The Great Escape!: My Bloated Coaster Con XXXVI Road Trip Report - Part X

The morning after Con, Christian and I got up bright and early for the Coaster Con after party at The Great Escape. However, I ended up getting us up about an hour earlier than we needed to, so we sat in the parking lot for a while. Eventually, the park started showing signs of life & we set forth! 

Good morning, Great Escape!

"I cannot believe you got me out of bed at 7am for this."

The Great Escape is very charming, much more so than the average Six Flags park. The Storytown USA vibe is still pretty strong.

There seems to be a surprising effort on Six Flags's part to keep stuff like this maintained.

First stop: Alpine Bobsleds!

Oof. Turns out Alpine Bobsleds opens an hour later than the rest of the park. We'll be back in a bit...

First stop: Comet!

I had heard some great things about this ride, and it delivered!

Credit #44 of my Year of 100 New Coasters! 

My opinion is that the Comet is in great shape & rides great, but Christian was disappointed. Apparently the ride has seen better days.

If anything, I'd blame partially-empty trains during the first few runs of the day.

We gave it 3 rides and decided we'd come back later when more people are riding it. (Man...I never thought I'd be saying THAT!)

We now return to our regularly-scheduled bobsledding.

The reason we came to this ride first was because of the horror stories circulating about ridiculous wait times, even on slower days.

I wanted to make the most of my precious photo-op time by snapping as many shots as possible.

In order to get this shot, I let some kids go in front of Christian & me. I was subsequently barked at by a French-Canadian for "screwing him" because I threw off his seating arrangement with his group. I gave him a peace-offering in the form of a croissant & he was appeased. :}

Ok, I made up the part about the croissant. I just wanted the story to have a happy ending. What actually happened was I explained that I wanted to take some pictures because I'm a shameless tourist & that the kids I let go in front of us were trying to ride with their parents anyway. He wasn't very sympathetic & proceeded to glare at me until it was our turn to ride. 

Fortunately, a majority (majority being the operative word, here) of our other guest interactions were more friendly. And The Great Escape has some very chatty clientele, so there were several interactions. 

But I digress; Alpine Bobsleds is AWESOME! So much fun and really quite remarkable. Credit #45!

Here lies the remains of some old flat ride that has been cannibalized & repurposed into a terrace. Does anyone know what this ride was? A trabant, maybe?

SCORE! The Great Escape is selling Dippin' Dots in souvenir dishes that look like inner tubes! :D

The park's Swan Boats are still kickin'. We'll go for a ride later.

The old woman was out, but she left her shoe unlocked!

Christian could get a job as the giant at the top of the bean stalk. :}

More miniature buildings that make Christian and me feel like giants.

It's a bird! It's a plane!

.....no, wait. We were right the first time.

It's CONDOR! One of my favorite flats. :}  This one had a really good ride cycle too. When the ride reaches the top, the rotation of the "arms" stops & the rotation of the "hands" (do you follow my terminology here? Making it up as I go along...) speeds up greatly! 

It's the Adams and Christian!

(Yes, both Adams are there. One is just hiding behind the other Adam's Condor vehicle)

At this point we rode Steamin' Demon (awful), which gave me credit #46 of the year & 374 over all. What would turn out to be my 375th coaster??

It's Canyon Blaster! A proud living relic of Opryland USA!

I just love Arrow Mine Trains. I'm so pleased to see that Opryland's was not lost.  They're a huge hit with kiddos of all ages. :}

Nightmare at Crackaxle Canyon, the park's 4th-hand Jet Star II, was not so lucky. The ride's building now serves as storage.

The Great Escape is a melting-pot of different salvaged coasters. Only 2 of their 6 current coasters were built new!

My friends are so good to me; waiting patiently for me to finish taking pictures. :}

Time for a log ride! This one gets extra points for having some pretty creepy animatronics. 

The log queue provides a nice view of the Condor, which was busily Condoring when I took this photo.

Here's the only actual picture of the log flume you get. The thing's harder to take pictures of than the ones at Six Flags Great America!

Dear Steamin' Demon: Why do you hate us? Do you have some deep-seeded issues you need to talk about? Some repressed issues from your past? Your twin at Wild Waves gets on perfectly fine without bashing people in the head. Maybe you two should spend some time together.

Storytown USA wouldn't be complete without a miniature train.

Ferris Wheel time! It's location is PERFECT for Alpine Bobsled photos!

And Comet, too!

But I find Alpine Bobsled more intriguing.

I must say, the Jamaica-bob is quite handsome!

We skipped the rapids ride today because people were coming off looking like they'd just washed ashore. 

Because the Adams and Tina arrived after Christian and I got our Alpine Bobsled credit, we got back in line to ride it with them. The line only took about 20 minutes, and I of course entertained myself by taking more pictures! We also rode Comet together, which did indeed give a better ride than it did this morning.

*sings*

**Oh Canada! My gnome is made of lamb!**

As wonderful as it is, I don't think Alpine Bobsled is long for this world. I heard many times that the ride usually breaks down once a day, and throughput is mediocre at best. Plus the thing just seems to rattle itself silly. Every time a bob enters a break run, it violently (albeit thrillingly) fishtails left & right as it straightens itself out. I can only imagine what kind of damage the ride does to itself in just one season.

Yet another drop out slide! I'd only ever seen one in person before this trip, but now they're everywhere!

Boomerang is next. Yes, we were procrastinating.

I'm sure a boomerama is just what you were hoping to see!

As far as Boomerangs go, Credit #48 was actually a fun ride. It's in MUCH better shape than Zoomerang at Compounce.

Time for our Swan Boat tour of Storytown USA!

XTREME SWAN BOAT POV!

I would guess that not much about this view has changed over the years, which is a nice thought.

I would have ridden the Sky Ride, but this thing moves slower than the line at the DMV.

Wave to the train passengers! 

New at The Great Escape this year is this lovely-looking set of flyers. Sadly, looking good is about all they're good for according to the ACE testimonies I heard.

Here's the kiddie credit that Christian and I missed because we didn't feel like coaxing a small child into riding it with us. (Yes, it's one of those parks)

We did go back for another ride on Canyon Blaster though, which is essentially a large kiddie coaster. 

Christian and I made an early departure so that we could arrive in Harrisburg PA at a decent hour. We'll be meeting up with the Adams and Tina again at Knoebels in two days!

In order to leave The Great Escape, one must appeal to the Canadian Goose Council.

If they deny your appeal, they chase you back into the park & demand bread! Luckily Christian and I were able to appease them with a croissant. :}

Okay, I made up that part about the croissant again. The croissant is a lie! You can safely assume that, from here on out, if I bring up something about a croissant, it probably didn't actually happen.

Before we could leave Lake George, we had to do some shopping on the strip! This would be the 1st of 3 Christmas stores I'd have the privilege of visiting over the next 3 days.

We also went in here for some tacky swag. I ended up with a key chain from Holiday World! It was on sale for $2.

Here I am with said keychain. You're pretty far from home, little buddy!

That wraps up the Lake George/Great Escape portion of the trip! Join us & some local friends tomorrow for our day at HERSHEYPARK!! :D