First off, i wanna know if anyone from the NJ/NY/Pa area remembers Action Park?
I know there gotta be someone who remembers, if not going to the park, at least the commercials for this shit. It was the most ghetto-ass, dangerous, injury-creating amusement park that the east coast has ever known, i swear.
I went once when i was a little kid. i always wanted to go but we couldn't afford it. But somehow we got 2 tickets, i think someone at my dads work got tickets but couldnt use them. The day the tickets were for, it was raining, but we went anyways cuz we wouldnt have another chance to go, LOL.
Anyways, even as a kid i knew it wasnt quite up to standards. First of all, there was hardly anyone there that wasnt from new york city, paterson, newark, irvington, or whatever ghetto around the area you choose. so NO ONE COULD FUCKING SWIM, lol. they would just hop on the bus up here and jump in the wave pool and flap they arms like I CANT SWIIIIIM!!! The Wave Pool was also known as The Grave Pool, 2 people actually died in it. but people kept swimming in it anyways. it wasnt registered as a "ride" either, just as a "pool" so the only regulations the state had on it was that the water had to be clean and there was lifeguards. no other safety precautions for a 12 foot deep, 250-foot wide pool creating 3-foot waves that held 500-1,000 people AT A TIME.
Beer and alcohol were allowed and sold in the park, so there was plenty of drunk people falling off the rides. Nobody really gave a shit. There was at least 4 or 5 deaths that i know of but Action Park got in trouble for not reporting accidents so there could be more.
I wont talk about shit too much, because there is a FUNNY-ASS article in Weird New Jersey about it that says shit much better than i could, the shit had me cracking the fuck up because i remember it, and its SO TRUE, but anyone can appreciate it and be thankful you had NICE waterparks as a kid.
There was several people who contributed to the article so youll see a couple different accounts of the same rides. its fuckin hilarious. If you dont wanna read the whole thing, just post what you remember about this place, it really was one for the books. aint nothing like that anymore.
"Revisiting Traction Park"
Most kids growing up know at least one person who died in a car accident. but if you grew up where iI did, you know of at least one person who was seriously injured at Action Park.
There is a quaint little ski resort in northern NJ called Mountain Creek. When I was growing up, it was known as Vernon Valley/Great Gorge. Every winter our parents would take us to this "luxurious" ski resort for hours of fun on a small new jersey mountain covered with man made snow. And, every spring, the snow would melt and vernon valley would reveal its wondrous summer alias, Action Park.
Action park was THE water park of northern new jersey. It was also a haven for injury, death, and blood - not because of some haunted power, but because it was built by idiots with no regard for safety. Now, we all had water parks growing up, wild water kingdom at dorney park, or wet n wild, or six flag's sister water parks. They were gleaming summer magical lands, with wave pools, new cement walkways, gift shops, and a lingering smell of chlorine.
Now, imagine, if you will, one of those parks. Then, imagine that it was blown up by a small explosion leaving behind nothing but dirt, some poison ivy, and several broken parts of water slides. Throw in a "staff" of 16 year old stoners, a few water slides with names like "Kamikaze", and a mass of unknowing patrons who think that surely SOME safety board must have approved this place, and theres your Action Park.
When you entered action park, there were three things that immediately got your attention.
The first was the Alpine Slide, one of the only non-water rides in the park. You'd get on a low plastic seat with wheels and a bar for "steering." Then they'd put you on a long, cracked downhill race track and send you on your way. No helmets. No brakes, none that worked anyway. No warnings about the fact that a misplaced hand could result in a chopped off finger. No stopping the crazy kid behind you from smacking into the back of your head. What fun! They actually had the audacity to have a "slow" lane and a "fast" lane. They should have been called the "injured" lane and 'dead' lane.
The second thing to catch your eye was the abandoned slide. At one point, some ingenious water park designer (who I'm sure went to some prestigious university to study this art) decided that it would be a GREAT idea to make a water slide that resembled a toy race car track. So, action park built an enclosed water slide (like a tube) that followed all sorts of twists and turns, and then, just for fun, did a complete loop...like a ROLLER COASTER loop. Upside down!
Let me remind you that the riders of this would not be in a car, not on a train, not on anything but water, water that would, with the help of gravity and magic, supposedly propel them through a narrow tube that loops completely upside down. Needless to say, it wasn't long before some woman got caught in the top of the loop. The ride was closed, and just as a morbid reminder, the loop was left intact and on display for all to see.
There was however, a physics defying ride that the park chose to keep open, one that I proudly experienced firsthand. It was a cluster of four or five short, fast water slides that ended by shooting you out into a lake. Various kids would fly out at various times, landing on each other or on some misplaced sharp rock. One of these vigorous "shoots" was particularly intriguing, as it would suck you in and them immediately make an abrupt 90 degree turn. Not a 45 degree turn. Not even a nice, slow, smooth, curvy 90 degree turn. No. It would literally slam you into a wall and then project your young, gnarled body into a gooey pond of crying kids and water snakes. It was awesome.
Finally, the third thing was the ubiquitous "first aid cart." Kind of like a golf cart, piloted by two zitty teens wearing oversized EMT t-shirts, the cart would inevitably be seen looping throught the trails, grass, and little forests that surrounded the park. But when you saw it, you wouldn't see a kid with a scraped knee. You'd see a kid holding a blood-soaked towel on a huge head wound. You'd see a gash the size of a Big Gulp on someones leg. Blood, blood, blood. All I remember was blood. All for under 25 bucks a person.
We didnt have much in that area. It was very rural, a pretty part of new jersey really. And the area really didnt have the money to build a nice, safe water park. But why let that stop them? Wasnt it all for the children?
............................................................
The Alpine Slide was responsible for "more accidents, the majority of the lawsuits, and 40 percent of the citations against the park" according the the local newspaper. The Alpine Slide concept was simple enough: you sat on a sled and descended down concrete tracks using a hand brake to control your speed, either slowly, or at a speed described by a park employee as "death awaits."
If you were lucky, your injury would consist of some lost skin, but lose control of your cart on the Alpine Slide and it would simply crash through the hay bale barriers, your body subject to the laws of gravity and hillside rocks. At least 14 fractures and 26 head injuries from the slide were reported between 1984 and 1985. The slide was also responsible for the death of a 19 year old park employee in 1980.
The Kayak Ride, which allowed people to paddle tiny boats through whitewater, was never very successful because it was short and the kayaks would get stuck. It was particularly unlucky for one 27 year old man from Long Island during the summer of 1982. He fell or got out of his kayak, and in the process of trying to get it back, he stepped near an exposed wire that was under water. He was taken to a nearby hospital in New York State, where he was pronounced dead. Two of his family members were also electrocuted but lived.
There was another ride called Roaring Rapids, where several people could ride a "whitewater" raft. Roaring Rapids, according to Action Park's accident reports of 1984, caused injuries such as "fractured femurs, collar bones and noses, and disloacted shoulders and knees."
There were also the "Super Speedboats", gas powered speedboats that could go up to 35-40 MPH but were treated like bumper boats by the park employees. They were also set up in a swamp, in the middle of which was a small, rocky island populated by an uneasy alliance of watersnakes and lifeguards.
One day, two park attendees were driving their boats into each other when they crashed. One of the boats flipped over, and the driver was strapped in and stuck underneath the water. The lifeguard had to dive into the swamp, where he reported he was followed by all the snakes that had been keeping him company that day. He flipped the boat over and promptly ripped the wristband off the soggy driver, who may have been too drunk or high on crack to even realize what had just happened to him.
You may have noticed a certain youthful quality about the employees at Action Park. Maybe a certain resemblance to the cast of Lord of the Flies. You would be right.
It was hard to find an employee over 30 in the park. It was truly a teen-run show, and it manifested itself in many ways, from ride attendants willlfully ripping off the wristbands of patrons who misbehaved, to the staff knowing all the places where one coudl get stoned/drunk and hide from supervisors. Action Park got in trouble for letting underage employees run rides too, so chances are, your personal safety may at one point have been in the hands of a 14 year old tripping on acid.
In 1985, the previous year's reported accidents were over 110, including 46 head injuries and 10 fractures. And it is important to stress 'reported' because the park got in a lot of trouble with the state for not reporting accidents.
..................................................
In all my years growing up in new jersey, I only went to Action Park once. My parents opted for the farther away, but definately safer, six flags great adventure for our amusement park needs.
Keep in mind, my parents knew all the stories about great adventure. The confirmed deaths in the haunted house fire. The alleged ability the Lightning Loops had to snap necks in its backwards mode. And the grisly statewide legend about the girl who got her scalp torn off when her hair was caught in the gears of the Free Fall. Yes, my parents knew, and believed, all these things about great adventure, and still, they chose it over Action Park in terms of safety.
Upon entering the park, we saw a waterslide, an enclosed green tube, that went in a full loop de loop. Even as a 12 year old, I understood how physics would not allow anyone to come out of that tube with anything but mangled, broken limbs.
There was also a cliff jumping attraction at Action Park. I remember this because divers would jump into a pool that was used by anyone, not just those who had previously cliff-dived. So, many people thought that they were just going swimming, and had no idea that human bodies would be flying at them from 30 feet high in the sky. There was exactly ONE lifeguard in this situation, who was occupied 100% of the time tending to those who smashed into each other during these high-dive collisions.
But my most personally terrifying experience was on a slide called the "Cannonball."
When I went on this slide, I was at the top of a hill. It seemed normal. There was no warning that halfway down the ride, I would be shot into a pitch black tube. This was incredibly daunting.
It became even worse when the tube opened back up only when it emerged sticking out of the face of a cliff. The slide sent unsuspecting riders shooting out of a cliff face some two stories about the water with abosultely no warning. It was just high enough that you had time to think and panic about your situation. Rider after rider, myself included, would scream in terror before hitting the surface of the slimy green water with a sickening slap.
After this, the victims of the ride would gather at the waters edge to watch others suffer the same fate. It was like all the victims of a car wreck gathering at dead mans curve to watch the next car smash into the median.
Action Park was a true rite or passage for any new jersey kid of my generation. When I get to talking about it with other jerseyans, we share stories as if we are veterans who served in combat together. I suspect that many of us may have come closest to death on some of those rides up in vernon valley. I consider it a true shame that future generations will never know the terror of proving their true grit at new jerseys most dangerous water park.
the end.
.............................................
Some shit aint it?
I remember the cannonball slide, it scared the shit out of me as a kid, and its completely true, you had no idea that you were gonna get shot outta a waterslide fuckin 15 feet in the air into a pool. I was like 7. When I finally landed and recovered from that shock I was crying, and I asked the lifegard to help me find my dad cuz he had went on one of the other 5 slides and im this little ass kid in this huge pool of peopel shooting out of waterslides and none of them is my dad. He just told me to get out of the pool and get outta the way and ignored me. LOL.
The alpine slide was great too. basicall they needed some way to use the ski slopes in the summer, so they made kinda a luge track, out of cement, that you got on these shitty little plastic carts and rode all the way DOWN THE SKI SLOPE. the brakes didnt work. there was like 50 other people all FLYING down the thing at the same time so you HAD to go fast so you didnt get rammed in the back by the person behind you. i was scared shitless of that one too. me and my dad fell off at the end but didnt really get hurt.
Anyways, Its Mountain Creek now, a family friendly, rich-people-oriented water park and ski resort, all snooty, tryina be the next Aspen Colorado, but i will always remember when it was lil old ghetto-ass Action Park.
I know there gotta be someone who remembers, if not going to the park, at least the commercials for this shit. It was the most ghetto-ass, dangerous, injury-creating amusement park that the east coast has ever known, i swear.
I went once when i was a little kid. i always wanted to go but we couldn't afford it. But somehow we got 2 tickets, i think someone at my dads work got tickets but couldnt use them. The day the tickets were for, it was raining, but we went anyways cuz we wouldnt have another chance to go, LOL.
Anyways, even as a kid i knew it wasnt quite up to standards. First of all, there was hardly anyone there that wasnt from new york city, paterson, newark, irvington, or whatever ghetto around the area you choose. so NO ONE COULD FUCKING SWIM, lol. they would just hop on the bus up here and jump in the wave pool and flap they arms like I CANT SWIIIIIM!!! The Wave Pool was also known as The Grave Pool, 2 people actually died in it. but people kept swimming in it anyways. it wasnt registered as a "ride" either, just as a "pool" so the only regulations the state had on it was that the water had to be clean and there was lifeguards. no other safety precautions for a 12 foot deep, 250-foot wide pool creating 3-foot waves that held 500-1,000 people AT A TIME.
Beer and alcohol were allowed and sold in the park, so there was plenty of drunk people falling off the rides. Nobody really gave a shit. There was at least 4 or 5 deaths that i know of but Action Park got in trouble for not reporting accidents so there could be more.
I wont talk about shit too much, because there is a FUNNY-ASS article in Weird New Jersey about it that says shit much better than i could, the shit had me cracking the fuck up because i remember it, and its SO TRUE, but anyone can appreciate it and be thankful you had NICE waterparks as a kid.
There was several people who contributed to the article so youll see a couple different accounts of the same rides. its fuckin hilarious. If you dont wanna read the whole thing, just post what you remember about this place, it really was one for the books. aint nothing like that anymore.
"Revisiting Traction Park"
Most kids growing up know at least one person who died in a car accident. but if you grew up where iI did, you know of at least one person who was seriously injured at Action Park.
There is a quaint little ski resort in northern NJ called Mountain Creek. When I was growing up, it was known as Vernon Valley/Great Gorge. Every winter our parents would take us to this "luxurious" ski resort for hours of fun on a small new jersey mountain covered with man made snow. And, every spring, the snow would melt and vernon valley would reveal its wondrous summer alias, Action Park.
Action park was THE water park of northern new jersey. It was also a haven for injury, death, and blood - not because of some haunted power, but because it was built by idiots with no regard for safety. Now, we all had water parks growing up, wild water kingdom at dorney park, or wet n wild, or six flag's sister water parks. They were gleaming summer magical lands, with wave pools, new cement walkways, gift shops, and a lingering smell of chlorine.
Now, imagine, if you will, one of those parks. Then, imagine that it was blown up by a small explosion leaving behind nothing but dirt, some poison ivy, and several broken parts of water slides. Throw in a "staff" of 16 year old stoners, a few water slides with names like "Kamikaze", and a mass of unknowing patrons who think that surely SOME safety board must have approved this place, and theres your Action Park.
When you entered action park, there were three things that immediately got your attention.
The first was the Alpine Slide, one of the only non-water rides in the park. You'd get on a low plastic seat with wheels and a bar for "steering." Then they'd put you on a long, cracked downhill race track and send you on your way. No helmets. No brakes, none that worked anyway. No warnings about the fact that a misplaced hand could result in a chopped off finger. No stopping the crazy kid behind you from smacking into the back of your head. What fun! They actually had the audacity to have a "slow" lane and a "fast" lane. They should have been called the "injured" lane and 'dead' lane.
The second thing to catch your eye was the abandoned slide. At one point, some ingenious water park designer (who I'm sure went to some prestigious university to study this art) decided that it would be a GREAT idea to make a water slide that resembled a toy race car track. So, action park built an enclosed water slide (like a tube) that followed all sorts of twists and turns, and then, just for fun, did a complete loop...like a ROLLER COASTER loop. Upside down!
Let me remind you that the riders of this would not be in a car, not on a train, not on anything but water, water that would, with the help of gravity and magic, supposedly propel them through a narrow tube that loops completely upside down. Needless to say, it wasn't long before some woman got caught in the top of the loop. The ride was closed, and just as a morbid reminder, the loop was left intact and on display for all to see.
There was however, a physics defying ride that the park chose to keep open, one that I proudly experienced firsthand. It was a cluster of four or five short, fast water slides that ended by shooting you out into a lake. Various kids would fly out at various times, landing on each other or on some misplaced sharp rock. One of these vigorous "shoots" was particularly intriguing, as it would suck you in and them immediately make an abrupt 90 degree turn. Not a 45 degree turn. Not even a nice, slow, smooth, curvy 90 degree turn. No. It would literally slam you into a wall and then project your young, gnarled body into a gooey pond of crying kids and water snakes. It was awesome.
Finally, the third thing was the ubiquitous "first aid cart." Kind of like a golf cart, piloted by two zitty teens wearing oversized EMT t-shirts, the cart would inevitably be seen looping throught the trails, grass, and little forests that surrounded the park. But when you saw it, you wouldn't see a kid with a scraped knee. You'd see a kid holding a blood-soaked towel on a huge head wound. You'd see a gash the size of a Big Gulp on someones leg. Blood, blood, blood. All I remember was blood. All for under 25 bucks a person.
We didnt have much in that area. It was very rural, a pretty part of new jersey really. And the area really didnt have the money to build a nice, safe water park. But why let that stop them? Wasnt it all for the children?
............................................................
The Alpine Slide was responsible for "more accidents, the majority of the lawsuits, and 40 percent of the citations against the park" according the the local newspaper. The Alpine Slide concept was simple enough: you sat on a sled and descended down concrete tracks using a hand brake to control your speed, either slowly, or at a speed described by a park employee as "death awaits."
If you were lucky, your injury would consist of some lost skin, but lose control of your cart on the Alpine Slide and it would simply crash through the hay bale barriers, your body subject to the laws of gravity and hillside rocks. At least 14 fractures and 26 head injuries from the slide were reported between 1984 and 1985. The slide was also responsible for the death of a 19 year old park employee in 1980.
The Kayak Ride, which allowed people to paddle tiny boats through whitewater, was never very successful because it was short and the kayaks would get stuck. It was particularly unlucky for one 27 year old man from Long Island during the summer of 1982. He fell or got out of his kayak, and in the process of trying to get it back, he stepped near an exposed wire that was under water. He was taken to a nearby hospital in New York State, where he was pronounced dead. Two of his family members were also electrocuted but lived.
There was another ride called Roaring Rapids, where several people could ride a "whitewater" raft. Roaring Rapids, according to Action Park's accident reports of 1984, caused injuries such as "fractured femurs, collar bones and noses, and disloacted shoulders and knees."
There were also the "Super Speedboats", gas powered speedboats that could go up to 35-40 MPH but were treated like bumper boats by the park employees. They were also set up in a swamp, in the middle of which was a small, rocky island populated by an uneasy alliance of watersnakes and lifeguards.
One day, two park attendees were driving their boats into each other when they crashed. One of the boats flipped over, and the driver was strapped in and stuck underneath the water. The lifeguard had to dive into the swamp, where he reported he was followed by all the snakes that had been keeping him company that day. He flipped the boat over and promptly ripped the wristband off the soggy driver, who may have been too drunk or high on crack to even realize what had just happened to him.
You may have noticed a certain youthful quality about the employees at Action Park. Maybe a certain resemblance to the cast of Lord of the Flies. You would be right.
It was hard to find an employee over 30 in the park. It was truly a teen-run show, and it manifested itself in many ways, from ride attendants willlfully ripping off the wristbands of patrons who misbehaved, to the staff knowing all the places where one coudl get stoned/drunk and hide from supervisors. Action Park got in trouble for letting underage employees run rides too, so chances are, your personal safety may at one point have been in the hands of a 14 year old tripping on acid.
In 1985, the previous year's reported accidents were over 110, including 46 head injuries and 10 fractures. And it is important to stress 'reported' because the park got in a lot of trouble with the state for not reporting accidents.
..................................................
In all my years growing up in new jersey, I only went to Action Park once. My parents opted for the farther away, but definately safer, six flags great adventure for our amusement park needs.
Keep in mind, my parents knew all the stories about great adventure. The confirmed deaths in the haunted house fire. The alleged ability the Lightning Loops had to snap necks in its backwards mode. And the grisly statewide legend about the girl who got her scalp torn off when her hair was caught in the gears of the Free Fall. Yes, my parents knew, and believed, all these things about great adventure, and still, they chose it over Action Park in terms of safety.
Upon entering the park, we saw a waterslide, an enclosed green tube, that went in a full loop de loop. Even as a 12 year old, I understood how physics would not allow anyone to come out of that tube with anything but mangled, broken limbs.
There was also a cliff jumping attraction at Action Park. I remember this because divers would jump into a pool that was used by anyone, not just those who had previously cliff-dived. So, many people thought that they were just going swimming, and had no idea that human bodies would be flying at them from 30 feet high in the sky. There was exactly ONE lifeguard in this situation, who was occupied 100% of the time tending to those who smashed into each other during these high-dive collisions.
But my most personally terrifying experience was on a slide called the "Cannonball."
When I went on this slide, I was at the top of a hill. It seemed normal. There was no warning that halfway down the ride, I would be shot into a pitch black tube. This was incredibly daunting.
It became even worse when the tube opened back up only when it emerged sticking out of the face of a cliff. The slide sent unsuspecting riders shooting out of a cliff face some two stories about the water with abosultely no warning. It was just high enough that you had time to think and panic about your situation. Rider after rider, myself included, would scream in terror before hitting the surface of the slimy green water with a sickening slap.
After this, the victims of the ride would gather at the waters edge to watch others suffer the same fate. It was like all the victims of a car wreck gathering at dead mans curve to watch the next car smash into the median.
Action Park was a true rite or passage for any new jersey kid of my generation. When I get to talking about it with other jerseyans, we share stories as if we are veterans who served in combat together. I suspect that many of us may have come closest to death on some of those rides up in vernon valley. I consider it a true shame that future generations will never know the terror of proving their true grit at new jerseys most dangerous water park.
the end.
.............................................
Some shit aint it?
I remember the cannonball slide, it scared the shit out of me as a kid, and its completely true, you had no idea that you were gonna get shot outta a waterslide fuckin 15 feet in the air into a pool. I was like 7. When I finally landed and recovered from that shock I was crying, and I asked the lifegard to help me find my dad cuz he had went on one of the other 5 slides and im this little ass kid in this huge pool of peopel shooting out of waterslides and none of them is my dad. He just told me to get out of the pool and get outta the way and ignored me. LOL.
The alpine slide was great too. basicall they needed some way to use the ski slopes in the summer, so they made kinda a luge track, out of cement, that you got on these shitty little plastic carts and rode all the way DOWN THE SKI SLOPE. the brakes didnt work. there was like 50 other people all FLYING down the thing at the same time so you HAD to go fast so you didnt get rammed in the back by the person behind you. i was scared shitless of that one too. me and my dad fell off at the end but didnt really get hurt.
Anyways, Its Mountain Creek now, a family friendly, rich-people-oriented water park and ski resort, all snooty, tryina be the next Aspen Colorado, but i will always remember when it was lil old ghetto-ass Action Park.
