Action Park’s Insane History: A Big Fat Warning About Theme Park Safety
Thinking about a thrill park run this summer? Chasing some wild rides? Hold it. Before you strap into anything screaming “extreme,” gotta ask: Is this joint actually safe? Because the Action Park story, a notorious Jersey hangout from the 70s and 80s, is a wild reminder. Theme park safety totally gets ignored when cash rules and it’s all “anything goes.” Thousands hurt. Hundreds in the hospital. Six dead. That’s the real tally from a park that just threw responsibility to its visitors, skipping vital safeguards. What a mess.
Always Do Your Homework: Research Before You Play
Eugene Mulvihill, Action Park’s big boss, had some seriously wild ideas. His philosophy? “No rules for kids. Safety’s on them.” Sounded awesome, right? But really? Disaster waiting to happen. Not a relaxing hang-out. This was a spot where rides weren’t designed by pros. Nope. Mulvihill and his buddies whipped them up.
Picture the Cannonball Loop. A waterslide. Fully enclosed. Spiraling into a crazy 360-degree vertical loop. Nobody builds that anymore. Crazy, right? Mannequin tests? Broken plastic bits. First teens who rode it—paid a hundred bucks for the honor—came out with bloody mouths, scratched-up faces, skin raw from the friction. But wait. Padding inside that slide? They later found teeth in it. Human teeth. Not just a few, either.
Always google incident reports, okay? And what the authorities said. Before you buy tickets. A quick search? That’s all. Tells you so much about if a park even cares about safety. Or not.
Beware the “Blame the Victim” Mentality: Who’s Really Responsible for Safety?
When things went sideways at Action Park, man, they loved to point fingers. The Alpine Slide? Total mess. An 820-meter concrete run, just zigzagging down a mountain. You’d ride a wheeled board, right, with a crappy speed lever. And get this: you were “responsible for your own safety.” No real instructions. Zero warnings for those insane turns. Brakes? Terrible. Either didn’t work, couldn’t slow you down. Or they’d stop BAM and throw you clean off.
Falls? Constant. Scrapes. Broken bones. Head injuries. By quitting time, parts of that track? Literally, stained with blood. Staff even kept alcohol around. Not for margaritas. For cleaning up their guests’ wounds. Shady.
And another thing: one poor guy flew off the Alpine Slide. Hit his head on a rock. Died. The park’s genius response? Said the rock did it, not the ride. Seriously. They even bluffed to the news, called him an employee. Just to calm folks down. Big red flag, that. Huge.
Money Talks: When Profits Trump People
Action Park, it actually thrived for years. Even with its nutty reputation. Why? Money, pure and simple. Serious dough. Almost a million people hit Vernon, New Jersey, each summer. Restaurants, hotels, shops — everyone grabbed a piece. So, a huge reason to keep the park open. Even as folks kept getting busted up.
And man, local cops and inspectors? Slow to do anything. Like, they turned a blind eye. Some city bigwigs even had their kids working there! Free rides for them, of course. Also, the park played hardball with lawsuits. Used a fake insurance company to dodge paying out and to hold up any closures. Watch out, always. Cash can make safety a back-burner item for parks and even the local folks watching over them.
Engineering Matters: Skip the DIY Thrills
Action Park rides weren’t based on smart engineering. Nah. They popped right outta pure, crazy ideas. Mulvihill didn’t think he needed experts. This DIY stuff? Lethal.
The ‘Big Ball.’ Never even opened to us regular folks. But it was a huge steel globe, meant to roll mountainside down plastic rails, someone inside. Hot day during testing? Those plastic rails expanded. The heavy steel ball, with its poor human inside, just took off. Off the rails. It busted past the parking lot, cut across a highway, finally stopping in a marshland. The guy survived. How he looked coming out? Yeah, you can guess.
A simple canoe ride, you’re thinking? A chill spot? Nope. Underwater propellers, meant to make the water move, short-circuited. And a visitor, he fell out. Touched an electrified grid over a propeller. Nineteen amps shot through his body. His heart just… stopped.
Always pick parks where real pros built the rides. Tested them hard. And have clear instructions for everyone, no matter what language. If it looks glued together, it probably is.
Staffing Up: Why Good Help Is Non-Negotiable
Look, good staff is super important for a safe place. Action Park? Mostly teens working there. Some were literally like 14 years old. And their own safety manager? Only 21, they say. Training? Forget about it.
So these young, green employees? Expected to deal with boozed-up adults. And sometimes, they were even drunk themselves on duty. Fights between staff and guests? All the time. But how can you keep hundreds, thousands even, of people safe when your staff isn’t trained or grown-up enough for this mess?
Seriously, good, trained-up staff in risky places? It’s everything for visitor safety.
Alcohol & Adrenaline: A Recipe for Disaster
Action Park? Famous for sketchy rides. But also for liquor. Often served to kids under 21. They even had their own beer place there! Mix booze with already messed-up attractions and an “anything goes” vibe? Accidents don’t just happen. They explode.
Lots of visitors couldn’t even swim right. Made water things worse. And another thing: the park advertised like crazy to Spanish-speaking communities. But no warnings in Spanish. No one to translate. Making vital safety stuff a blank. So, drunk people, young staff, zero communication? Total disaster. People died.
Watch out for parks that let you drink. Because alcohol messes up your head. Makes getting hurt way more likely.
Hidden Dangers: Innocuous Stuff Can Totally Harm You
Even things that look totally harmless? They can be lethal if not built sane, staffed right, and kept up. The ‘Tarzan Swing.’ Just a metal swing over water. What’s the worst that could happen? The water? Always near freezing. Like under 10°C. People didn’t know. Suddenly, cold shock. Instant heart attack. One guy died in 1984. And others? Swung too far. Smashed right into a concrete ledge.
Then there was the ‘Tidal Wave Pool.’ Big, deep pool. Fake waves. Always too many people. Packed with tubes. Couldn’t even surface half the time. Twelve lifeguards. Rescuing like 30 people on a busy holiday? A normal pool guard might save one a year. But even after a confirmed drowning? They didn’t shut it down. Waves just kept rolling. People kept swimming. Nobody realized what just happened.
Action Park finally went out of business. Not because of safety, though. Lawsuits and repair bills just broke them. The park got sold off, got a new name, but trying to bring back its ‘Action Park’ glory with new, safer rules? Total flop. The name itself? Just meant danger now. So, next time you plan a big day of thrills? Remember this: The craziest ride ain’t always the best. Sometimes, real fun means you actually walk away in one piece.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Action Park’s owner’s philosophy regarding safety?
Action Park’s boss man, Eugene Mulvihill, always said he wouldn’t “overwhelm kids with rules.” Instead, he left “safety to their initiative.” See? This ‘no rules’ thing meant visitors were totally on their own, instead of the park taking real theme park safety seriously.
What was the Cannonball Loop slide, and why was it so dangerous?
The Cannonball Loop was an enclosed waterslide. It had a crazy 360-degree vertical loop you just don’t see anymore. So dangerous. Because pros didn’t build it. People got cuts, head bangs, and even stuck at the top. Opened for like two seconds. Then state inspectors shut it down. Too risky.
How did Action Park handle lawsuits and financial responsibility for injuries?
Action Park was known for fighting lawsuits hard. It made sure cases took forever and cost victims a fortune. Also, they had a fake insurance company on paper! Just to hide their money problems. Helped them dodge paying up, skip immediate closures, and mess up court cases for years. In the end? Not theme park safety rules that shut ’em down. Just money woes. Bankrupt.
