History Ride / ActionPark

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: The pool was nicknamed the "Grave Pool" by lifeguards due to how many people they pulled out, as well as the fact that three people drowned there. Up to 30 people could require rescue in a single weekend, and there were always a dozen lifeguards on watch at any one time. Since most of the park's visitors were from the New York and New Jersey areas, they were used to going to beaches and didn't account for the lack of buoyancy they'd have in fresh water. According to ''Class Action Park'', the deep end of the pool was known as the "Death Zone" among employees, and new lifeguards were stationed there first.

[[caption-width-right:350:…where you’re the center of the action!]]

-->-- '''The park's {{slogans}}'''

Action Park (originally operating from 1978 to 1996) was a ThemePark, located in the town of Vernon in northwestern UsefulNotes/NewJersey. It featured an alpine slide, a ski area (it was part of the Vernon Valley/Great Gorge Ski Resort, now known as Mountain Creek), and two themed areas: Motorworld (based around vehicles) and Waterworld (a water park).

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill, was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. As such, the park gained notoriety due to frequent injuries, and a number of fatalities, due to its poorly designed and maintained equipment and lax enforcement of safety rules.

Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles caused Action Park and the adjoining Vernon Valley/Great Gorge ski resort to shut down after the 1996 season. The complex was purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and rebranded as Mountain Creek Waterpark. The facility is still in operation, with increased safety features and regulatory compliance, having had its old rides either replaced or refurbished.

The [=YouTube=] series ''WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'' has an episode covering its history. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkW-ceNvck Watch it here.]] The youtuber Illuminaughtii also made an episode on it, which you can watch ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6vyRFpywo here]]''. It was also featured on an episode of ''Podcast/BehindTheBastards'', available [[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-libertarian-theme-park-of-your-dreams-nightmares/id1373812661?i=1000534090770 here]]. A full on documentary, ''Class Action Park'', debuted in August 2020 on Creator/HBOMax with Creator/JohnHodgman narrating.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Alcohol was sold at concession stands, with little enforcement of the drinking age, meaning that many rides that were dangerous enough to go on sober were operated by drunk employees and ridden by drunk guests. This was a major contribution to accidents.

** In the documentary ''Class Action Park'', one former attendee recounts what he saw in the Tarzan Swing ride, in which a person hung on to swing rope, and and dropped about ten feet onto the pool below. Since the pool was spring fed, a person could go into shock going from 90 degree (F) heat to water that was at least 30 degrees (F) colder, and the crowd waiting their turn, upon seeing someone struggling to swim, or being fished out by a lifeguard, would point at them and scream demeaning, and vulgar, insults at the unfortunate victim.
** A former lifeguard recounts the time that she was assigned to supervise the race boat pond, one boat crashed onto another, and the rider on top tried to keep going, not caring that he was crushing the rider on the bottom. The lifeguard yelled at him to stop, and hit the boat with a stick to get him to stop pressing on the accelerator. When the top rider got off, he walked away like nothing happened.
* ComedicSociopathy: Former employees have confessed to hanging out near a snack bar near the "Surf Hill" attraction, since they could see either lost bikini tops, grievous injuries, or both.

* LowerClassLout: According to ''Class Action Park'', a great percentage of the attendees were people of blue collar background from New York City. Their lack of manners and decorum is why so many people got hurt trying to push themselves and the rides to their limits, and why the staff had to develop a routine to take care of a "[[PottyFailure Code Brown]]."
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The name "Action Park" was already something of a red flag itself, but the punning nicknames it gained (mostly from employees), such as "Traction Park," "Class-Action Park" and "Accident Park," really upped the ante. The "Grave Pool" nickname for the wave pool also wound up being brutally accurate.
* NoOSHACompliance: On of the more infamous RealLife examples. It wasn't that the park didn't ''try'' to advocate safety, but the owner's philosophy was that guests should feel in control of their experience and decide for themselves what they could handle. He even encouraged guests to be as rowdy as they wished.

-->It kinda makes me sad, I wonder if kids today have that feeling of "Man, let's go prove our backbone."

* PlayerVersusPlayer: The "Action Park Gladiator Challenge," based on ''Series/AmericanGladiators''.
* PrecisionFStrike: A [[FunWithAcronyms hidden]] case happened once the lifeguards decided to brand whoever they saved by writing on their wristbands "CFS," short for "can't fucking swim."
* {{Reconstruction}}: A literal example in the park's grand re-opening, which now goes by the motto, "All of the thrills, none of the spills." This is most evident in the successor to the Cannonball Loop, the Sky Caliber, which is designed so that a safe looping water slide would actually be plausible (though it was never built).
* RestrainingBolt: The Super Go Karts and LOLA Cars tracks had vehicles that ostensibly had a maximum speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) thanks to their governor devices. The staff knew that wedging tennis balls into the devices would disable them, allowing them to go up to 50 mph (80 km/h), and were willing to do so if a visitor desired.

** Employees were reportedly offered hundred-dollar bills to test the infamous looping waterslide. According to a former employee, "$100 [[INeedAFreakingDrink did not buy enough booze to drown out that memory.]]"
** Despite the countless injuries (both minor and serious), and even a few deaths, owner Gene Mulvihill never faced any serious legal repercussions. This was because Action Park brought a large influx of cash to the local economy in the summer, and his nearby ski resorts brought the cash in the winter. What finally brought him down was all the bad press and word of mouth; his investors started distancing themselves, and after his two other business chains in ski resorts dried up, he was forced to shut down the park in 1996.
* TankGoodness: The "Tank Ride," where riders shot at other tanks, stopping them in place for 15 seconds.
* TooFastToStop:
** A common problem with the Go Karts and LOLA Cars if their RestrainingBolt was removed.

Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, caused Action Park and the adjoining Vernon Valley/Great Gorge ski resort to shut down after the 1996 season. The complex was purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and rebranded as Mountain Creek Waterpark. The facility is still in operation, with increased safety features and regulatory compliance, having had its old rides either replaced or refurbished.

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: The pool was nicknamed the "Grave Pool" by lifeguards due to how many people they pulled out, as well as the fact that three people drowned there. Up to 30 people could require rescue in a single weekend, and there were always a dozen lifeguards on watch at any one time. Since most of the park's visitors were from the New York and New Jersey areas, they were used to going to beaches and didn't account for the lack of buoyancy they'd have in fresh water.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The name "Action Park" was already something of a red flag itself, but the punning nicknames it gained (mostly from employees), such as "Traction Park," "Class-Action Park" and "Accident Park," really upped the ante. The "Grave Pool," also wound up being brutally accurate.

Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, caused Action Park and the adjoining Vernon Valley/Great Gorge ski resort to shut down after the 1996 season. The complex was purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark. The facility operates under this brand today with increased safety features and regulatory compliance, having had its old rides either replaced or refurbished.

* CompetenceZone: An inadequate training regime this led to a lot of the accidents, as employees were not qualified to properly operate the attractions..

* LowerClassLout: According to ''Class Action Park'', a great percentage of the attendees were people of blue collar background from New York City who couldn't afford to take exotic vacations in the Caribbean, so traveling to rural New Jersey was the closet thing they could do that resembled a long distance destination. Their lack of manners and decorum is why so many people got hurt trying to push themselves and the rides to their limits, and why the staff had to develop a routine to take care of a "[[PottyFailure Code Brown]]."

%% * NoOSHACompliance: It wasn't that the park didn't ''try'' to advocate safety, but were ''extremely'' lax about it. Gene himself even encouraging guests to be as rowdy as they wished.

** Despite the countless injuries (both minor and serious), and even a few deaths, owner Gene Mulvehill, never faced any serious legal repercussions. This was because Action Park brought a large influx of cash to the local economy in the summer, and his nearby ski resorts brought the cash in the winter. This ''did'' eventually catch up to Gene, as bad press and word of mouth from the park soon caught on to the point that his investors started distancing themselves from him. After his two other business chains in ski resorts dried up, he was forced to shut down the park in 1996.

** The sleds in the Alpine Slide, as they only had two speeds: frustratingly slow and overly fast. One guest who lost control, flew off the track, and brained his head on some rocks fell into a coma and died later.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Gene Mulvihill comes off as such at times in ''Class Action Park''; proposing ideas such as an employee threatening ticket dodgers with a cattleprod, and complaining that the Colorado River Rapids ride didn't need a life guard because the ''real'' Colorado rapids don't have one.

* ParentalHypocrisy: In the Creator/{{HBO}} documentary, one former employer talks through NostalgiaFilter about how before cell phones, [[FreeRangeChildren kids would go off on an adventure without parental supervision]]. The former employee recounts how, before he got a job at there, he and his brother would have breakfast and then ride their bikes to Action Park, have fun, and be back home for dinner, with their parents being none the wiser. He then says that if he ever found out one of ''his'' kids ever did something like that, he "would beat their asses."

* ObviousBeta: Action Park was a major pioneer of many water rides. This meant that these rides never previous existed, and that they were the ones who had to discover that designs such as a looping water slide, for example, is dangerous.

** Employees were reportedly offered hundred-dollar bills to test the infamous looping waterslide. According to a former employee, "$100 [[DrowningMySorrows did not buy enough booze to drown out that memory.]]"

* Cloudcookoolander: Gene Mulvihill comes off as such at times in ''Class Action Park''; proposing ideas such as an employee threatening ticket dodgers with a cattleprod, and complaining that the Colorado River Rapids ride didn't need a life guard because the ''real'' Colorado rapids don't have one.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: The goal of Tank Ride was to target these sensors on their back, which would freeze the vehicle for a set amount of time when triggered.

-->-- '''The park's MetaphoricallyTrue {{slogans}}'''

Action Park (running from 1978 to 1996) was an especially infamous {{Theme Park|s}}, located in the town of Vernon in northwestern UsefulNotes/NewJersey. On paper, it seemed like a normal theme park, with an alpine slide, a ski area (it was part of the Vernon Valley/Great Gorge Ski Resort, now known as Mountain Creek), and two themed areas: Motorworld (based around vehicles) and Waterworld (a water park). Sounds good, right?

Well, much as in the case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Dugan Eva Dugan,]] the execution is where things [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]].

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill, was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, due to many of the refreshment stands serving alcohol, or the presence of a microbrewery near [[DrunkDriver Motorworld]][[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. Gene also employed all of his six children to work in the park at various points; the most prominent ones being his son, Andy, who essentially worked as Gene's "lieutenant" in the workplace and oversaw and maintained the park's daily operation[[note]]As one biography put it: "The park was in Andy's blood. It also got plenty of Andy's."[[/note]], and his daughter, Julie, who worked as the park's head of public relations. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

We could say more, but [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park the Wikipedia article]] elaborates on it in much more depth, as well as [[http://weirdnj.com/stories/action-park/ this article]] from ''Weird NJ'', the documentary ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-xgS7K3Xc The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever]]'', and [[http://thecenteroftheaction.blogspot.com/ this blog]] run by former employees. Just know that they once attempted to build a ''[[https://www.cracked.com/article_28081_the-terrifying-saga-action-parks-loop-de-loop-slide.html looping water slide]]'', and that it was actually open to the public for a brief period in spite of some of the test dummies sent down it being [[AnArmAndALeg dismembered and decapitated]].

In [[http://www.nj.com/sussex-county/index.ssf/2014/04/a_blast_from_the_past_action_park_is_back_for_the_summer.html April 2014, Mountain Creek's owners announced]] that they were officially opening for the summer season as Action Park, complete with a new looping slide. Fortunately, the SuddenNameChange was undone by management two years later, [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt before it could do any lasting damage]] to the park's reputation or the [[AnatomyAgony bodily integrity]] of the guests.

Today the park is now named Mountain Creek Waterpark and is far safer than it was as Action Park.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Alcohol was sold at concession stands, with little enforcement of the drinking age, meaning that many rides that were dangerous enough to go on sober were operated by drunk guests and employees. This was a major contribution to accidents.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: The tanks in the Tank Ride had these on their back.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The idea of a looping water slide sounded awesome on paper. Action Park heavily promoted the loop in its commercials as a unique attraction of the park. However, many guests got seriously injured by the ride. So many got stuck in the loop that they had to add an escape hatch. To paraphrase one employee, it was a ride "less to be enjoyed and more to be survived."

* CallousnessTowardsEmergency: In the documentary ''Class Action Park'', one former attendee recounts what he saw in the Tarzan Swing ride, in which a person hung on to swing rope, and and dropped about ten feet onto the pool below. Since the pool was spring fed, a person could go into shock going from 90 degree (F) heat to water that was at least 30 degrees (F) colder, and the crowd waiting their turn, upon seeing someone struggling to swim, or being fished out by a lifeguard, would point at them and scream demeaning, and vulgar, insults at the unfortunate victim.
** A former lifeguard recounts the time that she was sentenced to supervise the race boat pond (apparently that was least wanted position amongst the staff, and was seen as a punishment rather than just another assignment) one boat crashed onto another, and the rider on top tried to keep going, not caring that he was crushing the rider on the bottom, and the lifeguard had to yell at him, and hit the boat with a stick to get him to stop pressing on the accelerator and get him out of the boat. When the top rider got off, he walked away like nothing happened.
* ComedicSociopathy: Former employees have confessed to hanging out near a snack bar near the "Surf Hill" attraction, since they could see either lost bikini tops, grievous injuries, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both]].
* CompetenceZone: Teenagers ran the park about as well as you can expect; this led to a lot of the accidents.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Not so much evil as criminally negligent, but apparently there was [[https://news.avclub.com/read-this-inside-the-ride-deemed-too-dangerous-even-1844247116/ at least one ride that was deemed too dangerous to open much less operate]].
* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: The pool was nicknamed the "Grave Pool" by lifeguards due to how many people they pulled out, as well as the fact that three people ''drowned there''. Up to 30 people could require rescue in a single weekend, and there were always a dozen lifeguards on watch at any one time. Since most of the park's visitors were from the New York and New Jersey areas, they were used to going to beaches and didn't account for the lack of buoyancy they'd have in fresh water.
* GuideDangIt: A strange RealLife example -- the staff never mentioned that certain Waterworld areas had spring-fed pools, which meant the water was ''very'' cold. Unwary guests tended to get quite a jolt, especially when plunging in after standing in the hot sun, and for at least one person the shock was fatal.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The name "Action Park" was already something of a red flag itself, but the punning nicknames it gained (mostly from employees), such as "Traction Park," "Class-Action Park" and "Accident Park," really upped the ante. And then there's the "Grave Pool," which wound up being horribly, brutally accurate.
* NintendoHard: Probably one of the most twisted examples of this. Riders ''liked'' the park precisely because of the freedom it allowed them, and the injuries they sustained were largely their own fault. Many people fondly remember Action Park as a place to demonstrate one's mettle.
* NoOSHACompliance: One of the most famous RealLife cases of this trope. It wasn't that the park didn't ''try'' to advocate safety, but were ''extremely'' lax about it. Gene himself even encouraging guests to be as rowdy as they wished.
** The Diving Cliffs stick out, as there were two cliffs to dive off of, each a different height, but only ''one lifeguard'', and the pool the visitors dived into also contained people who ''weren't'' using the cliffs, who might not have known about them, so the lifeguard had to manage two different cliffs of potentially drunk guests who might not have been able to speak English all while making sure they didn't land on top of another guest.
* NostalgiaFilter: Many of the contributors to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-xgS7K3Xc The World's Most Dangerous Amusement Park]] remember the place fondly and think that, for all the mayhem that went on, the place was exciting in a way that later parks are not, and it actually [[MiseryBuildsCharacter taught young people something]] about being an independent person. Many people from New Jersey, the ones who didn't realize or think about how dangerous it was, often considered Action Park to be a rite of passage.

* ObviousBeta:
** While this fact has been largely forgotten today thanks to what the park is most famous for, Action Park was a major pioneer of many water rides. Of course, this meant that many rides were untested, and that they were the ones who had to work out the fact that, say, a looping water slide is dangerous.
** The skateboard park was poorly designed, with bowls that often didn't meet the edges smoothly, and caused many injuries. Only one season after its debut, it was filled up and [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain the staff pretended it never existed]].

* RestrainingBolt: The Super Go Karts and LOLA Cars tracks had vehicles that ostensibly had a maximum speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) thanks to their governor devices. [[SubvertedTrope However]], the staff knew that wedging tennis balls into the devices would disable them, allowing them to go up to 50 mph (80 km/h), and were willing to do so if a visitor desired. Unsurprisingly, many head-on collisions resulted. The employees were also known to take the karts out and race them on Route 94 after-hours, especially after [[DrunkDriver a microbrewery opened up nearby]].

** According to ''Class Action Park'', during the park's heyday in the [[TheEighties 1980s]], despite the countless unreported minor injuries (scrapes, bumps, bruises, etc.), dozens of serious injuries (defined only as a visitor being carried out in an ambulance), and even a few deaths, Gene Mulvehill, who owned Action Park, didn't face serious legal repercussion, with the worst thing being a rare visit from the U.S. Marshals coming to collect an equally rare legal settlement that Mulvehill refused to pay right after the court proceedings. The reason for such a lax enforcement by the authorities is because Action Park brought a large influx of cash to the local economy in the summer, and his nearby ski resorts brought the cash in the winter. This ''did'' eventually catch up to Gene, as bad press and word of mouth from the park soon caught on to the point that his investors started distancing themselves from him. After his two other business chains in ski resorts dried up, he was forced to shut down the park in 1996.

* TooFastToStop: A common problem with the Go Karts and LOLA Cars, if their RestrainingBolt was removed. Also the sleds in the Alpine Slide, as they ended up having only two speeds: frustratingly slow and "[[OhCrap death awaits]]" (paraphrasing an employee). The latter ended up being [[LiteralMetaphor accurate]] when one such guest was riding the slide, lost control, flew off the track, and brained his head on some rocks. He fell into a coma and died sometime later.

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill, was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, due to many of the refreshment stands serving alcohol, or the presence of a microbrewery near [[DrunkDriver Motorworld]][[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. Gene also employed all of his six children to work in the park at various points; the most prominent ones being his son, Andy, who essentially worked as Gene's "lieutenant" in the workplace and oversaw and maintained the park's daily operation[[note]]As one biography put it: "The park was in Andy’s blood. It also got plenty of Andy's."[[/note]], and his daughter, Julie, who worked as the park's head of public relations. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

* LowerClassLout: According to ''Class Action Park'', a great percentage of the attendees were people of blue collar background from New York City who couldn't afford to take exotic vacations in the Caribbean, so traveling to rural New Jersey was the closet thing they could do that resembled a long distance destination. Their lack of manners and decorum is why so many people got hurt trying to push themselves and the rides to their limits, and why the staff had to develop a routine to take care of a "[[PottyFailure Code Brown]]".
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The name "Action Park" was already something of a red flag itself, but the punning nicknames it gained (mostly from employees), such as "Traction Park", "Class-Action Park", and "Accident Park", really upped the ante. And then there's the "Grave Pool", which wound up being horribly, brutally accurate.

-->It kinda makes me sad, I wonder if kids today have that feeling of "Man, let's go prove our backbone".

* PlayerVersusPlayer: The "Action Park Gladiator Challenge", based on ''Series/AmericanGladiators''.
* PrecisionFStrike: A [[FunWithAcronyms hidden]] case happened once the lifeguards decided to brand whoever they saved by writing on their wristbands "CFS", short for "can't fucking swim".

* TankGoodness: The "Tank Ride", where riders shot at other tanks, stopping them in place for 15 seconds.

* WeDontSuckAnymore: The new, safer Action Park (while it still used the name) was often marketed as having "all of the thrills, and none of the spills".

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill, was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, due to many of the refreshment stands serving alcohol, or the presence of a microbrewery near [[DrunkDriver Motorworld]][[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. Gene also employed his all of his six children to work in the park at various points; the most prominent ones being his son, Andy, who essentially worked as Gene's "lieutenant" in the workplace and oversaw and maintained the park's daily operation[[note]]As one biography put it: "The park was in Andy’s blood. It also got plenty of Andy's."[[/note]], and his daughter, Julie, who worked as the park's head of public relations. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill, was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, due to many of the refreshment stands serving alcohol, or the presence of a microbrewery near [[DrunkDriver Motorworld]][[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, due to many of the refreshment stands serving alcohol, or the presence of a microbrewery near [[DrunkDriver Motorworld]][[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

The park's owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, due to many of the refreshment stands serving alcohol, or the presence of a microbrewery near [[DrunkDriver Motorworld]][[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

* EveryoneHasStandards: According to "Class Action Park", the owner, Eugene Mulvihill, was friends with UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, himself known for having some questionable ideas of his own during his career. Eugene invited Trump over to check the park out and Trump was utterly horrified at the state of it, leaving unimpressed.

* AlcoholInducedStupidity: Alcohol was sold at concession stands, with little enforcement of the drinking age, meaning that many rides that were dangerous enough to go on sober were operated by drunk guests and employees. This was a major contribution to accidents.

* NostalgiaFilter: Many of the contributors to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-xgS7K3Xc The World's Most Dangerous Amusement Park]] remember the place fondly and think that, for all the mayhem that went on, the place was exciting in a way that later parks are not, and it actually [[SchoolOfHardKnocks taught young people something]] about being an independent person. Many people from New Jersey, the ones who didn't realize or think about how dangerous it was, often considered Action Park to be a rite of passage.

* ComedicSociopathy: Former employees have confessed to hanging out near a snack bar near the "Surf Hill" attraction, since they could see either lost bra tops, grievous injuries, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both]].

The [=YouTube=] series ''WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'' has an episode covering its history. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkW-ceNvck Watch it here.]] The youtuber Illuminaughtii also made an episode on it, which you can watch ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6vyRFpywo here]]''. A full on documentary, ''Class Action Park'', debuted in August 2020 on Creator/HBOMax with Creator/JohnHodgman narrating.

* EveryoneHasStandards: According to "Class Action Park", the owner, Eugene Mulvihill, was friends with ''Creator/DonaldTrump'', himself known for having some questionable ideas of his own during his career. Eugene invited Trump over to check the park out and Trump was utterly horrified at the state of it, leaving unimpressed.

* MetaphoricallyTrue: The slogans "There's nothing in the world like Action Park [--nothing quite as dangerous, that is--]!" and "The Action never stops... at Action Park[--if you consider "constant risk of serious injury" and "the ambulance ride to the hospital" to be "action"--]!"

The park's owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]][[note]]Not helped by the fact that a fair number of the visitors were ''also'' drunk, or the presence of a microbrewery in the park[[/note]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

The park's owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill was a staunch libertarian, who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst, and vague suggestions at best. The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/action_park_logop_7757.png]]

We could say more, but [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park the Wikipedia article]] elaborates on it in much more depth, as well as [[http://weirdnj.com/stories/action-park/ this article]] from ''Weird NJ'', the documentary ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-xgS7K3Xc The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever]]'', and [[http://thecenteroftheaction.blogspot.com/ this blog]] run by former employees. Just know that they once attempted to build a ''[[https://www.cracked.com/article_28081_the-terrifying-saga-action-parks-loop-de-loop-slide.html looping water slide]]'', and that it was actually open to the public for a brief period.

Well, much as in the case of Eva Dugan, the execution is where things [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]].

The rides were poorly designed and poorly maintained, leaving people seriously injured or sometimes ''dead''. A total of six fatalities have been linked to the park. Most of the employees were undertrained, underage and [[TheAlcoholic under]] [[TheStoner the influence]]. At best, the employees studiously ignored what little safety rules were in place, at worst they would egg on visitors to violate them and [[PassThePopcorn sit back to watch the ensuing carnage]]. The park advertised on Spanish-language radio stations in New York, yet most of its employees couldn't speak a word of Spanish and all of the signs and such were solely in English. Though it was a popular summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles, not just at Action Park but also at the ski resort and within the management, caused Action Park and Vernon Valley/Great Gorge to shut down after the 1996 season. The whole complex was later purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and reopened as Mountain Creek. The former Action Park became Mountain Creek Waterpark, its old rides having been either torn down or heavily renovated (with much better protection for the riders, obviously).