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Author Action Park Victims Thread
Horizons12
Posts: 4860
Registered: 8/16/2002

Rank: Extragalactic Invader
1/20/2005 9:55:05 PM
This is continued from the 'Great Adventure Lines' thread.

Ok, I remember getting a chain letter once. It was "How to know if you're from New Jersey." There was "You call Great Adventure 'Six Flags'", "If you can see NYC from where you live", "If you say 'going down the shore' when you're going to the beach" and "If you've been injured at Action Park."

So lets all of the 'grizzled veterans' and 'unfortunate victims' of Action Park share some stories of that hellbent/courrupt/metally and physically abusive place.

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"if it is just us, it seems like an awful waste of space." -Contact

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On Nov 2nd, 51% of voters said: "We are complete idiots!"
Bush and America: United we fall.
BobFunland
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Registered: 8/9/2001

Rank: Site Moderator
1/20/2005 10:13:16 PM
Oh man, that cliff really sounded insane. So did, well, everything else in the park. I can't wait to see these responses!

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adriahna
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Registered: 6/4/2003

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Skooter Junkie
1/20/2005 10:20:20 PM
Man, I'm sorry I missed out on this place...
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/20/2005 11:23:49 PM
You know, it just dawned on me that maybe they should have named this place Class Action Park...
BobFunland
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Registered: 8/9/2001

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1/20/2005 11:37:54 PM


Actually, after looking back at the photos Horizons posted, it doesn't look too bad. The article really made it sound aweful, so I would suggest to anyone that they should NOT look at the pics first.

Oh, I don't get the thing with the loop..?
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/21/2005 12:12:12 AM
That loop photo is just totally insane - the angle and everything is just completely wrong...
Hercules
Posts: 4037
Registered: 10/13/2004

Rank: Platinum Critic
1/21/2005 12:37:38 AM
Yeah... you never went on it and you are saying that. That place was a death trap... literally.

...and, I heard about that Slingshot thing too. I think I remember seeing on television that someone got seriously injured in that one but did not die.

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"I could never design another ride like Hercules." - Curtis Summers
Message updated 1/21/2005 12:52:54 AM by Hercules
Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004

Rank: Gold Critic
1/21/2005 2:04:01 AM
I'll never forget the first time I rode the Cannonball. To board the slide, you climbed up a platform that led to the mouth of the tunnels, which then disappeared into a hillside. Above the tunnels were grab bars. I and my cousin Jimmie decided to race, so we both grabbed the bars and flung ourselves, Jackie Chan style, into the blackness.

Hitting that tunnel was the most disorienting physical sensation I've ever experienced. The insides were made of a hard and ultra-slippery foam that, when combined with a film of God knows what sort of liquids, secretions, molds, and mosses, elminated anything even resembling friction. We had been hosed down on the platform by the attendants and shot through the dark like well-oiled eels. Adding to the complete shock and unreality of the experience was the course of the tunnels themselve. Jimmie and I had both assumed the tunnels went straight down to the openings at the bottom of the hill, in which case the ride should have been over in a few seconds. Instead, the tunnels just kept going and going. One moment you'd be in what felt like a freefall, then you'd hit a turn and the gradient would decrease, then it would fall away again, etc. You had no way to prepare yourself for what was coming next because the tunnels were burrowed through the earth and allowed in no light whatsoever. The directional changes thus slammed you into the tunnel walls, and once in a while you'd hit a dry spot near a bend that would vaporize a patch of skin.

When it was over, I never even saw the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. All at once, black turned to blinding light. I felt a sudden, brief weightlessness and then fell into a poor of water so cold that it took my breath away. When I bobbed to the surface, I was too stunned to know which way to go. I heard whistles and shouting, which only added to my confusion. I was dimly aware I had to get out of there before the next victim shot out of the tunnel on top of me. The water was so cold that it hardly felt liquid, and my arms and legs had started to stiffen up and were nearly useless by the time I got to the edge of the filthy grotto where we had splashed down.

Jimmy never did make it and had to be fished out by the lifeguards. We don't know if he lost conciousness in the tunnel or from the shock of hitting the water. I escaped with what felt like a mild concussion from careening off the sides of the tunnel, but more disconcertingly, my stones stayed hidden from the cold for the rest of the day.

I've noticed that every time I've gone sled riding, no matter how steep or treacherous the hill, someone will always build ramps into it to add certain injury to existing danger. These are the sort of people who designed Action Park. It was a family waterpark, crossed with a James Bond movie set, with an elments of a Navy SEAL BUDS obstacle course. The atomsphere was like a gladiator arena with the dazed and injured surrounded by leering, bloodthirsty spectators.

Traction Park was as much fun as a kid could possibly have, and we will never see anything like it in this country again.
Message updated 1/21/2005 2:24:19 AM by Timberman
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/21/2005 9:44:37 AM
"Traction Park" - now that's good. The more I'm reading about this place, the more it seems like a stunt set from "Jackass". I asked my husband (a native Jerseyan) if he ever went, and he said, "Vaguely. All I really remember is that the ticket had a waiver on it." I just wish I could find some more photos of the place online - I'm dying to know more...

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It's not a successful ride on the Flying Scooters unless you've got bruises to tell the story for you.
Message updated 1/21/2005 10:09:22 AM by adriahna
BobFunland
Posts: 7962
Registered: 8/9/2001

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1/21/2005 1:09:10 PM
Yet again, Timberman impresses me, makes me laugh, and gasp for breath, all in the same post.

Wow, this place really does sound like a trial lawyer's dream...

The ticket had a waiver. In the words of the folks from Guiness, Brilliant!

And to think I thought my local waterpark was bad because it had an E. Coli infestation. Oh, wait, we do have one place that sounds vaguely familiar to the Action (or Traction) Park. But, it was no where as extreme as this place...
Horizons12
Posts: 4860
Registered: 8/16/2002

Rank: Extragalactic Invader
1/21/2005 1:35:08 PM
I remember the "sled slide" as I called it. The deck that you started from is still at the park I beleive. You would first haul these 20 pound sleds up a long staircase and then put them on a track made of rollers. The roller track simply curved downward at a horrible angle and spit you out into a 2 foot deep pool. You sat down on the sled and the lifegaurd/ride op pulled a lever that allowed the sled to roll forward. The sled slowly crept up to the edge and then went down the hill. Let me just say if you let go of the sled, you'd be going to the hospital. Finally you hit the pool and skim over the water for maybe 20 or 30 feet and thats it. The ride was so...white trash and really dangerous. but kinda fun.
Message updated 1/21/2005 1:38:07 PM by Horizons12
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/21/2005 2:54:03 PM
I read about that slide in the link posted - that sounded incredibly dangerous, considering there weren't even any side rails on the slide down!!! Reminds me of when I fell off a playground slide when I was a kid - a nice combination of youthful awkwardness and poor safety standards...
Scott
Posts: 2766
Registered: 11/7/2004

Rank: Platinum Critic
1/24/2005 6:16:27 PM
Quote:
Horizons12 said:
I remember the "sled slide" as I called it. The deck that you started from is still at the park I beleive. You would first haul these 20 pound sleds up a long staircase and then put them on a track made of rollers. The roller track simply curved downward at a horrible angle and spit you out into a 2 foot deep pool. You sat down on the sled and the lifegaurd/ride op pulled a lever that allowed the sled to roll forward. The sled slowly crept up to the edge and then went down the hill. Let me just say if you let go of the sled, you'd be going to the hospital. Finally you hit the pool and skim over the water for maybe 20 or 30 feet and thats it. The ride was so...white trash and really dangerous. but kinda fun.
A park near me has something that sounds exactly like that. It's called scremin mimi. I've never gone on it, it looks dangerous. And the pool at the bottem is only 2 feet deep.

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Scott Kucharski
Horizons12
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Registered: 8/16/2002

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1/24/2005 10:32:39 PM
A few parks have those types of slides actually. It's just Action Park had the minimal safety version.

The Colorado River Ride
OK, no Action Park/Mountain Creek visit is complete without a ride on their star attraction...The Colorado River Ride. This is the most insane 4 person tube ride I have ever been on. Ok First you get you're huge tube and haul it to the start pool. They come up via a modified skilift from the end pool which is a considerable way down the mountain. The river looks like a trough colored in different shades of green in a natural way that blends into the wooded area it's in nicely.

You get in the tube and the tube fills up with freezing cold water, GREAT! You're pushed off and you go down a small hill into a rapid where a wave goes over the tube and then under a footbridge into another rapid then you slowly drift around a corner. All the people in line can see are the first drops and the curve, after that it's the unseen rampage through the woods.

You go meandering down the river through the middle of nowhere it seems, picking up speed. It's not a smooth ride mind you, there's bumps and stuff all over the trough to simulate a real river. You go through some turns, not terribly fast, you get splashed a bit from water flying up and over the bumps and moguls.

After two minutes or so you get to the fork. in the river. While it was Action Park you could go straight into the 'unknown area' or cruise into a cave to the left (Now the 'unknown area' is blocked off for some reason...spooky.) I have never went into the unknown area, but I noticed a lack of water in it, I bet the cave is better anyway. Anyway, 95% of the time I'll assume, you go into the cave. The opening has two high powered water sprayers that hit you right in the face on the way in. The cave is like a double S shape and almost pitch black for the exception for some small openings. You gain tremendous speed in the this section, by the 3rd turn you're tube is being shot up the sides of the trough enough for a person not holding on to tumble out. By the end of the cave you are really flying, and you go flying out of the cave right into a curved wall! Anyone not holding on will be thrown out here, no exception.

You go down a small hill into a round pool with a rocky hillside and trees all around you. I think they simply cut this pool right into the hillside because it looks very natural. This is also where the 'unknown area' ends. There is a little cylinder shaped barricade of some sort and a small hill to end the 'unknown area.' I saw a tube full of people stuck here once, shows what you get if you go into the 'unknown area!'

Eventually the tube will find it's way out of the pool into the home stretch, the splash pool is visible now. But, the splash pool is pretty far down the hill. They could have added a few turns and stuff but instead they make the trough do a straight shot down the hill to ensure a hectic ending. The hill is absolutely filled with bumps, moguls, and small bumps/walls to throw you're tube around the trough. At this point the tube is going really fast, and maybe 20 feet from the end pool you go over the infamous drop off. It's just a foot or so sheer drop in the trough that sends the tube airborne for a second until it crashes to the ground, injuring all riders lol. Finally the tube hits the splash pool, anyone about to jump out or lets their guard down will be thrown out at this point due to the sudden change in speed. The end pool is nice though, the left side has a rock barrier with a beautiful view of the mountains of Sussex County, NJ. It looks like on the other side of the barrier is a sheer drop off the side of the mountain. You then need walk up the long path that traverses the entire length of the river to get back to civilization.

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"if it is just us, it seems like an awful waste of space." -Contact

"Hey, I like to expand my Horizons." -Clerks

On Nov 2nd
Message updated 1/25/2005 6:45:16 PM by Horizons12
adriahna
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Registered: 6/4/2003

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Skooter Junkie
1/25/2005 11:51:02 AM
D**n it, why didn't I ever get the chance to visit this waterpark monstrosity???
Hercules
Posts: 4037
Registered: 10/13/2004

Rank: Platinum Critic
1/25/2005 1:50:41 PM
Nice job Horizens. You truely encompassed everything that was that ride in your words.
Oh no adriahna, Action Park was not just a waterpark monstrosity; it was a waterpark, go cart and extreme ride monstrosity.
adriahna
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Registered: 6/4/2003

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Skooter Junkie
1/25/2005 4:21:46 PM
Hell, Yeah - now that sounds like my kinda place.
Horizons12
Posts: 4860
Registered: 8/16/2002

Rank: Extragalactic Invader
1/25/2005 6:50:53 PM
Anyone been on the Tarzan Swings? Now THOSE are tarzan swings!
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/26/2005 9:42:03 AM
Oh, god - tell us about the tarzan swings! Swing/vine stories crack me up - I'm such a sadistic jerk, I know. Once, when we were kids, my brother and I were hanging out on a hillside (steep), swinging around like chimps on a vine tree. I got a little iffy about it once I realized it was a good 20-30 foot drop to the bottom of the hill, and decided to take it easy. My brother remained adamant, and, obviously hell-bent on his own youthful demise, flung himself way, way out - and lost his grip. He fell probably 25 feet, in a nice outward arc - and landed on a pile of wood. Amazingly, he didn't break his leg, but was limping for a couple of weeks.
Scott
Posts: 2766
Registered: 11/7/2004

Rank: Platinum Critic
1/26/2005 6:17:33 PM
He didn't break anything???!!!
larrygator
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1/27/2005 12:57:15 AM
Quote:
adriahna said:
Oh, god - tell us about the tarzan swings! Swing/vine stories crack me up - I'm such a sadistic jerk, I know. Once, when we were kids, my brother and I were hanging out on a hillside (steep), swinging around like chimps on a vine tree. I got a little iffy about it once I realized it was a good 20-30 foot drop to the bottom of the hill, and decided to take it easy. My brother remained adamant, and, obviously hell-bent on his own youthful demise, flung himself way, way out - and lost his grip. He fell probably 25 feet, in a nice outward arc - and landed on a pile of wood. Amazingly, he didn't break his leg, but was limping for a couple of weeks.


Adriahna - I'm not sure where you are in Jersey City but this reminds of when I was a kid. If you drive North on Route 1/9 and look to the right behind some of these auto repair shops/gas stations between the Pulaski SkyWay and the Lincoln Tunnel you will will these fairly steep hills about 50 foot hill. I used to slide down those hills on my ass with a family friend from Jersey City and quite a few times came close to tumbling the last 15-20 from the bottom of the hill to the cement below. The stupid things you do as a kid.

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It's not a choice between war and peace. It's a choice between war and something much worse.
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/27/2005 10:01:52 AM
Oh, I know those hills very well - you must have been nuts to have slid down them, heading right for the road...

By the way, we're in the Heights section, right over Hoboken...
Horizons12
Posts: 4860
Registered: 8/16/2002

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1/27/2005 9:33:07 PM
The Tarzan Swings of Mountain Creek

First off, that title sounds like the title of a 'Weird NJ' magazine article.
Anyway, the Tarzan Swings are located up the main hill and to the left which leads you to another hill which is deemed "Adventure Ridge." The Tarzan Swings are up the next hill and to the left once again. They are buried in the woods along with Cannonball Falls. They share the same pool/ditch actually.

You might ask "why do you say same pool/ditch?" Well it's because these pools LOOK like they were there naturally and they just put some green, natural colored padding on the sides and bottom and filled it in with water. Cannonball Falls' pool is a bit higher and a nice little waterfall lies under the swing platform. One thing that makes the Tarzan Swings and Cannonball falls really scary is the depth of the pools, which also lead me to believe that their natural. They are over 30 feet deep each!!!! The water at MC is crystal clear but it's still hard to see the bottom, you just see a green void. THAT IS REALLY SCARY TO SWIM IN IF YOU ASK ME.

Okay, that out of the way, lets talk about the swings themselves. There are 3 of them hung on a monstrous beam that hovers 20 feet or so above the pool. The start platform must be about 15 feet high which is a lot higher than it sounds. Instead of a rope they have cables with a triangle bar on the end. Seeing people hang upsidedown isn’t uncommon when it was Action Park, I’m not sure if you can do it now though.

When it’s you’re turn, the life guard gets the cable with a pole and brings it as close as they can to you. You still have to stretch out well over the side of the platform and grab the bar. If you miss the bar, you’ll most likely do a 15 foot belly flop. If you’re successful, you swing down toward the water. Now, unless you are right at the height requirement, you’ll need to pull you’re legs up at the bottom of the swing to avoid doing a face plant into the water. If you can grab the bar and clear the water, then you’ll get a huge drop when you let go at the apex of the swing. Once you land in the water, you’ll immediately go into hypothermic shock. The water at the Tarzan Swings and Cannonball Falls are the coldest in the park I’d say. Both lie in the woods and both are completely covered in shade from the trees. Getting the perfect swing is like a bonus in this case because you’ll only need to swim 10 feet or so. If you miss the bar, you’ll be swimming a long way, and I mean loooong.

I’ve face planted once doing the Tarzan Swing. It didn’t hurt too much because the water was attacking my cold receptors lol. The best screw up I’ve seen was when this kid did a perfect swing but didn’t let go and swung right into the pads under the platform which are there for that exact reason. He slammed off of them and sort of toppled into the water, it was hilarious.
Message updated 1/27/2005 9:36:18 PM by Horizons12
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/27/2005 11:27:18 PM
HILARIOUS...
Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004

Rank: Gold Critic
1/28/2005 2:26:57 AM
We used to have a rope swing in the woods that swung out over a bank. The handle was an empty shell casing from some Korean War-era explosive ordinance. Mostly we'd just swing off the bank, but one time this older kid tried to be cool and built a take-off platform above the ground. He just managed to clear the bank but then realized his trajectory was taking him straight towards a tree. I felt sorry for him because he was too high to let go and could only twist and kick in a desperate attempt to avoid the impact. He hit dead on, and for a moment he kind of stuck there like Wile E. Coyote, before falling back in a rain of foliage, his smashed glasses still on his face.

The funniest Action Park Tarzan Swing wipe-out I ever saw was this fat guy who, the second his feet left the platform, lost his grip and fell face down on the sloping bank. The TS always drew a big crowd, and this poor guy never even made it to the water. The crowd, of course, ate it up.
Message updated 1/28/2005 2:28:08 AM by Timberman
adriahna
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Skooter Junkie
1/28/2005 9:27:44 AM
Oh, man... just the image of a big fat dude even challenging the wrath of Action Park brings a demonic grin to my face, and a shiver down my spine... wish I'd been there to see that! Hope he didn't attempt the Cannonball Loop...
Scott
Posts: 2766
Registered: 11/7/2004

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1/28/2005 9:32:08 AM

Quote:
adriahna said:
Hope he didn't attempt the Cannonball Loop...
That would have been extremely Funny. I don't think he would have even fit in the tube, let alone get through the loop!
Horizons12
Posts: 4860
Registered: 8/16/2002

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1/28/2005 9:25:57 PM
Since I just did The Tarzan Swings, I might as well do Cannonball Falls.

These are just up from the Tarzan Swings, in the woods and in the same 30+ foot deep pool. There is a big queue platform for Cannonball Falls, though I’ve never seen a big line for them.

They are racing ‘black hole’ body slides and are painfully simple. You jump in, go down a tiny hill, make a right downward turn, down another hill and drop 7 or 8 feet into the water. They make you take you’re water shoes off on this one. By the way, if you ever go to Mountain Creek, make sure you have water shoes; they really help when walking on the rough terrain.

First off, the first section of the tubes have a very slight dip for some reason unknown to me, like it actually goes down then back up. Just a little observation. Anyway, when the lifeguard says go, both people jump in and start to slide. At first it’s slow but then you speed up at an incredible rate and are shot clear out of the tube. Here’s the painful part, when coming out you’re lying down in the body slide position (lying down, arms crossed, feet together .) So unless you change position quickly, you’ll fall 7 or 8 feet on you’re back, arm, side, etc. In any event you come off this with pain somewhere on you’re body. And of course you need to swim in the freezing water a good distance.

Another Mountain Creek/Action Park classic.
no cars go
Posts: 501
Registered: 4/7/2006

Rank: Gold Critic
4/26/2006 5:13:39 PM
This park sounds horrible!!! Yet so intriguing... Is it still open since this board started?

Quote:
Scott said:
A park near me has something that sounds exactly like that. It's called scremin mimi. I've never gone on it, it looks dangerous. And the pool at the bottem is only 2 feet deep.


WaterWorld Colorado?

Just so you know, anyone that cares, I found a video of this type of ride (teh one at WaterWorld Co. to be exact.
http://www.waterworldcolorado.com/pages/screaminmimi2.html

And Horizons, can you post teh link again? It isn't in any of your posts and I want to see a picture of this so-called "Cannonball Loop"...

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R.I.P. Williams Grove

We will never forget you.
Message updated 4/26/2006 5:14:40 PM by no cars go
Scott
Posts: 2766
Registered: 11/7/2004

Rank: Platinum Critic
4/26/2006 6:22:56 PM
It is one of the best waterparks I've been too.
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