One of my fixations from the past few years that I never seem to shake and remember about twice a year is the fateful legacy of Action Park. Action Park was located in Vernon Township, New Jersey, and was the focus of a 2020 documentary titled Class Action Park for HBO Max. Also nicknamed by attendees and horrified onlookers as “Accident park” or “Traction park,” the water and amusement park was known for cutting safety corners, insane rides that knocked teeth loose, gave people concussions, and led to the deaths of multiple people in the late 70s, 80s, and early to mid-90s.
Here is the infamous story of Action Park.
Action Park officially opened to the people in New Jersey in 1978 as a way to make extra money at a ski resort in the off-season. It was owned by Great American Recreation (GAR). It included three separate lands: The Alpine Center, Motorworld, and Waterworld. The park started with a large alpine slide and expanded quickly to include water rides and a go-kart track. Thrill seekers from all over the New York metro area flocked to Action Park to test out the poorly functioning and dangerous rides that became infamous for injuries. Some videos on YouTube detail the park in its entirety, including the ride mishaps and death, in a video by Defunctland, Penguinz0, and Illuminaughtii.
One of the rides that I immediately think of is the blue waterslide with one singular looping feature. Riders would slide down at high speeds and (hopefully) go through the upside-down tunneling loop before coming out at the bottom. Now, there are certainly slides that exist in the modern era that can do this safely. For example, my dad and I rode one of them at Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells back in 2021. The safety feature on these modern looping slides includes a door with a hatch midway through the ride in case your body is not propelled far enough into the slide. If this is the case and you start sliding backwards, you can let yourself out through the door. This didn’t happen to me or my dad, but we saw it happen to some people and they were completely fine. When Action Park opened this ride, they didn’t have anything like that.
The slide also became known for giving riders concussions, bruising, and cuts on their skin. Imagine sliding down with your back bare and coming out at the end with cuts and bruises that need to be patched up. Lucky for you, they had a medical station and a nearby hospital that helped people from Action Park nearly every day! Perhaps the most horrifying story from this ride was the investigation into what was cutting people up as they slid down and around. Apparently, riders’ teeth were getting knocked out and lodged themselves into the grooves of the slide, piercing through skin when people rode down.
Another issue was the poorly trained staff that included minors who were unable to properly help in case of an injury, ride malfunction, or other problem. Because alcohol was served at the park, guests were easily intoxicated, and some of the staff partook in drinking as well. State regulators didn’t do much to address this stream of issues and instead continued to pretty much ignore the violations. The park’s management resorted to illegal methods to fix their financial issues and the executives were eventually indicted.Though the park closed for good in 1996, it had been open for almost twenty years.
Obviously, the main reason you’re reading this is to hear about the injuries and unfortunate fatalities due to the poorly built and managed attractions.
the gladiator challenge
One attraction was a gladiator challenge where guests could compete against people employed by the park in jousting matches, as well as following an obstacle course. Unsurprisngly, the attraction caused real violence and one attendee who was upset with the rough nature of the jousting, because of how hard he had been hit with the pole, brought his friends back to the park as retribution. The employed gladiator called in his own reinforcements and a brawl broke out.
The alpine slide
The Alpine slide was much more brutal than this, however, as the chutes that the cart slid down were made and covered in fiberglass, concrete, and contained asbestos. The stick that controlled the sled only had a slow option and a fast option, two complete extremes. Because Action Park was known for water rides as well, riders went down the 2,700 ft slide in bathing suits much of the time, getting injured if they took a fall off the sled. The park’s first fatality came in 1980 because of this ride. A 19-year old boy who had been an employee of the ski lift at the resort at one point was thrown from the sled and hit his head on a rock. He was hospitalized in a coma before passing away not long after. The park’s management had previously been told to remove the rocks that were close to the slide but ignored this request. They also did not report this death because the boy had been employed by them previously, angering the distraught family who spoke in the HBO documentary.
The slide underwent numerous regulations following this fatal accident to help prevent accidents from occurring, though most of the injuries sustained at Action Park were because of the Alpine Slide even after the regulations. Numerous lawsuits were made over the years. In 1984 and 1985, a reported 14 fractures and 26 head injuries were caused.
The kayak experience and tarzan swing
The Kayak experience imitated the whitewater courses in real life using electric fans submerged underwater. Kayaks tipped over or got stuck often and riders had to get out. In 1982, a man was eletrocuted to death trying to get back into his kayak when his body touched the open wiring of the electric fan underwater. He went into cardiac arrest and the ride was closed permanently.
The Tarzan swing was an attraction in the park’s Waterworld where guests would wait in line to jump from a swing into a spring-fed pool from a high height. If you hung on too long, you would scrape up your feet on the concrete at the end. The water you jumped into was extremely freezing and shocked some visitors so much that they panicked in the water and were unable to swim, leading to frequent lifeguard rescues. One man died from the swing because of a heart attack due to the low temperature in 1984.
motorworld accidents
The land rides also had their fair share of issues. For example, when the company briefly opened a microbrewery nearby, former employees said they would break in to steal beer and then take the mini open-cockpit race cars out onto Route 94. Action park also had go-karts that employees knew how to change the speed control to go faster. As a result, people could go up to around 50-miles per hour and play bumper cars, resulting in injuries.
Finally, Battle Action Tanks was one of the most popular land rides where guests could enter tanks and fire tennis balls at sensors on the other tanks. There were also other cannons guests could operate on the outside of the ride that cost less money. When the tennis balls got stuck in the ride or a tank malfunctioned, these guests on land would pelt tennis balls at the employees. This happened several times a day. One guest even poured lighter fluid onto a ball and lit it on fire. While no harm came to a guest or employee, they were thrown out, making it hard to find willing employees to operate the ride.
Action Park had a water version of bumper cars, although that was not the way they were supposed to be used. Guests would ride them around crashing into other boats anyways, and a drunk rider even capsized the boat and needed to be rescued. The actual bumper boats ride was supposed to be a safe bumper boat ride, but instead was known for leaking gasoline. At least one rider required medical attention because of chemical burns. Taller guests could not properly fit inside the boats and hung their feet off of each side, which led to fractures when they collided with other boats.
the infamous cannonball loop
The cannonball loop was not open very long because of how dangerous it proved to be. This blue enclosed waterslide with a singular looping design remains the most infamous attraction years later. It was only open for a month in 1985 before being closed on state board orders. Riders recalled bloody noses, concussions and back injuries. Some riders found lacerations on their backs and the park discovered the reason to be teeth lodged in the interior walls that had been knocked out because of how brutal the ride was. The rumor about the ride testing before it opened was that test dummies sent down the slide came out at the other end decapitated and dismembered. Owner Gene Mulvihill’s own son was the first person to ride it, and wore a full suit of hockey protective gear. A hatch had to be installed for riders who could not get all the way through the ride. The cannonball loop opened occasionally, including a few days in 1995 and 1996, but closed soon after due to injuries.
Where is Action park now?
Action Park itself may have closed for good in the 90s, but a waterpark still exists on the same property. Some of the same rides are still in operation, with some safety changes. For example, the Colorado River Ride is one of these rides. Two people can tube down different winding paths while jets propel them forward. in 1998, a company purchased the property with intention of building its own water park. After a massive overhall, it opened to the public. In 2010, Mountain Creek ski resort and water park was sold to Gene Mulvihill, and in 2014 the name was changed back to Action Park. A year later, Mulvihill passed away and the name was again changed back to Mountain Creek in 2016.
If your goal is to visit the site of the infamous park, know that you won’t be able to ride these life-threatening rides that traumatized Generation X. But, you can at least ride some rides at Mountain Creek. You win some, you lose some.