If you grew up anywhere near the Tri-State area in the 80s or 90s, you don't just remember Action Park. You carry it. Usually in the form of a faint white scar on your elbow or a weirdly specific fear of wave pools.
It was the "Wild West" of theme parks. A place where gravity felt optional and safety was... well, let's just say it wasn't the top priority. For years, the legend of "Traction Park" has grown, fueled by documentaries and those "I survived the Alpine Slide" stories told over beers. But among the chaos, there's one question that usually gets lost in the nostalgia: When did Action Park close, and why did it actually happen?
It wasn't just one bad day. It was a slow-motion train wreck involving lawsuits, fake insurance companies, and a mountain of debt that finally caught up with the "most dangerous park in the world."
The Final Curtain: When Did Action Park Close?
The original, chaotic era of Action Park officially ended on September 2, 1996.
That Labor Day was the last time the park operated under its original management. It didn't go out with a bang. There wasn't some final, catastrophic accident that forced the gates shut overnight. Instead, it was a quiet, suffocating death by a thousand legal cuts.
By the time 1996 rolled around, the park’s parent company, Great American Recreation (GAR), was essentially a financial ghost. They were $48 million in debt. Let that sink in for a second. In the mid-90s, owing nearly fifty million dollars while running a park where people were constantly getting sued for broken teeth and friction burns is a recipe for disaster.
They tried to limp into the 1997 season. The owners were optimistic—or maybe just delusional. They claimed they’d regain their footing within a year. But the creditors had seen enough. In February 1996, they petitioned to force GAR into bankruptcy. By June 1997, the dream was dead. The park stayed shuttered, and the land was eventually sold off to a Canadian developer called Intrawest.
Why the World’s Most Dangerous Park Had to Die
Honestly, it’s a miracle it lasted eighteen years.
Gene Mulvihill, the park’s creator, was a man who didn't really believe in the word "no." He wanted a park where the guests were in control. That sounds great in a marketing brochure, but in reality, it meant letting twelve-year-olds drive go-karts that went 50 mph and putting drunk teenagers in charge of "lifeguarding" a wave pool that basically acted as a giant blender.
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There are three main reasons the gates finally locked:
1. The Death Count and the "Traction Park" Reputation
By 1996, six people had died at the park.
- 1980: A 19-year-old on the Alpine Slide jumped the track and hit his head on a rock.
- 1982: A 15-year-old drowned in the Tidal Wave Pool.
- 1982: A 27-year-old was electrocuted on the Kayak Experience.
- 1984: A visitor suffered a heart attack on the Tarzan Swing (likely from the shock of the cold water).
- 1984: Another drowning in the wave pool.
- 1987: A third drowning in that same pool.
When you have a pool that requires lifeguards to make 30 saves a day, the public eventually notices. The nicknames "Class Action Park" and "Accident Park" weren't just jokes; they were warnings. Attendance started to tank because, eventually, the "cool" factor of surviving a dangerous park was outweighed by the very real chance of leaving in an ambulance.
2. The Great Insurance Fraud
This is the part many people forget. Gene Mulvihill didn't just ignore safety; he ignored the law.
Because the park was so dangerous, insurance companies wouldn't touch it. So, what did Gene do? He created his own. He set up a fake insurance company in the Cayman Islands called London & Cheshire. It was a shell. It wasn't real.
When people sued for injuries, they were basically suing a company that existed only on paper. Eventually, the state of New Jersey caught on. In the early 80s, a grand jury hit them with a 110-count indictment. Gene eventually pleaded guilty to multiple felonies involving insurance fraud. That kind of legal baggage makes it pretty hard to keep a business afloat.
3. The Money Just Ran Out
The 90s weren't kind to the park. A recession hit early in the decade, and people weren't spending as much on day trips to Vernon, New Jersey.
The park was still advertising itself as the "world's largest water park," but the infrastructure was rotting. If you visited in '95 or '96, you probably saw rides blocked off with plywood. The human maze was a ruin. The second Alpine Slide was a ghost track. The "Anything Goes" atmosphere had turned into an "Everything is Breaking" reality.
The Weird Second Life of Action Park
Most people think the park stayed closed forever after 1996. It didn't.
After Intrawest bought it, they spent millions cleaning it up. They removed the most "death-defying" (read: poorly designed) rides, hired actual lifeguards, and rebranded it as Mountain Creek Waterpark in 1998. It was safe. It was corporate. It was... kind of boring compared to the original.
Then, in 2010, the Mulvihill family actually bought it back.
In a move that felt like a glitch in the Matrix, they renamed the park "Action Park" again for the 2014 season. They even tried to build a modern version of the infamous looping waterslide. But the world had changed. The nostalgia was high, but the liability was higher. By 2016, the Action Park name was retired for good, and it went back to being Mountain Creek.
What Can We Learn From the Chaos?
Action Park was a product of a specific time—a gap in oversight where you could build a waterslide with a vertical loop based on a sketch on a napkin and actually let people ride it.
If you're looking for the "Action Park Experience" today, you won't find it in a theme park. Those days are gone. But the legacy lives on in how we view risk and personal responsibility. It was a place that proved that while people say they want safety, they often crave the thrill of the unregulated.
Here is what you should do if you're still fascinated by the history:
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- Watch the Documentary: Class Action Park (2020) on Max is the definitive look at the insanity. It uses real footage that makes you wonder how anyone survived.
- Read the Book: Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park was written by Andy Mulvihill (Gene’s son). It’s surprisingly honest about the park's failings.
- Visit the Site: You can still go to Mountain Creek today. Some of the original rock formations and ride footprints are still there. The "Tarzan Swing" area still feels a lot like the old days, just with better lifeguards.
Action Park didn't close because it was too fun. It closed because the reality of running a "lawless" kingdom eventually hits a wall of debt and depositions. It’s a legendary chapter of New Jersey history that we’re probably all lucky to have survived.
Next Steps for Your Research:
If you're digging into the specific accidents, you should look up the 1984 state investigation records. They detail the exact moment the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs began to realize that the "London & Cheshire" insurance company didn't actually have any assets. This was the true beginning of the end for the park's finances.