This article used to span one giant page; it has now been broken up into three smaller ones. Each page, along with that page’s contents, are listed below for quick navigation.
- Page 1: Near the Park Entrance
- Introduction
- Cannonball Loop
- Alpine Slide
- Page 2: Waterworld/Wave Pool
- Tarzan Swings
- Cannonball Falls
- Aerodium
- Geronemo Falls
- Serpentine Slides
- Wave Pool/Surf Hill
- Page 3: Roaring Springs/other
- Aqua Scoot
- The grotto pool
- Thunder Run/The Gauley
- Colorado River Ride
- Motorworld
- Action Park Today
My home state of New Jersey is full of legendary things; The Jersey Devil, The Blue Hole, Jungle Habitat, mysterious orbs, and much more. But if there is one thing that the Garden State is most renowned for, that would be Action Park …the most dangerous waterpark EVER. It was like a testing site for water rides using humans as their crash dummies. If you ever get one of those “you know you’re from New Jersey…” chain letters, you’ll most definitely find “when you or someone you know has been injured at Action Park ” as one of the requirements.
Action Park opened its doors in 1978; it was one of the pioneering waterparks, a prototype almost. Today you’ll see similar slides at many waterparks across the country, but not at Action Park! Many of their slides show obvious signs of their age, from the wooden supports, to their older style slide colors and hard 90 degree turns.
Mountain Creek as seen from Google Earth
Another difference from the usual waterpark environment was that the park was not located at the shore, or on some large flat piece of land. No, Action Park was located in the high hills of northern NJ (Vernon, NJ to be exact). Action Park was located in a ski area called Vernon Valley/Great Gorge (now Mountain Creek.) Actually,Action Park had many ski lifts that sat dormant in the park…well except for one, which we’ll talk about later.
Action Park had many sections to venture through. There was Waterworld, which featured various slides and other creations. Next to it was Roaring Springs, which was set in a rugged section of the mountain. Many of the attractions in Roaring Springs were river type rides which made their way through a lush and densely wooded landscape. Right inside the park gates was a largely overlooked section that contained some random attractions. I forget the name but it was something like Daredevil World, or some crap like that. Across the highway was Motorworld, an area filled with supped up go-kart tracks. Finally there was a section with a couple of dangerous bungee rides off to the side. I never knew how to get over the that section as it seemed like it was in a small nook-like area that was clear cut of trees. It was probably accessible by being shot out of a cannon.
The Cannonball Loop
I was one of the idiots that accepted you-know-who’s crisp $100 bill to test run it. That was my last ride. $100 did not buy enough booze to drown out that memory.
-Tom Fergus, former Action Park employee
Immediately entering Action Park, a patron would notice the most infamous slide in waterpark history…the Cannonball Loop. The Cannonball Loop was a slide built in 1985. It was set down in a little ravine, quite a bit off the main path; the top of the slide sat on a large winding staircase which itself sat on the rim of the ravine. The slide was enclosed (it looked like a pipe,) and consisted of a long, straight section that was angled at maybe 45 degrees. At the end of the hill was a 15 to 20 foot loop. Immediately after the loop was the end of the slide which dumped riders into a long shallow splash pool.
See! It is real!! Whoever originally scanned this photo deserves a medal. I can tell you right now, this is not a photoshopped image or anything. I saw this thing with my own two eyes back in the mid 90s just before Action Park closed.
The creepy thing about the slide was the fact that it was never open. It just sat there with nobody near it…like a crime scene waiting to be analyzed. The real story about the slide is hard to come by; some say it never opened, some say it opened for a month and injured people, some say that the dummies used during testing came out all mangled with missing limbs. The only actual fact I’ve seen was the story about the escape hatch at the bottom of the first hill. In the event that someone didn’t complete the loop, they could climb out the hatch. Someone once e-mailed me saying that they had been down it and had a video of people going down it. I asked for a screencap from the video and the person never responded. I still have my doubts as to whether this has opened to the public…then again…
Since adding this page to my site I have received a few e-mails regarding the Cannonball Loop; here is a notable one sent in by reader Chris:
It was open – for a few brief periods. The picture you have up is real and not altered in any way. I used to work there and I rode on it once. Everyone makes it out to be the most insane things action park did but it wasn’t that bad. I remember one person getting stuck in the tube because instread of riding down with her feet crossed and arms folded across her chest she put them out and braked then didn’t have the speed to get around. That is why they built the hatch at the bottom of the slope (not the top of the loop as the wikipedia article suggests).
A few people did similar things or for some other reason did not get sufficient speed and they landed face first on the inside of the top of the loop. One person injured his two upper front teeth when he did this and had them dig into the soft lining (it was like wrestling mat material). The biggest problem is that sand and dirt and such would collect at the botton of the loop and the people would start comming out with abrasions over their entire backs. Then they would have to close it down and clean it out. I believe (and I could be wrong about this) that what finally closed it down was that after it was open for a short while an insurance adjuster finally came around to look at itand went ballistic.
DoD3 reader Eric then sent me these four photos that he had found on a message board. The photos basically proove that the slide did open at some point (according to the images in 1996, Action Parks final year.)
 |
 |
 |
 |
And finally, the coup de grâce; DoD3 Reader Dean D. has his story of actually riding the Cannonball Loop. His account seems pretty genuine to me, but you can be the judge.
The Action Park loop was real and I rode it
I rode the Action Park water loop 2 times on the same day. I could have sworn it was in 1980 with my high school buddies when I was 18, but Wiki says it opened in 1985 so I guess I’m wrong. That would have made me 23 which just doesn’t seem right to me. Anyway, none of my buddies did it. I remember it was the only water slide you just used your body. No rubber mat, raft, inner tube etc which was really unheard of at the time except for the 100 foot freefall water slide.
They made you cross your arms and legs and wet you down with a hose. The guy at the bottom would blow a whistle to the guy at the top signalling it was “all clear”. You laid on your back and the guy would push you and whistle to the guy at the bottom. I remember the tube was completely black inside. The inside was not very smooth. You could feel the seams on your back and legs. The water was very cold. The first 50 feet or so was practically a freefall and you reached a very high speed. It was hard to tell when you were going around the loop since it was completely dark and you were going so fast. Mostly I remember hitting the loop and shooting out into the light all disoriented and having a little trouble walking. I had no scrapes or physical problems at all. In fact it was awesome so I did it again.
I remember another latin man and his young son doing it when I was doing it. The man had no problems, but his son who was very young, and very brave, got stuck in the tube. He looked about 10 years old and was too light to build the momentum needed to make it all the way around the loop.I remember wondering how they were going to get him out. They opened a trap door at the bottom of the loop. It took several minutes to get him out, he looked a little shook up but otherwise fine. My friends and I went to go on other rides and later in the day I went to go on it again, but they had closed it “for the day”.
I went back to Action Park several more times over the years and always wanted to do it again. I was always disappointed because it was never open. It took some guts to ride that thing and wanted to test myself. I remember going in 1996 just before it was sold and it was still there, but it looked like an old, dried up relic of foregone days. It made me sad. But at least I can say I rode it!
The Alpine Slide as seen in an old Action Park commercial.
Also near the entrance was the Alpine Ski Slide, the most popular attraction at the park. The Alpine Ski Slides were 3 long concrete troughs that winded their way down one of the ski slopes. You would ride to the top on a ski lift (the only one running) and slide down on a flat cart that had wheels and a handbrake. The trip up to the top was very long, maybe 8 to 10 minutes. At the top you had to jump off the ski lift chair before your chair left the unloading area. The stop for the Alipine Slides was just a midpoint stop really, the lift continued all the way to the top of the mountain. If you didn’t manage to scamper off the lift, then you were in store for a long lonesome trip.
At the beginning of the slides, you were greeted with a bunch of pictures of people with horrible scrapes. They show you these so you won’t screw around while traveling down the hill. The first time I rode I was pretty small so the photos scared the hell out of me andI burst into tears yelling “I don’t wanna ride!!” I eventually did, and it wasn’t bad. The trek from the top to the end is pretty damn long and if you don’t use your brake, you could probably end up going at some insane speed. Which, I guess, would result in the injures in the photos! The Alpine Ski Slide was the site of the first death for Action Park as well. A pleasant thought…I’m surprised they didn’t have a photo of a casket in their little collection.
If you keep traveling up the steep hill staying on the main path, you will eventually come to an intersection. If you go left, you will go to Waterworld, to the right is Roaring Springs, and straight up the hill is the wave pool. Lets go left to Waterworld!
“Most people would never make it out of the building due to their inexperience. However, sometimes you would see some hotshot rise up from the structure and hover 15 or 20 feet above the building. I doubt that thing made much money for its size and probably it’s cost, but it was interesting”
I went on it in 1995 or 1996 and I know I got back change from my ten dollars, I want to say it was only like 7 or 8 dollars extra to do it.
I got massive street cred with my friends for doing it. I fianlly went sky diving a few years ago and actually, I was in more fear for my life at Traction Park then I was when I did the real thing lol.
I beleive doing the Aerodium garners some sort of post Action Park internet cred as well. lol Few can say that they have done one of Action Park’s three most infamous attractions: Cannonball Loop, Aerodium, and their bungee jumping. And I guess to some extent the ‘expert’ run of Alpine Ski Slide.
I guess I could see how the faux skydiving could be scarier, at least at Action Park. There’s just something about Action Park’s lax safety coupled with a giant whirling fan that might cause for alarm. Haha
Thanks for dropping by!
I remember this place, the roller slide was called the Aqua Scoot! I loved that thing. I personally never got injured in my multiple visits between 87 and 91, but I remember those guys with their shirts off and a nice Alpine Slide burn. Those looked like they hurt. This was a great stroll down memory lane, I look forward to going back someday. I am in the midwest now and hating it
Aqua Scoot! That name does ring a bell now that you mention it! I actually remember many waterparks having those types at slides at one time.
Wow.. I thought I forgot about Action Park for good..
I had worked there for 7 years both seasons..
For the first few years I worked Food and Beverage, then ride attendant, Then finally once I was old enough and they had an opening I was allowed to work as a mechanic in motor world.. I rememebr breaking in the Lolas after they got new engines.. all we did was drive them up into water world and back down over and over again to break them in..
I remember the battle action tanks mechanics shop had some prototype or homebrew air cannon that would shoot a tennis ball from the tank cage well up past 94.. I wonder what happened to it. if anyone knows the make or has plans drop me a line.
I spent most of my time on the dock at the super speed boats, I remember one day clearly . There was an asian woman on the paddle boats in the adjacent pond and a lightning storm was rolling in. Unfortunately she panics and couldnt figure out how to work the boat controls..
we has one speed boat with a larger engine than the reast of them and it was our tow boat(for capsized recoveries) and a plaything for us to show off to the girls with.
I remember that we endedn up having two lifeguards stand on the edge of the foating dock that separated the two ponds, I disengaged the transom lock and headed straight at the dock head on.. because it was tilted my way it resembled a ramp, I then launched my boat onto and over the dock landing in the paddle boat pond. I then hooked her up with a line and towed her back to the area where the paddle boats were funneled into the boarding area.
The ride attendant girl hooked the boat with her boat hook and helped the woman out.. I was a hero for 15 mins.
In the winter I was a snowmaker.
I remember riding my skate board to work and having my mother pick me up after .. I lived in augusta so it was not a short trip… Fellow emploee parents passing by would often pick me up if they had the room so it wasnt too often that I skated the whole way.
I remember the first timecard system they put in.. you got a card with punch holes in it.. you’d slide it into the clock in the managers office, bang in a few codes and pull the card back out.. the funny thing was that if you didnt punch out say on friday night and then came back monday morning, you could punch out then back inand get paid for the weekend.. apparently one of the parks downfall was the accounting department.
Thanks for the memories..
Thanks for dropping by sigmaz; that was some great stuff! I always like hearing stories from Motorworld since I never really hung around in that section all that much and don’t really know the full details of that section. At the time I was too young to drive the cars or anything so I just stuck to the waterpark.
Also, skateboarding from Augusta to Vernon doesn’t sound like fun at all! Besides the fact that it’s a long trip, I would think that it’s very hilly as well!
The Cannonball Loop was opened. I rode the Cannonball Loop. My pre-pubscent friends and I would gawk at the holy grail of water slides everytime we went to the park. And one spectacular day my wildest dreams came true, they were actually asking for patrons to ride the slide. It’s funny how many people who bragged that they “…would totally do that!” had somewhere else to be when they were actually looking for riders. I volunteered. I was led up to the slide and then had my height and weight measured. The more I think about this, the crazier it becomes because I couldn’t have been more then 12 or 13 and my parents were no where around to give consent to their kid signing up for a suicide mission. When I got to the top of the slide the park attendant (who I doubt was an engineer) hit me w/ a garden hose to essentially lube me up in order for me to make it through. I prided myself on doing everything at “Accident Park” but this moment of truth was scarier then the rest. A crowd had formed as I got into the slide and I felt like Evil Knievel climbing onto a stars and stripes motorcycle. I got the go ahead and sent myself down the pitch black tube. When you’re sure you are going to die your mind records everything. I vividly remember the sensation of my feet going up as I realized “Here comes the loop!”. I remember being ecstatic when I had cleared the pinnacle of the loop, however the worst was yet to come. Apparently my sub 100 lbs body was not heavy enough for the ride and rather the sticking to the slide on the back end of the loop, I actually fell to the bottom of the loop. I smacked the back of my head on the slide and was nearly knocked unconcious. It was then I saw light as I sputtered out of the exit of the tube into the splash down pool which about 8 inches deep. I was able to orient myself enough to get to my feet and smile with pride as the stunned crowd cheered for the little kid who just went down the most dangerous water slide of all time. It was closed again within minutes and although I went to the park a dozen times after that day I never saw that slide opened again. I have no fear of amusement park rides after going on that death trap. There is nothing that will be built as dangerous and poorly supervised as the cannonball loop again. It was truly a perfect storm for water park aficionados.
That was a great story! Falling from the apex of the loop must have been just awful. At least you didn’t slow down and fall in the other direction however; then you would have been stuck in that section at the base of the loop. I can’t imagine how terrifying that would be, basically coming out of a momentary disorientation only to find yourself in some small dark space. lol
I worked there for several years as a lifeguard, and a few things.. The tarzan swing and the cannonball pools… The pools were only 15′ deep and yes freezing cold, they were fed from a spring fed lake at the top of the mountain. The bottom of the pool was not lined with anything they were concrete pools that had large rocks/boulders around them. The water was crystal clear. As a guard I would be able to sit on the stand (10′ tall) and I could spot and tell if there was a dollar bill on the bottom and if it was within 10 – 15′ of the stand I could tell you what denomination it was. it just seemed dark because of all the shade in the area.
The riptide slide was called Surf Hill… when it first opened the 2 left most lanes (looking down from the top, or the right most from the bottom looking up) were the “expert lanes” initially they had a ramp and I can remember going down with friends and family and it wasn’t uncommon to get 10 – 15′ of air off the things… landing was sometimes a bit tough, but I can remember people and us included doing flips and twists off that thing. The trick to it was to use more than one mat the more you had the faster you went. Too many people got hurt and they redid the ride to make it a much smaller ramp. the employees were able to secure a section of the new lining it’s was about 4 – 6″ thick and we cut 2 hand holds in the front of it… I wasn’t crazy enough but I knew and watched several friends going down using that mat… they would go so fast that they would end up hitting the first 12″ of the water puddle at the bottom meant to slow them down and it wouldn’t do a thing.. They would end up literally slamming into the padding at the end of the lanes hard… a couple of them hard enough that they needed help getting out from where the padding and the floor met.
Only 15 feet deep?! Aw man…that’s takes all the odd mystique out of the pool. lol Actually, I saw a photo of those pools drained on another site and it did look only 15-20 feet with slabs of concrete at the bottom. Although, I distinctly remember a lifeguard at AP saying that they were some 30+ feet deep, but I guess it was just to weed out anyone thinking they could do the attraction while not knowing how to swim well.
That Surf Hill story literally had me laughing! It just amazes me that Action Park thought it was a good idea to add in ramps for riders to rocket over. And then employees fashion up a mat made of that super slick crap, that’s just too much. I can just visualize the scene of some kid going at like 40mph head first and completely overshooting that little slowdown pool. lol It’s too bad they got rid of that slide…
Thanks for commenting Mike!
i remember this exactly as he described. we would go every year when i was a kid. there was always people trying to find a mat, yet we would always have like 3 or 4 stacked. im glad you confirmed that it did make u go faster, i always wondered if i carried that extra wieght for nothing! lol man i wish this place was still around, i rode every ride there (except loop) many many times and managed to never get seriously hurt. i will try to find old picsand vids i knw we have somewhere and send in…
I remember snakes in one of the pools. I rode this tube down a long slide and half way down i fell of the tube landing painfully in the pool with less skin on my legs then when i started the ride with. But just when i thought my ride of death was over I see this huge snake swimming right at my face. I was only 8 and i couldnt swim very well, so their i was flapping my arms and legs screaming for help because of this snake and the fact i was bloody and in pain, and not one person came to my aide. All the children were pushing me down in the water and they were trying to get out of the pool, I though i was goin to drown or be attacted by this snake. THANK GOD for my older brother, because he pulled me out.
When i was 7 I rode 1 of their tube rides and i was going so fast my tube almost reared off the slope which was very high off the ground. Also the tide pool was the worst being so little the waves would knock me over and afew times a almost drown because the lifeguards were to busy watching the women then watching the children. The place always had nasty snake infested water and half the rides would brake down during the few hours you would spend at the part. Even the kiddie pool with those little bumper boats was a death zone. Once I seen one of the boats start to sink with a child in it, you would think that the lifegaurds would have leaped in the pool to get the kid out, but No the parent had to be the one to jump in and unbuckel the child before the boat sank drowning the kid… Though the park was full of danger, it still provided me with alot of fun and some great memories.
i rose the canonball loop. man that sucker beat you up.
I am curious if there’s any remains of action park left. was mountain creek built on the old site of AP? did they leave any remnants? is there anything to explore?
I don’t know if anything of Action Park is left actually. Everything in the waterpark was pretty much reused by Mountain Creek, and some of the most known attractions (Cannonball Loop, Aerodium, etc) were simply removed. I know they have one river attraction that pretty much sits un-used for the most part. The Surf Hill slides might still be “standing but not operating” as well but other than that I’m not sure.
By looking at Google Earth, it doesn’t look like Motorworld is around at all; at least I can’t spot any tracks or anything. You can check out Mountain Creek on Google Earth at ‘41°11′24.78″N 74°30′30.55″W’ and see if you can see anything. That giant field just to the west of Mountain Creek might be where Motorworld was.
As a kid i have always had a strange fixation with roller coasts & amusement parks. Who knows why?!But I have to say that i have been obsessed with Action Park since i found out about it 4 days ago!
We only had a Wonderland (affiliated with Hannah Barbarah) out here in Australia & I was always a scaredy cat to go on any of the big rides!
HOWEVER! I feel so disappointed to have not experienced the ‘legend’ of Action Park. From everything I have read, it seems so ridiculous & intriguing, like a taboo movie about reckless teens!
As ridiculously conservative I am, if I had the chance to jump at any of these threatening rides, I totally would! The Cannonball Loop had my jaw dropped for hours as I read comments/experiences & studied pictures! I even showed my co-workers & their response was “……WTF.. how? wha.. HOW THE HELL WOULD THAT EVEN WORK?!” lol! “Exactly. Fucking insane”
I am sure the real experience isn’t as romantic as it seems- but to someone who has always been safe, always been scared of danger, this place seemed like a place that was so so wrong it was right!
Just want to say thanks for the indepth descriptions! It makes the idea of the place even more real! You have no idea how many people i have told about the place! Just out of sheer disbelief that something so dangerous could have existed for such a long period of time!!
Thanks for the experience!! =)
Lauren
Thanks for stopping by Lauren and thanks for the kind words!
“So wrong it was right”…I like that! It’s a pretty good one sentence summary of how Action Park was.
You know, I think something like the Cannonball Loop, while still crazy, wouldn’t be as insane if it were built today. Like if built in 2009, there would be definately be calculations, proper water drainage, correct pitches, etc; it would be studied up and down and over again until the most minor of faults were ironed out.
Back in the mid 80s it was probably just two guys sitting at a bar with one going “hey, let’s see if this will work!” Two weeks later their drawing scralled out on a napkin became Cannonball Loop! How did they know it would work? Well they didn’t until ‘John the Lifegaurd’ went down and didn’t die!
Even I can’t beleive some of the stuff that went down at Action Park even though I was there!
loved that place went from 86 to 1990 loved motor wolrd and the indy cars fastest go cart ive ever been on got kicked off in 89 hit a cone or tire went over thew yellow line god i miss that place also went on aero ride first year it opened that was fun sad to see it in ruins ps any one know where i can buy one of those cars ?
After doing a google search for water slide, I came across a youtube video of a loop slide in germany. I got curios and googled loop slide and found all this information on this ridicouls ride at action park! Since webates have sparked my intrest in action park and looking at pictures, I’ve relized this was a place my father use to vist. I have pictures of my parent visting this death trap.
Although the picuters show a water slide that was long and horzitial with long bumps. Can anybody tell wich ride this was?
Long horizontal slide with bumps sounds like either Kamikaze or Surf Hill.
Kamikaze was a single slide built into a hill with 3 or 4 small/medium sized drops before ending in a pool.
Surf Hill was like one very wide slide with 8 or so lanes which traveled down 4 or 5 hills before ending.
can you post any pics you have of action park? starting a history site
The only photos I have from the park were from the Mountain Creek days unfortunately.
I was doing a search on action park just to see what would come up and I came across this site. I was also curious about the “Cannonball Loop Slide”. I remember going there when I was a kid and seeing this crazy looking slide that had a loop, but the slide always appeared abandoned and completely shut down. I remember hearing stories that a woman snapped her neck in the loop, but these were all just rumours , or course. I find it so cool and fascinating to read the stories of the people who actually rode that slide, (and made it out alive) major props to you.
Would be great if someone posted up a video of the most dangerous slide ever created.
I had a lot of memories of Action Park going there as a kid, no major injuries, just a few head bumps and scrapes, minor compared to some people. I remember my brother tricked me into going down one of the slides in the lower area (in the freezing cold water). He said “oh it’s just a tiny slide”, little did I know that it had a 20 ft drop at the end of it. lol I was only about 9 years old, but I was a good swimmer. I remember the girl asked me before I went on the slide if I could swim and I thought, that’s odd why is she asking me this. lol I also remember the one tube slide next to that area, The Gauley, (I believe that was the name of it). It was fun, but you would sometimes get stuck in certain areas and have to push yourself down, and of course you would sometimes smash into people and sometimes pile up. I also remember the cannon slides which I ended up banging my head around one of the turns in the tube, then being spit out into ice cold water and barely being able to catch my breath. The wave pool was insane, the waves were oddly big, you could drown very easily if you weren’t a good swimmer. The kamikaze was surprisingly fast, probably one of the best slides at the park and the Geronemo Falls slides were crazy, at the end of the ride you had a dental floss for a bathing suit.
I definitely want to make it out to Mt. Creek one of these days just to experience the waterslide thrills once again…
thats exactly what im searching for any pics of old action park or videos of the cannonball slide
i know i commented on someone elses comment, but i wanted to comment on this artical, its GREAT! the descriptions were pretty much dead on. what sucks is i had a lot typed up and some how it didnt get posted, now i dont remember it lol.
i loved this place as a kid. I started going ~90-91, which would make me about 10. im proud to say i went the last year it was open, since it says it was closed in 96. i moved to the south in 95 and swore i went back twice, but it must have been once.
we would run up and down thoses hills barefoot, which would burn and cut ur feet all up, but we didnt care. i loved this place because they didnt care about ur size or age for anything, and at 10 doing these rides you loved it. i rode everyride/slide except cannonball loop, (which was never open while i was there, thankgod cause my stupid young ass would have done it) many many times, avoiding serious injury somehow. my dad would never let me do the areododim for some reason, lol. the wiki says that it would bring u 6-7 feet up, but im here to tell u ive seen people go up higher then the building, i remember thinking to myself “he’s dead if he doesnt go back down correctly to land on the padding!” i loved every ride, some more then others, but top 2 was probly the cliff jump, and the tall ass strait down slide (which had a chain net covering the first 15′ or so down so u wouldnt fall out). i remember only weighing maybe 90 pounds, i wouldnt even be on the slide, it was a free fall till it curved out. im sad to find out these 2 rides are gone at the new mountain creek.
i did the motor park a little. wish i would have know the tennis ball trick, lol. i did wreck the cars though, being 12 in my memory of the motorpark, the only pedal i used was the gas (which was always on the floor). shot the tennis ball cannon many times, and yes the best part was shooting the helpless employees, lol
im gonna go back one day, but its so less appealing now that my favorite rides and others are gone, but my curiousty wont let me not go so i can look in theses areas and see what is or isnt there for myself. i’ve always wished it was still around, but in the back of my mind knew based on my memories that there was no way it could still be today(not in its true glory anyway). as i look back all i can think is “holy shit that really did happen!”
I remember going so often with my friends we used to plan trips to go mid week, when it was cold and cloudy. That way the park was empty. We would complete every ride before lunch, eat, and then repeat.
Surf hill was the best. The ramp in lane 7 and 8 were great but when the lines were long, we would fight, literally, for lane 3. it was the best. We would line up in lane 1,2,4,5. On “three” we would run half way down the slide and jump onto the neighboring chute, claw at your friend who is already sliding, and jump in front of him who would grab you to slow you down. We were not gentle. The person who crossed the water at the end, in lane 3 won. Bruises ensued. Thankfully the laughter always beat out the contusions. Mitch once hit the water so fast he skipped over it and as he was about to ram the padding, he ducked his head and went right under. Four people had to pry him out. He was king for the day and operations on the slide never even slowed down.
That place Rocked!
I worked in Wharton and use to go there back in the late 80’s. We would get out of work at 3 and be there by 4. They use to discount after 3 or 4. It was always pretty empty people would be leaving at that time of the day.
Anyway, I’m surprised I lived. Beer sales were real lax up there, it didn’t matter how tanked or young (sometimes) you were.
Geronimo Falls was my favorite, saw quite a few lost tops from the girls that rode it. Everybody got a wedgie.
Tarzan Swings was great to watch folks get faced.
No place was really safe, I’ve read people use to meet up with snakes on the Miniature Golf Course.
Our Boss hated the place, everytime we went there. We would always be all banged up the next day (with leftover beer buzz),we were pretty much worthless for half the day. that’s if we even showed up.
Thanks For posting this Brian.
There will never be another place like Action Park.
Good Times!
God Bless Action Park!!!!!!!!!
I remember being on the cliff dive looking down at people swimming way too close to the divers and landing right next to them surprised no one was smashed there, but action park was the best thing ever built….new jersey must find a way to build something similar.
Also remember being scared as sh**, but saw everyone else was ok with it so when in rome!!!! LIVE ON TRACTION PARK
This site and reading people’s experiences bring back some awesome memories. Surf Hill and all the stories about people crashing into the padding, getting wedged into it and how the employees would eat at the base of hill while being entertained by the injuries are just remarkable. Here’s my experience.
I get to the base of brand new Surf Hill with some friends and we’re told the ride is closed and can’t go on it. It’s just been built and the surface is brilliant blue. We stand around watching people go down for awhile, apparently trying out the ride. Looks like its open to us so we let the attendants know we’d like to give it a try and are given permission. First time down was fun, though a little bumpy. It feels like the polyurethane foam has just been laid down directly on top of the rocks underneath. I make a note to myself to keep my hands and soft parts on the slide so I don’t get any bone chips.
Second time is when the fun starts. Surf Hill when it was brand new was not the way most people remember it. There was the same 80 feet or so of vertical as you slide down, then maybe an 8” deep puddle, less than in later years, then a slight upslope to slow down and get this… NO padding at the end!!! I go zipping down fast, blow right through the puddle and straight into the gravelly dirt at the base! For everyone who smacked into the padding, imagine the ride brand new with no padding and not even any grass at the end, just gravel and dirt. That was my last time on Surf Hill and, like the employees on lunch break, I then stood around at the end waiting for the next person to get injured.
I’m surprised there’s no mention of how many bikini tops came off at this place. My girlfriend lost her top on the tarzan swing the first time she tried it. Everyone got wedgies on the water slides. Funny it did not seem so dangerous at the time, but I do remember all the topless girls from teh crazy water rides.
newslife site » Horrorific tales from ACTION PARK – Vernon, NJ // Sep 17, 2009 at 5:09 am
[...] Great site and photos of ACTION PARK in its horrifying heyday [...]
Hey I rode all these rides for years. I even got to ride the cannonball 2…referred here as the cannonball loop…did it 4 times in a row then they closed it. Me and my friends recalled all the attendants that were there kept saying whatever you do don’t lift your head and there were 4-5 attendants in the dispensory pool all very helpfull while you recovered your conciousness. That was an awesome ride!!! Awesome!!! I flew off the side of the expert Alpine Slide…thought I was gonna die but ended up unscathed….I want to win the lottery and buy the place for myself.
i remember going to action park as a kid during the mid 80s to early 90s. as a kid, you never realize how dangerous the place really was. my father told me about the guy who got electrocuted a few years before we visited. so, my father took me to a park where someone was electrocuted in a water ride! ah, the 80s were such a different time! things were just more lax in general it seems. i hate great adventure, so action park was more fun. i went on the tarzan swing. i was only 10 or 11 and could barely reach the handle. i slipped off and belly floped into the pool! i didn’t get hurt, but everyone thought i did. i felt ok. but man that water was cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good times during a time when things were simpler. no way would action park have lasted today! i want to get to mountain creek, if only to reminisce about the place when it was action park.
Most of the Waterworld/Roaring Springs rides are still there, and most of them are unmodified, so to say Mountain Creek is just another scenc waterpark, IMO, isn’t correct. I was there over the summer, and of all the former Action Park rides still there, they all felt like they were haunted by the soul of the predecessor… I believe strongly especially since I nearly injured myself on the Colorado Rapids ride – head trauma almost inflicted from the continual head banging into head, and head banging into wall action.
The Alpine Slide was probably my favorite ride ever, anywhere. And it really wasn’t that bad, danger-wise. I rode that thing probably 20 times and I knew all the tricks and I always made sure to get a fast sled, and I rarely braked. I’d always catch up to the person in front of me and *then* I’d brake. I remember eventually I started asking the attendants to give the person ahead of me an extra-long head start – they’d do that for the more advanced riders. But I never came close to going over the edge, though I guess it was possible. The sleds did take some skill to “drive”, you weren’t just free-falling, you had to lean into turns the right way and sort of guide the sled down the track. I guess I learned that from doing log flumes with my brother when I was really young – we’d always get our log going so fast in the water that we’d catch up and bang into the people ahead of us. Most people don’t even know you can do that!
Anyway, I’m sad that the Alpine Slide is gone.
Ah, Vernon Valley. I actually was taken to the Alpine slide back in the late 70’s along with my brother by my grandfather. See Vernon Valley used to also have the Playboy club, and Grandpa did plumbing for them. So he knew the Valley and the locals well.
Anyway, this was before “Action Park” and it was a bit lonely. You went up the chairlift with the little carts on the side. Had to jump off at a dip spot mid-way up, then off to the tracks.
For a kid, this thing was incredible. Push the stick forward you go faster, pull back you brake. Lean forward while pushing and you go *fast*. The track itself was long, twisty, and had one part where you literally went *down* fast enough that if you hit it at high speed you would fly off the tracks then land at the bottom (maybe a 5 foot drop). There was a “SLOW DOWN” sign just before it.
Right.
I flipped out once, tore up my legs but got back on. My brother actually banged his head on the track fairly badly; ended one of our excursions.
Last time I went was probably in 82 or so, after the rest of the rides had opened. Much more crowded, noisy, everyone riding the water rides. Not for me, I wanted to ride the slide of death. And let me say that was probably the most dangerous thing there, bar none.
Now… There are a few Alpine slides still around, most of them are shorter and slightly…. better thought out. I went to one in TN last year with my kids. They went down slowly. Me…. Let’s just say that at 41 years old and 250 pounds when you lean forward on that stick you can go *FAST*. As in ride the edge of the track in the curved banks fast. The people working there thought I was insane. But I’ve been there, done that, have the scars on my legs.
Next time though I’m bringing my motorcycle helmet with me and full leathers. Dance a bit closer to the edge, shall we?
CZ