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Inside the World's "most dangerous" Waterpark


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So I came across this on Mashable today.

http://mashable.com/2013/08/28/action-park/

 

What I wouldn't give to have visited this park before it closed.

 

I thought it was funny they talked about the alpine slide as being dangerous, but I guess the part where they mention most of the brakes didn't work would qualify it.

 

It looks like they're also doing a second part tomorrow.

Edited by RaptorBoyASU
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I saw that video on Action Park, it was pretty interesting. It would have been a cool place to visit if they had proper brakes working on the Alpine Slide, though having all those kids spit on people going down the slide would have been gross. I'm amazed Action Park got away with what it was doing for that long. I believe some of Acton Park is still open as Mountain Creek Waterpark including the Tarzan Swing.

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Much of the old Action Park is still open as Mountain Creek, and much of it still makes one say "how do they get away with running this?" Cannonball slides, Tarzan swing, cliff jumps, etc., dropping you into freezing cold spring water... still there!

 

Not saying any of it is unsafe, as they have a pretty good track record now as Mountain Creek, but you can ride and do things there that you simply don't see anyplace else. Worth a trip if you like out-of-the-ordinary waterparks.

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Not saying any of it is unsafe.

 

Then I'll say it. Practically everything at Action Park was unsafe. Some of my recollections that the video fails to mention.

 

Alpine Slide: After people would fly off the track, instead of walking doing the hill with their sled, they tried putting their sled back on the track with their bloody road rashed body. Now common sense will tell you if you put your motionless sled back on the track you are not going to pick up enough speed to avoid being hit from behind, creating another bloody collision.

 

The Cliff Dive was insane. I can't remember how high it was (maybe 20 feet), but so many idiots (including myself) tried crazy flips off that thing and then struggled to swim out of the deep part of the water after having the breathe knocked out of you.

 

People drove those speed boats like maniacs, never obeying the rules.

 

Absolutely amazing that there were not more serious accidents. After my one trip there in 1998 when I was 21, I had no desire to go back and was thrilled to escape unscathed except for a sore body. My brother-in-law wasn't so lucky losing a good portion of leg skin on the Alpine Slide. Massive road rash.

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I wish I could go back in time to Action Park! There was (I guess still is) a place in Indiana called Lake Eliza. I dunno if I went with the boy scouts or during summer camp... but they had a couple slides that were insane. A quick google search yielded this:

 

 

That slide was the fastest thing I ever rode. The stairs were creepy tall and slick, and it seemed so high off the water where you flew off. There was also a mat slide down the side of a wooded hill, where all sorts of wrong moves were happening. Great stuff.

 

Even the diving boards and high dives I grew up on are gone People are wimps.

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I got injured there! I went down the big mat slide on my stomach, but my mat didn't! My elbows and knees got ripped up, but not that badly. While I was in First Aid, someone came in who'd wiped out on the alpine slide. He was pretty badly ripped up.

 

I took it as an omen. I was actually heading over to the alpine slide next. If I hadn't been in First Aid, I'd probably have gone all out and would have been even more badly hurt!

 

Before you got on the slide, they not only told you multiple times to make sure to use your brakes or you'd be badly injured, but they showed you a sign with pictures of someone whose arms and legs were BADLY ripped up!

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^Thanks for posting those! I read them a few years ago, and as you said, they are hilarious. The video the OP put up was cool, too. Action Park sounds pretty legendary. The Tanks sound like the coolest amusement park attraction ever!

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And today comes part two!

 

http://mashable.com/2013/08/29/action-park-shut-down/

 

LOL at , "Yeah, people got hurt, but that comes with the territory of operating a park" (paraphrased). Um, but your job is to minimize that risk. Now I want to go check out Mountain Creek. Especially because these still exist

Edited by RaptorBoyASU
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My summer camp had a day there in the early 90s. Do this day I still remember seeing the loop. It burned an image in my head that made me think it was a dream. But it wasn't.

 

I proud to leave in a world where a place like that even existed. To action park we will always remember you.

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There was a wonderful water park in Ravenna OH, 20 miles south east of Geauga Lake, called Holiday Sands ( I'd post some photos but they all seem to be disabled from copying, look it up.) It was a simple operation and I imagine more risky then it was worth. It consisted a large concrete lake with giant steel barrels that you ran on until you fell off, monkey bars spanning the width of the lake with two metal water slides one about 15 feet tall and the larger one being about 50 feet. I remember going down taller slide which just had a trickle of water, and just being terrified. I remember holding on to the sides and I swear I remember seeing sparks, at the end you were shot out into the middle of the lake. The craziest thing there though was the playground with this giant space ship, its probably a lot smaller then I remember, but I remember climbing up to the top of the inside of it and thinking if I slipped that'd be the end. There was also a giant steel basket that sat 10 or more that surround a pole, it basically mimicked what you did on a chain swing when you twist the chain and spin around. There was also a self propelled yoyo or wave swinger. I believe the park closed in 2000 or 2001. Dover Lake was another North Eastern OH water park that closed after the 2005 season. It had two great tube slides that were a series of chutes connected to each other by rivers and pool, that I remember being very lengthy as well as very rough. There was one chute in particular on the larger river where they had a lifeguard stationed at the bottom to flip you right side up as more often then not you flipped. Dover lake had a lot of attractions that looked to be made in house. The lazy river which was the last addition I believe was just a steel trough with a very minimal current. They also had a giant steel whirl pool which required a life jacket to be ridden. The park was bought by the ski resort that operates next to it and turned into a snow tubing park. Neither seemed to be remotely as dangerous as Action Park but seeing the video reminded me so much of these two attractions.

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I grew up going to Holiday Sands every summer! Along with Dover Lake. I really liked the multi-level lazy river/slide hybrid. The raft slides were awesome as well. Don't remember much else, though.

 

I LOVED the steel basket thing... Used to spin that thing like crazy and hold on for dear life. People used to fly off of it, it was crazy.

 

WATER SAFETY CHECK!

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I remember holiday sands! Only got to go there once but I still remember that even as a pre teen I knew the attractions had major potential to maim. I remember hitting ludicrous speed off the slide into the lake and hitting the water so hard I didn't want to ride it again, I swear that thing was a easy 70ft tall and resembled a mutated old school playground slide. I remember my cousin nicknaming the basket swing "the g machine" after winding it all the way up and then holding on at all costs. I distinctly remember thinking that if I stuck any part of my body near it as it was unwinding and going mindnumbingly fast that I would draw back a bloody broken stump.

 

Not to mention the fact that all this was in murky lake water not clear pool water and I think one lifeguard in a rowboat for the whole place.

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Even as a born and bred North Jerseyan (now living near Mickey - go flutin' figure) I haven't had the chance to experience getting scarred physically at that place off Route 94, even through begging after seeing myriad commercials on cable TV. My parents said that it was too far away. After reading about it and watching this video, I have a lot to thank them for not taking me to the first place.

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  • 4 years later...

So we don't have an official thread for action park / Mountain Creek (my personal favorite waterpark) so posting here

 

Johnny Knoxville is staring in movie about action park and it looks amazing! focusing on how dangerous and awesome it was as well as the people that went there

 

 

I love how they called Great Adventure 7 flags, so seems they are basing it on the actual history which makes me like the movie even more as an action park nerd

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