Just back from Six Flags Great Escape-horrible

[DVC-Don]

That place is dirty, workers could care less about the customers and the food is awful and costs $$$. We don't go there anymore.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We are near St. Louis and I spent so many days going to Six Flags as a kid and had a blast. Now, I hate it. I don't know if I am just seeing things through different eyes now that I'm an adult, but I loathe going there.

The food is so expensive and not at all good. You can't bring water bottles in here either or any snacks, unless you can prove you have a food allergy or other dietary restrictions. It is dirty and gross. Everything seems like it is covered in a film of filth. Last time we were there I was barked at by several employees because myself, my kids, ages 5 and 3, and my 3yo nephew, and my elderly mom walking with a cane weren't moving fast enough. Getting haggled by the game people is another thing that gets to me.

My mom got us season passes this year and wants to do the same next year but I'm going to pass on her offer. I don't expect a Disney experience at Six Flags, but I do expect a pleasant, fun experience.

I've never thought that park was dirty or gross & have also never had an issue with rude employees. Yeah, the game folks bark at you (I actually had that job as a teen ), but we don't get to that part of the park often. The food IS super expensive & not great for what you get, but we kind of found the same with Disney. So, we usually either bring a picnic lunch & eat under one of the shade trees in the parking lot, or drive 2 minutes up the road to Pizza Hut, Culvers, or any of the other fast food options right outside the park.

 

[Nolcrest]

A trip down memory lane for those who remember Storytown - now known as Six Flags Great Escape.

http://stusa.wordpress.com/

 

[FayeW]

Another thing that really bothered me was that they would not allow any outside water bottles in the park. I brought some for the kids and they made me dump them out before letting me in. I had to pay $3.50 a bottle to hydrate the kids! Don't even get me started about the food prices.
.

We are going to Great Escapes for the first time in about 10 days. I am very surprised that you had to dump your water because according to the park policies listed on their website you are allowed to bring in bottled water.

* Sealed water bottles are allowed in the park (1 per person)

Were your bottles already opened or am I going to have to print out a copy of their own policies in order to bring in our water!

 

[LoserMomma]

We have Season Passes. We got them early when they were cheap and they threw in the parking. The trick to Six Flags is to go early and leave when the teenager to adult ratio gets out of whack. We don't eat there and will only drink out of the two refillable mugs we get every year (costs a buck to refill them). The will give you a courtesy cup of water if you ask. We keep lunch in the car and eat on the way home. We only live 20 minutes away, so we don't mind going for two hours and leaving. We use it as our pool.

Six Flags is NOT Disney...not even close in any way shape or form. As long as I don't expect Disney level of service (in fact, I avoid having to interact with the staff on any level) I can accept it. We've gotten our money's worth....we paid about fifty bucks for the season passes and we've been about 8 times this year.

 

[nancycg56]

Is this what all of the little houses are left over from? I kind of remember DH telling me about it.

Yes, they are!

We used to go every summer when I was a kid (we lived fairly close) and to Gaslight Village. At Storytown, I can remember being scared to death of Jungleland (I think that's what it was called) and falling off the walkways, LOL!

I've been to the Great Escape a couple of times when my kids were young and we were visiting family but I have no desire to go back. In fact, DH and I are heading up that way in September and it's not on our list of things to do.

 

[scdak]

I was at Great Escape last Sunday, and that will be the only time I go there! It was free for "heroes" ie teachers, nurses, military, police, firefighters etc for the entire week but I assure you that even I wouldn't go back if it was free again. Its dirty, rundown and there is basically nothing for adults to do if they don't or can't ride thrill rides. The shows were the highlight of the day and even those weren't great. I have been to a number of amusement parks on the East Coast over the years but have never been as disappointed as I was with Great Escape.
As far as food prices - NO one should complain about Disney prices, Disney is a steal compared to this place. The rest of our trip was great but Great Escape is on our NO list forever!

 

[pat fan]

Gaslight Village

Gaaaslight Village..vodi-o-do vo-di-o-do-do-do...DO!

(wasn't that part of the commercial?)

 

[FlightlessDuck]

FYI, the park changed it's name from Storytown to The Great Escape in 1983, but wasn't bought by Six Flags until well after that.

I've been there once, in October 2006. It has one of the best wooden roller coasters in the US, The Comet. They also did some kind of trick-or-treat thing in their storybook area. I don't really recall whether it was run down or had bad service, so those might be recent developments.

I do know better than to compare an amusement park to WDW, though.

 

[Beezle2]

I think after my second trip to Disney...with an in between trip to Cedar Point...I decided that I was ruined for any other theme parks. I can be pretty sure that I will never go to another Cedar Point, Six Flags, Hershey Park, etc. We do like Universal, but really...I'm done with the others. Waste of time and money, I'll just wait for the good stuff!

Sorry you had a bad time OP, the water thing is ridiculous!

 

[nancycg56]

Gaaaslight Village..vodi-o-do vo-di-o-do-do-do...DO!

(wasn't that part of the commercial?)

Yes! Something like Gaslight Village, yesterday's fun today, vodi-o-do, vodi-o-do, do-do-do-DO

OK, I can remember THAT but not what I did last week...

 

[pixie dust 112]

I haven;t been to Great Escape this year. I am not a fan of that Park at all. 2 of my daughters like it because of the roller coasters. I don't like the amusement park part of Great Escape and agree that it is definitely run down. I do enjoy the water park section. But man Adirondack water never gets warm!

 

[Becc1]

This is how I feel about Six Flags America. I miss Adventure World. I had season passes to Adventure world for several years, It became Six Flags, and went downhill fast!

I worked at Wild World/Adventure World as a lifeguard for 5 yrs while in high school/college! I actually think that the park has gotten better when it became Six Flags, so many more rides and the water park area is so much better, which is our main reason for going.

We have Season Passes. We got them early when they were cheap and they threw in the parking. The trick to Six Flags is to go early and leave when the teenager to adult ratio gets out of whack. We don't eat there and will only drink out of the two refillable mugs we get every year (costs a buck to refill them). The will give you a courtesy cup of water if you ask. We keep lunch in the car and eat on the way home. We only live 20 minutes away, so we don't mind going for two hours and leaving. We use it as our pool.

Six Flags is NOT Disney...not even close in any way shape or form. As long as I don't expect Disney level of service (in fact, I avoid having to interact with the staff on any level) I can accept it. We've gotten our money's worth....we paid about fifty bucks for the season passes and we've been about 8 times this year.

We do pretty much the same thing you guys do. I make sure everyone has eaten a good breakfast, we get there when the waterpark opens, spend maybe 3 or 4 hours there and then head out. I bringa cooler in the car with sandwiches or lunchables and we eat on the way home which like you is only abour 20 minutes. I bought 2 of the refillable cups and we have 2 of the refillable popcorn buckets (only $4 with a coupon from the book), which are great at only $1 per refill.

I can't believe that they would not allow water bottles at teh Lake George park. I bring water bottles every time we go to the Six Flags America and when we went to the New Jersey park I even brought a soft sided cooler filled with water. Noone has ever said anything to us. It doesn't really bother me that you can't bring food in because I've always assumed that Disney was unlike most amusement parks with their policy to allow food and drinks in.

For us the season passes are a good deal, we got them for $60 each, we basically only use the waterpark during the summer then once that closes on Labor Day we will do the rest of the park until they close at the end of October. We like that we can use our passes at any SixFlags (although we've only visited Great Aventure, we like the Fright Fest that they do for Halloween and with th coupon book that you get with your season pass you gets lots of good deals, including free passes for friends. We have brought lots of our friends to the park this summer for free. I would agree that the staff definately does not stand up to Disney's CMs but does anyones?

 

[sunsprinkle24]

We went to Six Flags a couple years ago once. Never again! I agree with everything everyone has said...

 

[FayeW]

We just got back from a couple of days in Lake George. We went to Great Escapes on Thursday and this was our first time at this theme park. The rides were fine, very small lines and I found the park to be clean and tidy, and the employees seemed friendly and helpful enough. The waterpark was very nice, bathrooms and change rooms were clean as well. I thought the theming in certain areas (nursery rhymes, frontier town, etc) were cute and pleasant to walk through. My children are teenagers, but I imagine smaller children would have fun going into the little houses, etc.

We were there for about 2.5 hours or so and walked over to Johnny Rockets for a very tasty lunch of burgers/fries/onion rings. We retrieved our bag of towels/swimsuits from the car after lunch and had a nice afternoon at Splashwater Kingdom. They didn't check our bag at all on re-entry so I suppose we could have taken water or snacks in if we had been so inclined.

I had no issues with the cleanliness or service in the parks, and the only negative aspect for me was to see some of the attractions in dire need of a good sanding and paint job, most notably, the Alpine Bobsled ride.

Really, I have nothing to complain about. It appears that DH and I have reached our limits of theme parks in general, as being bounced around and having our ears boxed on rollercoasters has kind of lost it's appeal. Great Escapes wouldn't be a destination for us on future trips to Lake George, but that is due to our newly discovered lack of tolerance for the spinning, bouncing rides and is not a reflection on the park itself. We enjoyed our day and our visit to Great Escapes.

 

[mickeyboat]

We vacation at Lake George every year (7 years in a row), and have only been to Great Escape once - our first year. Even with the discount tickets we can get from our town rec department, we choose not to go .