The North Country is full of surprises, whether if you step on snake or wake up to 3 feet of snow. No surprise will be more exhilarating then one you get when traveling 45 mph on The Great Escape's new roller coaster "The Canyon Blast."

The Canyon Blast is the newest addition of roller coasters at the Great Escape. The Great Escape and Splash water Kingdom is owned by Six Flags and located off route 9 in Lake George.

Built in 1954, The Great Escape and Splash Water Kingdom is the oldest theme park today. Out dating Disneyland by one year, The Great Escape plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2004.

The Great Escape is perhaps one of the biggest attractions of the Lake George area. Many of the local people feel that the Great Escape is having a huge impact on the North Country in more then one way. With the Great Escape begin such a popular spot, it's contributing a substantial amount of revenue to the area and putting numbers up in the employee bracket.

Could a theme park be doing more then trying to find a new way to take peoples' money on a fixed game or is Six Flags taking us on another wild ride?

Dustin Johnson is a sever at the Adirondack Coach House located across the street from the theme park. Johnson says, "Its unbelievable how much business we get when the park opens, we need to set-up more tables."

It's great that a theme park can bring more customers to a restaurant, but what if the theme park owns the restaurant? Is it an example of capitalism at its finest?

The Great Escape has owned the Adirondack Coach House for the past four years.
Tony Grecco, general manger of Log Jam restaurant, which is down the street from the theme park says, "The restaurant has always been there, they (Great Escape) bought it when they moved there, so no I don't feel that they are trying to take business from anyone."

Great Escape PR representative Mark Pardack said, "The Great Escape brings a lot of tourist to the area and tourist spend money which helps boost our local economy."

The Great Escape is also one of the biggest employers in the North Country, offering hundreds of jobs. According to Great Escape records the theme parks employees around 800 to 1,000 jobs seasonally.

The Great Escape theme park has excitement for all ages. With its adrenalin pumping roller coasters a verity of gift shops and great places to eat, you can't go wrong. The Great Escape also holds a number of events that start in May and go on until early September. The events that will be taking place are fun and educational for everyone. This year the Great Escape plans to hold Mad Science week. During Mad Science week events will be held were people can come and see many interactive science experiments based on Newton's three laws.

It seems that when we combine everything the park has to offer and everything it contributes to the North Country and the people living there, Six Flags is not just placing us on another one of their wild rides. The Lake George area has already established itself as one of the premier places to visit in the upstate New York, region. With the help of the Great Escape and Splash water Kingdom theme park it only gets better.

Let us know how your Great Escape experience goes.