THE GREAT ESCAPE & Splashwater Kingdom
Lake George, New York
Six Flags Theme Parks
 Park News - (7/3/17) Good news for The Great Escape, the local news reports that the park has reopened their Sky Ride attraction to the public.
(7/1/17) Now the truth is out and as I predicted, the police have now reported that it was the teenage girl’s own actions that caused her to fall from the Sky Ride at The Great Escape, and they are now chalking it up to “human error”. The article also mentions that while she was taken into a hospital to be testing for injury, she has since been released.
(6/29/17) Now that the sensationalism over the incident has started to wear off, clearer heads are stepping forward and local law enforcement agencies are wanting to know, just as I did, exactly what was that teenage girl doing on the Sky Ride to slip down in her seat like that, which caused her to fall out. Unfortunately, the family of the girl has already brought in a lawyer and are refusing the make the girl available to be interviewed by law enforcement about the incident.
As quoted in this updated news article:
“The family is not making her available for an interview,” said Warren County sheriff’s Lt. Steve Stockdale on Tuesday. “Human error is being investigated as a possible cause. When I can’t talk to the victim, I’m left to draw my own conclusions.”
They also confirmed that it was her brother who was riding next to her at the time, but unfortunately the family “haven’t been cooperating with the investigation”.
(6/26/17) According to news reports a 14-year-old girl fell 25-feet from the Sky Ride attraction at The Great Escape theme park. The Sky Ride is a very slow moving aerial gondola style attraction with open ski-lift style cars that hold the riders in with a lap-bar restraint that covers the entire bench-seat from one side to the other. With that in mind, the big question would be... how did she fall?
Well, guests with cell phone cameras caught the incident where the gondola was slowing crossing the park when guests noticed a girl riding was somehow slipping down below the lap bar where your legs dangle, but ever so slowly going further and further down. You can also see that there is someone else sitting next to her the entire time, but this person is in absolutely no danger of falling, as they are still properly seated. According to a news report posted, the second rider was also another child and not an adult, so it would be unlikely that they would have the strength to pull the girl back up.
Eventually, the ride operators appear to have noticed the problem taking place and hit the E-Stop, to bring the movement of the attraction to a standstill. Unfortunately she did not appear to have the strength to pull herself back up, and slowly begins to slip under the bar, though given the pictures I've seen posted of these cars, the gap she was slipping through is only big enough for the upper thigh of an adult, so to those standing below in the crowd, it appeared as if her head was getting stuck and unable to fit under the bar for a time.
A crowd gathered below her and someone told her to let go and they appear to successfully break her fall. The comments from the crowd are interesting, as one woman keeps trying to blast park security for not knowing what to do... or having some magical means of getting up to her, when this most likely something that no one at the park has ever seen happen before. Watch to the end and you'll hear the guy shooting the video blame the park for "having nothing at all in place to help save somebody who is stuck'... but she wasn't stuck... and the park would easily have been able to rescue riders if the ride simply became stuck. This was an entirely different case where someone ignored the restraint system and got themselves in a very sticky situation the normal rescue methods in place would have worked.
And to be honest... about the only way this could have happened was if the girl was screwing around and trying to sink down below the bar in the first place, only to actually skip further than anticipated and become unable to get back up. (Or the alternative would be if the second rider was pushing her... but lets not go there...)
So far the exact verdict from the hospital isn't in, but it appears as if she escaped a much more serious injury, which is wonderful news. Unfortunately, I'm just waiting for the eventual lawsuit cries. For now the ride is closed while the incident is investigated.
2017 - Bonzai Pipelines - (9/1/16) New waterslides are coming to The Great Escape in 2017 in the form of something called Bonzai Pipelines. "The new attraction will feature a pair of twisting body slides with impressive heights, thrilling speeds and nearly 300 feet of pure splashing fun. A perfect way to beat the heat for thrill seekers and families alike, the slides will be located in the upper portion of Splashwater Kingdom."
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