Let the summer season begin!

No, it's not track season. That's not for a couple months. It's opening weekend for Great Escape - which is kinda like track season but parking is more expensive.

This weekend - May 18 and 19, their opening weekend - tickets purchased online are just $20.18, according to their site. It's unclear if this includes the $20 parking fee, my guess is that it doesn't. (sorry if I sound bitter - I remember when parking there was free and prices regularly were still $20....does this make me old?)

The hours this weekend are 10am to 6pm - and the water park does not open until next Saturday, May 25.

I do love the Great Escape though. And Six Flags has done a good job operating them in recent years.

There are about 40 rides (I just counted them), and the new coaster this year is the Screamin' Eagle, which I kept thinking was not new. But I finally realized I was confusing it with the Steamin' Demon coaster. That's also still in operation - they just must enjoy naming things similarly at the park.

For first timers - you must not have gone to school around here since it's a rite of passage for any 6th grader within a 100 mile radius - there's a Storytown (which is how the park started) with small nursery rhyme houses for the kids to explore, a Ghost Town, a Timbertown, a Carnival-like area, the Kidzopolis (which I have to admit, I'm not really familiar with) and the water park.

There's also usually live entertainment - and you can't leave without eating a funnel cake with ice cream. It's a rule.

Tickets are normally about $52.99 (a bit less for kids) and more information can be found here.

There's also a lodge across the street with the same name.