"Action Park" documentary

eightdotthree's avatar

Seven Springs near Pittsburgh has an alpine slide. I ski and mountain bike and won't ride it. I almost don't enjoy mountain coasters because they don't seem entirely safe to me.


Tommytheduck's avatar

I'm currently waiting my turn for the book from the library. Cannot wait to read it! Will look up the HBO doc only after reading the book. Movies are never as good as the book, and I hate having books spoiled by movies vs movies spoiled by books, because books take time to read.

I went to Action Park once and only did a few of the attractions...and still managed to get a little banged up...nothing at all serious...but the possibility was there...

Both times were for the same reason...another person was "sent down" before I landed...once on the alpine slide (I was taking it slow and being cautious) and I got RAMMED by someone behind me. I had no idea he was coming and I was startled beyond belief. (He was laughing though.)

The second time was on a standard water slide and when I hit the pool, someone else landed on top of me while I was trying to get to the surface.

The film was very good, but I felt that they needed more people telling stories and not the same limited few. What they offered was interesting, but more voices might have given it even more credibility.

I have a friend who at one time worked at a radio station up in Northern New Jersey (Very close to Action Park.) The staff was told to never tell negative stories about Action Park on the air because they were given tons of free tickets to give away. They were encouraged to hype the remotes. "Hey stop by this Saturday at Action Park for a chance to win some T shirts and to enjoy the music and food of (For example: Polkafest) and stop by at our tent for a chance to win a pair of tickets to.....whomever.)

Everyone was in on it.


Here's To Shorter Lines & Longer Trip Reports!

I watched this today. It was fascinating. I guess I just always knew Action Park as "that waterpark with the crazy looping slide that was open for a couple of months one summer back in the 80s". I honestly had no idea what the history of the place was, enjoyed the lighthearted moments of the first half of the documentary and genuinely felt for the family in the second half. It's a perfect example of what pretty much any other park in the industry has always gone out of its way *not* to do.

The closest example to anything I personally experienced like this was the old Dover Lake waterpark back in the early to mid 90s. We used to go with the day camp I attended every summer, and I remember getting some scrapes and bumps from the tubing rides that featured slide drops with shallow landing areas and overcrowding with no intervention on when it was time for the next person to go down. I remember the mat slides built into the hillside being fantastic, but I also remember some riders getting stuck and the person behind them slamming into them because there was no requirement of the previous slider making it to the end before the next person went down. And of course the lovely landing pools filled with frogs and lake water. But the more intense of the two tube river rides with significant drops that had the ski lift take you to the top was probably the offender for least safe attraction I've ever been on and no way would it still be around in that form if Dover Lake was still around.

I watched the doc the other night. It takes a different approach and the park developers were obviously not involved. (Their interview footage is historical) You get a completely different story on the one death the film highlights. Not suprising in this day in age of dual narratives.

The film is well done in that it provides a nice visual accompaniment. And pretty much culls all the available park footage. You can tell the doc makers were stretching what exists. They made a nice animated park map.

I question the film because some of the narrators, while entertaining don't sync age wise. The guy with all the F-bombs at the end says he's 39, which ages him out a bit out of fully experiencing the park's early heyday. Seems like the narrators were retelling widely disseminated second hand folklore.

The book, while maybe not quite as objective, dives deeper and covers new ground.

Last edited by Kstr 737,

I’m talking to myself here but a few more hits on this:

  • Being the amusement-park-friend I have a half dozen friends bring up watching this doc to me over the past week or so. The Netflix film is getting quite a bit of traction
  • The book starts off clumsily with ham-fisted comparisons between Gene Mulvihill the creator of Action Park wanting to be the Walt Disney of New Jersey while presenting the most well-known factoids about the latter. But then it closes full circle, at the end bringing up the theme of Blizzard Beach as a beaten down ski resort turned waterpark with a similar sounding backstory. Knowing how heavily handed Imagineers are with research and also with straight lifting details from historical precedence. Never drew that line before, but it makes you wonder...
  • The book makes no mention of the-Trump-visited-Action-Park-but-chose-not-to-invest-because-it-was-too-wild-for-even-him story. While it is believable Trump and Mulvihill were running in the same circles, because the owner’s tale chooses not to include this juicy and timely tidbit, I gotta believe that one is straight up BS…

Last edited by Kstr 737,
GooDFeLLoW's avatar

Yes I was thinking the same thing about the Trump story... that one has gotta be bull; just a legend passed down.

The guy who drops all the F-Bombs... my roommate kept saying he looks familiar and is an actor.. and I was saying "If he was somebody famous they would say that in the caption, instead of just calling him a random park guest." Turns out he is a famous actor and comedian... Chris Gethard.. and he was even in Irom Man 3. Weird they didn't credit him as such, although maybe they think he's famous enough that everybody knows him?

I just started the book, and it also starts with a Disney comparison, but I like the way the author goes about it in the book. (Not really a book spoiler since it's the first chapter.....) He talks about opening day of the original Disney, and what a train wreck it was (water fountains not working, cement melting, etc.) Then he says Action Park was basically that first day every single day.

A few of the interview subjects were minor celebrities, which I found a bit strange.

Schwarzkopf76's avatar

I don't care what was true and who lied, that was one of the most entertaining things I've seen on the tv in a long time. Will be watching this one again in the future! Man I miss those terrifying old concrete slide!

You should check out the book then dudebusyridingtheAlpenBitzontheothersideofJersey.

I'm not a conduit here to market it, but it is truely better in that it's funnier and more densely informative then this doc getting all the rage. Though I guess books never grab the same attention.

Tommytheduck's avatar

I started the book last night and couldn't put it down! Got about 70 pages before finally turning in. Will read more tonight and probably finish it very soon.

Schwarzkopf76's avatar

Thanks for bringing up the book guys, this thing is hilarious! One of the funniest things I have ever read (or maybe just seems so cuz of .. news n stuff). About a third of the way in now.

Tommytheduck's avatar

Finished to book only a few days after I began. It was hugely entertaining and one of the best books I've read in a very long time! Cannot recommend it enough.

As for the HBO doc, it's just a matter of time. We've been very busy with moving over the past few months and it's a lot harder to sit down and dedicate 2 hours to a movie than it is to read a book in bed before turning out the light.

There's nothing in the world like DEATH PARK!

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