Six Flags Great Escape adding first new coaster in nearly 20 years

Six Flags Great Escape adding first new coaster in nearly 20 years

For the first since 2005, Six Flags Great Escape guests will have a new roller coaster to ride. 

The Queensbury, New York park announced Wednesday that it would be adding Bobcat, a family wooden coaster built by the Ohio-based Gravity Group. The firm has also designed family woodies such as Oscar’s Wacky Taxi at Sesame Place Philadelphia and Kentucky Flyer at Kentucky Kingdom.

Bobcat will sport similar stats: 55-feet-tall, a top speed of 40 mph, and 1,412 feet of track. Riders will have to be a minimum of 42 inches tall, or 48 inches tall to ride alone. 

The new ride will not increase the park’s coaster count, however, as Bobcat will replace the Alpine Bobsled, which is closing for good on Sept. 4. 

Bobcat will mark Six Flags Great Escape’s 70th anniversary (Six Flags)

“We knew we had to find a perfect fit to replace the Alpine Bobsled in the hearts of our guests,” Six Flags Great Escape president Rebecca Wood. “This beautiful, all-natural wooden family coaster will deliver a smooth, fast and heart-pounding experience. It is sure to be an instant classic.”

While news reports have claimed this is Great Escape’s first new coaster since 2003, this is inaccurate; the park added the kiddie coaster now known as Frankie’s Mine Train in 2005.