Action Park: The infamous new Jersey water playground whose horror stories and scant safety precautions were so insanely ridiculous that you are left with nothing but to think its all the stuff of urban legend. Think again.
If you grew up in the '80s in the Tri-State Area, there was always Six Flags Great Adventure to quench your summer thirst of amusement park fun. But if fear of injury was not a priority, Action Park was your place. The Vernon Valley playground 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 it became was more notorious for names like Traction Park, Accident Park and Class Action Park following countless mishaps that lead to injuries and deaths on site.
I survived several day trips there as a kid, without injury. I am a proud young survivor of several trips down the Alpine Slide and numerous slides to splash on Surf Hill. The wave pool was quite intimidating in its size, over crowding and sheer height of the waves that easily swept away adults and children alike. I never returned as a rebellious teenager to bask in the thrills of possible injury or the lax alcohol rules.
The action ultimately did stop, the 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, and separate fact from fiction through interviews with former employees, action seekers who survived to tell the tales, and current Mountain Creek CEO Andrew Mulvihill (son of Action Park's owner Gene Mulvihill).
SOURCE: Dailymotion
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