Waterworld…not with Kevin Costner…
Waterworld was set on a particularly steep section of the park. The entire section was on an incline until it leveled out a bit at the top; the end of the incline also marked the end of Waterworld. The first slide you saw back in the Action Park days was The Kamikaze, a simple three dip body slide that was built into the hill. While Kamikaze is still there, the first attraction you’d come across today is the giant red and yellow funnel that makes up the business end of High Anxiety. On the left, down a nondescript path, was where the Tarzan Swings were located. A pair of slides, named Cannonball Falls, sat right next to the Tarzan Swings; both sitting in a densely wooded ravine. Also to the left was a small stage area for shows and further up was the Aerodium. If you managed to make the awful hike up to the top of this section, you were greeted by grouping of vertical slides called Geronimo Falls.
Lets start off with the Tarzan Swings which were, and still are, a spectacle of pain. The swing was huge first off; the beam to hold them must have hovered 30 feet above the water. The swings (there were three) had a triangle shaped bar to hang onto and riders would swing from platforms that were about 15 feet above the water. The goal of this attraction was to successfully swing over the bulk of the water and let go at the pinnacle of your swing; it rarely ever went that way though.
This is what would normally happen: You grab onto the bar, tumble off the platform, forget to tuck you’re legs in to avoid hitting the surface of the water, and finally you faceplant into the pool. I remember seeing one kid not let go of the swing at all; he reached the apex of the swing, started traveling backwards, and then slammed into this padded wall just under the platform. He then dropped like a dead bird into the water and had to swim the entire length of the pool to get out…which is not fun at all.
While I’m at this point, I’ll talk about the pools at Action Park; they are all freezing cold. Even today in the Mountain Creek era they’re still pretty damn cold. The Roaring Springs section must have no heat whatsoever in their rock basin looking pools. After waiting in a long line in the sun, the sudden wave of cold water upon entering a pool is like a shock. Some of the people’s reactons remind me of one particular episode of the Discovery Channel show Man vs Wild where survival expert Bear Grylls leapt into an ice pond and proceeded to flail around and nearly hyperventilate while trying to get out.
However the worst pools were the Tarzan Swing and Cannonball Falls splash pools. Both are in an intense shade provided by the wooded surroundings, and both look like natural pools; it was only recently that I found out that these are in fact fresh water pools. The bottom is simply made of concrete slabs with boulders and rocks making up the sides of the pool. The depth of each pool is around 15 feet and he shade makes it look very dark and murky (thanks Mike D for the info!)
Anyway, right next to the Tarzan Swings was Cannonball Falls. This is the ride where I actually hurt myself on! Add me to one of the countless people hurt at Action Park! The key word here is hurt, as opposed to injured or maimed. Cannonball Falls (or just Cannonball) are two short, black tubed waterslides; you are supposed to race the other person down the slide. The slides are very unassuming looking but pack a huge punch. Riders go down a tiny drop before sliding down a steady downward grade complete with a couple of turns. Riders gain quite some speed before being shot out of the tubes, which hover some 10 feet above the water. The way I was ‘hurt’ on this was when I was shot out of the tube; I fell into the pool on my side and basically landed on my arm. Nothing serious, but not comfortable either.
As you make you’re way past the start of the Kamikaze, you would have noticed a large round building to you’re left. This was one of those faux skydiving machines with the giant fan to simulate skydiving. According to Wikipedia it was called the Aerodium. I remember going into the building to see the people first hand attempt this feat. The noise in the building was deafening and the whole place rattled like hell when the fan was at full speed. 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.
If you make it to the top of the hill, you can turn around and see the spectacular view which overlooks many of the mountains and valleys of northern NJ, lined with tiny (and probably expensive) houses; or you can also go on the Geronimo Falls. I have heard that this is one of the tallest vertical drop slides in the US, only topped by “Summit Plummet,” at Disney World’s Blizzard Beach. The Geronimo Falls were two vertical slides flanked by two smaller vertical slides.
This was the site of an alleged Action Park death. I say alleged because I’ve never found the report on it. The story is that some person sat up while going down the slide, despite all the warnings to lie down while riding. It was rider error, but a fatality none the less. If anyone knows about this story, then please drop me an e-mail.
Two things I always remembered about this slide complex were that there was like a 10 foot section of the taller slides that was covered. Maybe they put them there to prevent someone from falling off the top. The other thing was the wooden bridge that went over the ending section of the slide. The bridge gave a great vantage point to watch people drop down the vertical section, and then become engulfed in a spray of water as they hit the portion of the slide that levels out, at which point they would rumble under the bridge. The bridge also had a stairway on the far end which led to some overgrown weeds and the tree line…a complete waste of a perfectly good stairway!
There are a few more slides in Waterworld, none really that spectacular. They had a couple of kiddie rivers and slides which rarely ran. But they did have this old serpentine mat slide that was built into the hill. I recently looked at a park map of Mountain Creek and contrary to what I thought, they are in fact still operating under the name Sidewinder. I remember the ‘lifegaurd’ who would tell people when to go down didn’t even care; he just stood there and said “go, go, go, go…” and everyone and their brother piled down the slide. I waited a bit and then went. It was pretty fast and long with a couple of tunnels.
Funnily enough, back in 2004 or so at Mountain Creek, I was talking to one of the ‘lifegaurds’ that stood at the top of the slide and instructed people to go down. I asked if I should go down and the bleach blonde surfer looking kid said: “um…you know just wait a second because I’m not sure. I sort of just guess. (chuckle)”
DoD3 reader Ari F. has a wild story to share about the seemingly un-assuming Serpentine Slides:
Back in the late 80s I went to Action park with my family; I must have been 15 or so at the time. The Serpentine was the first ride I went on. I got to the top, the lifeguard said “go”, and off I went. Of course no one told me you have to curl up the front of the mat. Not curling up the front of the mat results in vastly reduced speeds. In fact the slide was built in such a way that if you didn’t have sufficient speed around certain turns you just stopped and you had to push yourself down until you built up enough momentum. Well that is what happened to me. Which would have been bad enough but the fun didn’t end there…
After I slowed to a crawl and began pushing my way down, I briefly took a look back over my shoulder behind me and I see a 250 pound woman rounding the last turn coming at me at top speed. All she has time to do is say “Hold on to your mat Kid!” and it was a good thing she did. I complied and shut my eyes tight and ‘Pow!’ she slammed right into me. We raced down the rest of the slide at top speed. I screamed the whole way down. I felt like that bald guy in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome who ends up riding on the front of the speeding train. (Admin Note: He’s referring to this scene!)
So we are flying down the slide and then I begin to think “What the hell is going to happen in the splash pool! This lady is going to squash me.” So I prepared myself and just as we hit the splash pool I pushed downward and she flew right over me. We both smiled and went our merry ways, both happy that I avoided injury.
The Wave Pool
If you go all the way to the top of the path, you’ll stumble upon the giant wave pool. Somebody died here as well! It seemed like a fairly tame wave pool, but it apparently had some sort of odd rip-tide which led to unprecedented numbers of rescues each year. One thing I remember was that the entrance to the pool section had these posts with sprayers that sprayed freezing cold water. The water in the pool was also cold, even though it’s in direct sunlight.
If you go up a nondescript stairway to the left of the pool, you’ll come to the Surf Hill racing slides (renamed Riptide in the Mountain Creek era.) Surf Hill was one of those giant 8 lane slides with maybe 3 or 4 dips to traverse. You would ride headfirst on mats, and the object was to be the first one to hit the end of the slide.
Surf Hill slide was built right into a hillside slope and the walk to the top is horrible; the ride down is pretty fast though! Unfortunately they didn’t have room for a straight section to end the slide (though they seemed to have enough room for long straightaways after every dip) so instead there were small water filled pits in each lane and a large curved wall covered with that slick padding. If you’re going too slowly, you’ll slam into the pit of water and the mat will smack you in the face; too fast and you’ll fly across the pit, slide up the wall and tumble down. It was a lose/lose situation you see. These slides are apprently gone now, never to injure again. Check out the comments section below for a bunch of great Surf Hill stories; it seemed to be right up there with the “best” of Action Park!
“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 one time when I was going down Surf Hill and after one of the bumps I went soaring into the air and landed two lanes over from where I had started and when we got to the bottom, I plowed into the kid who had been riding in that lane and ran right over him before I stopped.
It was spectacular.
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.
Theres condos there now
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.
I’ve been going to Action Park/Mountain Creek since it opened and it is was the best place ever, Today it’s still fun but the crazy stuff is gone. My favorite stories were always going with my big brother who weighed like 275 pounds and would get beat up so bad when we went. I remember on the Alpine Slide he was wearing polyester coaches shorts and he wiped out and slid down the slide on his butt. When he got up his shorts had melted and were smoking. Surf Hill was also awesome in the expert lanes. I remember there was a 185 pound limit, but they let my brother do it. When he went off the ramp he completely missed the landing pool and went up the de-acceleration hill through the crash mats and took out three employees. This year they closed the Kamikaze slide which was one of my favorites. As you hit crest of each hill you would push of the slide and almost fly off the slide. My senior year in high school we went there for our senior trip and I did the ride so much I threw up on the ride home. I was really bummed to see that closed. I saw the looping water slide, but it was never open when I went to the park, man I would’ve liked to do that! The Colorado river Ride and other raft ride are great, but don’t fall off as I’ve done that a few times and tore up my back pretty good on the concrete slide. I thought it was a wrestling mat surface like surf hill, but boy was I wrong! Motorworld was fun but my brother dry docked the speed boat because he was to heavy and it wouldn’t go fast enough for him. They tried to throw us out, but when my brother asked them who they had who could throw him out, they decided to not try. Action/Traction Park was awesome and it gave me some of my fondest memories as a kid. I went down Cannonball Falls and the Tarzan Swing a bunch of times this weekend at the age of 45 just to remember how great and deadly it was!
I went to this place maybe six times ever – late 80s, early 90s – and it was inevitable that you’d experience danger first or second hand. There was a high speed waterslide in which riders dropped out of a chute from about 35 feet high and basically went straight down, then curved and ended in a splash track. Some woman threw her leg out of the track on her way down, got totally twisted up and ended up being removed by the EMTs. She looked like a Stretch Armstrong that was attacked by a rabid dog.
I went on the Tarzan Swing several times. Once, while passing over the water I couldn’t quite pull myself up, so I skimmed it and slammed into the water on my face. The skin under my arms was transparent and you could see all my veins, etc. clear as crystal. I was freaked and certainly never experienced anything like that before. I thought I’d have to go to first aid but in about 30 minutes, I was fine.
Finally, my uncle who was in his mid-40s at the time, was one of the unlucky fools who got stuck albeit briefly in the Cannonball loop. Apparently, that was not uncommon! And then don’t forget the Wave Pool. OMG! To stand on the edge and watch the waves in the deepend…..a crocodile-filled moat looked safer. Very forboding to say the least.
Great fun.
Just what to let everyone know that the Cannonball Loop @ Action Park (Accident Park) was indeed opened for brief periods of time. I watch people ride it and scream!!!!! I was going to go on it but I became a little to nervous because I had an incident @ the park earlier that day. I turned completely around in mid air while ridding one of the steep water slides that drops ridders almost 10 stories. Some places call it Geronimo. When I came to a stop I was face the trough (inside of the slide(. It was intense lifting off the back of the slide and spinning all the way around in mid air. Parts of my skin was bruised and raw so I didn’t ride that looping slide which barely remained open. I have one phot of that slide.
Had many visits there. I definitely remember the cannon ball being open for one of the visits. While approaching the slide, you could actually hear the people’s bodies clanking around as they went through it. Scary. BUT I LOVED EVERY TRIP!!
Greatest park ever! Another great thing about action park was that you could walk around with beer and drink as much as you want – and nobody cared! Remember the fish tank by the cliff diving? Once a friend and I were so drunk that one of our friends dared us to jump in, which we proceeded to do and of course we didn’t get thrown out – luckily there weren’t any piranna in the tank – I wouldn’t put it past the owners of this nitemare – it made the swim that much more exciting. My brother was almost killed when his speed boat flipped over in motor world – again another intoxicaed rider allowed to reach high speeds in a free riding speed boat. Lots of bumps and bruises over my several visits. I remember going down the alpine slide as a kid and being afraid to go too fast which of course resulted in whiplash by being rammed from the sleder behind me. As I got older I wanted to take my revenge out on the riders in front of me so I would reach ridiculous speeds which often resulted in me flying off the slide. Wasn’t there a ride where you’d spin around in a circle and the floor would drop? But it was wide open, not like the current gravatron rides in parks. I remember getting naseaus on this ride.
I remember hanging out by geronimo falls laughing at all of the wedgies and lost suit tops. The food and service in the restaurants was terrible. Never had the chance to ride the cannonball loop because it was always closed but I remember getting yelled out for always going head first in the regular cannonball. The black asphalt was so hot I remember walking on the side of it to deal with the pain of the rocks and not risk burning my feet. Thanks for the memories!
Great site… Action Park randomly popped into my head recently so i decided to see what Wikipedia had to say about it and I was eventually lead to this site. Whats really funny is that the memories I have from this place are in line with those of the other writers on this page and with that of Wikipedia’s ‘Accident Park’, “Class-Action Park” descriptions.
I was born in ’86 in Florida, my family is from Jersey just outside NYC, we used to takes trip up to NJ every summer. I would say it was maybe ’94 or ’95 (which i now know to be AP’s later years) that we finally made it to Action Park. Being from florida i have been to some water parks before, Typhoon Lagoon at Disney, Atlantis in Ft. Lauderdale, Rapids in WPB etc., but never in my life have I ever came across a park like the Action Park.
I was young and I cant remember everything from out day spent there but here are a few highlights from the deep reaches of my memory:
Tarzan Swing: I distinctly remember waiting in line for this thing, nearly shitting my pants with anticipation because it seemed so high off the water, thinking there was no way i was going to be able to reach the triangle handle much less swing myself into a safe part of the pool. My cousin was the first one to go, she made a nice swing, did alittle leg kick in the air and landed succefully in the pool with no problem, even receiveing alittle round of applause. She was smaller then me so i figured it shouldnt be much of a problem. I wil never forget grabbing that handle, with my toes dangling off the edge of what seemed like a 20 ft. drop, with just the tips of my fingers holding tight enough for me to ease my way off the platform, swing through the air, get alittle off balance on my release and land almost face first in the water. The other thing i will never forget is how cold the water was, nearly taking the breath out of my lungs and causing and instant seizure. But, alas I swam to the ladder at the far end of the pool and made my escape, alittle shaken up, frigid cold, but alive and well.
Cliff Jump: This place had two pretty serious cliff jumps, one was 23ft. the other 16ft. that went straight down into a large pool where there were many unsuspecting swimmers wading about with out a care in the world. I remember thinking this could be dangerous if one of them decided to wander into the deeper end of the pool and find themself in the path of a diving teenager coming in from 23ft. above. I remember waiting in line, trying to sike myself up for the jump when the life gaurd whitsles blew. Apparently, someone had jumped onto the head of a fellow jumper who had taken to long to clear the path. I’ll never forget the lifegaurd at the top of the cliff, throwing his life saving ring at the distressed swimmers and nailing one of them right in the head. I thought someone died, I guess they were ok because they escorted them out the water and we procceded to take the leap of faith blindly into the water below. Probably one of the best cliff jumps ive ever been on.
Alpine Slide: Lastly, there was the Alpine Slide. We saved this ‘ride’ for the end of the day because the lines were long in the morning and we didnt feel like waiting. So, after a nice little ride up the ski lift, and a struggle to get the heavy ass cart of the back of it, we finally made it to the drop in point of the slide. Just at that moment the ski’s opened up and a light drizzle poured down from above. Now the Alpine carts have a ‘hand brake’ that is simply a metal rod with a peice of rubber at the end that makes contact with the cement slide to slow you down when your going to fast (which was almost always). It was explained to us by the park employees that when the cement was wet the rubber would not be able to create enough friction to slow you down and you would essentially be sliding down this thing at high speeds with no way of stoping. Unsafe? Very. The rain didnt seem like it was slowing, in fact it was getting more intense, and i guess because of a lighting factor they did not allow us to ride the ski lift back to the base area like we did on our way up. The only way down was to walk. Now let me remind you that this park was built on the side of mountain that when snowy conditions allowed, people would ski down. The Alpine Slide was built on a green (beginner) ski hill which is not a big deal if your skiing but could be trouble if you had to walk down. Well since the we couldnt ride the slide down and the ski lift was out of commision cause of the lightning we were forced to walk down, in a group, the semi-steep, rock filled ski hill. It took probly 10 mintues at least to walk all the way down the hill, a few people got tripped up and had some bloody knees, but we all managed to make it to the base with little to know injury. Needless to say we never got to ride the infamous Alpine Slide but because of the conditions, the walk down the hill, and the fact we waiting all day to ride this thing and never got the opportunity too, my Aunt raised hell in the customer relations office and we were given free passes to come back at a later date. I wonder if we still have those passes somewheres? It’d be great to see the exact date i was there, and if i can locate them i’ll defintely upload them to the site.
All in all Action Park was incredible and one of a kind. A “ride-at-your-own-risk” type park which will forever be banished to our memories. Im glad i got to experince it and will continue on the legacy for as long as i can.
Great Site, keep the updates coming!
Viva-La-Action-Park!!
My minor claim to fame is that I believe I was the first person to add “You’ve been to Action Park and have the scars to prove it” to the “You Know You’re From Jersey When…” lists that were going around the internet a while back. In the early days of Myspace, I added that line to it and every time it has come back around to me, that line is still there, verbatim.
Speaking of scars, I still have the faintest outline of a scar on my knee from the Alpine Slide that I got when I was about 9 or 10 years old (I’m 30 now). They never really stressed the importance of the brake on the little deathscooter they put you on, so naturally, being 9 years old and not knowing any better, I went flying down the concrete tube like a bat out of hell and dumped the scooter around one of the larger turns, sliding for 30 feet or so and sanding a flat spot in my kneecap about the size of a half-dollar. As I lay there regaining my composure, I heard the ominous whooshing sound of another approaching scooter and got to my feet just in time to do an action hero leap over the side of the tube as another deathscooter whipped past me at about mach 3. If I hadn’t leapt over the side, I probably would have broken my neck, or at the very least, my ankles. Action Park was exciting because while most amusement parks SIMULATE the experience of personal danger and permanent injury, Action Park delivered that experience FOR REAL.
Oh, the memories.
-~D~-
Omg I love you. I remember when those lists first started circulating, and eventually I got the one with your tag line about Action Park and it was like angels were singing.
Surviving your trip to Action Park is like getting to join an elite club.
The best waterpark ever, hands down!!!
As I have told my wife on many occasions, if it wasn’t for Action Park I wouldn’t be a self-proclaimed, semi-pro water slide rider. Hands crossed over your chest, arched back, and riding on your heels is a guaranteed recipe for speed, or in the case of Action Park…disaster.
To quote my younger brother, “What other water park has so many urban legend death stories associated with it,” yet each summer my parents would have no problem allowing us to go.
I remember when they put the canvas top over Geronimo and you could see the imprint of people’s bodies hovering off the slide and touching the cover. People would be walking around the park with huge road rash burns all over their backs from this ride. And of course the massive wedgies you’d walk off with. The first time I rode that slide I was under the weight limit of 100lbs and I remember being scared to death that I’d fly off the thing.
Kamikaze was always one of the underestimated slides at the park. Since it was built into the hill it was a little deceiving but you could get cranking on that thing. I remember my friends dad flying down the slide and he hit the back wall of the landing pool that’s how fast he was going.
The Cannonball was always a bit sketchy. You’d never know what was going to happen once you entered the tubes and embarked on your journey of 15 seconds of pitch darkness only to be shot out 10 ft above the water arms flailing in the air.
Tarzan Swing was another one I was always terrified of when I was younger. Probably because I was too short to reach the triangle so I would have to jump and grab it at the last second just as they would hand it off to you with that long hook-pole. The last time I was there (5 years ago) my buddy, who is 6’3″, never lifted his knees so he did the classic face plant right into the water which was then followed by the swim of shame in that freezing water as the crowd heckled him from up top.
Surf Hill was another good one. I remember I was too light during the time it was opened so I couldn’t get enough speed like the older kids. I don’t know if it’s my own memory or if I’m thinking of an old Action Park commercial, but I remember people getting like 10ft of air of the jumps on the side lanes.
Roaring Springs and Colorado Rapids are classics. I loved the mayhem and free-for-all that ensues once you’re in your raft, or when you’re trying to catch up to your raft and trying not drown from everyone else crowed in the pools.
Ah, so many other great memories…I remember riding the ski lift for the Alpine Slide looking at all the crashed carts in the woods and hoping I wouldn’t be next, I remember almost breaking my toe when I dropped the Aqua Scoot sled on it, I remember when my friend’s dad zoomed past him upside down in one of the pitch black tunnels, and I remember when another friend jumped off the cliff dive and landed on his side and his dad had to jump in after him because he couldn’t breathe or swim to safety and it didn’t seem like the life guards were going after him. I remember Cannonball Loop but unfortunately it was never opened when I was there.
There will never be another park quite like this. I’m just grateful for those experiences and grateful to be alive.
Awesome Site!! I love hearing all the great stories.
I went to Action Park in the summer of 1988 with my twin sister and our youth group. Our leaders split off from us and we all just walked around doing our own thing. We remember the crazy loop as soon as we walked into the park and both thought it looked like a crazy nightmare, especially since it was closed and weeds and pond scum were in the pool at the bottom.
The first ride my sister and I experienced was the Tarzan swing. We watched how the other people did it before we got on so we didn’t make the mistake of face planting. We both lifted our legs and got pretty high. We both remember the water being VERY cold, but thank goodness we didn’t have to swim far because we made it almost to the other side with the swing already.
The next ride was the embarrasing wedgie and even worse enema that my twin sister and I received from the Geronimo. I couldn’t believe we even went on that ride. We must have been dared, especially after we realized how high up we were and how steep the ride was when we reached the top. I also wasn’t going to walk back down. I believe I closed my eyes until I got to the bottom. Luckily we both made it to the bathroom in time!
I also remember riding a slide that had a drop over the water that I wasn’t expecting at all. I don’t believe it was the cannonball because it was near the cliff jumps not the Tarzan swing as others mentioned. I was not instructed to lay back so when I landed I smacked my face and chest really hard on the water. I guess this was my own stupidity, not checking out the whole ride before I went down it.
I also went down a water slide and passed an elderly gentleman in an underground or completely enclosed tube. I don’t remember light holes, like it was pitch black. I slid right under him and I escaped somehow with only a few bruises. I was speeding down the slide with my toes pointed and back arched and I guess he wasn’t. When I came out at the bottom of the tube, his grandaughter was staring at at me and confusingly asked where he was. He came out a moment later and said he was fine too and couldn’t believe that we were both ok.
The wave pool was our biggest scare. We were used to swimming in the ocean, but not in water that deep that all of a sudden started making waves. We were almost all the way to the back and when the waves started it was way too rough and felt much deeper to us. We started trying to swim to the shallower water, but neither of us had the stamina. Our youthgroup leader happened to be there when this happened and rescued us by yelling at us to come to the side of the pool . I don’t remember a lifeguard halping us at all.
We both also jumped off of the higher cliff and were quite proud of ourselves. It felt like forever before we hit the water and then it felt like forever tying to resurface. My sister jumped at least two more times. I chose not too.
All in all, we didn’t come away with any serious injuries just great memories and the rights to say, We survived Action Park!!
Exploration of Home Base: Vernon « Beyond the Smoke Stacks // Aug 29, 2010 at 9:27 pm
[...] on the very same land they now splash and frolic upon. A legendary ancient water park named Action Park once occupied that land. I shudder at the stories recounted by locals, who dubbed the park [...]
Insane waterslide - Page 6 - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums // Oct 19, 2010 at 4:53 pm
[...] Remembering Action Park | The DoD3: coasters, carnivals and more! Found a full walk through of the rides at action park. People say they're unsafe, i personally thing they're getting safe confused with bad assery. What i would give to been born 10 years earlier. [...]
i vaguely remember my parents taking me there When i was very young. Then i didnt come back until 2003, and have been pretty much going Once A Year. i had no idea these crazy things happened Back Then…im glad its safe Now…anyone with any memories of this place please write hammer@live.com.ph
My family went up there back when it was called Vernon Valley Great Gorge. It was over by the Playboy bunny ranch, where my grandfather did work as a plumber.
The water park had not been built the first time; it was just the Alpine slide. I think it might have been 76 or 77, they were just getting started.
The carts were new, fast, and dangerous as hell.
I’ve ridden a few slides since then (including the ones at Gatlinburg), there’s really no comparison. The VV ones were fast, had some tight turns, and there was one spot where you literally went damn near straight down about 1o feet. I kid you not; you’d see the person in front of you vanish, then about 5 seconds later you would go straight down.
Well, I didn’t. For whatever reason I ignored the little “Slow” sign and hit that drop at full blast. Shot straight out like some sort of Wil-E-Coyote on a sled. Then *wham* landed hard on the track below and almost flipped it. Hit my knee and tore a nice gash through kid’s denim jeans.
It was at that moment I understood that life could kill me. And it would be fun.
Ever since then, I really had no fear of rides. I mean what, how can you compare to that? Even at Gatlinburg, the people said “Holy cow, you were almost coming off the tracks there”. But it’s ok. I’m 42, and got the best training one can find at Vernon Valley.
Chris
wow wow wow is all i c an say
One long awaited summer day, my friends and I piled into a car and headed from Long Island towards NJ to the infamous Action Park. We couldn’t wait for an adrenaline rush, brought to you by the most dangerous water park I had ever been to. My clearest memory was Geronemo slide, or the Cannonball Falls, it was the one with the drop into the pool . That damn thing was crazy –pure mayhem. There was a life guard at the top of the slide, and one stationed at the pool below. People flew down that slide so fast that the life guard stationed at the bottom couldn’t keep track of the bodies flying out. I remember some pimple faced kid waving his arms and whistling frantically for people to quickly swim out of the way before the next human bullet came flying down that dark slide, and into the air. People became human projectiles, as they shot out of that tube like a machine gun before dropping 5 to 10 feet into the pool. It was pure uncontrolled chaos. The screaming and yelling in the pool was accompanied by frenzied and hysterical swimmers. They all were dodging the propelling bodies above them. It was reminiscent of a scene out of the movie “Jaws” when everyone at the beach ran out of the water screaming for their lives. It was the same damn thing, and that was all I needed to see.
I quickly got into the long line for my adrenaline rush. Back then I barely met the weight minimum for many of the rides, like the Cannonball Loop. I only went on that one time because I smacked my elbows and face in the tube and almost got stuck, and then I came out shaking. But, the Falls/slide seemed like something I could handle. When it was my turn, I slid down and unfortunately slowed to a stop. I quickly found myself in a dire predicament. I had to crouch down and walk out of the slide to jump into the pool, but before I could, I heard another sliding sound. The dumbass pimple-faced life guards sent someone else down the slide while I was still in it! I spread my arms and legs and held onto the upper part of the tunnel, clinging, while some guy slid right under me. He yelled “Shit” and was gone in a second. When the guy hit the pool of pandemonium; he must have told the zit-faced teenage life guard to stop the slide. I quickly made my way out of the tunnel. Once I jumped into the pool below, the bodies started flying through the air again. The imminent danger and bedlam made it a Hell of a lot of fun!
Yeah count me in as one of the people that survived Action Park! When my family and I (mom, dad, younger brother) started going there, it was originally called Vernon Valley-Great Gorge. The only thing that was there at the time was the alpine slide in the summer time and of course the ski resort in the winter.
Looking back on it now the slide was like a freakin death trap. I think there were three lanes down the slide. One was a slow land and the other two were fast if I remember correctly. You first had to get a cart from the stack at the bottom of the ski chair lift and then put it on the chair lift itself. Then you had a nice leisurely ride to the top where you got a birds-eye view of riders coming down the hill. No helmets of course. You almost always saw some crazy kid coming down the fast track at break-neck speeds and you just knew he was going to wipe out around a big curve! It was so fun to watch.
So then you get to the top of the hill were you were supposed to get off. Of course you had to wrestle with getting the darn cart off the ski lift chair, but once that was done, you had to decide which track to take. Slow or fast? I was a stupid kid of course so I always choose the fast one. I honestly don’t think I ever flipped the cart, at least I don’t have any memories of doing so. I do remember it was sooooo much fun! I do remember running into the back of other people in front of me that were going way too slow. Sometimes by the end of the ride 4-5 carts would be stacked up all because of one slow rider. That really sucked. Also sometimes you saw people outside of the track as you whizzed looking woozy because they had been going to fast and flipped their cart off the track…..
Eventually Vernon Valley-Great Gorge slowly started adding other attractions like the water slides and Motoworld. We went every year and I remember it was always exciting to checkout what was added for that year. I remember one of their bigger slides, don’t know the name of it. IT WAS INSANE! 10000% INSANE! I remember you had to walk up this big hill to get to it, then up the stair case to get to the top. You waited in line and all I remember thinking was “is this in any way shape or form a good idea?” Well eventually it got to your turn and you are standing at the top. The attendant gives you the basic instructions (ie legs and arms crossed) and then you move to the edge of the slide. You look down and you see NOTHING! NADA! You don’t see the slide at all it was totally vertical. I was like “OMG OMG OMG I’m going to die!!!!!” I swallowed my heart to keep in my chest and took off…..WHAT A RUSH! I think it had like 2 or three bumps in it and it was just a blast! Any idea what the name of it was?
I remember the loop slide too just sitting there all by it’s lonesome over in the corner. It was never open when I was there, I would have definitely ridden it if had. You know back then when you are young you have no fear of course! I’d love to have ridden it!
I never did much in Motoworld, I was just too young back then. I remember the tanks though. I think you had to pay extra to do the tanks, that’s why we never did them. I always wanted to race the LOLA cars, but again I was just too young…..
Thanks for the great article! We moved from NJ to PA in 1983 so probably 1982 was the last year we went to Action Park. Brought back some fond childhood memories……
I went to Action Park in the late 80′s with my brother and a bunch of friends. We were all drinking and we all took mescaline, making my memories of the day surreal and scary. The Cannonball Loop was open that day and my brother was the only one brave enough to try it. He came out bleeding, with a slice down his back from the seam in the tube. My friend came close to drowning in the wave pool. We were all beaten up and bruised at the end of the day, but I’m still proud to say we were there and we survived.
Being from Long Island, I spent time at action park as a teenager in the 80′s. I remember a ride called the Cannonball Falls where the tubes actually went underground before flinging you out over a giant freezing lake. I remember one of the tubes being closed once while I was waiting on line for the ride, and a bunch of employees milling around the other tube. When I asked what was wrong, someone told me “some kid got stuck”.
The Cannonball Loop was always dry and never in operation whenever I was there. Too bad, because I would’ve probably tried it. It did look utterly ridiculous though, even to an 18-year old.
I was the ride lead for this ride I would stand at the top and hose people down it was a dangerous ride, they used to try to bribe us with food vouchers before they opened it so they asked us to ride it first…. As the lead I was asked all the time I’d always say no…. There is a hatch just before the loop that you could get people out… The best place was to be in the pool at the bottom… Many tops came off when women rode it with a two piece…. I was a teenage boy can’t blame me for always wanting to be in the pool at the bottom…also the lining would tear and we would shut off the water and climb the loop to find it…. When a rider would go you would hear three bangs on the loop most people did not stick to the top of the loop hence the bangs all back hits, also the ride used to get snails in it that also cut peoples backs up…. It was part of the alpine group of rides, that was the bumper boats, alpine slide, sling shot, bungee and the loop…. I think that pic from 96 is me in the blue shirt…. At the top… I never understood why people would ride this they would always ask me if it is safe and scary…. Also if you rode this ride I was the one on the top always spraying people in the line coming up even if it was cold…..
I would LOVE to try out that looped water slide.
Action Park was one of the MOST amazing amusement parks I’ve ever experienced. I loved Cannonball Falls and that gigantic slide (one time it took me 45 minutes of standing aside for other riders at the top, to make the decision to finally go). I always experienced bung hole bitin’ wedgies on that slide. LOL!
All the references to how dangerous Action Park was and some of the negativity expressed by the writer about the rides is disappointing. Many of us simply loved Action Park. Where can one go these days to experience the pure adrenaline rush of an Action Park when most amusement parks are snoozefests like Disneyworld. Yuck! Out with “family friendly” and in with “scare the shit outta ya.”
I will never forget the day I scraped and bruised myself riding the Alpine Slide, and I wasn’t even going THAT fast on one of the curves. The cart just kept on going and booted me out, lol. One of many memorable momentss at Action Park. Everything seemed normal and just part of the fun back then, now as we compare those rides with the ones today, with all the safety measures and stuff, we categorize those as bizarre… maybe so, but I don’t regret a second of it!
I use to go to Action Park all the time as a kid. Didn’t feel like you went if you did not go home hurt some how. Went in a 12 passenger van one time with a big group of friends. I dislocated my shoulder on the Colorado River Ride, tearing my rotator cuff, ligaments front and back and my labrum. I was one of the best options to drive home we were all so hurt at the end of the day. Surf Hill had two options…one with a jump and one without. There was no way to not get hurt if you weighed more than 200 lbs. It took us all down at one point. Place cost me a baseball scholarship but I still have great memories from it.
Excellent website, good memories.
Regarding “the cannonball” slide; the black tubes shown in the photos on the site are not the original alignment of the slides; they are the tamer alignment installed by Mountain Creek. The orginal cannonball alignment was even more insane than shown. The tubes went from a high platform down a 45 to 50-degree slope into the pitch black. The tubes went under the ground and around an immediate, sharp, 90-degree turn to the right, then a short straight-away before shooting you out about 10-feet over the freezing cold pond. They actually had a bar at the top of the tubes at the beginning of the slide to help lower yourself in as the slide started at the steep angle downhill. I rode this crazy slide in the 7th grade in 1981. Great rush.
Action Park remains to this day one of my favorite amusement parks. I went there several times as a high schooler in the 80s, and while it seems obvious in hindsight, it never occurred to me at the time the very real danger posed by the various attractions. I still have a scar somewhere on my body from a spectacular spill I took on the Alpine Slide that relieved me of some skin. I hit a turn too quickly (which was easy to do) and ended up flipping with the cart landing just behind me barely missing my head and me sliding a short distance before coming to a stop. That’s the only injury I ever sustained. The rest of the time, I just had an absolute blast.
And, of course, there was that crazy loop slide. It was always a sight to behold, but it was never open any of the times I went. Rumor was that someone broke their neck on it and the ride was closed permanently. I don’t think this really happened, but it was believable enough. I mean, just look at it! It’s crazy that even the otherwise reckless owners of Action Park were afraid to open that thing, yet they never dismantled it. I wonder what they were waiting for?
I’m from Mississippi, but was visiting friends in NYC during the summer of ’80, and we spent a wild and crazy weekend at Action Park. The speed boats, waterslides, fun, fun, fun!!! None of us got hurt, maybe because we kept hitting the beer kiosks, and thus were limber enough to go with the flow!! Does anyone remember the human maze? You had a tall flag so you could be found if you couldn’t manage to get out.
I sure wish I still had my t-shirt!!
I remember going in the late 80s as a part of a group of teenagers. The loop was open and I remember being scared poopless. At the time people were running to get a view because they would only open it for a hour at a time. There was no line and from what I remember the cliff dive was in the area. Anyway I went right up got hosed down, and looked at the lead and said, “is it worth it” He just looked at me with a blank stare. I looked back and said f-this and walked away my friend was pissed, but he didn’t do it either. From the stories I think it was a smart move.
Also wanted to add the Alpine Slide was great. There was nothing wrong with it unless you wanted to go to fast. Anyone could read signs slow/ fast etc. it was your decision if you wanted to walk out hurt. The cliff dive was great, but maybe 4 or 5 rides were way over the top, but I tell you what god bless the people that rode them it looked like fun.
I lived in the development Aspen Woods next to Action Park and it was a major part of my life. When my Dad was laid off from Ford Motor Company he had started his own Welding and pipe fitting company. He was hired to put the wonder loop together. I remember him coming home from work laughing so hard. He was telling my Mother that the wonder loop test dummy came out with no clothes on and no head. He tried to express to the enginr that this isn’t going to work. I don’t think they cared. Growing up there, it was entertainment everyday. Fourth of July fireworks reflecting in my pool after a hard day of work and play. All three of my sisters and I worked there from the time we were 12 till we went to college. Everyday after school I walked out of my back door and walked directly onto the ski runs to either ski or go to work in the summer. I remember being so upset that I had to leave Vernon to go on Vacation in the summer. Before I could work at AP my two older sisters worked there, so I was there EVERYDAY. Action Park was my Nanny in that day and age. No worries about harmful people. If it was raining,we would just go into a building or area that was closed and it was our own little park. Souven shops, candy stores, etc. My favorite job was working the spin art wheel with my best friend. I did the life guard thing, parking attendent, motr world and at the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade it for the whole world. Does anyone remember Grannies Pancake house. It burnt down due to someone smoking ciggerets after it closed in the kitchen. So many memories.
I’d been trying to find information on this park for awhile! I lived outside of NYC as a child and caught the tail-end of Action Park as well as going back a few times when it was Mountain Creek. I never recalled it being a massive death/injury trap, but I do recall getting nearly maimed or dismembered there often despite only being a child and not having ridden about half of these rides. I recall going down the Colorado River ride with my family being like we were in one of those survival shows. Every turn someone would shout, “tuck your legs in! pull your arm in!” before violently slamming into a wall that likely would have severed said body part if no one took such instruction. I recall stopping on a slide as well and hopping off the side to avoid an oncoming collision with the next rider. My family never took my friends to this place specifically, probably realizing that was a liability. It’s a strange request, but does anyone remember what the children’s area looked like? I distinctly recall attempting to find it one summer only to find it behind a boarded make-shift wall and overgrown with brush and leaves wondering why they closed it down; oblivious to the fact the park was closed and subsequently reopened. I also vaguely recall this strange pool with three different heights. Like a cylinder with people swimming in it above the pool and another taller one above that. It looked 20 ft taller than the pool I was in, but I could easily be imagining that. Looking at pictures, I may be recalling the cliff diving area as I see small pools of water and the two separate heights. I believe it was near hammocks, if that’s any sort of help. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time here; A day or so every summer from the early 90s until around the later 90s. But the fact my shitty memory recalls it so vividly must attribute to how ridiculous it was.
I loved Action Park! Thanks so much to the author of this site for creating a place for us to pool our memories of that infamous yet near-and-dear-to-our-hearts enclave of amusement insanity.
Anyone remember that little electric people-mover that would bring you from motorworld over the highway to waterworld and back? You’d sit sideways on it and it would run over this thin little metal rail.
Aqua Scoot was a lot of fun. You’d haul this heavy boat-like plastic thing to top of a tower, place it on a 45 degree angled slide that was made out of a succession of metal rolling pins, ride it down and get shot over a long shallow pool and skip along the surface at what felt like 25-30 mph.
How about that weird flume/boat ride thing they built into the mountain – I think it was called “Avalanche?” It was up the hill a bit from the cannonball slide. It was a pretty interesting flume ride that had several falls with the final one taking place entirely inside a pitchbalck tunnel with simulated explosion sounds. You used to see parts of that ride when taking the chairlift up for the Alpine Slide. That was one of my favorites for some reason. It was out of place for traction park though since there was seemingly no way to potentially kill yourself on the thing!
I remember the two serpentine slides – one was near the Kamikaze and was painted dark blue – the other was further down the hill and was bright green. That one had some hariy seams on it and if you happened to lose your mat you were in for a series of scrapes and briuses. Ouch!
I remember getting lost in the maze which was near motorworld but I was small enough to just crawl through the open spaces under the walls.
The battle tennis ball tanks were a lot of fun.
I was too young to drive the F1 racers but I do remember “graduating” from the go-karts you had to be 10 years old to drive to the ones you had to be 12 years old to drive (a bit faster and a longer track). Good times.
Thanks again for the site – a nice trip down memory lane!
Kevin
Some of my biggest regrets in life are not seeing Pantera or The Grateful Dead, never getting to smoke a cigarette in the mall or the movie theatre, and never knowing about Action Park. I suppose it’s more of a north Jersey thing. I grew up with Clementon Park, Great Adventure (six flags), and of course Wild Woods along with other beach-front attractions. But never new until it was too late about this master-park!! I haven’t seemed to shake the fantasy of being one of it’s many dice-rolling daredevils. I’m trying to go back to film school next fall. If i have it my way, eventually there will be a full length feature on the infamous park. The stories on here take me into the park and will eventually take millions into the park. And since it was 79 to 98 it would feature music by the Pixies, the Flaming Lips, the Ramones, among others. Hopefully, and with a little luck, one of these days i’ll be able to get it made. Maybe then i’ll get some lost remenants of the magic that swelled the now deceased park.