But their Canyon Blaster roller coaster is responsible for a few horrible events. Perhaps Superman isn't the hero we all thought he was? Youd be flying down the side of a literal mountain and suddenly see that the person in front of you had gotten scared and stopped and was inching their way down, you know, because it was scary. In a case of the simulation being a little too much like the real thing, a mysterious accident on the ride killed six and injured ten more back in 2010. Even worse, according to Seccia, was the road burn: You could rip the hell out of your bare skin when it grazed the track at 40 miles an hour. People were bleeding all over the place, Susie McKeown, a visitor of the park during its operative years, told the New York Times. Nitro is basically a thrill ride which takes its riders on a sharp vertical dive and then immediately after that you'll find yourself 5,400 feet above the ground. For Action Park, the idea was you could throw caution into the windand no one could stop you. While this photo looks dangerous enough, it wasn't the reason why Valleyfair's Soak City Waterpark in Shakopee, Minnesota, was deemed one of the most dangerous parks in the U.S. It definitely beheaded dummies during test runs. He tells me these werent the people you wanted to watch your dog, much less hundreds of kids with a death wish. Andy Mulvihill commented on the deaths which occurred in the park, which he personally lived through. Picture a hamster ball, but for human beings. 2 Nitro, New Jersey This insane ride is found in Jersey's SIX FLAGS and has single-handedly made the adventure park a world attraction. In the fantastic documentary Class Action Park we get some great insights into everything that went on. This was not the case with this notorious New Jersey theme park. The river had underwater fans that kept the water moving. We did everything we could to try to protect people, but there were a lot of people that were just not swimmers or not good swimmers that jumped in water when they shouldnt have.. His first summer attraction took advantage of the ski lifts and was called the Alpine Slide, a 2,700-foot-long cement slide that guests would go down on a mini-sled with just a hand-operated brake helping them manage the speed. In 1991, two people met God on the exact same day due to completely different issues with the park. Related:17 Weird Things About Coney Island We Didn't Know (8 We Didn't Want To). Unlike the other rides on this list of dangerous roller coasters, Luna Parks Cyclone has not been shut down. The trauma of it all only made me want to go more. Stories of the infamous Cannonball Loop at Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey abound. Finally, someone asked if this was safe. There's good reason the park earned the nicknames "Traction Park" and "Class-Action Park," as no fewer than six people have been killed at the park over the years, with causes including everything from drowning and electrocution, to being hit in the head with a giant rock. Some of the first few who tried it came out the bottom with bloody mouths. Action Park Deaths: How Many People Died In Action Park? These incidents took place in the early 80s. Every member of my family seemed to have gotten hurt and/or nearly drowned there. Eventually, they just shut it down completely, along with the whole park, in 1996. So, go at your own risk. Theme parks are supposed to be harmless and light-hearted, but statistically speaking, some are more dangerous than others. Riders were upside down for more than 10 minutes and later complained about various injuries. Its sister coaster, Darien Lake's Ride of Steel has a similar history, with two people getting thrown out of the ride, resulting in one death. The ride was closed by the Advisory Board on Carnival Amusement Ride Safety after one month. Action Park was started by Eugene Mulvihill, who ran a company called Great American Recreation. ), A slide called the Cannonball (the first version) seemed like a safer bet. Rollercoaster malfunctions and dangerous water attractions are to blame for a few of the dreadful events that occurred at Kings Island in Ohio. An older man fellnearly 17 feet from a roller coaster and suffered serious injuries. But they obviously needed it to stay open. Six Flagsis an all-American amusement park that everyone wants to go to. According to The Seattle Times, Waterworld California in Concord is responsible for harming 32 teens. Next:19 Amusement Park That Are Dangerous AF. An area with the slides, an area with pools, and then Motor World mostly made up of go-karts and anything with an engine. After the adjustments, they started testing the Cannonball Loop ride with their teenage employees. TV writer Kevin Seccia worked at Action Park for four summers in the early 1990s and has vivid memories of how dangerous the ride was. Back in 2014, Mount Olympus had permanently closed a ride after a major accident. Not only was the Alpine Slide among the parks premier attractions, in July 1980, it was also the site of the first fatality on the premises when a 19-year-old employees sled jumped the track, and he suffered a fatal head injury after striking a rock. They found out the gravitational effects were the same as an F-14 fighter plane: 9Gs. But it wasnt just Cannonball Loop; there was Cannonball Falls, which was a water slide that would launch you out ten feet in the air into a 17-foot deep pool below. But it did. It was never open on any trip I made there, he tells me. Action Park 80's Live Action and Cannonball loop. The Hong Kong government. More lawsuits had also popped up. While there have been no major injuries reported at this park, it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong. Since then, there have been six people who had extremely unfortunate experiences there. In the Documentary, they tell of kids being rammed and launched straight out of the ride. Two of those unfortunate guests died, one from heart failure and the other from a brain hemorrhage subsequent lawsuits found the park blameless as the ride's extreme centrifugal force triggered preexisting conditions. They decided to add some padding. Eventually, they got in trouble for selling worthless stocks. It doesn't matter where adrenaline enthusiasts live, there's always a theme park or two they're trying to chase. WebDespite gaining a reputation for dangerous and even deadly rides, Action Park remained popular until its closure in 1996. But, according to the Amusement Safety Organization, at least six other major accidents were reported between 2006 and 2010. The chilling streak of lethal incidents began in 1980, when an employees sled derailed while riding the Alpine Slide, throwing them off the tracks. It now goes by the name Mountain Creek Waterpark. They kept sending us free passes to go back so we went again but I was extremely cautious and only went on one ride a kayak where you simply paddled around a sort of lazy river, McKeown said. They brought in a lot of money, employed hundreds of people, and paid a lot of taxes. It was very interesting that [in] the winter it was okay to be dangerous but the summer no, they had to be more careful, he said. In an era of deregulation, many believed they could regulate themselves. Human beingsspecifically younger onescould actually ride this thing. And that's just in Florida the Monorail at Disneyland in California also has one fatality to its name, though that was due to idiocy by a teenager who climbed up on the tracks and got run over. Despite the obvious consequences of hiding safety information from the public, there are still at least 13 secrets water parks wont tell you. Ouch. A few years later, it reopened with new owners under the name Mountain Creek Waterpark, but nothing could ever replace Action Park at least nothing legal. The pools and rides were turning into mosh pits. (In Action Parks defense, they did eventually add a canopy. Again, it wasnt designed properly to keep people on. The Six Flags in New Jersey, as well as in Georgia and Kentucky, have had to be shut down completely due to some unimaginably awful events that took place there. Theme Park Tourist is one of thewebs leading sources of essential information and entertaining articles about theme parks in Orlando and beyond. People were definitely hit., He eventually moved on to working the line on the Colorado River Tube, where he had the job of informing guests about the safety rules before they went on the ride. Batman: The Ride might be dangerous, but if you really want to put your life on the line, try one of the Superman rides at Six Flags. Well, it did. Flying off the track was a common occurrence. My parents would never question what a teacher would have to say, but these days, I think its the complete opposite: how dare you infer my child isnt perfect? The leading independent voice for aviation news and insight. Anyone who had the guts to try it would get $100. On top of this, the pool was often overcrowded and when the waves grew too intense, guests flooded the ladders in order to get out. It was a park run by teenagers, for teenagers. By the 1990s, attendance dropped. Broken bones and torn-up skin were a daily occurrence. Still, if you need to get to the Ticket and Transportation Center, here's a tip: take the ferry. On an average day, 50-100 people were being injured on The Alpine Slide. In our opinion, parks like these should be shut down and these animals should be rehabilitated and released. While the ad screamed family-friendly virtues, I soon discovered it conveniently edited out the horror show that actually awaited you once you got to the park. The infamous Cannonball Loop, a waterslide featuring a vertical loop, was introduced to the park in 1983 and lasted only a month before it was closed due to Action Park comes out of the 1970s and has connections to an ex-Wall Street employee Gene Mulvihill. Additionally, there have been 110 reported injuries. Castles N' Coasters is a popular amusement park in Arizona. If you go to Lagoon Amusement Park in Utah, you may want to stay off the Puff the Little Fire Dragon ride. WebClass Action Park: America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park. Because nothing was spelled out to you, you had no real understanding of what to do., I remember the noise as the handlebars violently hit the end of the line, Mark continues. Very scary to think she was doing anything safety related., Seccia got his start working in the cafeteria, and agrees that the employees were as unsupervised and reckless as the guests. What could possibly go wrong? I loved it and it was safe but the next day the ride was closed because someone fell off their kayak and was electrocuted by the electric currents.. They would load several people into a tube and just let er rip down a course that wasnt designed properly. Kendra is a writer, a Project Manager at a marketing agency and a dog mama to two Boston Terriers. And then it happened again. A few adjustments clearly needed to be made. As for Kimmels own experience: I got pressured into going on the Alpine Slide even though you took a chairlift to get up the mountain, and I was afraid of heights. There have been numerous water issues at the Sun Valley Water Park in Powder Springs, Georgia, according to the IAAPA. They say theres no such thing as bad publicity, but in the case of Action Park, the negative press reports caught up with them. Who knows, but people still seemed cautious. Both coasters hit a maximum speed well in excess of 70 mph, so it's no wonder accidents frequently lead to death. For various reasons, these parks, from all over the country, have landed on this list and you should definitely know about them. Pripyat Amusement Park in Pripyat, Ukraine was supposed to open on May 1, 1986, but five days before its scheduled opening, the Chernobyl disaster occurred nearby, resulting in thirty deaths in the months following the At Action Park, that often wasnt the case. Obviously, we immediately abused this privilege. He specializes in entertainment, film, and celebrity news. The Giant Canyon Swing in Colorado is a pendulum ride that moves four passengers back and forth and hits a top speed of 50 miles per hour. The dummies were coming out completely mangled. It was now just a regularand very safewater park. Here are the most dangerous amusement park rides at Action Park and other elements that made it so parlous. The 19-year old employees death is detailed by the website rideaccidents.com. Then again in 1987also in the wave pool. I, however, didnt need the excitement that comes from surviving a traumatic experience in my house that was a daily occurrence. She's based in Portland, OR where the coffee is good and the brunch spots always have lines. On two separate occasions the trains have malfunctioned, leading to stalls and crashes that injured a total of 46 people. When I finally did go in the early 1990s, I quickly realized something wasnt right. Who could blame me? if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'everything80spodcast_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_10',107,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-everything80spodcast_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); But, honestly, what kid wouldnt want to go to Action Park? Somehow, nobody's died on a SCAD Tower, but it just seems like a bad idea all around, one that should probably end before somebody does.