new it improved and open once again
fantastic Anna Gilligan is there this
morning hello Anna I think you're seeing
some guys jump off the Tarzan jump here
at action Park it's been closed since
1996 they reopened it on June 14th I'm
here with the owner Andrew Marvell he's
also the son of the man who founded it
thanks for being here it's great to be
here thanks for coming out what a day we
have it's beautiful here at action Park
so I gotta ask you because action Park
got a bit of a reputation
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some people got injured
that was 30 years ago the world has
changed I mean when my dad started the
park
he missed the guy inventing the rides
and bringing inventors in now it's
highly regulated everything's engineered
I love action parks because it's so
beautiful
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the years 1976 Jean Mulvihill the head
of entertainment company great American
Recreation has added a new attraction to
Vernon New Jersey's Vernon Valley ski
resort two brand new Alpine slides were
installed to keep business up in the
offseason in Alpine Slide is a
one-person cart ride in which the rider
rides down a hill and a smooth track the
rider has a brake lever in between their
legs giving them complete control of
their speed
the attraction had become popular for
ski resorts in the late 70s and Vernon
Valley ski resorts Alpine Slide was
advertised as an attraction for all ages
claiming we've had grandfathers and
we've had kids of kindergarten age
coming down our runs alone I also have a
picture showing a mother controlling the
sled with an infant in her arms it's
that easy after the success of the slide
Mulvihill went forward with his plans to
expand the ski resort into a waterpark
during the offseason he added two water
slides and a racetrack and more slides a
softball field a tennis court and a
swimming pool were added shortly
thereafter the Vernon Valley summer park
was rebranded to action park a thrilling
amusement park where you control the
action more slides and rides were added
and they began their big marketing push
to draw audiences into their new water
park
I love action parks because it's so
beautiful coming to Broadway it's
wonderful raised like a pro right these
are the most amazing rides in the world
I love the park was revolutionary not
only was it one of the first water parks
of its kind in the United States but it
also marketed itself as the biggest it
was eventually home to 75 rise 40 of
which were water slides action Park was
split into three themed lands the first
was motor world consisted of three types
of attractions land water and air rides
on land was the popular battle action
tanks for an additional fee guests could
ride inside tanks equipped with tennis
ball cannons the goal was to shoot the
other tanks in the caged area on one of
their targets disabling their cannons
for 15 seconds those that chose to ride
the tanks were allotted five minutes to
do so and those that did not want to
ride could pay to use a stationary
cannon from the outside maintenance
employees attempting to fix broken down
tanks would be subject to fire from the
rowdy guests making the attraction a
nightmare to work at the other two
land-based motor world attractions were
the Lola cars and the super go-karts
both of which were kart race attractions
the super go-karts were driven on a
small loop the carts themselves were
designed to max out at 20 miles per hour
but the employees found that sticking a
tennis ball on the governor device
allowed the car to go as fast as
possible with a new maximum speed being
around 50 miles an hour
head-on collisions frequently set guests
to the hospital and the fumes from the
engines overwhelmed riders at times the
low-low cars were mini open cockpit race
cards driven on a longer track and they
cost an additional charge to ride their
maximum speed could also be tampered
with by park employees these were also
used after-hours by the workers
sometimes being taken off the track and
driven on the nearby highway there were
two water rides in motor world the super
speedboats were driven in a small circle
around an island in a pond a pond that
also had a large population of snakes in
it
the gifts would often attempt to bump
nearby boats as if they were on motor
world's other water attraction bumper
boats these were boats placed in a small
pool and we're designed to withstand
guests crashing into one another these
were known to leak gasoline which once
required a guest to be examined after
too much fuel leaked on
their skin the boats were also
incredibly small and riders with long
legs had to position their feet off the
side of the boat to fit this led to
injuries and bone fractures after
collisions finally moto world had two
airbase attractions one was space shot
which was a typical drop tower ride and
was one of the safest rides at the park
given it was only open for action park's
last operating year the second air ride
was another upcharge attraction
slingshot which was also fairly safe
this ride was a common amusement park
and carnival ride in which guests were
shot up on to bungee cords and flipped
upside down as they flew through the air
there's no doubt that motor world had
its dangerous attractions but this is
just the beginning of what action park
has in store another section of the park
was many non water-based attractions
were located in their own section of the
park sometimes labeled the Alpine Center
these included the after mentioned
Alpine slides as well as a bungee jump
titled the Snapple snap up
whippersnapper ride originally having to
jump stations and then later for guests
could jump off the tower for an
additional fee a skatepark also at a
short run in action park it was poorly
designed as it was surrounded by
concrete and had uneven edges which led
to many injuries during its existence
interestingly action park also had an
attraction entitled the action park
gladiator challenge partially based off
of the popular American Gladiators TV
show
this included obstacle courses and
jousting matches against the action park
gladiators finally action park had its
own monorail called the trans mobile
this went to the ski lodge the Alpine
Centre and to motor world so far action
park has proved to be dangerous but
where are the absolutely terrifying
rides where the rides that are so insane
that their mere existence is
unbelievable
moreover where are the water slides
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this section put the action in action
park water world had it all it was home
to the tidal wave pool and 100 feet by
200 feet pool that could hold anywhere
between 500 and 1000 people
the pools 4 was slanted and the further
her guests went in at the deeper at God
waves went 20 minutes on 10 minutes off
and they could reach a height of over 3
feet this was challenging for swimmers
of all skill levels as the pool is hard
to read and the fresh water was more
difficult to swim in than salt water a
dozen lifeguards were on duty at the
pool and they would have to save around
30 people on a busy day the Tarzan swing
was a heavily advertised attraction and
which guests would swing on a 20-foot
cable over a pool this springfed pool
was so cool that lifeguards would have
to rescue guess that could not swim
after the shock of the cold water
this was also a popular attraction for
men to pull down their pants or women to
pull up their tops for the line of
people to see the appropriately named
aqua scoot gave guests a sled with which
they would slide down an assembly line
style roller coaster hurtling them
toward a shallow pool that they would
skip across if the guest was not in an
ideal position it would get caught under
the water sending the rider crashing
forward there were originally a pair of
these slides each 30 feet long but a
third slide was eventually added the
diving cliffs had two jumping bases 123
feet and the other 18 feet tall with the
pool below beam 16 feet the pool was
also for non jumpers some of which were
unaware of the cliffs which resulted in
collisions there was only one lifeguard
on duty who had to work extra hard to
make sure that no one was at the bottom
of the pool the super speed water slides
also known as Geronimo Falls were a pair
of high-speed vertical water slides one
of them was steeper than the other and
both were dangerous near these was the
safer kamikaze which was a more
traditional tube slide the kayak
experience was pretty self-explanatory
and used underwater fans to simulate
water rapids this was dangerous but that
goes without saying at this point a
similar ride the roaring rapids allowed
guests to ride in a one or two-person
raft down a similar River the surf Hill
had riders slide down a multi-lane multi
hill slide on a mat riders could easily
cross over to the adjacent lanes and
cause collisions in the seventh hill
nicknamed the backbreaker had an
additional hump that would send riders
flying resulting in injury the Colorado
River ride was another raft ride this
time allowing up to four people and it
went through the wooded area of the park
at one point the riders would come to a
fork in the river and had to choose
between two paths the first path took
guests under a waterfall and a sear
tunnels the second path included a
waterfall and another fork with one path
being steeper than the other the ride
also included a foot tall jump that
would allow riders and the raft ashore
airtime the arrow donea was a skydiving
simulator that caused injuries when
guests would try to stop their Falls
with their arms waterworld also had a
variety of other typical water slides
and pools that were less notable but
there is one in particular that has yet
to be mentioned this is the attraction
that made action Park the most infamous
the Cannonball loop a tubed waterslide
with a vertical loop similar to that of
a roller coaster it was rumored that
during the testing of the attraction
Mulvihill offered $100 to employees who
were willing to try it test dummies
apparently came out of the loop without
their heads when it was open guess would
be Wayde posed down and given a set of
instructions to decrease the possibility
of injury a hatch was added to the top
of the loop to assist stuck riders that
could not make it all the way through
the slide many guess the completed the
loop would come out at the bottom
suffering from bloody noses or other
injuries either from hitting the top of
the loop or the impact on the way down
the cannonball loop was indicative of a
larger issue with action Park as many of
the other attractions were poorly
crafted by designers that were less than
engineers and most were designed to
minimize cost rather than maximize
safety the rides became even more
dangerous when paired with the fact that
the park sold alcohol at many of the
convenience stands often to minors there
was even a micro brewery near motor
world many of the guests visiting the
inexpensive part came from low-income
areas and did not have the necessary
swimming skills to navigate some of the
attractions and pools action park also
heavily marketed the spanish populations
but there were no translations or
translators for the guests when they
visited so explaining safety
instructions was virtually impossible
you already know that action bar has the
most innovative and exciting ride the
Alpine Slide Grand Prix race cars and
spectacular water ride
but action Park means more than just
great rides it means super live shows
fantastic summer festivals and
scrumptious food and drink including an
authentic German brewery come to action
bar because the rides aren't the only
thing that's great Labor Day polish
festival September 6th and 7th the
majority of those employees were
teenagers and were not equipped to
handle the rowdy guests of the park so
on any given day you could have an
overcrowded water park filled with drunk
teenagers that couldn't swim writing
shoddily built attractions supervised by
teenagers that may or may not be able to
communicate with them it is no wonder
what happened next
on July 8 1980 a male employee was
riding the alpine slide when his cart
went off the track he hit his head on a
rock during the crash killing him he was
only 19 two years later on July 24th
1982 a 15 year old guest was overcome by
the waves of the tidal wave pool and
drowned on August 1st a mere week later
a 27 year old guest was riding the kayak
experience when he was trying to
re-enter his kayak after falling out
when doing this he made contact with the
live wiring that powered the underwater
fans the electrocution sent him into
cardiac arrest and he passed after being
rushed to the hospital two years later
in 1984 a guest died on the Tarzan swing
after a heart attack supposedly due to
the unexpected shock from the cold water
that same year on August 27th a 20 year
old drowned in the tidal wave pool on
July 19th 1987 another guest drowned
there giving it the nickname the grave
pool these deaths are tragic and often
overshadowed by the lunacy and legacy of
action Park interestingly enough action
park was able to avoid many lawsuits
with these deaths and many other
injuries due in part to its reputation
and also the lacs regulations New Jersey
had for amusement of water parks great
American recreation was even able to
expand the action park brand to other
parts of the country
opening pacano action park in
Tannersville Pennsylvania in 1980 an
action Mountain in Pine Hill New Jersey
in 1984
feel the thrill as you zoom through the
black balls spin the splash of our
bumper boats while the kids play in our
fun-filled kiddie area cool off in a
huge swimming pool or race around the
Grand Prix track
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mikono action park had many repeat
attractions action park and was closed
in 1991 action Mountain ran into some
financial difficulties with the IRS and
the town it was located in and was
closed in 1986 so why did the original
action park closed while action park and
Mulvihill were able to avoid lawsuits
with many of the accidents and deaths
the two deaths in 1984 stemmed cases
that rightfully plagued the park with a
variety of legal problems Mulvihill
eventually pled guilty to five charges
of insurance fraud he and his associates
claimed that the park saw over 1 million
guests a year and therefore the death
toll was comparatively low the local ER
on the other hand said that they would
have to treat five to ten guests on some
days in response to the high amount of
guests visiting the hospital action park
bought Vernon new jersey new ambulances
despite all of these issues the downfall
of action park wouldn't come until 1996
and it was actually due to great
American recreations financial issues
and not the park itself on September 2nd
1996 action park ended its final season
still with the hope that it would reopen
the next year however great American
recreations bankruptcy made it
impossible for action park to continue
operations so it didn't reopen after
this the ski resort and action park were
handed from investor to investor
undergoing renovations for two years
before reopening in 1998 as Mountain
Creek safety was a priority under this
management and a valiant effort was put
forth to distance mountain Creek from
action parks reputation however in 2010
Mountain Creek underwent a bankruptcy of
its own and the waterpark and ski resort
was sold to the Mulvihill family two
years after this in 2012 Eugene
Mulvihill passed away and his son Andrew
Mulvihill took over ownership of the
park two years later in 2014 Mountain
Creek was rebranded back to action park
the park reopened many of its classic
attractions and started construction on
new terrifying ones the sky caliber was
another attempt at 360 degree vertically
looping waterslide although it used
technology to enhance safety from my
knowledge is yet to open at the park and
there's almost no information on its
status the new action park tried to use
nostalgia to draw guests back for two
years before in 2016 it was renamed back
to Mountain Creek in order to once again
get away from the negative connotation
of action park early this year was
announced that johnny Knoxville would be
producing writing and
starring in a film inspired by action
park but it was not shot on-location
death is heartbreaking especially in
environments designed for happiness and
joy despite six people losing their
lives their action park is not
remembered for its death toll it is
remembered for and by the kids that grew
up with it and survived it it is seen as
a place where the quote unquote popular
and brave teens hung out the fact that
it was referred to as traction Park or
class action park doesn't matter because
its inherent danger is more of a fond
memory to the majority of its visitors
the burns bruises and the fractured
tibia 'z were a rite of passage for its
former guests you think you're cool
because you survived a tame roller
coaster at Disney in California or at
Universal in Florida well welcome to
Vernon New Jersey were you able to
survive the action park
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nice job wait she's gonna go swimming
get a microphone hey give us a look at
her like out of a movie this is good
where is she
wait a second we lost our Greg you need
to go rest
banana let's eat this take a indeed yeah
first of all nice bathing suit dragon
say appropriate never bye Ana you look
great and you handle that beautifully
and just trying to keep Greg and check
why are you so out of breath hold on a
second no not so fast Adam let's uh
let's see yeah Ana let's see this is in
New Jersey right benign I just want to
talk to a little milking this shot by
just wondering uh Ana how long did it
take you let's see did you get a dress
to dress yeah well we saw that how long
is the trip oh wait a second wait I
think that's smart
what Ana go try off we'll see in a
little bit what is wrong with you relax
Thank You Ana hey I guess we're done
don't be so frowning at thee