The Great Escape (TGE) Discussion Thread

[ytterbiumanalyst]

it makes even more sense now that Great Escape and Great America are probably getting HITP now that it's listed on both their season passes.

Except that Gold season passes also include admission to other parks, including other parks' HITP events. Got one of these maybe?

[Greatescapelover]

Ah, right. I forgot if you don't have 2,000 posts and a loyal weirdo following on here, you can't post in a thread without getting attacked!

 

Use your brain dude. Both parks popped up on the HITP webpage, and now it is included in their season pass descriptions, which it has never been before.

 

[michaellynn4]

It's far more likely that a developer just copy/pasted the same season pass description across all pages in order to save time, only to realize afterwards that the HITP description didn't apply to every park. It's the Six Flags way, after all.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Ah, right. I forgot if you don't have 2,000 posts and a loyal weirdo following on here, you can't post in a thread without getting attacked!

Nah, I'm also an asshole to people with 2000 posts and a loyal weirdo following. It's much more fun than getting worked up over things only to be disappointed when they don't work out the way you think they will.

 

It's far more likely that a developer just copy/pasted the same season pass description across all pages in order to save time, only to realize afterwards that the HITP description didn't apply to every park. It's the Six Flags way, after all.

Yup, likely. And you know, those gold passes with the HITP description still give access to HITP at those parks that have it, so it's not false advertising.

[sfkk]

Last season as you walked over the bridge they had banners that advertised free holiday in the park with the text “at Six Flags Great Adventure and New England” written very small underneath.

[DarienPoint]

Remember how Great Adventure was originally calling their free spin "Total Mayhem?" I feel like one of these years Great Escape could get a free spin with that name, cause (someone clarify this) they never (or rarely) get DC themed rides, and it'd be a good addition to the park.

 

Just a thought. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Sluggo77]

Hadn’t been to Great Escape in a couple seasons so I decided to go opening day. I figured that the park would be pretty empty since it was raining all morning. Got there around 1 and the rain stopped not long after. Everything was a walk on for the remainder of the day. Park was looking pretty good overall. Still to this day it’s a charming park in a nice setting.

 

No doubt coaster wise Comet is the star of the show and it didn’t disappoint. Certainly not the biggest or fastest coaster but it was running excellent. After the last turn around a whole section was retracked and butter smooth. Overall the entire coarse was in great shape. Even though the park doesn’t really focus on coasters it’s just awesome to see that they continue to invest in Comet.

 

The new for 2018 Pandemonium has been installed and the signs say it will open May 25th. He’s some shots from around the park. Never did the sun really come out so apologies for that in advance.

My first looping coaster Steamin’ Demon.

Pandemonium Coming Soon!

Little Park History.

Storytown Train

Canyon Blaster

Welcome to Great Escape!

Frankie’s Mine Train from the Storytown Train.

Site work still needs to be done but the ride is in place.

Star of the Park. Comet!

Heading back towards the front of the park. The classic Swan Boats and Greezed Lightnin’.

Swan Boats Dock & Sasquatch.

Just across the street from the park is the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge. Thanks for checking out this report.

[DarienPoint]

^ Eek, Canyon Blaster needs a repaint. Pandemonium looks pretty cool! I like the color scheme.

[Sluggo77]

^Yea it could but overall the park looked pretty good for an opening weekend overall.

[bert425]

Not familiar with this park, but it looks like a smaller Six Flags park?

 

seems a great place to spend a few hours, thanks for the pics.

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report and glad to hear the Comet is still running well.

[Sluggo77]

Not familiar with this park, but it looks like a smaller Six Flags park? seems a great place to spend a few hours, thanks for the pics.

 

It’s not a big park compared to others but I’d say it’s great for families. They have a nice included water park to. This was the first “big” park that I went to as a kid. It was known as Storytown back then and a lot from that era is still around. As mentioned in the report Steamin’ Demon was the first looping coaster that I ever went on. I remember being scared to death and then feeling addicted after finally riding it LOL. I’ve never lost that addiction since so it’s great to see the park keeping that family feel for future coaster enthusiasts along with adding some newer rides now that SF’s owns it.

 

Great report and glad to hear the Comet is still running well.

Thanks! It really is. I thought it was running even better than a couple of years ago. The team running the ride was doing a great job too. Even with low attendance and only one train operation they were trying to get trains out ASAP.

[Philrad71]

Nice report!

 

We had a great time when my Dad and I drove out to meet Michael (before he moved to NY) and his daughter, husband and granddaughters at Lake George many moons ago.

 

We camped in the campground just down the street - we really liked the theme park, water park and the surrounding area. It was a great thrill to ride Comet after hearing about the one at Crystal Beach all my life and never being able to ride it. Glad to hear that they are keeping this running smooth as butter - it really is the star of the park!

[coasterbill]

Great report!

 

seems a great place to spend a few hours, thanks for the pics.

Eh, you may want to budget for an entire day once you see their operations.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Or budget for a Flash Pass.

 

Edit- Actually it looks like Great Escape has the Go Fast Pass instead since they still seem to resist all attempts of flagging. And since the Bobsled isn't included on that pass, that one ride can eat up a good chunk of your day, which is unfortunate because it's easily the park's second best coaster. You have to be lucky to hit it right when it opens (which is never with the park) or else you'll be in stuck in a slow moving line of a coaster that frequently breaks down.

[Vonni]

Great Escape looks really charming.

 

Did Pandemonium replace any existing ride or structure?

[xVicesAndVirtues]

^There used to be an old Chance Trabant in that space on a portable-style platform, which the park removed around 2012ish. They then used the ride's platform as an awkward seating area before removing it entirely. Nice to see that they're going with all permanent ride pads with everything they've installed over the past few years.

 

Great report to what used to be my home park and a park I worked at for a few years! It's also really nice that despite the fact that they haven't gotten (and likely won't get) a coaster in quite a few years, they always add something new every single year, and the past 5 years or so they've really beefed up their flat ride collection, plus expanded what was already a great admission-included waterpark. For those who haven't been keeping up on the park, they've done new flying scooters, a small frisbee-style flat ride, a mat racer/tube slide combo, a Larson loop, and now Pandemonium, all in the past 4/5 years.

[qwimjim]

how are the crowds at this park on a weekend? it's not super close to any big cities, does it still manage to get slammed like laronde, new england, great adventure?

[xVicesAndVirtues]

It doesn't get anywhere near as busy as the above parks, but operations are pretty slow and laid-back at this park. It can be the busiest day of the year and you might have a full station for the Comet, which might take 20 minutes max, and a 4 or 5 train wait for the Boomerang. The longest wait in the park is usually Alpine Bobsled. I haven't been to the park yet this year, but I know the past few seasons they've operated with just the front loading platform, which can make the wait take eons. I'd recommend doing it early because it also breaks down or goes down for light rain, then take your time with everything else.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Yeah the Bobsled is the one really bad wait you'll encounter. The tricky thing is that the ride doesn't usually open with the park.

[thrillrider]

Looking over the great escapes website, it does not look like the alpine bobsleds are on the fast lane list. Is this info correct, or am I reading it wrong?

 

If this is the case, I'm surprised by it.

[booink]

^It is indeed not on the Fast Lane rides ; tbh considering how bad the capacity is on this coaster, and that the wait is already awful enough, allowing Fast Lane on it would be a terrible idea.

[coasterbill]

Is there a reason they run that thing the way they do? La Vibora rolls trains like crazy in the same chain. When we went to Great Escape, they wouldn’t send a train until they were triple stacked despite the fact that the ride has 11,000 block sections.

[3Mutts]

Is there a reason they run that thing the way they do? La Vibora rolls trains like crazy in the same chain. When we went to Great Escape, they wouldn’t send a train until they were triple stacked despite the fact that the ride has 11,000 block sections.

 

Staffing, poor training, and poor maintenance are your answers.

[qwimjim]

It doesn't get anywhere near as busy as the above parks, but operations are pretty slow and laid-back at this park. It can be the busiest day of the year and you might have a full station for the Comet, which might take 20 minutes max, and a 4 or 5 train wait for the Boomerang. The longest wait in the park is usually Alpine Bobsled. I haven't been to the park yet this year, but I know the past few seasons they've operated with just the front loading platform, which can make the wait take eons. I'd recommend doing it early because it also breaks down or goes down for light rain, then take your time with everything else.

 

 

ok cool thanks, going with young kids so mostly going to be doing all the little rides, so i imagine the water park and slides are pretty fast to get on too?