Compounce and Six Flags New England.

Edited August 25, 2014 by bgr861509

[29yrswithaGApass]

Nice write-up! You mentioned it looked abandoned and yet you got a Flash Pass. How were the crowds?

[bgr861509]

The crowds were not that bad for a Saturday during the summer , but I know it picked up a little bit in the afternoon.