Storytown – er, the Great Escape – in Kodachrome

Last year, I wrote a well-received blog post about old photographs from the legendary Lake George amusement park, Storytown U.S.A.  Today that park is the Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom, and is part of the Six Flags collection of amusement parks.

The reason I wrote the article was because I acquired a vintage View-Master reel of some attractions at Storytown, U.S.A.  The plan was to produce an article on the history of View-Masters and their collectible reels, but that project fell through.

Still, as part of the project, I attempted to scan in the original images off the View-Master reel.  Here’s the original View-Master reel from 1956:

Now it’s my understanding that although the Great Escape has expanded from the original Storytown acreage, there are still many remnants of Storytown at the park today.

But how many of these buildings still exist?  Have they been moved or relocated?  Or are they in the mysterious, unaccessable part of the Great Escape property derisively known as the “Graveyard”?

Well, I wanted to find out.  Plus, I wanted to take some shots of The Great Escape in Kodachrome – because I’m running short on time regarding developing the iconic slide film.  I now have less than 75 days to get my photos taken and developed before the last Kodachrome processing location stops developing the iconic slide film forever.

So, On October 16, I grabbed two rolls of Kodachrome 64, packed one into the Nikkormat ahead of time, and drove up to Lake George for the day.

As I’m driving up to Lake George, let me share a few memories with you about the park.

I remember going there several times as a kid – we always went through the miniature buildings of Storytown, and we were deputized as “Junior Marshals” to help Sheriff Wild Windy Bill McKay capture the varmints that terrorized Ghost Town.  There were several times as an adult, where I would take my family to the renamed park – the Great Escape, as it was now called – and we would enjoy the Desperado Plunge, the Raging River, and the Comet.  Oh yes, the Comet.  My favorite roller coaster – wooden or otherwise – is the Comet at the Great Escape.

A few years ago, I wrote an article for RoadKing magazine on the Great Escape’s 50th anniversary.  I even got to interview Wild Windy Bill McKay, who was still keeping Ghost  Town free of rustlers and bank robbers.  I even showed him my old Ghost Town badge.  He gave me a special blue Ghost Town badge, which commemorated his 47th year as Ghost  Town’s top lawman.

I also used to spend the late afternoon at the Great Escape, riding the winding river of Splashwater Kingdom.  Yes, and also taking a ride or two down the Black Cobra water ride, that was fun too.

But this time, my trip to the Great Escape is not for rides or attractions.  Okay yeah, I’m not leaving until I at least ride in the front row on the Comet.

My trip this time is to see how many of the original buildings from the View-Master reel are still on the park grounds – and to capture them in Kodachrome in 2010.

So here’s the results.

Original Reel	In 2010
	The Whale was removed many years ago.
	Couldn’t find the wishing well.  The closest I could find was the Porcellino statue at the opening of the park.  Yes, I dropped a coin in the grate and rubbed its nose.  You do this for good luck.
	It may still be there, but the area that houses a petting zoo has been boarded up for the winter.
	There is a church building on the amusement park grounds, but it doesn’t match up to the building you see on the right.

A few other things of note.  You can’t walk ten feet in the Great Escape without being bombarded by some form of sponsorship advertising.  Many of the rides are now sponsored by local companies, and there were plenty of banners for programs on The CW Network (yep, nothing like seeing a poster for “Hellcats” next to the Canyon Blaster ride).

And for “Fright Fest,” nearly everything was covered in gauze and manufactured fog.  That, and the speakers around the park were blasting Halloween music – albeit knockoff versions of songs like “Ghostbusters” and “Monster Mash.”  I could have sworn I heard “Tubular Bells,” as well.  But in one section of the park, there was a small “graveyard” – a collection of makeshift crosses and markers, each containing the name of a ride or a section of the park that no longer exists.  Oh look, there’s the marker for Jungleland.  And a marker for Danny the Dragon.  And for the Nightmare at Crack Axle Canyon.  Sad.  Very sad.

I did get to ride the Comet – I took some pictures from ground level, but once I got into the ride itself, the ride operator took the Nikkormat and put it in a cubbyhole until the ride was over.  Now at one point I thought I could get a swank Kodachrome shot from the top of the first hill – but before I got on the ride, I saw a woman who was frantically looking for her cell phone; she lost it somewhere along the ride.  With that in mind, I didn’t feel like taking a chance. Besides, once I finished riding the Comet – front row, baby – the Nikkormat was returned to me safe and sound.

A few minutes after I left the ride, I saw the woman and her son, they were still frantically looking for their cell phone.  I offered to use my cell phone to call theirs – hopefully the ringing would cause someone to pick the phone up, and therefore disclose the phone’s whereabouts.  We tried it.  The phone went to voice mail.  No success.  She thanked me anyway.

Apparently some of the Storytown legacy has been added back to the park; one can ride the steam train that goes through the old part of Storytown, and there are several of the old buildings from Storytown, Ghost Town and Jungleland that can be  seen along the ride.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know this, or else I would have ridden the train and taken some pictures.  My bad.

Still, I had to make one more stop along the way.  I had to visit Ghost Town, where Wild Windy Bill McKay has kept the crime rate down to zero for decades.

Unfortunately, when I got to Ghost Town, something didn’t seem right.  Something was missing.

Wild Windy Bill McKay wasn’t there.

In fact, there was no Wild West Show at Ghost Town.  By Wild Windy Bill McKay or by anybody.

I don’t know if he retired or passed away.  But it seemed that his presence was really the last viable link between “Storytown” and what has essentially morphed into “Six Flags Great Escape.”

Here’s a picture of Sheriff McKay, as gleaned from an old Kodachrome slide, circa late 1960’s.

And here’s a photo I took from approximately 2005, when the park was about to celebrate its 50th season of operation.

There’s a marker on the side of the Ghost Town building designated as the Marshal’s office, commemorating McKay’s long tenure with the park.  But inside the Marshal’s office was a larger, heartfelt tribute – pictures of Marshal Wild Windy Bill McKay with many of his junior deputies.  Pictures that were taken years ago and pinned on the wall of the Marshal’s office, in grateful tribute from generations of kids and parents.

And the metal badges that were handed out for free?  Now they’re sold in a souvenir stand next to the Marshal station – all the badges are now branded with the name “Six Flags.”

There’s a point in time when you visit the amusement park of your youth and you discover there’s something new in the park – something that just doesn’t belong, like a formica tabletop in a 19th-century home restoration.

And that moment came to me when I saw that Wild Windy Bill McKay was no longer Sheriff of Ghost  Town, and no sheriff was hired to replace him.

After that, I didn’t want to be in the park any more.  I’m sorry.  Not any more.