Action Park, the infamous Jersey water playground whose horror stories and scant safety precautions are so insanely ridiculous that you can’t but think it’s the stuff of urban legend. Think again.
If you grew up in the ’80s in the Tri-State Area, Six Flags Great Adventure was your destination to quench your summer thirst for amusement park fun.
But if fear of injury was not a priority, Action Park was more your speed. The Vernon Valley resort had edge-of-your-seat experiences like the Alpine Slide, Surf Hill, Tarzan Swing, Cannonball Loop and the massive Tidal Wave Pool and ran with the popular slogans “The Action never stops… at Action Park,” and “There’s nothing in the world like Action Park.”
However the park became increasingly notorious and synonymous with names like Traction Park, Accident Park and Class Action Park following countless injuries and deaths on site.
I survived several day trips there as a kid, thankfully without injury. I am a proud young survivor of several trips down the Alpine Slide and numerous slides to splash on Surf Hill. To a child, the wave pool was quite intimidating in size. Over crowding and the sheer height of the waves that easily swept away adults and children alike were apparent. I never returned as a rebellious teenager to bask in the thrills of possible injury or the lax alcohol rules, the thrill from riding the insane (but safe) roller coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure was more my lure as I got older.
Action Park’s action ultimately did stop. Doors were shut in 1996. The facility has since re-opened as the much safer Mountain Creek Water park. The fine folks at Dailymotion put together a two part documentary and look back at Action Park, tracing over the good and the bad, separating fact from fiction via interviews with former employees, action seekers who survived to tell the tales, and even current Mountain Creek CEO Andrew Mulvihill (son of Action Park’s owner Gene Mulvihill).
The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever – Part 1 of 2 by insane-amusement-park
The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever – Part 2 of 2 by insane-amusement-park
SOURCE: Dailymotion
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