The Great Escape Equals A Great Time
Written: Jul 23 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great thrill and family rides
Cons: some things were not quite perfect
The Bottom Line: The Great Escape is an extremely fun theme park that has something for everyone.
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| MattA75's Full Review: The Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom |
I first went to The Great Escape amusement park just outside Lake George, New York when I was nine years old. I've always been a huge ride p*ssy, and the fact that the dude who was running the spider ride (god knows I can't remember what it was called 15 years after the fact) left me hanging upside down at this park hasn't helped.
My girlfriend, on the other hand, will go on anything. You say this roller coaster has 22 loops, 18 twists, 10 drops, and goes 750mph? She'll be first in line, and then, she'll want to do it again.
So needless to say, this part of our trip was going to be interesting. My fear of certain rides actually has nothing to do with the ride itself, but rather stems from a fear of heights. I intended to conquer those fears at least somewhat this past week by promising her I'd go on at least something I normally wouldn't. Amazingly, she got me to go on 3 of the park's six coasters, and I seriously considered going on the fourth before just deciding I was too damn tired.
The Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom is located right off of Interstate 87, and is actually visible from the highway. The park features a variety of rides and attractions, topped of course, by their six roller coasters, ranging from the old school coaster that they rebuilt a decade ago called The Comet.
The cost of the park can be quite high, though season passes or discounts offered by hotels throughout the area can cut into that significantly. A season pass for 2004 is $61.50, and the price raises slightly (read: a buck or so) every year. However, the season pass means you can get into the other Six Flags parks around the country, so if you're planning any kind of trip and you also have a Six Flags in your area, the season pass seems like a smart move. The regular price to get in the park for an adult is $34 (well, $33.99, but you tell me what you do with that penny), $20 for kids under four feet tall, and free for kids under 2. There is also a late day ticket available for $17.
I'm rather surprised that the park is only open until 8pm on weeknights, and 10pm on weekends. It seems to me that since summer is the area's biggest tourist season, that they could easily keep things running until 10, but maybe I'm wrong. The park opens at 10AM, with plenty of parking available in the lot across the street.
As I said before, there are six coasters. I've already mentioned the old wooden coaster, The Comet. The first I rode is the Bobsled, which was a blast. 8 people get into a cart and race down a simulated bobsled track. There aren't any huge drops, just plenty of fast turns, but speaking as someone who has always thought bobsledding looked really fun, this was a good simulation.
The day we were there, Nightmare was supposedly going to be closed. But when we went up, we realized it was open. We're lucky we went up there when we did, because word quickly got out and the lines were insane by the time we got out. The problem with Nightmare is that only 2 people go at a time. There are a couple of carts running at once, but it still took a while for the 40 people or so in front of us to get out of our way so we could go. Nightmare takes place inside a six story building, and while it's advertised as "complete darkness," that isn't exactly true. With that being said, the effect still works and it's one hell of a ride, and I had a blast (it probably helped that I couldn't see exactly how high I was).
The Steamin Demon and the Boomerang were two coasters I didn't dare try to handle. The Demon, according to my girlfriend, was fun, though kind of scary because you actually felt yourself be upside down. The Boomerang, meanwhile, was a monster. You get dragged up one 150 foot or so track only to be dropped down, through a loop, through some twists before climbing an identical 150 foot or so track and being dropped again, but this time going backwards. I saw one kid get off and puke almost immediately, so yeah, I was all set with that one too. My girlfriend thought it kicked a*s though.
The newest coaster is the Cannon Blaster, and while I'm no roller coaster expert, this is a coaster for people who hate coasters. There is no big drop, but rather the cart you're riding in goes in circles, and it leans you much in the same way the bobsled ride does.
That might be it for the coasters, but there are thrills in other ways too though. There's a bungee type ride (by appointment only mind you) that drags you up about 185 feet in the air only to fire you directly over the park, with all that's holding on to you being a couple of bungee chords. Even my girlfriend had no interest in that ride.
The Rainbow is right out front, as it circles you high above the park, giving you a good view of the parking lot (finding your car can be a fun activity during this ride), while the Trabont is a cool scrambling type of ride. The bumper car area could be improved: the fact that you have to actually drive around an island takes a lot of the fun out of it. They should get cars that move a bit faster as well. In other words, they should take a page out of Canobie Lake Park's bumper car handbook.
There's also the Pirate Ship, the swings, and a couple of other scrambler type rides that will give you a good time and some thrills as well.
For families, there are plenty of kiddie rides, and of course, plenty of concourse games and food as well. There are also arcades scattered throughout the park, so when you just need a bit of a break and feel like shooting some bad guys, you can spend some time in there.
This year featured performances by Elvis, and even though the guy playing Elvis didn't look too much the part, he sounded pretty good. There's also a petting zoo, though the highlight of that for me and the girlfriend were the two monkeys (which you CANNOT pet, for obvious reasons) that are there. And since this was the park's 50th anniversary, they are having fireworks on some nights.
The waterpark was ok, but nothing spectacular. The wave pool looked like fun, though my girlfriend said she nearly drowned in it. There was really only one big adult water slide from what I could see, while the kiddie area looked like it would be a blast if I was seven years old all over again. The water rides, both the white water rafting ride and the log flume ride, were a lot of fun though, and they manage to get you wet but not soaked.
We did not try the refreshments, as amusement park food is just sketchy. We obviously got beverages since it was a very warm day, but there's something about fried cheesecake that doesn't sound very good.
The park wasn't all that busy, so I might suggest hitting there on a weekday rather than a weekend. Either way, if you're going to spend some time in Lake George, I can't imagine not spending a day at the Great Escape. There is plenty to keep even the biggest kid busy, and plenty to keep even the smallest kids occupied as well. 4 stars.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
MattA75
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Member: Matt Aucoin
Location: South Berwick, ME
Reviews written: 1162
Trusted by: 465 members
About Me:
Gonna be a daddy, April 2010!
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