Anyone watch the documentary "Class Action Park" on HBO?

Cafe Society
1

Better yet, anyone actually visit Action Park back in the day, and want to share your experience?

I had heard stories about Action Park, the legendarily dangerous New Jersey waterpark, open during the 80s through the mid-90s. But watching the documentary, wow, the sheer insanity of the place was mind-boggling.

Capsule summary: Gene Mulvihill, former Wall Street trader, buys a ski resort and comes up with the idea of also building a water park on the property to make money in the summer months, named ‘Action Park’. In so doing he basically invents the modern water park, but his methods are so slapdash and his concern for safety so nonexistent that the park gets the nicknames “Traction Park” and of course, “Class Action Park”. The rides are designed literally, in some cases, on the backs of cocktail napkins, with little or no input from actual like, ride designers or engineers.

Case in point: the Cannonball Loop, an enclosed water slide with a 360 degree loop that was so dangerous that test dummies were rumored to come out mangled and decapitated. So “Uncle Gene”, as he was known by the teenagers who worked there, offered $100 bills to any employee who would test it out. Once opened to the public, the ride caused so many injuries that it was only open for a month, reopening for brief times afterward but never for long.

Gene also had a philosophy that the park, similar to the ski slopes, should not be made as safe as humanly possible-- that people should be able to make their own decisions as to how safe or reckless they wanted to be.

The documentary walks a fine line between humor, nostalgia, and taking a darker tone toward the end as it gets in depth with the story of the 19 year old who died on the Alpine Slide, one of half a dozen deaths at the park. But despite that, the doc ends with a grudging affection toward “Uncle Gene” at the end, though he evaded lawsuits, created a fake insurance company for the park, and even laundered money through the fake insurance company. Gene is called “larger than life” many times, and the doc at one point waxes philosophical on kids in the 80s, climbing trees, skinning knees, and maybe even breaking arms-- living their lives, vs. kids these days who live in a sheltered bubble.

I have to say, it really pinged my nostalgia meter watching the old footage. I didn’t grow up in the New Jersey / New York area, but I was the same age as those teenage employees with mullets and feathered hair partying in the park after hours in the early 80s, and I partied with similar kids back then. All in all, well worth a watch, especially if you were a preteen or teen in the 80s.

2

Oh shit. I’ve been looking forward to this doc. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have Action Park stories!

I went every summer from the late 80s until the park closed in the mid 90s, usually as a summer camp field trip. Even though there were other amusement parks nearer to camp, Action Park was dirt cheap for groups. (And everyone else.)

My favorite was the river rapids ride. You hiked up a mountain carrying an enormous inflatable raft suitable for five or six kids. Then you got in the raft and went down an artificial river with banks, falls, and rapids. There were no restraints or anything and falling out of the raft was common. Whenever a new kid joined our group, we would helpfully “show them the ropes” by conspiring to all be on the starboard side and then shifting our weight to flip the new kid out of the raft as we went over the first big hill.

Many of the refreshment booths were staffed by teenagers with little or no supervision, and they sold beer! 14-year-old me got a beer in exchange for a 50-cent bribe. But the dude probably would have just given it to me anyway.

And yes, people got drunk and went on these dangerous rides.

Everyone tried to outdo each other on the Tarzan swing, doing flips and shit. A lot of people had no idea how ice cold the water underneath that thing was and would sometimes succumb to temporary shock after plunging in. The stoned lifeguards there got really good at tossing flotation devices. One year, a friend went up and down the line offering a dollar to any girl who would flash her tits before jumping. One enterprising lass took him up on the offer and then was unable to retrieve her bikini top after plunging in. The lifeguards had to fish it out for her. She received an appreciative ovation.

Another “ride” was just jumping off a cliff. I was really good at it! :smiley:

The wave pool was famously insane and often dangerously overcrowded. Action Park had little golf-cart ambulances complete with backboards that were regularly seen zipping away from the wave pool with possible spinals. They also at some point were forced to buy extra real ambulances for Vernon Township because there were so many injuries.

Everything you’ve heard about the Alpine Slide is true and completely insane. I also got a wicked scar on my gut from one of the near-vertical water slides. (If anybody tells you they were a regular at Action Park and they don’t have battle scars, physical or mental, they’re full of shit. :slight_smile: )

I loved every second at that place. As kids it never occurred to us how utterly insane it was. Damn fun tho.

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I never visited Action Park and haven’t seen this documentary yet, but we saw the NYC stations where I grew up so we saw the commercials. And BTW, there was a comedy film starring Johnny Knoxville based on Action Park. It was a couple of years ago and it was called Action Point.

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Thanks friedo, I was hoping I’d get some first-hand stories, and yours right out of the gate are great! You could have been one of the interviewees in the doc. When you do get around to watching it, it will be a trip down memory lane for you, for sure (but not a trip and fall, hopefully :laughing:)

Thanks for the tip, Dewey_Finn! There’s a clip in the doc of the Jimmy Kimmel show where guest Knoxville and Kimmel reminisce about their experiences at the park, and Kimmel says “every member of my family was injured there”. I have to search this out and watch it.

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I wanna watch this one. Never went there but remember hearing about this. I passed through that area a lot when I lived across the river in NY but it never worked out. Didn’t realize they stayed open for so many years, pretty much corresponding to the whole time I lived in NY.

6

That was an excellent Doc, very watchable. Traction Park was storied growing up in NJ.

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I just watched a chunk of it, loving it so far. BTW it turns out that the ride I got hurt on was called the Super Speed Slide. It’s covered at about 18 minutes in. Yes, that thing was real.

I never got to go on the Cannonball Loop, alas. But the similar Cannonball Falls was amazing. I went on that one all the time.

8

We watched the doc a couple of months ago. Yeah, there was a lot of humor and nostalgia, with a constant overshadowing of “Holy $#!~ - how did they get away with that?” Once it got to the deaths, the lawsuits and such, yeah, it got darker. His ENTIRE legal strategy (and he admitted this) was to stretch out the process and the appeals . He had a lot more lawyers than you and could draw it out forever; you’d better accept this pittance as a settlement.

One of the most astounding revelations was about the Cannonball Loop. They opened it to the public, and people were coming out with some nasty cuts. When they opened the ride to check it, they found teeth embedded in the padding from the test riders.

Yeah, there’s a reason that park rides are designed by engineers.

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Designed by engineers, and “tested” by NASA flight surgeons!

I recently saw it on TNT, and I couldn’t believe anyone would allow their children to go there, whether as employees or guests. I’m surprised there were as FEW fatalities as they said they had.

p.s. There’s also some footage from “Headbanger’s Ball” of the host (Rikki Rachtman, IIRC) at this park with members of Alice in Chains.

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I thought it was a great documentary.

I really dislike when Gen X types wax nostalgic for how little people cared about kids safety in the 80s. Thats not something to brag about. When I was a kid I’d ride in the back of a pickup truck, but I’d never let any kids I take care of do that.

My impression from the documentary is that a handful of rides made up most of the injuries.

I found it amusing that there were so many injuries that the park had to buy its own ambulance since the ambulance in town kept getting called to the park.

11

Good lord. That place sounds like something Krusty the Clown would be running.
I am looking forward to watching that documentary as soon as I can!

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I just watched half of it, and plan to watch the other half tomorrow.

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Just finished watching it.

HOLY SHIT!

Did I call it. Seems like a place Krusty the Clown would run. Fake insurance, no safety provisions, and when somebody got hurt Gene was like “what’s the big deal? So what!”

If you haven’t seen it yet you have to. That place was unbelievable!

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I don’t know why they abondoned this project, screw the PVC pipe rails, just roll it down the ski trail (maybe without crossing the Highway). I’d ride it!

"The Bailey Ball was an Alpine Center attraction developed and tested but never opened to the public, as a result of those tests. It consisted of a large foam sphere in which a rider could be secured, and then rolled downward. The plan was to do it on a track with PVC pipe as its outer rails, and one was built alongside a ski trail.

The designers neglected to take into account the tendency of PVC pipe to expand in heat. During the first test, with a state inspector present on a hot summer day, the ball, with a man inside testing it, went off the track as a result of the pipe expanding and bounded down the adjacent ski slope. It continued through the parking lot, across Route 94 and came to rest in a swamp. After it came to a natural stop at the bottom, the inspector left without saying anything and park management abandoned the project."

15

My neck has been fucked up for damn near 40 years because of that place. Good times.

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You have first-hand experience of Action Park and that’s the best you can do in the way of anecdotes & recollections? Come on man, let’s hear a story or two!

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I attended once as a young teen. It was fun. I got to see the infamous looping water slide, though it wasn’t open. I desperately wanted to try the bumper tanks, but it was an extra fee. I can say that the wave pool deserved its reputation. I was knocked off the ladder by waves multiple times while trying to exit, and the water was…. Murky, let’s say. I had no problems on the alpine slide, but I was fairly cautious, although it didn’t feel dangerous at the time.
All in all, it was a pleasant day.

I recommend reading “ Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park”. It’s a memoir by the son of the park’s owner, he worked there during his teen years. It’s very good.

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There’s a ski resort in New Jersey?

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More than 1 in fact. We have mountains in the NW section of the state.

New Jersey pretty much has everything in a very small space. Not the best of anything but everything. We even have a major rodeo which still blows my mind.

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My sister’s fiance grew up in New Jersey and worked worked at Action Park as a teenager in the 1990s. I’ll be seeing him at a family gathering in about a month; I’ll have to see if he has any good anecdotes. And I’ll have to watch this documentary in preparation for my visit (It’s in my watchlist, but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet).