Traumatic License: An Oral History of Action Park (2018)

Went a dozen or so times. Go-carts were fantastic. Surf Hill probably the sneakiest danger, it just didn't have sufficient runoff, people regularly slammed head-first into the back "padding" at very high speed. Cannonball Loop definitely existed for a few years, but never saw it actually open. Standard Cannonball and Tarzan Swing shared an shockingly cold collection pool everyone was dumped into. Alpine Slide was way too easy to jump the tracks or flip. "Cliff diving" was probably 25, maybe 30 feet, was actually safer than other rides because you could easily see if other people were in the way. Wave pool had 10 or 12 lifeguards but still was simply way too large to see everyone (plus they were evenly spaced instead of concentrated at the deep end with strongest waves). Saw, heard, experienced plenty of racism, anti-semitism, other -isms while in lines, in the changing rooms, etc., as might be expected when mixing kids from city, suburb, rural cultures and virtually no adult supervision. Plenty more rides, some were great, others disappointing, some it just depended on the day.

I can understand why an outsider might consider this place some kind of dystopian nightmare, with the injuries and chaos, but it was honestly the greatest place ever for a short period of age 16 to 20 or so. It did feel like a gauntlet you just had to put fear aside and make it through, in some ways, but then you felt stronger when you made it out alive, I guess.

When I was a kid growing up in South Australia, there was a playground in Monash, a tiny town in the Riverland. This was no ordinary playground: it was enormous, and filled with dozens of very dangerous steel contraptions. Huge high-speed roundabouts (imagine something the size and shape of a radio telescope, but with a dish that spins), “roller coasters” you’d push up unenclosed tracks, 20-foot high slides (slippery dips) with potato sacks laying around to protect from the burning surface, and huge, high ziplines (flying foxes).

The whole thing was kid-powered (no motors or electronics) and free, the passion project of a local steelworker. It was closed down decades ago, due to the obvious safety handlers. But I suspect it holds the same mindspace for Australians that Action Park has for Americans. Sadly few photos of it are online, and no video I can find. I’d love to see a documentary for Monash Playground to relive those memories.

The Dollup Podcast has an episode (which exaggerates how dangerous it was) but is done with the same irreverent comedy as the rest of their "broadcasts" - http://thedollop.net/wp/episode-87-dollop/

The HBO documentary (available on HBO Max) on Action Park is great.

There is also a really good book written about it, by the owner’s son:

Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52892795-action-park

I went to Action Park (New Jersey) park back in the 90s.

I recall “reverse bungee jumping” (you are launched up & pulled back by elastic bands), and cliff jumping (just a high plank over water—that’s it; pretty sure there were some major belly flopping injuries if not fatalities).

I also remember how fun it was compared to other amusement parks I’d been to as a kid.

Ah, Traction Park! We survived at least two visits. That wave pool was brutal.

Misread as Action Pack, a license bundle from Microsoft that changes frequently and unpredictably.

documentary

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11015214/