Twisterfan1995

Not bad. Theming looks a bit simple but nice. Only wish would be that they made it more Bavarian/Alpine themed - but it should fit into the area reasonably well.

I'm not gonna hold my breath for anything dramatic either. Think it will really come down to if Six Flags ever decides that its worthwhile to substantially commit/invest in the park (and given a lot of nearby development/noise restrictions the town has placed on it, along with that supposed agreement where Six Flags would be on the hook for new road infrastructure if attendance/traffic ever gets to a certain point - I don't know if that would be soon). Good news is that the park seems to do alright financially on its own from what I can tell (having an onsite indoor waterpark resort helps) and Lake George is always a popular tri-state vacation destination, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it ever gets to a point of penciling out, especially if Bobcat does well, and essentially follow the same blueprint again and gradually replace the older coasters with modern upgrades. Great Escape is an underrated park IMO - it actually feels more like an independent family-focused park than a six flags park with solid atmosphere and theming. Now it just needs a couple actually decent coasters/thrill rides in order to fulfill its potential. Edit: my master plan for the park if I were GM: 1) Replace Canyon Blaster with one of: Modern Vekoma/S&S Mine Train Zierer Force Coaster Gerstlauer/Mauer Sohne Spinning Coaster Zamperla Family Thrill Launch Coaster RMC Family Coaster Vekoma New Family Boomerang 2) Fill in the "Nightmare at Crackaxle Canyon" building with either: RMC Wild Moose (with some dark ride elements if possible depending on how RMC's remodel of Fire In The Hole at SDC goes) Sally Corp Dark Ride - maybe themed to a Western Style shooting Gallery? 3) Put Steamin Demon out to pasture, replace with one of: Gerstlaurer Eurofighter or Infinity Coaster/Zierer Tower Coaster RMC Raptor Vekoma STC or Western-themed MotoCoaster slightly extended/scaled up B&M Family-Wing coaster (i.e. Maximus at Legoland DE, or Mandril Mayhem at Chessington) If on a budget, can replace any of the above with a relocated/refurbished T3 (Vekoma SLC) or Speed: The Ride (Premier Launch Shuttle Coaster) - both listed for sale on a couple industry sites.

Not gonna lie, when I first read that the Bobsled coaster was being closed, something like this was my very first thought as to what would be the best thing to replace it. Glad to see the park getting a significant new ride investment like this, Bobcat seems like a perfect addition considering the space and the park itself since its moreso geared towards families and smaller children. I hope they try to leverage the "Alpine" theme of the area around it more too, seems like it could be a good thematic fit! Honestly, after Bobcat, if Great Escape added a dark ride or Wild Moose-type indoor coaster to the old Nightmare at Crackaxle Canyon building, and replaced Steamin' Demon with literally any decent modern thrill coaster, I think it could seriously shift the perception of the place.

Love it! Glad to see one of my home parks finally get some love again from the Cedar Fair HQ. One of the things that also seems interesting about this addition is that park management said they wanted to emphasize theming with the ride, and giving it a decent backstory that both is locally relatable (Steelmaking being a major industry in the Lehigh Valley at one point) and also ties into their Halloween events definitely help. A lot of the articles/videos also seem to be painting a picture that the park wants to go in a more theme-heavy direction moving forward as well, which I am excited to see.

Obviously we can't be sure of the actual layout, but they and others do seem to be pretty confident on it being B&M dive machine based on the footer layout and placement being consistent with other B&M dive coasters. I'm definitely skeptical as well, but as someone who calls Dorney one of their "home" parks, I'd be over the moon if they actually got it.

Parkfans.net forums may have cracked it. Apparently it’s a small scale B&M Dive Machine w 6-across seat trains: http://Post in thread 'Dorney Park Project 2024: 162ft B&M Dive Coaster?' Someone already recreated an approximation of it on NoLimits and posted a preview/POv video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DqozKlYfUck

Part of me has wondered if Gaylord would consider building a smaller indoor park onsite as a compliment/extension of the Opry Mills mall complex to help drive traffic to it considering the challenging retail landscape. Call it "Opry Landing" or something like that as an homage to the original and help fill the gap in the Nashville metro area entertainment market.

Sad to see a park go. But if the park was in fact missing its financial targets for years and had ongoing auxiliary issues (i.e. Parking with 49ers, Height/Construction requirements with Santa Clara), I could see Cedar Fair getting frustrated by holding onto an underperforming park and with more restrictions around their ability to invest and transform the park over time, and deciding to cut bait in a post-Covid environment to free money/capital for other parks. If nothing else, it looks like at least Flight Deck, Patriot, Railblazer, and Gold Striker, along with some flats, could be nice prizes to some of the other Cedar Fair parks if relocated. Hopefully they preserve Berserker as well.

Water coaster maybe? That was mentioned as a potential future attraction option (along with a Kentucky Flyer-esque Gravity Group Woodie, and a Gerstlauer Eurofighter ala Tantrum or Iron Shark) back at an ACE event they did in 2019.

Not to mention the potential for more group sales from families/groups for birthday parties at the park from the synergy for having a birthday themed land there.

Indeed it is the coaster fka "Kanonen" from Liseberg!. The SLC w/ extended Helix is also from the now defunct Ratanga Junction in South Africa. the S&S Tower is from the Buffalo Bill's Casino (home of Desparado coaster) in Nevada.

Fair enough, I took "thrift store" to mean that they cheaped out.

Tbh going by this analogy: getting an Intamin launch coaster, a multi-inversion inverted coaster, an S&S drop tower, and a decent sized Ferris wheel is a pretty good haul for a thrift shopping trip. Especially for a new park in its first year not bankrolled by multibillion dollar industrial conglomerate. plus the park is spending money to refurbish all of them and buy new trains for the SLC, so they aren't being completely cheap or neglectful with their ride choices.

Major updates on the Park from the ParkPros youtube channel last week: Along with an article in a regional newspaper from September: https://www.thegazette.com/travel/behind-the-scenes-at-iowas-lost-island-theme-park-in-waterloo/

Could be. I believe they also own a nearby KOA campground "resort" site too. I wouldn't be surprised if they toyed with offering multi-day packages including an overnight stay at their campground, maybe partner with local hotels or even the nearby casino if they have unfilled rooms. They may also be able to boost attendance numbers after labor day if they market to UNI football/sports fans travelling to Waterloo for games and convince them to spend an afternoon/extra day in the area or make a full family day/weekend out of it.