Action Park Vernon, NJ

[Lilofan]

Does anyone remember this small amusement park in the 1970-80s? There was a recent write up where a number of guests were either killed or injured from the bumps and bruises suffered on the the rides. I lived in NJ at that time but I never went.

 

[mf1972]

i saw that article on yahoo over the weekend. i live here in NJ, but never went there as a kid. i do remember seeing stories on the news about people getting injured over there. i have to go back & read it now.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Traumatic License: An Oral History of Action Park

From 1978 to 1996, New Jersey hosted a ride-at-your-own-risk water park that earned it the nickname “Class Action Park.”

mentalfloss.com

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I've been there several times when they were open...it was known as Class Action Park or Accident Park and yes, there were tons of injuries. They had the BEST go-karts with a giant oval and 15 HP Honda engines...with the governor off, they would probably do 40 m.p.h. with no roll bars or seat belts! It was right down the road from the Playboy resort. Last time I was there was summer of '82. They are still in operation today, but just as a ski resort.

 

[TK294]

I went to "Traction Park" once in 1987. The cliff diving was crazy. The park was pretty crowded and the water was frigid even in the middle of the summer!
The only injury I ever got there was on the Alpine slide. Basically, you sat on a sled that had some kind of brake. You went down the side of the mountain on a concrete pathway... and hoped you braked soon enough to avoid injury. Luckily I just got some bruised arms from flying off of my track and onto the track next to mine. Others weren't as fortunate.
In retrospect, it's amazing what we thought of as being "fun" as teenagers.

 

[awoogala]

We went multiple times every summer. We used to call it "traction park". I still have the alpine slide scars to prove it! Loved every second of it, but saw tons of people injured. The rope swing where people would get scared and not let go- then slam back into the platform.. the alpine slide which could skin you, or you could just flip right off..the wave pool was super big and dangerous- they were always jumping in as people were out of their swimming ability.