Anyone have a picture of the looping water slide from Action Park?

The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up before on the forum but I would really like to see what it looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New Jersey.

Aldo

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

I have a photo of it somewhere, but it looks like a joke. Did it actually run?

I'll look for the photo and post it if I find it.

Eric

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

> I have a photo of it somewhere, but it looks like a joke.
> Did it actually run?

> I'll look for the photo and post it if I find it.

> Eric
>

There is a photos of this thing in Mark Wyatt's "White Knuckle Ride"- a coffee table book from around 1996 or so. In his overview of water rides, there is a photo of this ill fated "attraction". Basically picture a fully enclosed body slide that drops straight down at a 45 degree angle from about 40 ft high, and immediatly into an ulta tight, impossible looking vertical loop (also enclosed). The loop couldn't have been more than 10-15 ft in diameter! Fully circular too.

-sparky

Attached is a picture of the infamous looping waterslide.

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

............ ouch.

> Attached is a picture of the infamous looping waterslide.

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

There is no way that you could get me on that slide. It looks like a death trap.

There was a hay slide in Park City, Utah at the ski area back in the late 70's and early 80's that ran beside the Alpine Slide. It was closed when I rode the Alpine Slide, but for some reason I recall it having a loop in the slide. It was NOT an alpine slide, but instead an entirely enclosed steel tube. They said you used small hay bales to ride it though for some reason I'd bet you slid on a potato sack.

It was a long slide.

Yeah... I used to live right next to Action Park years and years ago. I heard so many horror stories of that slide. It's thanks to that slide why I have a fear of water slides... seriously.

Anyway. Thanks for the picture. Brings back memories.

looks like a good time to me...I'd love to see if the water generated enough force to remain on the "outside" of the loop while upside down. Interesting concept.

it reminds me of the simpson's episode when homer gets stuck in the waterslide hahaha!

I rode that slide a couple of times......very painful. But very unique. Probably the sickest ride I have ever been on......

> it reminds me of the simpson's episode when homer gets
> stuck in the waterslide hahaha!

> I rode that slide a couple of times......very painful. But
> very unique. Probably the sickest ride I have ever been
> on......

Can you elaborate on the experience? I would love to hear what it was like!

- Pat-O

> ............ ouch.
>

My thoughts exactly.

It seems pretty freaky, I mean what if there wasnt enough water pressure and you drowned at the bottom of the loop?

Action Park was the greatest waterpark ever. Every ride there was unique. They seemed to build rides not knowing how they would work and letting people on them. The Cannonball Loop, as it was called, rarely was ever open. I used to go a couple times during the summer and I only saw it open twice. If anyone has any memories they want to share about Action Park, please post them. Some rides I would love to hear about are the Colorado River Ride, Roaring Rapids, Kamikaze, Tarzan Swing, Cannonball, or Cliff Jump.

Action Park also had a variety of other rides such as the Alpine Slide, different Go Karts, Indy Cars, Jet-Skis and the tanks. The tanks were awesome!

WOW I almost forgot about action park.

"What happen" to it the water park was one of the best in its day.the alpine slides that you rode were sic. its was a plastic board with wheels and weak ass brakes that rode down the mountain like a water slide except that is was made of concrete. I remember that there was some bad accidents there.

the indy cars were really fast but they never gave you a strait run to really get some speed.

well had some great days there will always remember it fondly.

chris n

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

Action park was one of the first water parks ever built, which is why their rides are so unique. Most places now have very similar slides that are regularly made, but action park had to come up with them itself. It closed down a few years ago, and now in its place is mountain creek, and it seems to be a bit safer, hehe. As far as the looping slide goes, I heard it never opened and they never even built a pool for it to go into, did someone really ride it?

Hello All. I'm new here and just signed up because I was searching for Action Park attractions after reading the article in Weird NJ. I too have been on this ride. What I remember from the ride is that you almost have to climb into it because the opening was so high off the deck platform. When you look down into the tube it was completely black... no visibility whatsoever. The lifeguard at the time gave us the instructions before riding. Hands behind your neck interlocked very tightly and cross your legs. Of course we listened because we were terrified. After 20 or so minutes up there I decided to go for it. It was actually not that bad. It was real bumpy on the way down and once you reach the leap all you feel is your legs go straight up then it shoots you out into a very shallow puddle of water. Once you're puit however you are very disorriented. You can not stand up without falling over. This lasted only a couple of seconds.

BIGCEELO from NJ.

Ouch!! Was there a chiropractor waiting for you at the end?

what the!?
Woh...that is CRAZY!
I don't understand how it could work?
Could the water flow realy make it all the way around the loop!?
Is this the only one?

ry.

The water must have run off where the loop started.

It was definitely something I will never forget!

it went in a loop, you would have to wear some type of helmet or something.

hahaha

> hahaha

Jeez. that looks dangoruse

I used to travel to Action Park, Traction Park as it was so named for its' accident rates, several times a year. I loved the place! It was not for the timid or faint of heart! After spending a day there you were wooped! This was designed for the individual rider and not sissies! Best and rides I have ever been on.

Is it just me, or ddi this slide look like a lawsuit waiting to happen?

Tim.

> Is it just me, or ddi this slide look like a lawsuit
> waiting to happen?

That slide looks like a death trap. What happens if you don't make it all the way through the loop and valley.

HOLY CRAP:| When I first seen that picture I thought it was Phtoshop:|

No, my young PCW fanboy friend, that is not photoshop. Never the less, you won't see me in that appaling thing, I quite fancy my life.

Tim.

> That slide looks like a death trap. What happens if you
> don't make it all the way through the loop and valley.
>

Death trap it was. Why do you think action park closed? :p

>

OOPSIE..Posted w/o typing a message..SILLY ME!

Action Park was an incredible experience..I haven't been there since it became MOUNTAIN CREEK, but my memories will always be there...

The Cannonball underground waterslide that shot you out OVER a pool with about a 4 ft. drop into the COLDEST water I've ever been in.

A cliff dive pool with a stone cavern and underwater bench...my gf and I once spent 3 hours in the cave..JUST TALKING,PEOPLE,..GET YOUR MINDS OUTTA THE GUTTER!!!

The Surf Hill, a watery version of the classic burlap sack carnival slide...got tossed up about three feet on one bump, was a little sore...found out later I had actually sprained my shoulder...also a great spot to watch girls, vis-a-vis the laws of gravity and friction as they apply to bathing suit tops..If, as Joe Bob Briggs might say, you know what I mean and I hope the high sheriffs don't!

Thanks for bringing up AP..I'll never forget it!

Mike

Unfortunetly that 2nd picture is photo-chopped. I went to action park at least once every year starting in 1985. I was at action park in '96 for the the vans Warp Tour(which was a fantastic concert by the way) and that ride was long closed by that time. The best part of that ride were the ghost stories everyone told of it. I think Elvis and Hoffa lived inside of it for a while.

I vaugely remember after it was first built seeing it "operating" but nobody was riding it. There was a lifegaurd at the top, one at the base of the loop and a 3rd at the pool. Also, you cant see this from either picture but there was a trap door at the base of the loop. I remember seeing a park employee opening it up and looking in.

But the date of that photograph proves its not real.

Another quick story about AC( i have many), There was a ride called the "Aqua Scoot". It was a tall tower that you had to walk up the stairs to the top carrying your own heavy plastic sled. Once at the top you sat upright on the sled which was pushed down a slide of rollers. At the bottom was a long pool of water and if you were the proper weight you would scoot across the water like you were skipping a rock. Unfortunetly my younger cousin was too light for the ride and as soon as he got to the bottom the front of the sled lifted up and flipped upside down smacked him on the back of the head cutting a gash in the back of his head which required stiches to close. His family attempted to sue AC but they filed for chap 11. He still has a nasty scar on his head.

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

> Unfortunetly that 2nd picture is photo-chopped. I went to
> action park at least once every year starting in 1985. I
> was at action park in '96 for the the vans Warp Tour(which
> was a fantastic concert by the way) and that ride was long
> closed by that time. The best part of that ride were the
> ghost stories everyone told of it. I think Elvis and Hoffa
> lived inside of it for a while.

> I vaugely remember after it was first built seeing it
> "operating" but nobody was riding it. There was a
> lifegaurd at the top, one at the base of the loop and a 3rd
> at the pool. Also, you cant see this from either picture
> but there was a trap door at the base of the loop. I
> remember seeing a park employee opening it up and looking
> in.

> But the date of that photograph proves its not real.

You are absolutely wrong. I too went to the park every summer and had never seeing it running. However, one summer before Action Park closed I had finally seen the Cannonball Loop open for the first time I had been there during the middle of the day. I couldn't believe it since there where so many stories of this ride I had heard and just believed from the sight of this ride. It was right near the bumper boats which are know longer there. I HAVE seen this ride open once in my life and it was around 1996! You may not wanna believe it, but this ride was open when I went one time during the 90's.

> Another quick story about AC( i have many), There was a
> ride called the "Aqua Scoot". It was a tall tower
> that you had to walk up the stairs to the top carrying your
> own heavy plastic sled. Once at the top you sat upright on
> the sled which was pushed down a slide of rollers. At the
> bottom was a long pool of water and if you were the proper
> weight you would scoot across the water like you were
> skipping a rock. Unfortunetly my younger cousin was too
> light for the ride and as soon as he got to the bottom the
> front of the sled lifted up and flipped upside down smacked
> him on the back of the head cutting a gash in the back of
> his head which required stiches to close. His family
> attempted to sue AC but they filed for chap 11. He still
> has a nasty scar on his head.

The Aqua Scoot was a crazy ride. When I was real little, it was almost impossible to carry the sled by yourself. Coming down the rollers made such a unique sound that I can still hear it in my head. I remember seeing someone ONCE hit there head imeadiately after coming off the rollers. The ONE time i saw that had the person leaning back on their sled. Any accidents I heard on this ride were from riders screwing up. I stinctly remember all lifeguards on the top of this ride telling people "Hold on tight and keep your back straight." I saw fat and thin people go on this ride. Also I saw young kids and old people go on this. The only time I saw an accident was when people rode incorrectly. It didn't matter what your "poper weight" was. You are completely wrong. No matter what your weight was, you could scoot across the pool. Maybe not as far as others, but if you sunk immediately, it was because of balance or where you distributed your weight. It had nothing to do that your cousin was to light. That is why the sled where so heavy. You just had to sit up straight and you would be fine. It doesn't make any logical sense what yo said.

~Billy RO

> But the date of that photograph proves its not real.

Yeah, but how often do people actually have the right date set for their film cameras? Just a thought.

I was one of the very few and it indeed was 1995, the year they let anyone with a Yankee Stadium ticket stub in free. We'd go to a game gather 100 or so used tickets from fans, and sell them at the gate for $10 before going in.

The slide had a hatch to let people out. I never saw it open before 1995. I remember the worker with the hose and a weight limit that was say between 140-170. You climbed the stairs and they hosed you with ice cold water. There was never a pool just a strip of slide with pooled water to slow you down at the end.

There was a "emergency hatch" that could be opened. I never saw it used for a "rescue" but the lifeguard always opened it after a rider went down, maybe to make sure water was flowing or something

The funny thing I remember the day it was opened we mentioned to the lifeguard "Wow its open" His response for why it was never open, in true Action park logic, was "Well thats's because we need three people to run it and no one rides it" Not, "Jesus look at this thing, it's a death trap"

As dangerous as this was, the biggest death trap in the park was the Alpine Slide. An ineffective brake, people in bathing suits (although I think you had to wear a shirt), concrete, sharp turns, navigating down a mountain praying that the spit from the chair lift missed you

Good Times Indeed.

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

> it reminds me of the simpson's episode when homer gets
> stuck in the waterslide hahaha!

hahahahah !!!!!!
I think it's one of the episode I laugghed the most !!! SO funny !!! Maybe it was inspired by this killer water slide !

for sure, I'll never try this slide.....just a sado-maso ride.

-Vincent

> Is it just me, or ddi this slide look like a lawsuit
> waiting to happen?

> Tim.

Hey everyone. Found this site looking for info on Action park as well. Wanted to reply to your post Tim. It WAS a lawsuit waiting to happen. The last time that ride was in use was I believe the night an over-weight man decided to go down and got stuck and eventually drowned. They weren't able to free him in enough time and if you do a little digging I'm sure there's news on it somewhere on the web. The following week ( after the man died in the tube) someone else was killed up there. From what I've read seemed like 8 to 10 ER visits a day was a "slow" day in the local hospital.

I went on it in '95...Bigcello is right, you are disoriented. There was no way to be aware of what was going on...it was dark and quick. The thing I remember most is being dizzy as he** when I got off...my friend was laughing at me because he could hear me making bizzare noises as I went down (he was standing in the puddle at the end).

As far as someone dying on it, that never happened.

> I went on it in '95...Bigcello is right, you are
> disoriented. There was no way to be aware of what was going
> on...it was dark and quick. The thing I remember most is
> being dizzy as he** when I got off...my friend was laughing
> at me because he could hear me making bizzare noises as I
> went down (he was standing in the puddle at the end).

> As far as someone dying on it, that never happened.

>

Yes, many people did die please read the link below. Last I was there was in 95 and the looping water ride was closed down and partially dismantled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park

> I went on it in '95...Bigcello is right, you are
> disoriented. There was no way to be aware of what was going
> on...it was dark and quick. The thing I remember most is
> being dizzy as he** when I got off...my friend was laughing
> at me because he could hear me making bizzare noises as I
> went down (he was standing in the puddle at the end).

> As far as someone dying on it, that never happened.

>

> Yes, many people did die please read the link below. Last I
> was there was in 95 and the looping water ride was closed
> down and partially dismantled.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park

Just wanted to also add another site w/ a pic of the ride. It also includes a link on it of all the deaths that took place @ Action Park. Please note That some of the rides names had changed over the years =)
http://gregggethard.blogspot.com/2005/07/action-park-worlds-most-threatening.html

> The enclosed water slide with a loop has been brought up
> before on the forum but I would really like to see what it
> looked like. It was located at the old Action Park in New
> Jersey.

> Aldo

I am confused... i read other places that the looping waterslide never was completed and that noone had ever ridden it. So are the posters here who say they have rode it full of sh@%?

> I am confused... i read other places that the looping
> waterslide never was completed and that noone had ever
> ridden it. So are the posters here who say they have rode
> it full of sh@%?

The pictures don't lie. Look through the entire thread.

I'm 26, and just yesterday went to Mountain Creek with my friend Uri. Mountain Creek is a waterpark in Vernon, NJ, on the site formerly known as "Action Park." Action Park was one of the first water parks in the nation (built in the late 70s as a source of summer revenue for the winter skiing resort there). It became known as "Traction Park" because of the many injuries (and yes, deaths) that spawned from it. It's still a *very* fun park, but it's no Action Park. Action Park was absolutely amazing. I used to go in the summer with friends or camp. It was different than any other water park around, because, well - it was one of the first, so it had no "prototype." All other parks are pretty much identical (all those beige slides, tube rides and clear-blue pipe-rides, etc), but AC was built on the side of a mountain, with the rides in between boulders, trees, etc. Here is a link to some memories, and changes from AC vs. MC...

So I can pretty much put everyone's concerns about this looping waterslide to bed. The pictures that are posted are real. The ride was rarely open but when it was, you usually had the macho "80's" guy trying to impress his hair monster jersey girl girlfriend as the primary rider. I know this because I worked at the park during my highschool years. The trap door was as the bottom of the loop to get people out if they got stuck. The landing pool, if you want to call it a pool, was just a rubber lined hole that was dug in the ground. Not much room for slowing people down.

Action Park was the wildwest of amusement parks and I saw first hand the injuries that occurred at the park as they scraped up the bodies off the bottoms of the different pools. A park visitor would take their life in their hands by visiting the park. Surviving a bar fight would have been easier on the body than a day at the park.

>
> I am confused... i read other places that the looping
> waterslide never was completed and that noone had ever
> ridden it. So are the posters here who say they have rode
> it full of sh@%?

I went several times a year from around 82-87. The slide was open shortly then (less than a year) and was located near the main entrance/lodge. My dad would take us and just sit reading on a bench near this slide while watching the injuries occur. The next time I went it was gone. and no, I did not go on it, way to afraid of it. Those pictures show it in what appears to be another location of the park. And according to the wikipedia article it was reopened shortly during the 90's. I can not beleive that they re-opened that ride.

>
> I am confused... i read other places that the looping
> waterslide never was completed and that noone had ever
> ridden it. So are the posters here who say they have rode
> it full of sh@%?

I grew up in Northern New Jersey and like me, most people who grew up here vividly remember "Accident Park". Back then,(late 70s early 80s), groups of us would head up there every two weeks or so for no other reason than to see who got what inuries. That place was the most demented and intense park on the planet and we loved it. And yes, the "looping water slide" was finished though it was closed more then it was open. It sat right near the front gate. I never rode it nor did any of my friends because as often as were we there, the thing was always closed. My friends and I were at the park a few days before the guy from NY drowned in the wave pool in 84. THat freaked us a bit.As sick as the looping slide was, it was only part of the whole experience. Between the people slamming into the water off the diving cliffs when you were in the pool below(it was like running a gauntlet) to the death runs on the Alpine Slide with that joke of a brake,at the end of the day, you were not only talking about everything you did that day, but that you managed to survive it. Everyone you walked past on the way to another ride was either holding their neck or elbow or holding a gauze on a scrape to the knee. The stories(at least most)about the park are true.I had a girl literaly climb over the top of me on the wave pool ladder cause she couldn't catch her breath as the waves started pounding us. She banged my head into the rail and I had a lump for a week. Man was she scared witless! God, I miss that park!

id throw a little plastic baby and see if it comes out before i'd ride it. it would be a little painfull at the loop but i would definently have a steeper drop so u can get through the loop as fast as possible

Did anyone go to Mountain Creek this year?

-Bill

The only time I went to Action Park was in 1990. I actually went on the "Cannonball Loop" was the name as I remember. I remember that they weighed you first... you had to weight between 175 lbs and 225 {or something like that} otherwise you wouldn't make it around or you'd get stuck. They sprayed you with a garden hose and always said "good luck, your braver than me" to everyone gonig!!! The thing I remember was right before the loop I hit the back of my head really hard and probably knocked out for a second. Next thing I know... It was blaring bright sun... and I was trying to stand straight and fell right into a warm puddle in totally wet grass just past the end of the landing zone. I was almost completely covered in mud. My friends wouldn't let me live it down how "my eyes went back up inside my head". LOL

Oh man, what a great thread this is for peeps to keep "bringing from the dead; This thread, and the "Paramount's Kings Island Fatalities" that is locked are my two "favorite" threads on URC. Keep up the good job guys concerning bringing this "waste of space" from the grave.

The first picture is from a book called "White knuckle Ride". The other photo at the top of the image is another slide called Niagara somthing; I don't remember the rest of the name. WNR is a very good, old book, and I enjoy reading it, but I don't even know if it is available for purchase anymore.

there was a hatch at the bottom of the slide for if you didnt make it i rode it once and it hurt and never rode it again.

this ride was dangerous!!! I was the ride lead at the park when the ride was opened, this ride was considered to be part of the apline group and not the water park... so I will tell you i was always the one on the top hosing people down.... Okay about the ride... it was a looping water slide with a waiting pool at the bottom.... Okay issue one with this ride, the liner would always rip causing people to get really scratched when the hit the pool, also the ride would make very distict sounds when a rider was on it... they would go down and you would hear your fisrt bang... feet hitting the side of the loop, then you wuld hear another hit... the back hitting the top of the loop, last a bang the feet hitting the botton of the loop and then out to the pool..... Next you would notice the scratching on the body, this was due to a liner rip or a snail in the loop... this ride was closed alot and snails would climb into it... We where always asked to test this ride when it would be opened, we where offered free food, free passes, longer luch breaks and much more. Being the lead on this ride I would always tell them casper tested it. Until one day they said we dont have a employee named casper, yep it was the freindly ghost..... well I will tell you there was a hatch in it just before the loop an employee would sit at the hatch and clear it for the next rider, or if the person never made it through the loop you could get them out.... so you had a person at the top of the loop, hosing people down... one at the hatch to clear the next rider and one in the wait pool... the best place to be was in the pool since bathing suit tops where often lost... riders would not know until we came down with a towel for them... it was a crazy ride, and jean movelhill came up with ideas for the rides on like napkins... and put the teams to work and built them..... there are and where many dangerous rides at the park..... many not safe nor built good....

That waterpark has a record of being dangerous their were 6 deaths and 2 people drowned in the same wave pool.Theyre is a waterslide that uses rollers and it has a reputation of tearing peoples hair out.

I rode on this many years ago. Now that I'm an old man, I realized how dumb and stupid I was.

I did it several times on that day and I'm still in one piece. I went to this place several times and always had a blast, but thinking back, it really was a death trap.

My last visit there they had bungee jumping and that was pretty strict. I had to pay an extra fee and they did take all types of precautions on that one.

Yes I too rode the "loop de loop" water ride as we called it. This was the summer of 1995 and yes it was the same summer where admission to Class Action Park was free if you had a NY Yankees ticket stub (which was given back to you for reuse later! we couldnt believe that).

Anyway I was with a friend from NJ who was in utter shock when he saw the ride open! He too said its been closed forever. We ran there and yes I remember the thrill of it all:

1) Take off all jewelry including watches and those gold NJ necklaces 2) get weighed at scale (no fatties similar to Surf Hill weight limits). 3) climb stairs where you would get hosed down by an employee with ice cold water 4) when entering, we were instructed "keep your ankles crossed, arms in, wrists crossed over your chest, and keep your chin down!".

I remember some guy in front of us asking "CAN I GO IN HEAD FIRST?!?!" The deadpan reaction of the employee was priceless "No...you'll die." *silence*
"You will crack and break your neck on the loop if you do."

We all went as instructed and still felt like rag dolls tossed in a cold wet spinning dryer afterwards.

I have the link on YouTube in my favourites, but I'll post it later, but there's a park in the Netherlands that have a looping waterslide. It's not a vertical loop, but similar to an inclined loop.

Tim.

i remember skiing at Vernon Valley / Great Gorge(the winter ski tim at Action Park)

When there for skiing that slide was one of the only visible parts of Action Park and you just looked at the slide in awe.

You always knew when your friends went to Action Park because they would come back all bruised up. The famouse pink line down someone's side from flying off the alpine slide...

Just found this site and thread -- great! I went to Action Park a couple of times in the mid/late 80s. Got an ear infection every time! No broken bones for me though.

Of course I remember this slide. I never saw it open, so of course I was surprised (and skeptical) about the reports that it opened in the mid-90s for a brief time.

The urban legend always was that they put a test dummy in the slide and it came out without a head, so they never opened the ride.

I used to ski at Vernon Valley/Great Gorge every winter in the late '80s and it was always cool riding the chairlifts up over the "ghosts" of the waterslides.

Thinking about heading to MC Water Park this week, but sounds like it's not as fun as Action Park was in its heyday.