Great Escape (amusement park)
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| Location | Queensbury, New York, U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 43°21′04″N 73°41′24″W / 43.350991°N 73.690112°WCoordinates: 43°21′04″N 73°41′24″W / 43.350991°N 73.690112°W |
| Owner | Six Flags |
| Opened | 1954 |
| Previous names | Storytown USA, The Great Escape Fun Park, The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom |
| Operating season | May through October |
| Area | 351 acres (142 ha) |
| Rides | |
| Total |
35 (excluding water park) 3 (upcharge) |
| Roller coasters | 6 |
| Water rides | 10 |
| Website | Great Escape |
35 (excluding water park)
Great Escape (sometimes referred to as Six Flags Great Escape) is an amusement and water park owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corp. It is located approximately 60 miles (97 km) north of Albany, in Queensbury, New York, but is advertised as being in Lake George, New York, a popular tourist and vacation spot nearby. It is one of two Six Flags parks not to be officially branded with the "Six Flags" name (La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada being the other).
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 Ghosttown area, the first of many themed areas opened in the park's history.
In 1983, the park officially changed its name from Storytown USA to The Great Escape. 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 offering bumper stickers free of charge to any willing customer.
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 1988 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.
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