HBO Max's Class Action Park has to be the funniest Documentary i've ever seen

[spliz]

I just remembered Coney Island had commercials back in the day too.

ASTRO.....ASTRO..... ASTROLAND PARK!

And them Raceway Park commercials with the weird chipmunk voice.

Coooneeeeyy IIIIsssllaaand. Lol.

 

[Meowth tote da Uzi]

Did dr boskonovic build those fukking rides

Breh in one of the illustrations did look like this dude I saw that shyt and had to come back to dap.

 

[The axe murderer]

Breh in one of the illustrations did look like this dude I saw that shyt and had to come back to dap.

thats exactly what i saw and no one can convince me he didn't really do it either

 

[Meowth tote da Uzi]

The employees were offing mfs. The way one dude said "we dont talk about it"....yeah they off'd a few ppl.

 

[Meowth tote da Uzi]

Spoiler

breh I'm losing it rn. They said he had a mac 10 in his drawer

 

[spliz]

The employees were offing mfs. The way one dude said "we dont talk about it"....yeah they off'd a few ppl.

Word up. That’s the sense I got too. No way all the deaths that happened there was reported.

 

[feelosofer]

Hold the fukk on. I used to beg my mom to take me there for years a youth. She always said 'NO'. I used to get mad at her. She was right. That place was bananas.

 

[El Poyo Loco]

The excuse for the kid dying on the alpine was the ride didn't kill him the rocks he hit did

 

[Norrin Radd]

The excuse for the kid dying on the alpine was the ride didn't kill him the rocks he hit did

Well I mean its not exactly untrue

 

[MushroomX]

This commercial is so misleading.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Wikipedia says at least 6 people died there.

Action Park's most successful years were the early- and mid-1980s. Most rides were still operating, and the park's dangerous reputation had not yet developed. In 1982, two guests died at the park within a week of each other, leading to the permanent closure of one ride.[9] Despite this, people continued to come in massive numbers. The park's fortunes began to turn with two deaths in the summer of 1984, and the legal and financial problems that stemmed from the ensuing lawsuits. A state investigation of misconduct in the leasing of state land to Action Park led to a 110-count grand jury indictment against the nine related companies that ran the park and their executives for operating an unauthorized insurance company.[10] Many took pretrial intervention to avoid prosecution; CEO Eugene Mulvihill pleaded guilty that November to five insurance fraud-related charges.[11] Still, attendance remained high and the park remained profitable, at least on paper.

The park entertained over one million visitors per year during the 1980s, with as many as 12,000 coming on some of the busiest weekends.[3] Park officials said this made the injury and death rate statistically insignificant. Nevertheless, the director of the emergency room at a nearby hospital said they treated from five to ten victims of park accidents on some of the busiest days, and the park eventually bought the township of Vernon extra ambulances to keep up with the volume.[3] In September 1989, GAR negotiated a deal with International Broadcasting Corporation that would result in the sale of Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, and Action Park, for $50 million.[12] IBC, however, backed out of the deal, feeling the site was not suitable for their needs upon further inspections of the properties.[13][14]

The specifics on some of the rides are insane.

Alpine slide

Action Park's 2,700-foot-long (820 m) alpine slide descended the mountain beneath one of the ski area's chairlifts, which provided guests access to the top of the slide. Riders sat on small sleds that had only a brake/accelerator control stick, and rode down the slide in long chutes built into the slope. The ride, and more specifically the sleds, became notorious for causing injuries. The stick that was supposed to control the sled's speed in practice offered just two options on the infrequently maintained vehicles: extremely slow, and a speed described by one former employee as "death awaits".[3] The chutes the sleds traveled in were made of concrete, fiberglass, and asbestos, which led to serious abrasions on riders who took even mild falls. The tendency of guests to ride in bathing suits made the problem worse. The path underneath the chairlift resulted in verbal harassment and spitting from passengers going up for their turn.[36]

The slide was the site of the first fatality at the park: 19-year-old George Larsson Jr., who had previously been a ski lift operator at Vernon Valley. He was thrown from the slide when his car jumped the track, and his head struck a rock. After several days in a coma, he died. Action Park said that Larsson was an employee, it was nighttime and also raining when the accident happened.[37] They also said that as an employee, his death didn't need to be reported to state regulators.[37][38] In the 2020 documentary Class Action Park Larsson's mother and brother claimed that was incorrect, accusing park management of using the story of Larsson being an employee previously, to get out of having to report the death.[37][39]

Hay bales at the curves were put in place in an attempt to cushion the impact of guests whose sleds jumped the track, a frequent occurrence. While park officials regularly asserted its safety, in the early years of the park the slide was responsible for the bulk of the accidents, injuries, lawsuits, and state citations for safety violations.[3] According to state records, in 1984 and 1985 the alpine slide produced 14 fractures and 26 head injuries.[3]

Skateboard park
A skatepark briefly existed near the ski area's ski school building, but closed after one season due to poor design. Bowls were separated by pavement, which in many cases did not meet the edges smoothly. Former park employee Tom Fergus was quoted in the magazine Weird NJ as saying that the "skate park was responsible for so many injuries we covered it up with dirt and pretended it never existed".[41]

Super Go Karts: The Super Go Karts allowed guests to drive around a small loop track at a speed of about 20 miles per hour (32 km/h), controlled by the governor devices on the karts. However, park employees knew how to circumvent the governors by wedging tennis balls into them, and they were known to do so for guests. As a result, an otherwise standard small-engine kart ride became an opportunity to play bumper cars at 50 mph (80 km/h), and many injuries resulted from head-on collisions.[3] Also, the karts' engines were poorly maintained and some riders were overcome by gasoline fumes as they drove.[3]

LOLA Cars: The LOLA Cars were miniature open-cockpit race cars on a longer track. Extra money was charged to drive them, and they, too, could be adjusted for speed by park employees, with similarly harmful consequences to riders.[3] Former employees have said that, after park management briefly set up a microbrewery nearby, employees would break into the brewery, steal the beer, and then take the cars out and ride them on Route 94.[41]

Bumper Boats: Bumper Boats was a supposedly safer ride than the Super Speedboats, but the engines often leaked gasoline, at least once requiring medical attention for one rider who got too much of it on his skin. Tall riders also often were unable to fit their legs on the small-sized boats, resulting in them hanging off of the sides of the boats and being fractured during collisions.[3]

Cannonball Loop[edit]

Cannonball Loop, the infamous looping water slide, was only opened for brief periods in Action Park's existence.
In the mid-1980s GAR built an enclosed water slide, not unusual for that time; in fact, the park already had several such slides. On this one, however, they decided to build a complete vertical loop at the end, similar to that of a roller coaster.[45] The resulting slide, called the "Cannonball Loop", was so intimidating, that employees have reported they were offered $100 to test it. Fergus, who described himself as "one of the idiots" who took the offer, said, "$100 did not buy enough booze to drown out that memory."[41]

The slide was opened for only one month in summer 1985 before it was closed at the order of the state's Advisory Board on Carnival Amusement Ride Safety, a highly unusual move at the time.[3] One worker told a local newspaper that "there were too many bloody noses and back injuries" from riders, and it was widely rumored, and reported in Weird NJ, that some of the test dummies sent down before it opened had been dismembered and decapitated.[3] A rider also reportedly got stuck at the top of the loop due to insufficient water pressure, and a hatch had to be installed at the bottom of the slope to allow for future extractions.[3]

The ride supposedly reopened a few more times over the years. In the summers of 1995 and 1996, it was opened for several days before further injuries forced its permanent shutdown.

Those who rode the Cannonball Loop have said that more safety measures were taken than was otherwise common at the park. Riders were weighed, hosed down with cold water, instructed to remove jewelry, and then carefully instructed in how they had to position their bodies to complete the ride.[46] For the remainder of the park's existence, Cannonball Loop remained visible near the entrance of Waterworld. It was dismantled shortly after the park closed.

The Tidal Wave Pool: The second death at the park occurred here in 1982; with another patron drowning in this common water-park attraction five years later. It was, however, the number of people the lifeguards saved from a similar fate that made this the only Waterworld attraction to gain its own nickname, "The Grave Pool".[3] It was 100 feet (30 m) wide by 250 feet (76 m) long and could hold 500 to 1,000 people. Waves were generated for 20 minutes at a time with 10-minute intervals between sets, and could reach as much as 40 inches (1.0 m) in height.[3] It was not always obvious that pool depth increased as one got closer to the far end, and there were patrons who only remembered or realized that they could not swim when they were in over their heads and the waves were going full blast. Even those who could swim sometimes exhausted themselves, causing patrons to crowd the side ladders as the waves began, leading to many accidents.[3] Twelve lifeguards were on duty at all times, and on high-traffic weekends they were known to rescue as many as 30 people, compared to the one or two the average lifeguard might make in a typical season at a pool or lake.[3] Mountain Creek continues to operate this attraction as the "High Tide Wavepool" but made the pool much shallower.

Aqua Skoot: Invented by Ken Bailey in the early 1980s,[51] riders would carry a hard, solid plastic sled up to the top of the ride, go down a slide consisting of rollers akin to those found in factories, warehouses, or assembly lines, and end up in a pool that in most areas was no deeper than a puddle. The idea of the ride was to, once the sled hit the water, skip across the water like a stone. In order to do this the rider had to be in a certain position, leaned back. If the rider was not in this position, the sled would sink into the water as soon as it hit the pool, flinging the rider off head-first, which often resulted in head injuries. Other times, riders would be leaving the pool only to have others crash into them as they were riding. This ride consisted of parallel slides originally. At some point in the mid 1980s, a third slide was added. Each slide was 30 feet (9.1 m) long.[52]

The Kayak Experience: It was an imitation whitewater course that used submerged electric fans to agitate the water above. Frequently the kayaks got stuck or tipped over, and people had to get out of them to remedy the situation. In 1982, a man died after trying to get back on his kayak and touching the wiring of the fans, sending him into cardiac arrest and leading to its permanent closure.[3]

Surf Hill: This ride, common to other water parks at the time, allowed patrons to slide down a water-slick sloped surface on mats into small puddles, until they reached a foam barrier after an upslope at the end. Barriers between lanes were minimal, and people frequently collided with each other on the way down, or at the end. The seventh lane was known as the "back breaker", due to its special kicker two-thirds of the way down intended to allow jumps and splashdowns into a larger puddle.[3] Employees at the park used to like eating at a nearby snack bar with a good view of the attraction, since it was almost guaranteed that they could see some serious injuries, lost bikini tops, or both.[3] Mountain Creek kept this attraction open through 2005, then reopened it in 2012.

The Aerodium
The Aerodium is a skydiving simulator wind tunnel invented in Germany in 1984. In 1987, Action Park built and opened their own Aerodium in the Waterworld section of the park, becoming the first American amusement park to open an Aerodium. The attraction was operated by Aerodium Inc., who would act as a concessionaire for the park through 1997.[58] Stadium seating encircled the perimeter of the Aerodium, allowing friends and spectators to watch riders fly. Riders wearing a special skydiving suit, helmet, and earplugs would join the bodyflight instructor one by one on a trampoline-like netting directly over the fan. The instructor would grab each rider's wrists and guide the rider to fall forward, allowing the fan to lift the rider skyward. After a few seconds of flight, the attendant operating the fan would cut the power, causing the rider to fall onto the air cushions surrounding the fan. Park guests' flights were limited to a maximum of 6 or 7 feet (1.8 or 2.1 m) above the ground, approximately 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) over the instructor's head. The Aerodium also caused severe injuries, for example, when a rider instinctively tried to break his fall by extending his arm, which caused shoulder dislocation, severed nerves, and near-permanent paralysis of the arm.

 

[MrRDU]

Teeth in the cannonball loop

But damn they did give mad jobs to teens & let them work as many hours as they wanted

 

[Listen]

The 80’s Breh......

 

[KalKal]

This commercial is so misleading.

Actually, I see no lies in this commercial (Except for the "Broadway" part.)

Wikipedia says at least 6 people died there.



The specifics on some of the rides are insane.

The Alpine Slide was FUN, though. Even after I fell off, I got right back on the ski lift to go back down again.

And a google search shows that Action Park didn't actually invent THAT particular ride:
Summer toboggan - Wikipedia

Apparently there's still a bunch of them in operation around the world to this day. The problem with the Action Park one in the 1980 was that the course wasn't designed safely.

The Aqua Scoot on the other hand...even as a child I had to wonder "Who the HELL would design something like that?"
One thing I never see brought up is the that that thing made. The mechanical sound of metal rollers spinning at high speeds. It sounded like something you would hear in a factory, not in an amusement park .

 

[KalKal]

It's as real as the 30 year old Alpine Slide scar that's still slightly visible on my knee.
In the Summer I used to go to the Eastern Queens YMCA day camp, and the majority of kids were black. We used to go on trips to Action Park or Great Adventure from there if I remember correctly. But I also went went there with visiting relatives at least twice.


OK - Raceway Park



Edit:
Westchester County Fair commercial

Replying to myself...

You know, I always used to see those Westchester County Fair commercials, but until I rewatched them I never ever realized that they took place at Yonkers Raceway.
For those who don't know, that place is practically in the Bronx.

The commercials always gave me the impression that it took place on some farmland upstate.