[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c0fe3274_db32_4ae6_b06b_a7c2b6a6760f.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:...where you're the center of the action!]]

->''"There's nothing in the world like Action Park!"''\\
''"The action never stops... at Action Park!"''
-->--'''The park's {{slogans}}'''

Action Park (originally operating from 1978-96) was a ThemePark, located in the town of Vernon in northwestern UsefulNotes/NewJersey. It featured an alpine slide, a ski area (it was part of the Vernon Valley/Great Gorge Ski Resort, now known as Mountain Creek), and two themed areas: Motorworld (based around vehicles) and Waterworld (a water park).

The park's founder and owner, the businessman Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill, was a staunch libertarian who saw health and safety guidelines as unneeded government overreach at worst and vague suggestions at best. As such, the park gained notoriety due to frequent injuries and a number of fatalities, due to its poorly designed and maintained equipment and lax enforcement of safety rules.

Though it was a popular Summertime destination for New Yorkers and New Jerseyans in the 1980s, legal and financial troubles caused Action Park and the adjoining Vernon Valley/Great Gorge ski resort to shut down after the 1996 season. The complex was purchased by Intrawest in 1998 and rebranded as Mountain Creek Waterpark. The facility is still in operation, with increased safety features and regulatory compliance, having had its old rides either replaced or refurbished.

''Film/ActionPoint'', a comedy film loosely based on the park starring Johnny Knoxville of ''Series/{{Jackass}}'' fame, was released by Creator/{{Paramount}} in 2018.

The [=YouTube=] series ''WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'' has an episode covering its history, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkW-ceNvck here.]] The [=YouTuber=] Iilluminaughtii also made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6vyRFpywo an episode]] on it. It was also featured on [[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-libertarian-theme-park-of-your-dreams-nightmares/id1373812661?i=1000534090770 an episode]] of ''Podcast/BehindTheBastards''. A full-on documentary, ''Class Action Park'', debuted in August 2020 on Creator/HBOMax with Creator/JohnHodgman narrating.
----
!!Action Park provided examples of the following tropes:
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Alcohol was sold at concession stands with little enforcement of the drinking age, meaning that many rides that were dangerous enough to go on sober were operated by drunk employees and ridden by drunk guests. This was a major contribution to accidents.
* AmusementParkOfDoom: One of the most infamous RealLife examples.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: The official goal of Tank Ride was to target sensors on the back of tanks with a tennis-ball cannon; hitting a sensor would freeze the struck vehicle for a set amount of time. Less considerate riders used the same cannons to harass employees trying to maintain order.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Action Park heavily promoted their looping water slide in its commercials as a unique attraction of the park. However, many guests were injured by the ride or did not have enough momentum to pass through the loop. An escape hatch was later added to free these individuals.
* BubblegloopSwamp: The speedboat and bumper boat rides were held in small, fetid ponds that were known to be infested with snakes.
* CallousnessTowardsEmergency:
** In the documentary ''Class Action Park'', one former attendee recounts what he saw in the Tarzan Swing ride, in which a person hung on to swing rope and and dropped about ten feet onto the pool below. Since the pool was spring fed, a person could go into shock going from 90-degree (F) heat to water that was at least 30 degrees (F) colder, and the crowd waiting their turn, upon seeing someone struggling to swim, or being fished out by a lifeguard, would point at them and scream demeaning and vulgar insults at the unfortunate victim.
** A former lifeguard recounts the time that she was assigned to supervise the race boat pond: one boat crashed onto another, and the rider on top tried to keep going, not caring that he was crushing the rider on the bottom. The lifeguard yelled at him to stop, and hit the boat with a stick to get him to stop pressing on the accelerator. When the top rider got off, he walked away like nothing happened.
* ComedicSociopathy: Former employees have confessed to hanging out near a snack bar near the "Surf Hill" attraction since they could see either lost bikini tops, grievous injuries, or both.
* CompetenceZone: An inadequate training regimen led to a lot of the accidents, as employees were not qualified to properly operate the attractions (and were often teenagers themselves).
* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: The pool was nicknamed the "Grave Pool" by lifeguards due to how many people they pulled out, as well as the fact that three people drowned there. Up to 30 people could require rescue in a single weekend, and there were always a dozen lifeguards on watch at any one time. Since most of the park's visitors were from the New York and New Jersey areas, they were used to going to salt water beaches and didn't account for the lack of buoyancy they'd have in fresh water. According to ''Class Action Park'', the deep end of the pool was known as the "Death Zone" among employees, and new lifeguards were stationed there first.
* LowerClassLout: According to ''Class Action Park'', a great percentage of the attendees were people of blue-collar background from New York City. Their lack of manners and decorum is why so many people got hurt trying to push themselves and the rides to their limits, and why the staff had to develop a routine to take care of a "[[PottyFailure Code Brown]]".
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The name "Action Park" was already something of a red flag itself, but the punning nicknames it gained (mostly from employees) such as "Traction Park", "Class-Action Park", and "Accident Park" really upped the ante. The "Grave Pool" nickname for the wave pool also wound up being brutally accurate.
* NoOSHACompliance: One of the more infamous RealLife examples. It wasn't that the park didn't ''try'' to advocate safety, but the owner's philosophy was that guests should feel in control of their experience and decide for themselves what they could handle. He even encouraged guests to be as rowdy as they wished.
* NostalgiaFilter: Many of the contributors to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-xgS7K3Xc The World's Most Dangerous Amusement Park]] remember the place fondly and think that, for all the mayhem that went on, the place was exciting in a way that later parks are not. Many people from New Jersey, the ones who didn't realize or think about how dangerous it was, often considered Action Park to be a rite of passage.
-->''It kinda makes me sad, I wonder if kids today have that feeling of "Man, let's go prove our backbone."''
* OffWithHisHead: The infamous looping water slide [[UrbanLegend apparently]] did this to test dummies.
* PlayerVersusPlayer: The "Action Park Gladiator Challenge", based on ''Series/AmericanGladiators''.
* PrecisionFStrike: A [[FunWithAcronyms hidden]] case happened once the lifeguards decided to brand whoever they saved by writing on their wristbands "CFS", short for "can't fucking swim."
* {{Reconstruction}}: A literal example in the park's grand re-opening, which now goes by the motto "All of the thrills, none of the spills." This is most evident in the successor to the Cannonball Loop, the Sky Caliber, which is designed so that a safe looping water slide would actually be plausible (though it was never built).
* RestrainingBolt: The Super Go Karts and LOLA Cars tracks had vehicles that ostensibly had a maximum speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) thanks to their governor devices. The staff knew that wedging tennis balls into the devices would disable them, allowing them to go up to 50 mph (80 km/h), and were willing to do so if a visitor desired.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney:
** Employees were reportedly offered $100 bills to test the infamous looping waterslide. According to a former employee, "$100 [[INeedAFreakingDrink did not buy enough booze to drown out that memory.]]"
** Despite the countless injuries (both minor and serious), and even a few deaths, owner Gene Mulvihill never faced any serious legal repercussions. This was because Action Park brought a large influx of cash to the local economy in the Summer, and his nearby ski resorts brought the cash in the Winter. What finally brought him down was all the bad press and word of mouth; his investors started distancing themselves, and after his two other business chains in ski resorts dried up, he was forced to shut down the park in 1996.
* TankGoodness: The "Tank Ride", where riders shot at other tanks, stopping them in place for 15 seconds.
* TooFastToStop:
** A common problem with the Go Karts and LOLA Cars if their RestrainingBolt was removed.
** The sleds in the Alpine Slide, as they only had two speeds: frustratingly slow and overly fast. The first fatality at the park was a guest who lost control, flew off the track, and hit his head on the rocks; he fell into a coma and died.
* WeDontSuckAnymore: The new, safer Action Park (while it still used the name) was often marketed as having "all of the thrills, and none of the spills."
----