Mt. Creek Waterpark Vernon, NJ - Any opinions?

I know this place used to be called Action/Traction Park and that is has a pretty bad reputation, but man, I'm dying to go. All of the rides on the website look pretty unique... there are a few in natural water, cliff jumping, raft ride on actual terrain...etc.

Almost all of the reviews I read are highly negative. I'm hoping to hear some of your opinions about the place, both positive and negative.

Let me rephrase what you posted:

SFGAdv lover said:

Almost all of the reviews I read are highly negative, but man, I'm dying to go. 

Sounds like you're fishing for someone, anyone to say something remotely positive so you can justify following through on your desire to go.

(This concludes my completely unprofessional, unwarranted psychoanalysis)

Screw it. If you still want to see it for yourself despite the nearly unanimous negative opinion, then go. Sometimes the sheer horror of things needs to be seen first hand.

You're right, I'm looking for validation. I'm probably going regardless (the 3 people I'm bringing won't care what the reviews say...although they'd care after they have a terrible time at the park).

I'm just looking for an enthusiast's POV...anything positive to get me more excited for my trip.

I've never been to Mountan Creek. But I dislocated my shoulder at Action Park in the 80's. Does that help?

SFGAdv lover said:

I'm just looking for an enthusiast's POV...anything positive to get me more excited for my trip.

My thought is that you go in with the mindset of "I'll put out a TR so everyone will know what's good/bad about the place." That's gotten me through a couple less-than-spectacular visits...taking the perspective of a reporter.

I broke my wrist at Traction Park in '89 or '90. Didn't know I broke it untill later the next day. The slides, operations and staff was crazy as advertised back then. Probably doesn't help you to much since everything seems to be a little better there these days.

Do you know what attraction you broke it on? Maybe not, since you didn't realize it until later. My injury happened on the Surf Hill.

Corkscrew Follies said:

I broke my wrist at Traction Park in '89 or '90.

So it's not just a clever name then?

Lord Gonchar said:

Sometimes the sheer horror of things needs to be seen first hand.

So, you're saying Nickleback tickets are a good idea, then?

Shuddup. Racist!

Oh great. I've acquired my own meme...

No I don't remember which one it was, but I think it was the one the had the supposed soft walls at the end.

And, I'm gonna say that I am a big fan of nickelback. So much so that I've seen them twelve times in concert.

Really, no bashing me yet. What has become of coasterbuzz?

We thought you were kidding.

Two things happened to me there in the old days...

First, I was on the Alpine slide and while I was going down, BOOM! The weasel who was supposed ot go down after me, nailed me in the back at about 3/4 down. It scared the crap out of me.

On the same day, I was going down a water slide. I entered the pool and on my way up...BOOM! Somebody else came barreling down the slide and knocked me down before I could get up from the first trip.

A buddy of mine was a morning DJ / news guy in that area and he told me that the company formed some kind of "dummy" insurance company to keep the payoffs out of public view.

I do not know how it is run now...but even in the summer heat, I don't want icey cold streams.

Here's an honest review from someone that didn't even know about the history of the place before we went there. On a whim, we were looking up waterparks-biggest, most # of slides, most popular-stuff like that. We found out some way or another that Mountain Creek was the largest waterpark in the country, based on acreage. We never knew until after we visited that it was this former, accident-prone insurance liability that had a looping waterslide.

When we got there, we actually fell in love with the place. The best I can describe it is something like an east coast Schlitterbahn. There are fiberglass waterslides, a ProSlide funnel, a wave pool, normal waterpark-y things. But, they have spring-fed tube chutes and pools like Schlitterbahn, too. Here's where it starts to get weird...

The one tube chute I remember was Colorado River. First of all, there are no sidewalks or stairs to get to the top. It's actually a rough and rocky walking path that will hurt you if you're not wearing watersocks. I learned that the hard way. Plus, you have to carry your raft with you to the top. Most slides at other waterparks, that's not a big deal. But these are the heavy six-person rafts that they normally hull up to the top on a conveyer belt! Once we got to the top, lugging our raft, we were ready for the ride down. Colorado River is quite simply the most violent waterpark ride I have ever been on. In a good way. The raft slams, SLAMS, into the walls, there are tunnels, forks in the chute with different routes, sudden elevation changes, extremely rough and swift water.

I think there are 2 or 3 other tube chutes with smaller intertubes, but I don't remember them as vividly as Colorado River. In fact, the rest of the park is a blur.

It really is a huge park, but the few rides and slides they have are spread apart, and you do a lot of walking across those rocky paths. The place is not what I would call handicap accessible, and if you don't wear watersocks or crocs, your feet are in for a hurtin'.

Um, wow. I just watched a few POV videos of Colorado River, and while you can't really tell what's happening, the riders' reactions in all of them are pretty telling. Especially this one, which I found pretty funny. Warning: language.

I want to go to there.

Can't make up my mind if this looks terrifying or awesome.

I so want to go there. Anything where I could possibly get banged up, but not killed or maimed, is totally awesome in my book.

The unsafeness makes it look all the more exciting. People raft on natural rapids and climb mountains all the time. I'm going to look into a visit!