The World's Deadliest Theme Park | The Story of Action Park

Action Park was an amusement and water park in Vernon Township, New Jersey that opened in the summer of 1978, under the ownership of Great American Recreation.

Its creator and owner, Eugene Mulvihill, envisioned creating a theme park like no action, where visitors would themselves control the action. Action Park featured three separate areas: the Alpine Centre, Motor World and Water World. Many of its attractions were experimental and unique. Despite being extremely popular, Action Park gained an infamous reputation for poorly designed rides, undertrained staff, and a disastrously poor safety record.

At least six people were known to have died at Action Park.

The original Action Park was closed finally in 1996 after Gene's strategy of using illegal financial schemes to keep the business solvent finally collapsed, and under the mounting pressure of some 2,400 personal injury lawsuits, Action Park went bankrupt.

Some of the most loved and notable rides included the Cannonball Loop, Alpine Slide, Surf Hill, the Tidal Wave Pool (aka the Grave Pool), Super Go Karts and Lola Racers.

This is the complete story of Action Park.

Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:01 - Founding
2:44 - Alpine Slide
4:23 - Alpine Centre
5:43 - Motor World
8:10 - Water World
12:20 - The Grave Pool
13:57 - Other deaths
15:16 - Who was to blame?
17:37 - Downfall
20:58 - Closing thoughts

Alteration disclaimer: Certain images have been upscaled to improve clarity. Where no relevant source or archive footage existed, AI imagery has been used to help build out the video visually, utilising Midjourney and Photoshop Generative Expand. Where possible, original unaltered imagery has been preferred.

#actionpark

[CXPds]

CORRECTIONS
- 6:50: The picture used for illustrating the Go-Kart engines is actually the skeletal remains of the Lola Racers. As far as I can tell, no images exist online of the Go-Kart engines
- I say 'controversy' that way because that's how it's pronounced where I'm from in the North of England. Usually I try to Amerimaxx my voice but that one slipped through

[MrAntiKnowledge]

Ok when considering injury risks from a waterslide, "teeth of previous riders lodged into the wall" was not on my list.

[lisal.]

Proud survivor of Action Park in the early 1980’s. Almost drown in the wave pool when I got trapped under about 400 rafts and couldn’t resurface. Luckily the 16 yr old lifeguard came back from his smoke break early and saw my red white and blue bathing suit and jumped in. Thanks buddy!

[DennisGr]

silently watching in horror as the submarine mine looking ball left its tracks and slammed through the parking lot into the swamp, that inspector went home that day and was like "honey, you won't even believe this shit."

[aszeloth]

My Mom was an employee at action park back in the day. She said people in the area called the park “class action park” because of all the lawsuits surrounding it.

[cooperminion]

I remember going there with my friends one summer in the 80s. They laughed at me for bringing a motorcycle helmet and mouth guard. Friend A went home with chipped front teeth from the raft ride. Friend B scraped his face up pretty well on the same ride. I survived that ride with teeth marks on my arms. However, I wiped out on the alpine slide and landed face first on another kid's track. My friends saw the cracked visor and bloody lips. They didn't tease me about being safe anymore. I was the only one who could still get a date that summer bc they still bore their war wounds

[mangofoxx]

Guests: constantly get injured due to open gasoline tanks, exposed electric lines, unmaintained slide tubes, and kart brakes that barely worked.
Action Park lawyers: "Skill issue."

[michaellurie]

At 50 years old, I still have scars all over my body from injuries sustained on rides at action park. It was glorious.

[OrdinaryWorld]

I worked at the park in the early 90s and would take my lunch at the snack bar at the bottom of surf hill. I mostly worked on the Tarzan Swing and we'd have to announce to the waiting riders, how cold and deep the water was, in a futile attempt to discourage those not well prepared. And yet, kids that could barely swim would still take the risk. I rescued more sinkers than the cast of Baywatch.

[nucleargrizzly]

When I was a kid my dad (an engineer) brought me to Action Park. He took one quick look and said, "No F'n Way" as we left.

[Pamelalrene]

I don't' do enclosed water slides because I have a fear of getting stuck. That cannon ball loop slide is my actual worst nightmare. Bad enough to get stuck on the exterior side where you would definitely be injured from the fall, but at least you'd have a way to crawl out. But getting stuck by falling backwards and ultimately having nowhere to go, surrounded by two sides of slippery incline is so terrifying even as a thought.

[kailynliu]

2:53 They made the Alpine slide out of concrete, FIBERGLASS and ASBESTOS?! Yikes! What’s next, barbed wire?

[Finder]

I worked there in the nineties. Lived in the other side of the mountain. It truly was a wild place to work. Every day something was going down. Had a buddy that worked the bungie jump. He would jump off the tower with no cord into the airbag. We would get scum bags from nyc and would basically be a fight every day. We would sneak in late at night and play water polo in the wave pool. Or turn the lift chairs on and hang on to see who could go the longest (in winter). I have so many stories. Basically the people that ran the show were seniors in hs or the ones that just graduated.

[paradonym]

Why did nobody came to the idea of just building a hospital right next to it?

[joshk]

Vernon native here. Growing up, EVERYONE knew someone that got hurt a Action Park. But thanks to Action Park, my first concert was the Misfits! Jerry Only and his family lived in town.
I worked at Mountain Creek ski resort in winter, and from the gondola, that loop slide was visible. It was closed, but still standing there. I could never believe it was even built.

[jaredg]

Basically if you didn't die, you had the best memories ever

[nebulawavez]

my question is why people were urinating from the ski lift

[mnemonichotpocket]

My favorite thing i took away: the fact that there were teeth embedded in the walls of the canon ball loop that were knocked out from prior riders, and they would cut new riders....

[dangerchris]

I like that many of these attractions still exist, they just aren't designed by sadistic drunks anymore, generally.

[JadeLaranir]

I find it funny how this park is so crazy dangerous and yet so many comments explain how much fun they had there/ how they would’ve died to be there