originally posted on 7/8/2024
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
Six Flags Great Escape (Queensbury, New York) debuted Bobcat in May, and ACE members are claiming it’s purrfect! This 55-foot-tall masterpiece is the only wooden roller coaster to open in North America in 2024 and the first to open in the country since 2020. It also marks the first roller coaster to be built at the park in 19 years, and since Great Escape is also the home of the ACE Roller Coaster Landmark Comet, it is now one of only two parks in New York to feature a pair of wooden coasters. Bobcat was designed and built by The Gravity Group (TGG).
According to Korey Kiepert, engineer and partner at TGG: “The creation of Bobcat was a collaboration. Sometimes there’s just one or two people from our company predominantly looking over the ride design, but on this ride, Chad Miller, Michael Graham and myself all have our fingerprints on this. I was here day zero and sketched portions of it up. Michael refined it and added profile. Chad continued to refine it and added a little bit of length here and there. We have 10 engineers and supporting staff plus we have people in the shop actually cutting the wood. We couldn’t do it without everyone’s help. Everyone is equally important, including the team of 15 people on the project site. We all worked together in the past year to get to this point.”
Bobcat repurposed the loading station that once served Alpine Bobsled and features theming appropriately fitting the lodge-style structure.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
As many trees as possible were retained on the site to help maintain the natural beauty of the park. Repurposing the station of the defunct Alpine Bobsled, which gave its last rides prior to the end of the 2023 season, the designers even chose to have the lift hill travel in a direction to keep a row of majestic trees intact. Guests on the prowl for a fun-filled adventure head past beautiful cascading waterfalls and make their way under bobcats perched on the perfectly executed entrance archway. Traveling through the queue, anticipation builds as the roar of the train races above and the lodge-themed station comes into view. The station even features a fireplace and wall decorations that provide a fantastic distraction until it's time to board.
Bobcat’s two Timberliner trains feature the coaster’s namesake feline and are perfectly suited to traverse its many quick twists and turns.
Photo: Doug Perry. View full-sized image.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
As one of the two Timberliner trains meanders into the station, riders will be awed by an intricate bobcat design gracing the front of each lead car. Guests 48 inches tall (or 42 inches tall with a person of responsibility) are welcome to sit in the comfortable seats and pull the secure lap bar across as they prepare for a journey that imitates a bobcat on the hunt. Once all clear, the 12 riders are on their way, immediately engaging the speedy lift. At the top, a quick turn to the left provides a gorgeous view of the Adirondacks as the train whips down the first drop reaching a speed of 40 mph.
While small, Bobcat is like the park’s Comet in the way it delivers noteworthy airtime.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
Following the ferociously fun 55-degree first drop, an airtime hill makes riders want to raise their paws in the air, only to be sent under the structure, which results in one of the most thrilling moments of the ride. What follows is a zippy trip through drops and banked turns up to 56 degrees in a figure-eight design, culminating in a double down finale. Overall, Bobcat races through nine airtime moments throughout its 1,412-foot course and is so smooth that kitties of all ages will want to ride again and again.
A train of delighted riders experiences The Gravity Group’s first coaster built from the ground up utilizing its engineered precut track.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
What makes this coaster so smooth is the engineered precut track from TGG. This is the first coaster from the company to be built completely using the precut track and prefabricated structure, which resulted in the coaster being built very quickly. This track is precut by precision CNC equipment and is said to be 30 times stronger than traditional wooden coaster track. In addition to looking terrific, the Timberliner trains have unparalleled agility for a wooden coaster rolling stock. Just like a spry feline, Timberliners can make tighter turns because they have great articulation, which results in a flawless execution of the track’s twisted path.
Bobcat stands on the site of Alpine Bobsled, which operated at the park until the end of the 2023 season, having begun its life at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, as Sarajevo Bobsled.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
To celebrate the park’s 70th anniversary, Six Flags Great Escape currently has many historical tributes to the past, including one to this coaster’s predecessor. The original entrance to Alpine Bobsled still stands and features a car from the Intamin attraction, giving visitors a chance to reminisce before taking a ride on that classic’s replacement. At the opening of Bobcat, Rebecca Wood, Six Flags Great Escape Resort president, said, “From the minute we announced Alpine Bobsled going away, we knew it was special, unique and one of the last few. We knew we had to replace it with something worthy. The support of American Coaster Enthusiasts from the removal of Alpine Bobsled to celebrating its last ride, to today launching this new ride and to be step by step with ACE along the way has been incredible and it makes it all that much more fun. We are very proud and happy to work with ACE every day to make our park better!”
The author and his brother Doug (ACE’s social media manager) were on hand to celebrate the opening of Bobcat at Six Flags Great Escape.
Photo: Doug Perry Collection. View full-sized image.
Congratulations to everyone at Six Flags Great Escape and TGG for the successful creation of such an incredible family-thrill roller coaster. Hopefully, Six Flags is just scratching the surface, and many more of these crowd-pleasing coasters will be built in the near future. Don’t catnap and wait to go to Six Flags Great Escape to ride Bobcat during the park’s 70th anniversary celebration. Get out to the park right meow!
— Derek Perry, ACE Communications Director
#ACENews